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Guys who never got an NHL shot

L K

L K

Well-known member
I just went to take a look at the AHL standings to see where the Marlies were sitting in their conference (not bad for a change), when I saw a story on the side of the page.  Darren Haydar notched his 700th career AHL point.  He's a 5'9" 32 year old (so not completely ancient) who started his professional career in 2002-2003 in the Predators organization as a 9th round pick.  He's the AHLs all time leading playoff scorer in goals, assists, and points too.

Yet he only manged 23 NHL games where he put up 9 points.  Obviously there are some big flaws in his game to not get a shot with a team, but you would think one of the bottom feeders would take a chance on a guy like that at some point to get an extended look when he has been so productive. 

Who are some of the other non-NHL guys who never seemed to get a chance to prove they belong?
 
L K said:
Who are some of the other non-NHL guys who never seemed to get a chance to prove they belong?
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If you want to go back in time, some argument might be made for the Leafs Bruce Boudreau.

He cracked 100 points six times in the AHL/IHL - including wining the scoring title in one or more years. 11 seasons of 30+ goals in the minors as a center. 0.5 ppg player in the NHL (though over 141 games).

His self admitted problem was that he didn't take his opportunity as seriously as he should have and didn't work as hard as Sittler told him he'd have to if he wanted to stick in the league. So he wasn't as overlooked as some - he got some sort of a chance.
 
Chris Snell and Nathan Dempsey were 2 dmen that looked like big time in the AHL in the 90's but really didn't seem to turn that into big NHL careers.
 
Michael Zigomanis: 339 point in 414 games.

A big-time stretch, but i used to watch a guy called Jason Firth play in a lower-tier league. One of the most gifted players I've ever seen play. Didn't seem to have the drive to go to the next level though. put up great numbers everywhere he played, included short stints in the AHL.
 
Corey Locke is a guy that comes to mind. Only 9 NHL games despite averaging over a point-per-game in the AHL since 2007 really.
 
Alexandre Giroux has a 60 goal AHL season and averages close to a a goal every other game in his AHL career but has yet to play more than 12 NHL games in a single season, and only has 48 in total.
 
For some reason automatic thought of Peter White.  Although here was a guy who had many shots at the NHL but never stuck.    Guy was over a point/game in the AHL, but only ended up getting mostly just a cup of coffee on Edmonton, Toronto, Flyers, Blackhawks, and the Flyers again. 
 
Newbury said:
Corey Locke is a guy that comes to mind. Only 9 NHL games despite averaging over a point-per-game in the AHL since 2007 really.
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He's got NHL quality hands and vision, but his speed and size keep him in the minors.
 
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