The Most Overrated Players in NHL History

The NHL has had its share of overrated players past and present, and we call them overrated for many different reasons.

We think of some players as overrated because they are overpaid, they don't show up in the playoffs, or maybe they receive too much undeserved credit from the media and fans.

Some players were also the product of their teams that were full of talent, and when they left that talent were unable to be as successful by themselves.

Let's take a look at the 50 most overrated players in the history of the NHL.

Andrew Cassels

Andrew Cassels was a mediocre player and was labelled as a good two-way player, yet his career plus-minus rating is -43.

He was over-hyped by many and never put fear into opposing teams. Was supposed to be a very good offensive player, but never scored 30 goals in a season.

Wade Redden

Wade Redden is one of many bad signings the New York Rangers have made since the turn of the millennium.

His six year, $39 million contract might be the worst in the history of professional sports. He scored five goals after he signed it, and contributed nothing to the Rangers.

Redden was really never that great of a player, yet he was certainly paid like one. A complete waste of millions.

Uwe Krupp

Uwe Krupp was a good defenseman, but was never an elite player despite being paid like one by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1990s.

His good performances in the 1996 Stanley Cup Final with the Colorado Avalanche made him look better than he really was.

Keith Tkachuk

Keith Tkachuk was a very good NHL player, but he was never a superstar, and in 89 career playoff games he had 28 goals and a plus-minus rating of -15.

He was never able to lead some talented teams to the Stanley Cup Final.

Dany Heatley

Dany Heatley is a very good goal scorer, and has had some fantastic seasons for teams such as the Ottawa Senators and San Jose Sharks, but once the playoffs arrive, he starts to crumble.

In 66 career playoff games Heatley has just 15 goals, and has never won a Stanley Cup. When the bright lights come on, Heatley disappears.

Rick DiPietro

In 2006 Rick DiPietro received the longest contract in NHL history when he signed a 15-year, $67.5 million deal with the New York Islanders.

Say what you want about all his injuries, but DiPietro was never that good to begin with. He's not completely terrible, but he's not a franchise goaltender, either.

Brian Campbell

Brian Campbell is another player who is vastly overpaid for someone who isn't really that great.

His cap hit of around $7 million is one of the worst contracts in hockey, and the Florida Panthers were nice enough to take it off the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Campbell has had some decent seasons, but he's not a very good player.

Scott Gomez

Scott Gomez doesn't score a lot of goals, doesn't serve as a playmaker, he doesn't play well in the playoffs, and did I mention his salary cap hit is about $7.4 million?

Gomez has never been that great of a player, yet the Rangers decided to give him a seven year, $51.5 million contract.

Thankfully for the Rangers, the Montreal Canadiens were foolish enough to take Gomez's contract and poor play from them.

Martin Lapointe

Martin Lapointe has been paid like a big time player for much of his NHL career, but he has rarely performed like one.

When Boston signed him to a three-year contract worth $5 million, Lapointe was nothing more than a third line talent, and his good stats were really just because he played on some good teams.

Roberto Luongo

Roberto Luongo is arguably the most overrated player of recent memory, and although he plays very well in the regular season, his game completely crumbles during the playoffs.

Even in the 2010 Winter Olympic Final against Team USA, Luongo allowed Zach Parise to score in the final moments only to have Sidney Crosby bail him out.

Against the Bruins in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals, Luongo was terrible, and in the games played in Boston he allowed 17 goals in three games.

Geoff Sanderson

Geoff Sanderson was a speedy player who had some decent scoring seasons for the Hartford Whalers and Carolina Hurricanes, but he was too inconsistent to be called a very good player.

He played for seven different teams and never lived up to his potential.

Dion Phaneuf

Dion Phaneuf is the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and in 2010 was voted the NHLs most overrated players by who? The players themselves.

Once he left Calgary and joined the Maple Leafs his offensive stats have gone down a decent amount and he's has not become a top defenseman that he showed he could be with the Flames.

Alexei Yashin

Alexei Yashin was a good regular season player and was full of talent and skill but was never able to show it in the playoffs.

His postseason play was far worse than his regular season success, and is often considered much better than he really was.

Erik Johnson

Erik Johnson was the first overall pick in the 2006 NHL Draft but has yet to rise among the ranks of the elite defenseman in the NHL.

He has potential but is taking an awful long time to reach it.

