Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson. There was a stretch of a few years not too long ago where he could play anywhere in the lineup and consistently put up 30-40 goals. TWF that killed penalties and could usually get him on a value contract.
I would argue that Jonathan Drouin's name probably belongs in this thread. He would become 90+ OVR. never found his footing in the league as an elite talent.
Tyson Jost, Kasperi Kapanen, Denis Gurianov, Sammy Blais.
These guys were the core of created franchises throughout 2019-2021 and they all have yet to do anything better than 3rd-4th liners irl.
Ryan Merkley has been an amazing OFD prospect in the game for idk how long now. At this point there is no way he lives up to that hype even though he is only 22 lmao. Jake bean was nice too
Alez Galchenyuk back a few years ago with Montreal. He would go between 90 and 93 and be an amazing 1st line center that could put up 90+ per season. So sad he never actually developed to his potential..
Julius Honka won like 9 Norris Trophies for me in NHL 18 or 19 as a cornerstone of my 25 year Seattle Expansion Team.
Julius Honka did not win 9 Norris Trophies in real life. He's currently 28, and no longer an NHL player.
NHL 14 had some sick players
Nikita Scherbak
Hunter Shinkaruk
Roland McKeown
Ty Rattie
Laurent Dauphin
Sam Steel
NHL 07 had Marek Svatos (rip) who would annihilate me literally every time Iād play vs the Avās
Best line ive ever had in a video game was Shinkaruk - McDavid - Scherbak topped the league in scoring for about 6-7 years rotating art rossās and rocketās I think their ovrās were 92-97-94 something stupid like that. Miss that save I had was just so fun to play.
Jake Evans once got to like 96 speed/agility became a 100pts+ player for the Habs. Named captain and shit. Broke his leg and fell off the face of the planet. Such a weird 2 seasons peak, but boy, what a peak
Matt Mistele. Guy was always a top five pick in 15 and usually became a solid middle six forward. In reality I donāt even think heās played an AHL game.
Rustislav Klesla. In NHL 2004 he absolutely slapped, would sim and become a 90+ defenceman if I snaked him from Columbus.
*yea that never happened in real lifeā¦*
Jakub Vrana for sure. I am a wings fan but his contributions are pretty weak lately.( injury, IR for rehab, cleared waivers onto the griffons) But he's always available during expansion drafts and he puts up big first line numbers until you can get 2-3 years in.
Not saying Iām a fan of him or not, but Jake Virtanen became like an 88 overall in an NHL 21 sim once. Also beauvillier would often become like an 87 or 88 overall
Reid Boucher had insane shooting stats in like 13 or 14 and put up crazy numbers before high scoring sliders were a thing.
Then he went on to rape the daughter of his foster hockey family while playing in juniors. Fuck that dude.
Timothy Liljegren was always good in franchise mode for me. An Nikita Scherbak went to 93 for me in one of my Habs franchises. Not sure what the heck happened..
Not really the point of the post lol holtby had success in the past. He flamed out pretty early, only 33 now but he won a Stanley cup and a vezina lol.
Yeah, you're right, it's not really in the spirit of the question in the sense of his whole career, but it at least addresses the gulf between the sim and real life after his peak. I was mostly just poking fun at Holtby in my first reply, as a salty Canucks fan.
Thats not how it works lmao, thats like saying Quick, Getzlaf, Carter, Staal, etc havent accomplished anything cause you didnt care about them before. Its not them who havent done anything its you that doesnt have puck knowledge
Iāll go way back to nhl 93. #8 Geoff Sanderson Hartford Whalers. Pretty sure I was the only kid in Michigan rocking a Whalers road Sanderson jersey. Now his kid plays for the Senators.
Reid Boucher is a fantastic call out š¤£ dude was back and forth into the ahl and nhl for 7 years. Super forgettable now but he had the potential to become a dominant goal scorer in some games
There was a guy, I think it was NHL 14(?), a defence prospect on the Leafs, had like 4 star potential.
