Author: jzneill

Memorable Hockey Players In Not-so Memorable Jerseys pt. 5: Present Day

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Present Day  There are three players currently active in the NHL that I have a hard time watching wearing their new jerseys. One player I love and hope he wins a much deserved Stanley Cup to go with his Olympic Gold Medals, one player I hate; not because of him changing teams but because of the team he used to play for before this season, and one player who should have retired long ago like all of those former New York Rangers before him. Jarome Iginla In My Mind: Calgary Flames Remember When? Pittsburgh Penguins/Boston Bruins Iggy wasn’t going to win in Calgary but instead of pulling a “Sundin”, he actually let the Flames trade him in order to help the franchise rebuild. What guy, eh? Only thing was, he wanted to pick his destination and provided them with a list of teams. So the Flames traded Iginla to one of the teams on his list … the Boston Bruins! But wait, even though he said he allow a trade to Boston, he actually wanted …

Memorable Hockey Players In Not-so Memorable Jerseys pt. 4: Inbetween Lockouts Era

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In Between Lockouts Era  Following the ’04-’05 NHL Lockout, many star players moved on from their recognizable teams to join new squads. With the exception of one (I’ll leave him for last), none of them had any major success wearing a different jersey. Peter Forsberg In My Mind: Colorado Avalanche Remember When? Nashville Predators With the exception of Lindros, Forsberg (they were traded for each other) is one of my few favourite non-Leafs players of all time! Any time I could get him on my fantasy hockey roster I would. I even had him for both failed comeback attempts with the Avalanche. But before that, man was he awesome! So awesome in fact that the Philadelphia Flyers threw a boat load of money at him to leave Colorado where he had won 2 Stanley Cups and a Hart Trophy to return to the team that drafted him. They even named him team captain, before trading him to Nashville during the next season. He made things right though by retiring as a member of the Avalanche. …

Memorable Hockey Players In Not-so Memorable Jerseys pt. 3: Early 2000s

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Early 2000s/Pre-Lockout Era In between the end of the ’90s and the 2004-2005 NHL Lockout, there was a period where teams spent money like it was going out of style. Multi-year big time free agent contracts led to a number of superstars changing teams, then being traded to other teams because they were making too much money, which ultimately led to the cancellation of an entire season in order for the NHL to “restore the competitive balance, create responsible spending, and instil financial accountability.” HAHAHAHA! Sergei Fedorov In My Mind: Detroit Red Wings Remember When? Columbus Blue Jackets After signing a mega million dollar contract to leave the Red Wings for the Mighty Ducks, Fedorov’s on ice performance started to decline. However, he was doing just fine off the ice while sharing Anna Kournikova with fellow countryman Pavel Bure. Oh ya, then he played for Columbus. Tony Amonte In My Mind: Chicago Blackhawks Remember When? Phoenix Coyotes Most people remember Jeremy Roenick (don’t worry, I’ll get to him) leaving the Blackhawks for the desert, but …

Memorable Hockey Players In Not-so Memorable Jerseys pt. 2: NHL ’94 Era

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There is one defining moment in each of our lives when it comes to our childhood memories and while it had already happened once when I was far too young to remember (or care), I couldn’t BELIEVE Wayne Gretzky could actually be traded! (Again). This is when it became a shocking reality to me that some of my favourite childhood heroes would not always be on the teams where I first learned about them in NHL ’94. NHL ’94 Era Wayne Gretzky In My Mind: Los Angeles Kings Remember When? St. Louis Blues “The Great One” (or as he is now known as, “The Drunk One”) jumped ship from the LA Kings to the St. Louis Blues in ’95-’96, to hook up with his old pal Brett Hull just in time for a first round playoff match-up with the Toronto Maple Leafs. (More foreshadowing)  It wasn’t bad enough that Gretzky single handedly ruined my childhood by preventing the Leafs from winning the Stanley Cup in ’92-’93 (because we all TOTALLY know they would have beaten …

Memorable Hockey Players In Not-so Memorable Jerseys pt.1: Old School Era

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Over the last 20 years it has been extremely rare for a star player to remain with one team for their whole career (or even two teams for that matter). But no matter how many teams these players end up with, there is always one or two we remember them on. On the other hand, there are also star players that we either completely forgot played for a certain team OR vividly remember them playing for certain team and it just looking plain wrong!  Here are a list of players from our generation (and before) who at one time in our lives were fucking awesome! But then ruined it all by going to play for another team; either because they now sucked, sold out for more money, demanded a trade, or attempted a pathetic comeback. ENJOY!  So I know this was WAY before our time, but I have to acknowledge a few of the players that started it this trend. While we never really got to watch these guys play in their prime (or in …