Joffrey Lupul was drafted in 2002 and was looking like a great player until injuries took his NHL career off the rails. Lupul started his career at the age of 20 and had an okay rookie season as he had 34 points in 75 games. After that he spent a year in the minors to develop. Once he came out of the minors he was fantastic as he had his first of many good seasons. He had 53 points in 81 games and was a great young star on a good young Anaheim team until he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers in the Chirs Pronger trade. The next season he did not do well at all as he only had 28 points in 81 games. He was traded in the off-season to Philadelphia where he had two solid seasons. The first season he missed a lot of games but still had 46 points in 56 games and was on pace for 67 points. The next season he had a 50 point season in 79 games so he was still producing well. After that he was traded back to Anaheim where he had his first injury filled season as he missed almost the entire season. He only played 23 games and had 10 goals and 4 assists. He was still on pace for 50 points. The next season was better but he still only played 54 games and was traded to Toronto mid-season. He wasn't doing well with Anaheim during the season but he was a lot better with Toronto. He had 31 points in 54 games that whole season. The next season he had his best season by far as he missed some time but he had 67 points in 66 games and was an all-star. The next season was the lockout shortened season where he missed over half the season but stayed on the same pace as he had 18 points in 16 games. The next season he played 69 games and was okay but was not as good as he was a couple seasons ago as he had 44 points which was still very respectable. The next season he was not good as he only had 21 points in 55 games. The next season was not better as well as he only had 14 points in 46 games. He failed a physical due to his many injuries and was placed on long term injured reserve where he sat there for the rest of his contract until he eventually retired.

Johnny Boychuk was one of the most respectable NHL players in the league. He played a very long 13 years in the NHL and could have played more if it wasn't for a gruesome eye injury. Johnny Boychuk was drafted with the 61st overall pick in the 2002 NHL draft. He was drafted to be a shut down d-man and developed his game for many years in the minors and the juniors . In 2007-08 he got his first shot in the NHL playing 4 games for the Colorado Avalanche where he played 4 games and had 0 points. During a game against Montreal in 2020 he was cut with a skate directly to the eye. He was traded in that same Off-season to the Boston Bruins. He got to play 1 game for the Bruins the next season but he spent the rest of the season in the minors. After a very impressive season in the AHL he was given a full time spot on the Bruins where he played great. He played 5 more seasons with the Bruins and was known as a very reliable d-man. After many seasons with the Bruins he was trade to the New York Islanders and he played another fantastic 6 years with the Isles until in the 2019-20 season he had one of the worst injuries I have seen. A skate blade straight to the eye and he was cut extremely bad. He was rushed off the ice immediately and hasn't played a game since. I do not think he would still be playing but I think he would have played until 2022 maybe 2023 because he would be 40 this season.

Joni Pitkanen was a very high scoring d-man in the NHL until an extreme play caused him to cut his career short. During 2002 the Flyers drafted Joni Pitkanen with the 4th overall pick and he impressed immediately. The high scoring d-man had 27 points in his rookie year but was sent to the AHL the year after to develop. The next season he became one of the best d-man in the NHL. He had 13 goals and 46 points in 58 games. The next season he wasn't as good but he still had 40 points but his defensive game was horrible as he was over a -20. The next season he was traded to Edmonton where he only spent one season and would have got around 30 points. The next season he became a Carolina Hurricane where he spent the rest of his NHL career. He was great every year as a Hurricane. He wasn't 46 points in 58 games Pitkanen but he was still good until in the 2012-13 season a freak accident caused by an extreme play chasing an icing ended his career. While the NHL still had touch icings in the game Pitkanen chased the puck down the ice. He was skating so fast that when he slammed in the boards he shattered his heel bone. The whole bone. This injury is usually only caused by car crashes as it requires that much force to happen. This injury even made the NHL change its ruling about icings making it the icings we know today. Pitkanen attempted to make a comeback 3 years after the injury but he wasn't the same.

Damn I love the list. Keep it up man 😁

Thank you!