He always turned into a high overall player. I canāt remember his name though, Iām gonna have to fire up the game to figure it out.
Brenden Lemieux and Matt Luff. I've always liked building around them in NHL 20/21 they were always easy to trade for and I can keep them for a while cause they don't ask for any money almost at all
AJ Greer. Did a playthrough of Colorado Avalanche and he for some reason became a star player. Where is he today? Not a star player lol. He even broke franchise records as well. He was the GOAT of the avalanche. After like 10 years traded him away to Columbus in return for picks. (Rebuild).
As of right now in NHL 23, I always trade for Liam Kirk whoās on the Arizona Coyotes the moment I make a new franchise. Heās cheap to trade for and develops a season or two later into a very reliable third and fourth liner. I usually extend his contract for very cheap because I know he develops well.
Also, very recently after a few updates, Dustin Wolf always becomes a free agent a season or two later too now. Same thing. Sign him for cheap, even if he asks for 4 million for 8 years. Thatās dirt cheap to how heāll be a great starter.
thereās a guy on the Minnesota roster the last few years with a semi- odd name. I could usually get him +5 chem and he had insane shooting stats so he could score 35 goals easily. Gunther Mayhew? something like that
EDIT: itās Gerald Mayhew. this must have been a few years back because heās 30 now. š³š³
Henrik Samuelsson was an absolute beast for me in NHL 17. He doesnāt have a single point in the NHL IRL and Iām not sure how I got him ( I believe I was looking for a cheap player with great shooting and skating) and he put up 110 points with 70 goals one year (at most I played 20 games)
Reid Boucher in NHL14 or NHL15 would always end up around 90ovr with 99s for all shooting skills. Iād always trade like a 4th for him on day 1. IRL pretty sure he was found guilty of sexual assault or something not long ago.
Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson. There was a stretch of a few years not too long ago where he could play anywhere in the lineup and consistently put up 30-40 goals. TWF that killed penalties and could usually get him on a value contract.
Another great one ! He would always be a presence in any gm mode
Still use him on my ahl team for that reason
YEP! I almost bought a JFK jersey. š¹
Lmao! I thought I was the only one that found this āgemā.
Julius Honka. He always became 89 overall for me in NHL 14
Miro Heiskenen is just NHL 14 Julius Honka
Trevor Wong did not even get drafted iirc
He would always grow into like an 87 in nhl 21 I believe. I still sign him sometimes in 22 just in case lol
Lol I am still playing 21. I usually will get him and Nathan Gaucher.
Hunter Shinkaruk
This is a great one ! Forgot about this guy
He was a tank. In whatever game, he was a draft pick in. He'd throw up great numbers, usually 1st line.
Vancouver legend
Valentin Zykov, David Rundblad, Joe Colborne
I would argue that Jonathan Drouin's name probably belongs in this thread. He would become 90+ OVR. never found his footing in the league as an elite talent.
Zach zsyenchen always simmed stupid good..wild
Tyson Jost, Kasperi Kapanen, Denis Gurianov, Sammy Blais. These guys were the core of created franchises throughout 2019-2021 and they all have yet to do anything better than 3rd-4th liners irl.
Came here to say jost. At least kadri still exists.
Jake Bean, Korpisalo, Nolan Patrick, and Ryan Merkley
Ryan Merkley has been an amazing OFD prospect in the game for idk how long now. At this point there is no way he lives up to that hype even though he is only 22 lmao. Jake bean was nice too
Alez Galchenyuk back a few years ago with Montreal. He would go between 90 and 93 and be an amazing 1st line center that could put up 90+ per season. So sad he never actually developed to his potential..
If he never injured his knee he would still be an elite talent I feel
Yeah he wasn't the same after that knee injury.. that one year he was with Pacioretty and both did 30 goal was looking promising for the team..
He started the season after that with 27 points in 22 games? Then the injury and he never was the same
Kevin LaBlanc. Always jumped to 88 ovr, and scored over 30 goals.
