Late Bloomers in the NHL

[RussianDangler15 0]

I was just curious is there anyone playing in the NHL that was considered a "late bloomer" for example didn't find there games till late highschool or whatever you guys feel qualifys as being a late bloomer

[furlanitalia 1]

Perron is one. Passed over in two Major Junior drafts before going in the first round to the Blues. That said I'm sure there are a tonne of players who weren't standouts until they matured a bit.

[westcoastsniper 0]

Dan Boyle

Alex Burrows

Zetterberg

theres more

[kovyperron5727 0]

Dan Boyle

Alex Burrows

Zetterberg

theres more

Grabovski-24 year old rookie

Penner- couldnt make his high school team, played at a junior college and broke his femur the first year. He had a strong second year and got picked up by U of Maine at a summer camp. He was 21 when he played his first college game because he was a practice player his first year at Maine

Curtis Glencross-Played house league at 17

Joe Vitale-St.Louis kid drafted by the Penguins. Played tier 3 Jr.A when he was 18, didnt play AAA his mideget years

And of course the great Brett Hull. He was playing rec hockey when he was 17. According to him, he wasnt even their best player

[Hooah4 12]

Brian Rafalski was playing in Europe, minors for a while before taking off

Glen Metropolit had been everywhere.

[furlanitalia 1]

Johan Franzen

[Law Goalie 147]

Johnny Bower.

[dsjunior1388 81]

Joe Sakic played hockey for the first time at 15.

When the Red Wings were scouting Tomas Holmstrom, they liked his fire and his aggressiveness around the net. No one else noticed him because he was so small that he got knocked around a lot. He was 165 lbs at the time. They drafted him anyway, went back the next winter and he was up to 210 lbs. They talked to his coach and the coach said he'd planned to cut him, until he showed up at training camp so much bigger.

[SHARK_city_WIZEGUY 0]

Jonathan Cheechoo. He started playing hockey real late. Thats one reason why he was always considered a horrible skater, because he hadnt done it very long. Hes known for his one big season, but has done nothing ever since... He jsut got dropped on waivers by the sens..

[kovyperron5727 0]

Joe Sakic played hockey for the first time at 15.

Holy shit... Thats just insane

[Wolfpack_1986 154]

Jonathan Cheechoo. He started playing hockey real late. Thats one reason why he was always considered a horrible skater, because he hadnt done it very long. Hes known for his one big season, but has done nothing ever since... He jsut got dropped on waivers by the sens..

yeah this is late bloomers in the NHL, not AHL.. lol.

[DEATHTRON 19]

Holy shit... Thats just insane

Im going to go ahead and call "shenanigans".

Zach

[Viking 1]

According to his Wikipedia, he played his first game in the WHL at 16, so that would be an awful lot of progress in one year.

[Da Beez 0]

Im going to go ahead and call "shenanigans".

Zach

X2. Burnaby Joe lead his AAA Bantam team to the Western Canadian championship in 1983/84. He might have played a few games in the WHL as a 16 year old but he was definitely skating a long time before that. Wikipedia stated he watched his first NHL game at 4 years of age, after which he decided to become a hockey player. That seems a lot more likely.

[furlanitalia 1]

Yah, there is no way Sakic started at 15. I'm sure there have been some NHLer's that started late but he wasn't one of them. I know a goalie who played for the first time at 15 and played house and a year later went to the WHL but that's a different story.

There was someone else (I wanna say from the Red Wings) that didn't play rep until they were 15 or 16 but I can't remember their name.

[RadioGaGa 162]

Tim Thomas - was in the AHL and Europe before he got a real sniff in the NHL

Martin St. Louis - all but given up on by Calgary

[kovyperron5727 0]

There was someone else (I wanna say from the Red Wings) that didn't play rep until they were 15 or 16 but I can't remember their name.

I think it was Maltby

[SuperMan3 1]

Richard Park started hockey at 13, Rene Bourque wasn't drafted and went throught the NCAA before getting a shot.

[Law Goalie 147]

Martin St. Louis - all but given up on by Calgary

They have a long, proud tradition of doing that with premier scoring talent: St. Louis, Hull, Gilmour...

[jkud 0]

Burrows quit hockey to play soccer when he was 15-16. Then was a 19 yr old rookie in the Q.

[habookus 1]

Burrows quit hockey to play soccer when he was 15-16. Then was a 19 yr old rookie in the Q.

But he had also played 2 years in Junior AAA before going to the Q.

[Adam91 0]

Jovanovski didn't start till 11-12

edit: does anyone have more on the Glencross story? I think he went from house to jr. A or something like that?!

[kovyperron5727 0]

Jovanovski didn't start till 11-12

edit: does anyone have more on the Glencross story? I think he went from house to jr. A or something like that?!

yep. he was lighting up house when he was like 17-18 and a new Jr.A team moved near to where he lived and he got spotted, went to thier camp and made the team

[Hradsky 1]

yep. he was lighting up house when he was like 17-18 and a new Jr.A team moved near to where he lived and he got spotted, went to thier camp and made the team

Kind of like Perron right? Played house league and somehow jumped to Jr. A? That's the biggest insane jump you can possibly make other than going straight from house league to the NHL...

I gotta pull one of those :P

[kovyperron5727 0]

Kind of like Perron right? Played house league and somehow jumped to Jr. A? That's the biggest insane jump you can possibly make other than going straight from house league to the NHL...

I gotta pull one of those :P

Hahaha yeah pretty much..and thats whats so great about guys like Perron and Glencross, just goes to show that anything can happen