23 NHL Figures Who Talk the Talk, but Can't Walk the Walk

The NHL has many figures who talk a good game but often fail to back it up in the regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Few things in sports are more annoying than when people talk trash but then are unable to back it up. Not only does it make the individual player look bad, but the team does as well.

Let's look at 23 people around and in the NHL who talk the talk but cannot walk the walk.

Roberto Luongo

Roberto Luongo criticized Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas after the Canucks beat Boston in Game 5 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final on a Maxim Lapierre goal that, apparently, Luongo thinks he would have saved.

His comments on the goal are in the above video. Luongo allowed six goals in the next two games and was pulled in Game 6.

Alexander Ovechkin

From all his huge celebrations when he scores a normal goal to arguing with his coach, Alexander Ovechkin is a pretty outgoing player, but he cannot back it up with any playoff success.

Joe Thornton

San Jose Sharks forward Joe Thornton told the media after a loss to the New York Rangers earlier this season that the Blueshirts were "soft."

That's funny coming from a guy many consider soft and who has won nothing in the postseason. 

Sean Avery

Sean Avery talks a lot of trash on the ice, but he has never done much in the playoffs and has not scored more than 33 points in a season.

He is one of the more annoying players in sports.

Ryan Miller

Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller talks a lot of trash and makes stupid comments after games, and yet he has done little in terms of playoff success.

In the playoffs last season, he went off on Mike Richards' physical play despite having played poorly in the series.

He also called Bruins forward Milan Lucic an expletive after the two were involved in a collision earlier this season.

Miller should shut up unless he can prove he's capable of getting deep into the playoffs without a Team USA All-Star team in front of him.

Alex Burrows

Alex Burrows is one of the most classless players in sports, and his antics are ridiculous. Sure, he scored over 30 goals last year, but when his team needed him in the Stanley Cup Final, where was he?

Oh, that's right, biting the finger of one of the game's most respected players.

Daniel Carcillo

Daniel Carcillo talks a ton of trash, but he is nothing more than an agitator and just an average player overall.

Adam Burish

In 2010, Adam Burish talked a lot of trash about Chris Pronger, who is a champion and one of the best defenseman in recent memory.

Sure, Burish won the Stanley Cup with Chicago that season, but in 15 games that postseason he had ZERO points.

Max Lapierre

Max Lapierre will bite your finger and constantly talk trash to players, but he will hardly ever fight you and back up his comments.

His career high in points for a single season is 28; his next highest is 18.

Bruce Boudreau

Washington Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau called out Madison Square Garden last year during the playoffs, calling the fans "quiet." 

Seriously, Bruce Boudreau, who is not even a good coach, is going to call out the world's most famous arena?

Jeremy Roenick

Jeremy Roenick calls out Patrick Marleau for getting the puck stolen by Pavel Datsyuk. Really, Jeremy? Datsyuk makes players look foolish on a nightly basis.

Roenick does not have a Stanley Cup ring, yet he talked a lot of trash as a player and calls out guys in the media.

Mike Milbury

Mike Milbury says a lot of dumb things on television, including calling the Sedin twins of the Vancouver Canucks "Thelma and Louise."

The Sedins are two of the softest players in the NHL, but that comment was uncalled for. This also is coming from one of the worst general managers ever.

John Scott

John Scott is a bad player and for him to want to fight guys much smaller than him is a joke. Would he challenge someone like Zdeno Chara or Milan Lucic? I really doubt it.

Matthew Barnaby

Matthew Barnaby is an ESPN and TSN analyst who loved to trash talk on the ice, and he might be one of the biggest NHL trash talkers ever.

He never won a Stanley Cup, though, and never scored more than 21 goals in a season.

Patrick Kaleta

Patrick Kaleta of the Buffalo Sabres is a joke, and he isn't any good, yet he attacks players personally, like when he talked trash to Philadelphia Flyers players Danny Briere and Scott Hartnell about their divorces in the playoffs last season.

Mike Richards

Mike Richards' dirty hit on Tim Connolly in the playoffs last year was uncalled for, especially given Connolly's history of head injuries.

Richards talks a lot of trash, but he had just two points in the 2010 Stanley Cup Final and was shipped out of Philadelphia this summer.

PK Subban

PK Subban is a pretty good player, but he rarely mans up and faces his accusers. This guy dives like it's going out of style, and yet he rarely fights anyone when things get physical.

Ryane Clowe

Ryane Clowe talks a ton of trash and mocks players, yet he's never won anything in the playoffs. Just classless.

Dion Phaneuf

Not only does Toronto Maple Leads captain Dion Phaneuf talk a ton of trash, he carries himself with a cocky swagger that is totally unnecessary for someone as overrated as him.

Paul Bissonnette

Paul Bissonnette took to Twitter when Ilya Kovalchuk's initial large contract from the New Jersey Devils was rejected by the NHL, begging the question, who is Paul Bissonnette?

Steve Ott

Steve Ott is a sad excuse for a player, and the only reason he is effective on the ice is he can trash talk players so well and get under their skin.

He even talks trash in multiple languages.

Dan Ellis

Dan Ellis talks a ton of trash for a goalie who is nothing more than average, and he has never won anything in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Zack Stortini

Zach Stortini talks a ton of trash and he backs up none of it. Totally classless. He was assigned to Milwaukee (AHL) back in October.