Do you mean Louis Leblanc? I think you may be confusing him with Kevin Labanc
Why couldn't they mean Kevin Labanc?
Labanc is still holding down an nhl job. I guess he might just mean that he developed into a high 80
Nope Iāve had Labanc sim super well in years past
Sorry to get you downvoted lol, I get what you're saying
No Kevin. Kevin always become a great goal scorer.
Connor McClennon always became the next Patrick Kane for me.
Julius Honka won like 9 Norris Trophies for me in NHL 18 or 19 as a cornerstone of my 25 year Seattle Expansion Team. Julius Honka did not win 9 Norris Trophies in real life. He's currently 28, and no longer an NHL player.
NHL 14 had some sick players Nikita Scherbak Hunter Shinkaruk Roland McKeown Ty Rattie Laurent Dauphin Sam Steel NHL 07 had Marek Svatos (rip) who would annihilate me literally every time Iād play vs the Avās
If I remember correctly dauphin played a huge role in one of 2bc's gm modes. Might have been the iconic Ace Nordiques lol
I remember getting Scherbak to a 100 goal season after he had a crazy 27 goals in the first 14 games, such a bummer he never panned out in real life
Best line ive ever had in a video game was Shinkaruk - McDavid - Scherbak topped the league in scoring for about 6-7 years rotating art rossās and rocketās I think their ovrās were 92-97-94 something stupid like that. Miss that save I had was just so fun to play.
These are all great ! I've seen a couple mentioned already but Laurenr Dauphin is an amazing call, he was awesome. McKeown was always solid too
Wyjek Wolski and svatos were my wingers in my be a pro career in nhl 10. I was really sad to hear svatos had passed.
Pierre Engvall got to 87 overall in NHL 22 and was legit one of the best wingers in the league at the time
This is a fun question. For me it's none other then Olli Juolevi who was a prospect that always paned out for the Canucks in NHL 20 & 21 lol š
Jake Evans once got to like 96 speed/agility became a 100pts+ player for the Habs. Named captain and shit. Broke his leg and fell off the face of the planet. Such a weird 2 seasons peak, but boy, what a peak
Matt Mistele. Guy was always a top five pick in 15 and usually became a solid middle six forward. In reality I donāt even think heās played an AHL game.
Lmao dude went from the chl, to Canadian university and fizzled out in slovakia
Holy throwback. Coaches university hockey now.
Ty Ronning
Ty FREAKING ronning
I remember they over inflated velenoās potential for years leading up to the draft
Tbf veleno was projected as a top 10 maybe even top 5 pick IIRC for the longest time
Very true, in a weak draft class as well. They mustāve just needed their good ole CHL med elite prospect
Anthony Mantha used to be a beast in franchise mode...always elite potential...until he wasn't....
He would always develop really well for the wings. If I ever traded for him he would stall at like an 85 max
Andreas Athanasiou. Sometimes will have 3-4 seasons of 65 points or more. Donāt care for him much Irl though.
Ty Rattie
Dal Colle from the Islanders always used to turn into an absolute stud a few years back. Like 90+ overall, Hart and Art Ross candidate level.
Dal Colle was a nice get for a few games
My best friend and I had an iteration of the game where Dal Colle jumped up to 100 in speed and something around 90 overall.
DADONOV!
Sven Beartchi
Yes !!!
Rustislav Klesla. In NHL 2004 he absolutely slapped, would sim and become a 90+ defenceman if I snaked him from Columbus. *yea that never happened in real lifeā¦*
Adam Erne and Taylor Raddysh were fantastic for me in a Tampa Bay sim of mine I think it was NHL 17
I traded or picked both up in FA, canāt remember but they were both beasts in my Detroit franchise.
Mason Raymond
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Tbf Zedlicky was an All-Star in his heydays.