The team who drafted him, the St. Louis Blues, were not going to wait for him to reach his potential and traded him to the Colorado Avalanche last season.

David Booth

People have waited for David Booth to become a top NHL forward, but they are still waiting, and likely will for a long time. 

Booth is not a good defensive forward, and doesn't put up amazing offensive statistics, yet he is treated like a very good player.

Martin Brodeur

Martin Brodeur is a very good goaltender and a certain hockey Hall of Famer, but it's hilarious when people call him the best goalie ever.

Brodeur has played behind some amazing defenseman, such as longtime New Jersey Devils captain Scott Stevens, and his coaches have put some very intelligent defensive systems to good use.

His save percentage is 11th best all-time and he's played on some much better teams than some people in front of him, such as Hasek, Tomas Vokoun and Henrik Lundqvist.

He is the all-time shutout leader, but his team plays a very defensive style and a boring brand of hockey. When you play on that kind of team for 20 years you will have a lot of shutouts. The NHL wasn't as high scoring in the 2000s as it was in the 1980s and 1990s.

In all time GAA he is 8th and again behind Hasek. His wins record is impressive but again when you play on a very talented, defensive team for 20 years you will certainly have many wins.

Brodeur certainly benefited from the Devils defensive approach in his career.

Mike Ribeiro

Mike Ribeiro is a good player with some offensive talent, but he's not the star many people claim he is. He also plays the game with a small amount of class and respect, and loves to dive and act a ton on the ice.

Ryan Miller

Ryan Miller is a solid goaltender, but ever since his heroics in the 2010 Winter Olympics in which he led Team USA to a silver medal, Miller is considered one of the best goalies in recent memory.

Before his Vezina Trophy season of 2010, he was never considered a top five NHL goalie, and in many playoff series and individual games, he has played quite poor.

Alexandre Daigle

Alexandre Daigle was supposed to take the Ottawa Senators from an expansion team to a top club, and after being selected first overall in the 1993 NHL Draft Daigle, he showed he was immensely overrated.

He never become a dominant offensive player and was unable to help the Senators create some success in their early years.

Joe Thornton

Joe Thornton is a very good player, but like many of the San Jose Sharks players over the years, his game crumbles in the playoffs.

Thornton's playoff performance last season was pretty good, but in the last two seasons the Sharks have played in the Western Conference Finals and have one win in nine games.

Thornton is a good offensive player, but he hasn't been able to lead his talented Bruins and Sharks teams to Cup glory.

Guy Hebert

Guy Hebert was a good player, but he was never the franchise goalie the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim counted on him to be.

He had some decent seasons in Anaheim, but was often given more praise than he deserved.

Alexei Kovalev

Alexei Kovalev was a very good offensive player for a while, but was never the superstar many though of him as, and his regular season success often was not found in the playoffs.

In 123 playoff games, Kovalev has 43 goals.

Tim Connolly

Tim Connolly is a good player, but even when he's healthy (which is not often), he is not a top center.

The former fourth overall draft pick has never scored more than 20 goals in a single season, and is one of the more overrated forwards in the league today.

Nikolai Khabibulin

Nikolai Khabibulin has had a pretty good career, but his success was more because of some of the quality teams he played on, like his 2004 Tampa Bay Lightning team that won the Stanley Cup over the Calgary Flames.

Khabibulin hasn't had too much success since winning the Cup in Tampa Bay.

Brian Leetch

Brian Leetch had some very impressive offensive seasons, but was an overrated defensive player. His very good seasons were mixed with a lot of average ones as well.

He certainly was one of the better American players of his generation, but his defense was often suspect, as many of his terrible plus-minus numbers would indicate.

Marty Turco

Marty Turco is a quality regular season goaltender, but that success has never found itself in the playoffs on a consistent basis.

He is one of the best puck handling goalies ever, but he's not the star goaltender many consider him (or did earlier in his career).

Curtis Joseph

Curtis Joseph is one of the most overrated goalies ever, and his many playoff quality teams playing in front of him were the reason for much of his success during his career.

His poor and inconsistent play often let his teams down in the playoffs as well.

Todd Bertuzzi

Todd Bertuzzi at one time was a very good player, but was never the superstar player many people labelled him as.

After his brutal hit on Steve Moore, he hasn't shown the type of physical play and force which was responsible for much of his success as a good power forward with the Vancouver Canucks.

