5 top players who would not have survived playing in the National Hockey League in the past time
There are many players in National Hockey League who are doing very well nowadays and are few of the leading ice hockey players in the world, but they would not have been so much influential and useful, had they been born 30-40 years back.
Some of them because of the rule changes and some of the because of the different players they had to play against. Following is the list of players who would not have been so clinical in past time.
Andy Sutton
Edmonton Oilers’ Andy Sutton, who has been one of the most consistent defenseman of the NHL in his career and has enjoyed a long spell in the NHL for last 14 years, would not have been so influential in the past time.
The London, Ontario native has played for seven different teams in his NHL career, which include San Jose Sharks, Minnesota Wild, Atlanta Thrashers, New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators and Anaheim Ducks but he would not have been so demanded in 1980s when there used to be wide open play and one had to rely more on technique, than the physique.
Marc Andre Bergeron
Like Sutton, Andre Bergeron has also changed many teams and has been playing NHL for a while. He has already played for six teams in his 10 year NHL career and the teams are Tampa Bay Lightning, Edmonton Oilers, New York Islanders, Anaheim Ducks, Minnesota Wild and Montreal Canadiens.
With 465 NHL games and 81 goals, 145 assists, 226 points, the Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman is considered to be one of the most reliable defenseman but he may not have played NHL if he was born in different era.
He is not an expert forward or defenseman but can partly play in the both positions and had it been “Original Six” concept, he definitely would not have deserved a place in any team.
Nail Yakupov
Nail Yakupov is a Russian professional ice hockey player and he recently made the headlines when he was picked first overall in the first round of 2012 NHL Draft. He was tipped to be a great NHL player in no time and many experts predicted him to go on to do very well in the league.
At the age of 19, he would not have been permitted to play in the league and would have been considered for it when he was 20-21 years old. There was an age limit back then which did not allow teenagers to be part of this prestigious league and they had to wait for. So Yakupov would have been juniors’ hockey if he was born some time ago.
P.K. Subban
P.K. Subban is Montreal Canadiens’ defenseman and surely one of the best players in the game but his attitude would have hurt him if he was playing back in 1960s.
The 23 year old, Ontario native needs some maturity in his behaviour and would surely grow on to do much better in the coming years but the attitude would not have been accepted during that time.
Rick DiPietro
Rick DiPietro is one of the leading goaltenders of the game and has been given a very huge contract for 15 years. He has been earning in millions but his fitness would have been an issue for him in the era when there were only six teams.
There were not many empty places on roster then and there were not many chances given to anybody. He surely would have been forgotten and not given too much time to recover before being sent home at time.
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