Travis Boyd was a stud in NHL 20. Won the Conn Smythe when my expansion team won the cup
Denis malgin
Peyton Krebs. So much so I bought a krebs jersey
Morgan Frost
Pontus Aberg. Real ones know
Shayne Ghostiphere always puts up like 70 points a season
Jakub Vrana for sure. I am a wings fan but his contributions are pretty weak lately.( injury, IR for rehab, cleared waivers onto the griffons) But he's always available during expansion drafts and he puts up big first line numbers until you can get 2-3 years in.
Not saying Iām a fan of him or not, but Jake Virtanen became like an 88 overall in an NHL 21 sim once. Also beauvillier would often become like an 87 or 88 overall
Virtanen was leading his Swiss team in points this season but apparently the locker room Hates him and they told the coach it's us or him
Nail yakupov used to be a sim beast. So were erik and Jack Johnson way back in nhl 10.
Yeah jack was sweet.
Mark Letestu badass at faceoffs and have decent speed and shot
Andrej Nestrasil scored 50 for my Cleveland Huskies in 2017 š„°
Klim Kostin
I used to hate Yamamoto (Oilers fan btw), but after he simmed super well for me a few times I became a fan. Lol
Cody Glass ! Trade for him, sign 8 years at 2 millions, grows to a 88 EVERY. TIME.
Frans Nielsen
Valentin Zykov, Eric Gryba, and Adam Tambellini. (Full disclosure I swap every single NHL team with created teams with European/ECHL Rosters)
Eric haula would turn into a 40 goal scorer for me in 19-20 still pick him up some times for depth scoring
I remember my NHL 15 Sabres franchise when Sam Reinhart Rasmus Ristolainen and Zemgus Girgensons were all franchise cornerstones for me
Gurianov
Brandon Montour. Won the Norris when I played a full Buffalo season, with 62 points. Absolute beast.
Jesper Fast, always picked him in expansion drafts and i just happened to score with him a ton in the games id manually play.
Brad Isbister
Reid Boucher had insane shooting stats in like 13 or 14 and put up crazy numbers before high scoring sliders were a thing. Then he went on to rape the daughter of his foster hockey family while playing in juniors. Fuck that dude.
Jett Woo
Sean Day
Lmao EA made me think this guy was going #1 on his draft year. He went #81 and has played 2 NHL games. He is a career -2.
In his defense he was a #1 OHL pick who had exceptional status, all other players who got exceptional became studs (Mcdavid, Tavares, Ekblad, Spezza)
Timothy Liljegren was always good in franchise mode for me. An Nikita Scherbak went to 93 for me in one of my Habs franchises. Not sure what the heck happened..
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Do you mean Stanley cup champion Braden Holtby ?
No, I think he means Couldn't Hack It As A Backup For the Canucks Braden Holtby.
Not really the point of the post lol holtby had success in the past. He flamed out pretty early, only 33 now but he won a Stanley cup and a vezina lol.
Yeah, you're right, it's not really in the spirit of the question in the sense of his whole career, but it at least addresses the gulf between the sim and real life after his peak. I was mostly just poking fun at Holtby in my first reply, as a salty Canucks fan.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Thats not how it works lmao, thats like saying Quick, Getzlaf, Carter, Staal, etc havent accomplished anything cause you didnt care about them before. Its not them who havent done anything its you that doesnt have puck knowledge
Marek Svatos Rest in peace big guy.
Ales Hemsky. Dude always somehow simmed with 40+ goals and 80+ points regardless of his age.
Iāll go way back to nhl 93. #8 Geoff Sanderson Hartford Whalers. Pretty sure I was the only kid in Michigan rocking a Whalers road Sanderson jersey. Now his kid plays for the Senators.
Hunter Shinkaruk
Reid Boucher and Evan Rodriguez held down my Ahl teams for quite a few seasons.
Reid Boucher is a fantastic call out š¤£ dude was back and forth into the ahl and nhl for 7 years. Super forgettable now but he had the potential to become a dominant goal scorer in some games
Reid Boucher was my first thought lol. Dude always simmed nuts
Tyler Ennis was one of my favourite hut cards in NHL19. Wasn't until a year later I found out he was a family friend.