No problem 😁👍

Ain't no way you're saying Landeskog isn't NHL caliber. I get what you mean tho

Yeah I think he will return but he won’t be as good. Like he is for sure going to be a very good player still

Brendan Gallagher is currently a player for the Montreal Canadiens but he hasn't been his former self due to an injury. Brendan Gallagher is one of the most liked players in Montreal Canadiens history. He is a short but feisty winger which is why everybody likes him. He started off his career by being a consistent 40-50 point scorer. He maintained this production for 9 years in the NHL until mid way through the 2020-21 season where he took a 100 mile per hour shot to the hand. Luckily he came back in time for the playoffs. He wasn't the same and you can tell. During the season he was on pace to have 54 points until the injury. During the playoffs he only had 6 points in 22 games. The next season wasn't any better as he only had 24 points in 56 games. He would have only had 35 points if he played the whole season. Everybody had hope that he would turn it around and he didn't. He missed 2/3 of the season and only would have had 31 points if he played the whole season. This season he has been worse. He is on pace to play the whole season but he hasn't been good. He only has 16 points in 48 games. That means he is on a 28 point pace. His contract does not end until 2027 but the way his career is going right now, it looks like Montreal might even buyout his contract. Gallagher was one of my favourite players growing up and it is horrible to see what has happened to him

Gallagher was a fav of my for the Canadians. Sad to see how his career has gone downhill😔 keep up the good work loving the thread

backstrom, holtby, matt niskanen, kempny

I don't understand Kempny and Holtby. Didn't Kempny just leave to Europe and Holtby just didn't want to play

Kempny has been plagued with injuries since 2019, he tore his left hamstring in march 2019, he then tore his Achilles while training for the 2020-21 season, played 2 games for Hershey in the AHL then hurt his knee immediately after in a freak accident in a shower.

For Holtby, he got hurt near the end of the 21-22 season, got placed on LTIR by Dallas and then that offseason, when he was an FA, it was reported he would miss then whole 22-23 season due to injury and possibly be forced to retire

Thank You I didn't know

Matt Niskanen was a very solid 2-way d-man in the 2010's but due to Covid-19 he thought it would be better to retire. Matt Niskanen never really faced any injury. He missed 24 games one season but other then that he really never had any injury. In the late 2000's Matt Niskanen played his first few seasons where he was a very solid player. In his 4th season his play completely dropped and then was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins with James Neal for Alex Goligoski. With Pittsburgh he really restarted his career. He played 3 more years with Pittsburgh and had a career year in 2013-14 having 10 goals and 36 assists for 46 points 81 games. He was a star 2-way d-man during his contract year and then he cashed in the next year with a 7 year 40.25 million dollar contract with the Washington Capitals. He spent the next 5 years as a Washington Capital and he played great as he would constantly get 30 points a season. He was traded in his 6 year of the contract for Radko Gudas and he played great and he had a career resurgence year as he had 33 points with the Flyers in the covid shortened year. After the bubble playoffs, he decided that it would be good for him to retire due to the uncertainties of his experience with Covid-19.

Nicklas Backstrom was a fantastic player and is now looking like he can make the hall of fame as he was the NHL's best play maker for a whole decade. He played alongside Alex Ovechkin and they were bread and butter together as he had over 50 assists in his first 3 years in the league. He even had a 33 goal, 101 point season in 2010. The next season he did not play as good but he still had 65 points. The next season he missed around half the season but was over a point a game as he had 44 points in 42 games. The next season was the lockout shortened season and he was a point a game again as he had 40 assists and 8 goals in 48 games! For the next 5 years he stayed healthy and would average around 72 points a season. He was a key factor for the 2018 capitals Stanley Cup Win. In the 2019-20 season he missed 9 games but he still had 54 points. In the 2020-21 shortened season, he played fantastic as he stayed healthy and had 53 points in 55 games. It looked like he was a for sure Hall Of Famer the way his career was going until the next season his hip started to have problems. He missed over half the season but he would still have 50 points if he played the full season so his point total was decreasing with age but his playoffs were great as he was a point a game in 6 games so it looked like he was still a solid top 6 producer. Again he missed over half the season in 2022-23 due to more hip problems. His point totals again were decreasing as he wouldn't even have 50 points if he played the full season. His injuries were taking a toll on him and with his age it was not looking good. Luckily, he was healthy to start off the season this year and everyone was hoping for a good season. He started off by playing bad as he only had 1 point in 8 games then he got another hip injury. I hope he can come back but at the age of 36 and with many hip injuries that he had it is looking like his career is over.

Dude have you seen his skating recently?

Yeah unbelievable that he has been able to come back from that bad of an injury