Mikael Renberg

Mikael Renberg was a good player, but was given more credit than he really deserved. It's no coincidence his best years came when he played on some talented teams, including the 1997 Philadelphia Flyers team that made the Stanley Cup Final.

His linemates that year were John LeClair and Eric Lindros, not bad.

Ilya Bryzgalov

Ilya Bryzgalov is another regular season star that hasn't played well in the playoffs throughout his career.

The Philadelphia Flyers are hoping he can lead them to Stanley Cup success after they signed him to a massive contract this summer.

Don't count on it.

Kevin Stevens

Kevin Stevens was a good player, but he was made to be much better than he really was despite most of his success coming from playing with great players.

His days with the Pittsburgh Penguins involved two Stanley Cup, but when he left those talented teams it was no surprise that he underperformed.

Evgeni Nabokov

Evgeni Nabokov is the poster boy for regular season goaltenders who are just terrible in the playoffs.

Nabokov is one of the major reasons the San Jose Sharks have not won a Stanley Cup over the last decade despite having some immensely talented teams.

Doug Gilmour

Doug Gilmour was a very good player, but like many who play for the Toronto Maple Leafs, he was a bit overrated. As the man in Toronto, he was unable to lead the Maple Leafs to the Stanley Cup Final.

Gilmour should be in the Hall of Fame, but is he one of the 10 best centers ever? No, he is not.

Manny Legace

Manny Legace's stats in some of his seasons lead many to believe he was a very good goalie, but he benefited from playing in front of some excellent defenseman, such as Detroit Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom.

When he wasn't playing in front of a great defense it was clear that he was very overrated.

Chris Gratton

Chris Gratton was one of several players the Tampa Bay Lightning drafted in their early years who never reached their potential.

Gratton was the third overall pick in the 1993 NHL Draft, and was clearly overrated by many scouts who thought he had star potential.

Jose Theodore

Jose Theodore won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP and the Vezina Trophy in the 2001-02 season, and after that, has been very mediocre.

Theodore had one good season and was never able to live up to it after, and several teams since have tried to find that success but have failed.

Eric Lindros

Eric Lindros was a good NHL player whose career would have been much better if not for concussions, but with the hype surrounding him coming into the league, he was never the out-of-this world 50-goals a season type of player.

Considering the hype he had as a young player entering the NHL, he was clearly overrated.

Chris Osgood

Chris Osgood played on some unbelievable Detroit Red Wings teams that had a ton of defensive talent, and he rarely was the reason the Wings were successful on a given night.

Certainly a product of great talent in front of him, he never had the same success he had in Detroit with other clubs.

Jay Bouwmeester

Jay Bouwmeester is a good offensive defenseman, but his scoring totals haven't been too good the past few seasons, and he's not very good defensively.

He's not physical enough, and he isn't a shut down player.

His five year, $33 million contract was more than he deserved, and it's no surprise he's never been to the playoffs.

Patrick Roy

Patrick Roy is one of the best goalies ever, but he played in front of some fantastic defensive players and played on many Colorado Avalanche teams that had some fabulous offensive talent.

He also tried to make goaltender equipment larger including gloves, and Roy even wore large jerseys to make himself larger in net.

Roy is 19th all time in career save percentage, 33rd all time in GAA, and 14th all time in shutouts. Those aren't the stats of the best goalie ever, or even top 3.

Hasek has a better save percentage and has faced more shots per game.

Winning the Cup as a rookie was amazing, but Roy isn't the best ever, not even top 3. Good case could be made for top 5 however.

Bobby Holik

Bobby Holik has been a consistent player throughout his career, but he's never been the star player many New Jersey Devils fans claim he is or was.

He played on some immensely talented Devils teams, some of which won the Stanley Cup, but never scored 30 goals or racked up 70 points in any season.

Tomas Kaberle

Tomas Kaberle has been a very good offensive defenseman throughout his career, but he's never been a great defensive player, and he gets caught out of position sometimes.

He's been a good player, but never has been, nor will he ever be a top tier defenseman.

Petr Sykora

Petr Sykora was a good player, but like Bobby Holik, he was more a product of the talented New Jersey Devils teams he played on.

Think I'm too harsh on the Devils, well I'll tell you one great Devils player who isn't overrated. Scott Stevens.

Rob Blake

Rob Blake had a great shot and was a big hitter, but his urge to play offensively often times left him out of position, which hurt his team defensively.

He also played on some very talented teams throughout his career.