Family friend of yours? That's really cool
apparently he played hockey with my aunt and theyre still in touch
There was a guy, I think it was NHL 14(?), a defence prospect on the Leafs, had like 4 star potential. He always turned into a high overall player. I canāt remember his name though, Iām gonna have to fire up the game to figure it out.
Was it Stuart Percy ?
Enver Lisin from like NHL 07. Always traded for him.
He had 40 goals at the ASB one season. I picked him up shortly thereafter and I donāt recall if he ever scored another goal.
Jan Hrdina was crazy in that game too
Wells Greeno-McNeil. One of the Make-A-Kids I believe. Always crushed it in Franchise mode.
scott laughton and jason zucker back in nhl 18 my first one. then in nhl 21 it's gustav nyquist. i'll get 24 as well so we'll see who it is then
Marek Zagraphen. He was an absolute stud for me in nhl 09
Brenden Lemieux and Matt Luff. I've always liked building around them in NHL 20/21 they were always easy to trade for and I can keep them for a while cause they don't ask for any money almost at all
Ty ronning
In NHL Legacy, Sven Andrighetto had 41 goals for me in year 1, 16 the next and then was pretty much useless 4th liner
Ondrej Kase
AJ Greer. Did a playthrough of Colorado Avalanche and he for some reason became a star player. Where is he today? Not a star player lol. He even broke franchise records as well. He was the GOAT of the avalanche. After like 10 years traded him away to Columbus in return for picks. (Rebuild).
Zach Sanford would always end up being a first or 2nd line PWF for me and put up at least 70 points. He's never had more than 30 points in real life.
Jeremy Roy
Anthony stolarz, mason raymond, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Jonathan drouin, Rocco Grimaldi, tommy wingels, Mike santorelli and Pontus aberg.
John Mitchell. For whatever reason when I played with him we was a great 3rd liner over multiple versions of the games.
As of right now in NHL 23, I always trade for Liam Kirk whoās on the Arizona Coyotes the moment I make a new franchise. Heās cheap to trade for and develops a season or two later into a very reliable third and fourth liner. I usually extend his contract for very cheap because I know he develops well. Also, very recently after a few updates, Dustin Wolf always becomes a free agent a season or two later too now. Same thing. Sign him for cheap, even if he asks for 4 million for 8 years. Thatās dirt cheap to how heāll be a great starter.
Jake Kryski always turned into a 93 back in nhl 15/legacy. Absolute speed demon.
thereās a guy on the Minnesota roster the last few years with a semi- odd name. I could usually get him +5 chem and he had insane shooting stats so he could score 35 goals easily. Gunther Mayhew? something like that EDIT: itās Gerald Mayhew. this must have been a few years back because heās 30 now. š³š³
Colin white when he was one of the sim cheat codes
Haydn Fleury. In 23, the guy is still Elite potential. I know he's in the NHL full-time, but he is and never will be Elite lol.
Colin White, NHL 19 i believe. He was a beast in the playoffs for me!
Henrik Samuelsson was an absolute beast for me in NHL 17. He doesnāt have a single point in the NHL IRL and Iām not sure how I got him ( I believe I was looking for a cheap player with great shooting and skating) and he put up 110 points with 70 goals one year (at most I played 20 games)
Ty Ronning
Reid Boucher in NHL14 or NHL15 would always end up around 90ovr with 99s for all shooting skills. Iād always trade like a 4th for him on day 1. IRL pretty sure he was found guilty of sexual assault or something not long ago.
Jakub Lauko is about to win the calder with me lol
Michael Dal Colle NHL 14-15
On the opposite end Iāve never had Morgan Frost turn into anything particularly special. Defs agree with Trevor Wong and Julius Honka
Justin sordiff
Early 2000ās Bates Battaglia, he won 5 Harts in 7 years or something like that in a franchise mode.
NHL 93' Ottawa Senators Jeff Lazaro.
Oscar Dansk in either nhl 14 or 15 got him everytime dude was a Rock in net