Player Over/Under: the Golbez Love/Hate List

Link: Hockey Rants.

Jes Golbez wants to know who our favorite/least favorite players are team by team across the NHL.  This one's an easy one so, I'll indulge in being a little opinionated:

Anaheim: Keith Carney / Sandis Ozolinch
Atlanta: Peter Bondra / Slava Kozlov
Boston: Per Axelsson / Joe Thornton
Buffalo: Paul Gaustad / J. P. Dumont
Calgary: Rhett Warrener / Bryan Marchment
Carolina: Rod Brind'Amour / Mike Commodore
Chicago: Curtis Brown (CuBRo!) / Martin LaPointe
Colorado: Ian LaPerriere / Rob Blake
Columbus: Bryan Berard / Adam Foote
Dallas: Jere Lehtinen and Stu Barnes (Stuuuuuuuu!) / Marty Turco
Detroit: Manny Legace / Chris Chelios/Kirk Maltby/Tomas Holmstrom et. al.
Edmonton:  Ryan Symth / Mike Peca
Florida: Roberto Luongo / Joe Neiwendyck and Gary Roberts
Los Angeles: Mattias Norstrom / Jeremy Roenick
Minnesota: Dwayne Roloson / Marion Gaborik
Montreal: Matheiu Dandenault / Saku Koivu
Nashville: Tomas Vokoun / Darcy Hordichuk
New Jersey: Sergei Brylin / Grant Marshall
New York Isles: Alexei Zhitnik / Alexei Yashin
New York Rangers: Kevin Weekes / Darius Kasparitis
Ottawa: Zdeno Chara / Dominik Hasek
Philadelphia: Michael Handzus / Derian Hatcher
Pittsburgh: Marc-Andre Fleury / Mark Recchi
Phoenix: CuJo / Mike Comrie
San Jose: Alyn McCauley /  Scott Thornton
St. Louis: Mike Sillinger (??) / Doug Weight
Tampa Bay: Martin St. Louis / Darryl Sydor
Toronto: Wade Belak (teeheehee!) / Darcy Tucker (Sideshow Bob himself!)
Vancouver: Ed Jovanavski / Trevor Linden
Washington: Olie Kolzig / Brendan Witt

Some of these picks are old hatreds from when certain players played for Dallas (*cough* Scott Thornton *cough* Grant Marshall *cough*), and others are, at best, lukewarm good/bad feelings for, like Mike Sillinger or Marian Gaborik, because I had to pick somone.

If you find it surprising that I had two picks for the Dallas Stars, you should be, but to explain... I think Jere Lehtinen is one of the best all-around players in the NHL, and the only member of the '99 Cup-awarded team I could ever stand to wear an AGH sweater.  I nearly cried when Stu Barnes was traded to Dallas... hell, Stu did.  They both deserve to be mentioned.  I would have picked half of the roster for the Maple Queefs but I tried to stick to the original intent of the list... Most/Least favorite... While I have a pretty good hate going for Brian McCabe, Tie Domi, Ed Belfour and Eric Lindros... Darcy Tucker holds a special place in the pit of my liver.

Ta,

Comments

[Ninja]

Tucker was never half as bad as Peca.

[Navi]

Chris Chelios/Kirk Maltby/Tomas Holmstrom et. al.

et. al. ... hehe.

...I also like the Darcy Tucker pick for worst leaf. I think he's my most hated in the league.

Good Call Overall.

[PJ]

No goal.

[Paul]

Nieuwendyk, Marshall, Hatcher, Thornton, AND Sydor is a bit much...

Is it safe to say Hull were he still playing?

Of course it is. What am I thinking?

(He had possession of the puck, by the way.)

[Tom L]

On Hull... Nah... why beat a guy when he's down. :)

It's not Brett's fault the league screwed up. Honestly, I always appreciated his demeanor. Sure, I hate the goal, but not him.

As for the others I have reasons for each:
Thornton only because I really like the Sharks as a team and he's the only one I have any negative thoughts on, after all they got rid of Marchment, Nolan and Selanne. He's grown on me since then. Hatcher's a sociopathic thug. Sydor is a cry-baby. Neiuwendyk gets away with murder in the faceoff circle and a serial-obstructor. Marshall I'll never forgive what he did to Kelly Buchburger's eye in the 98 series against EDM.

Here's hoping that clears things up.

Ta,

p.s. Right on, P.J. ... No F'ing Goal!

[Tom L]

"Tucker was never half as bad as Peca."

...except when he submarined Mike the Whiner to destroy his knee... which was the only way that Leaf squad could beat anyone... with pure goonery. Tucker's a blight on the league... pure Maple Leaf, through and through.

Ta,

[Paul]

I'm thinking you should be greatful to Hatcher for breaking Roenick's jaw at the end of '99. Made him shut up for almost three months.

It's kind of ironic how for such a loudmouth he gets so many injuries to that area.

[dave]

i don't have a blog, but i have to get in on this.

Jokaheim: Scott Neidermayer / Selanne (it's because of him no one remembers Mogilny's 76-goal season!)
Atlanta: Greg DeVries / Slava Kozlov
Boston: Travis Green / Brian Leetch
Buffalo: Dumont and Connolly / Peters
Calgary: Warrener and Iginla / Marchment
Carolina: Cory Stillman / Brett Hedican
Chicago: Tuomo Ruutu / Martin Lapointe
Colorado: Brad May / Rob Blake
Columbus: Adam Foote / Sergei Federov
Dallas: Brendan Morrow and Stu Barnes / everyone else
Detroit: Thomas Holmstrom / Lidstrom and Chelios
Edmonton: Jason Smith / Mike Peca
Florida: Gary Roberts / Stephen Weiss (he always seems to score against us)
Los Angeles: Craig Conroy / Jeremy Roenick
Minnesota: Brian Rolston / no one really
Montreal: Saku Koivu / Richard Zednik
Nashville: Steve Sullivan / Paul Kariya
NJ: Gomez and Gionta / Langenbrunner
NYI: Brad Lukowich / Satan, DiPietro, Zhitnik, Hunter, Kvasha and Asham (sorry, couldn't decide)
NYR: Mike Nylander / Jagr
Ottawa: Varada and Mike Fisher / Hasek
Philly: Simon Gagne / Derian Hatcher
Phoenix: Shane Doan / Mike Comrie
Pitts: Ziggy Palffy / John LeClair
St. Louis: Barret Jackman / Doug Weight
San Jose: Patrick Marleau / none really
Tampa Bay: Fredrick Modin / Dave Andreychuk
Toronto: Darcy Tucker / Eric Lindros
Vancouver: Brendan Morrison / Jarkko Ruutu
Washington: Ovechkin / Jeff Friesen

I know, i say i really like Tuomo Ruutu, but i don't like his brother Jarkko. That's just how i am.

[Tom L]

Dave,

Great list and thanks for chiming in. And, I'm with you actually. I'm a much bigger fan of Tuomo than Jarkko Ruutu.

And, for the record, I had to work pretty hard to find somonone on Minnesota to have a strong opinion about in either direction.

Ta,

[dave]

I agree about Minnesota. They are like a suicide cult. Once you join, you give up your personality and just do what you're told. Just makes me wonder what they're putting in their "water" bottles....