Today we wrap up the most overrated players in the NHL by closing out with the Metropolitan Division. Here are links to the other divisions
Pacific Division
Central Division
Atlantic Division
Here's the Metropolitan Division
Carolina - Victor Rask
I don't feel that strongly about this selection, but I ultimately went forward with this because he's been stealing the better players from Jordan Staal on his line for a few years and hasn't done much with it while Jordan Staal takes on heavy minutes with bad wingers. Offensively he's topped out as a low line third line player and most of his tenure he's been at a fourth line level. Somehow that earned him a 4M AAV.
Columbus - Boone Jenner
He had a huge breakout year in 2015-16 when he scored 30 goals. It remains the exception to the rule. He doesn't even have another 20 goal season on his resume. He's not much of a playmaker so when he's not scoring goals that's about it for him. He's not much for possession so the goal scoring will need to pick back up again.
New Jersey - Travis Zajac
Perhaps Zajac got his money because he was warm blooded and for a time showed a pulse as a driver of possession. His 5.75M wildly off from his actual value. He hasn't hit 15 goals since 2013-14. Since the 2013-14 season he's put up (18, 11, 14, 14, 12 goals respectively. This isn't a shooting percentage thing because his last three seasons he has double digit shooting percentages. He's either terrible at creating his own shots are just unwilling to shoot. His once dominating possession numbers are now middling.
New York Islanders - Cal Clutterbuck, Matt Martin, Casey Cizikis
His entire career has been a story of being overrated. It started in the beginning when the Islanders traded away Nino Niederreiter in exchange for Clutterbuck. He's a bad fourth line player who hits a lot. The people stuck in a time warp think being near the lead in hits for the league is good. There's no way you could do that if your team had the puck during your shifts. He makes 3.5M to play. The Islanders fourth line has always been a collection of overrated players that are paid like they are good. Matt Martin joins the party again in 2018-19 and the two can combine for 6M in unproductive play. Throw in Casey Cizikis and you have 10M locked up in one of the most overrated lines in hockey. Good for John Tavares for leaving this dumpster fire.
New York Rangers - Marc Staal
He is below the 20th percentile in all of Ryan Stimson's passing tracking besides giving one-timers. He's in the 95th percentile in giving Sidney Crosby needless headshots. His inability to pass the puck makes him a possession black hole. He doesn't generate a damn thing on offense. I'm not sure what jobs he had on the sod farm, but whatever they were they weren't the same as the ones Eric and Jordan got. If his name is Eric Jones he's probably in the AHL at this point, but his last name is Staal and his brothers were good.
Philadelphia - Wayne Simmonds
Once upon a time he was really good. His reputation is still that he's really good. He isn't. In three of his last four years he's producing like a low level fourth liner at even-strength. He's great in front of the net on the power play, but I don't find that role all that impressive (more on that next). The Flyers should be proactive about trading him because you don't want to be the one to give him his next contract and quite frankly the Flyers aren't Cup contenders so whatever perceived loss on the ice in 2018-19 doesn't matter in the big picture.
Pittsburgh - Patric Hornqvist
Jack Johnson would be the everybody gets a trophy version of this exercise so let's dig a little deeper. I'm not willing to say he is a power play specialist, but it's closer to that than a lot of people want to admit. His last three seasons he has scored 12, 11, and 12 goals at even-strength. Conor Sheary got criticized a lot last year and he had more even-strength goals than Hornqvist. When you factor in he's either playing with one of the two best playmakers of this generation at all times it is concerning, at least to me. His contributions are incredibly minimal in transition. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin do all the heavy lifting at even-strength and on the power play. The net front power play role on the Penguins is the easiest gig in hockey. You have Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, and Letang/Schultz flinging the puck everywhere and opening up all the passing lanes and while Hornqvist is a complete bulldog in front of the net forgive me for not finding that role more replaceable than most. The problem with the Hornqvist perception is that people think you just have to be a bulldog jamming away at everything to be effective in front and that isn't true. You can be more clever and time your screens and players with better hands can be more creative while getting similar results with those four other Penguins.
Washington - Brooks Orpik
Somehow the Capitals paid a premium to get him off the team and he found his way back after Colorado immediately deemed him expendable and it wasn't even for the league minimum. He is objectively one of the worst players in the league and he is not only in the league, but making more than the veteran minimum. This is the definition of overrated. We are talking late stage Rob Scuderi bad with Orpik.
Thanks for reading!
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