Sports Illustrated polled 161 NHL players and asked who they thought was the most overrated player in the league. Toronto Maple Leafs captain and defenseman Dion Phaneuf received 20% of the votes putting him at the very top of the list, followed by Alex Ovechkin (Washington Capitals), Scott Gomez (Montreal Canadiens), Roberto Luongo (Vancouver Canucks), and Dany Heatley (Minnesota Wild). Phaneuf was drafted ninth overall in 2003 and has since been named a finalist for the Calder Trophy and Norris Trophy, but hasn’t won either.
In his first year in the NHL, he scored 20 goals, followed by two consecutive 17-goal seasons, but since then has hung around the 10-goal range (which is still pretty valuable coming from a defenseman). It’s possible that Phaneuf is at the top of this list because he plays in arguably the biggest hockey market in the world, if you exclude Montreal and a few random European countries. I don’t blame the players for getting sick of hearing his n...
Original Story:
