<p>When a hockey player calls it quits, they leave great memories, stinky gear, and a public record of their career. The memories and odors fade. But it’s the achievements that stand the test of time. <em>Three-time All-Star. Norris Trophy winner. Hall of Famer.</em> Each honor is written in permanent marker. But sometimes the honors just don’t match the lifetime body of work.</p>



<p>Award voting, after all, is a subjective exercise based on one season. Or in the case of the <a href="https://www.nhl.com/news/2024-nhl-all-stars-announced" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">All-Star Game</a>, a few months. <a href="https://www.hockey-reference.com/awards/voting-1996.html#all_vezina_stats" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jim Carey won a Vezina</a> over peak Dominik Hasek, for crying out loud. That’s why our lists won’t be fueled by opinion, nor use the ubiquitous ‘over-rated’ tag. To do this right, every active NHL player with 200 games played was systematically put to the test. The goal? Identify the most <em>over</em>-honored players in hockey. Part II of the series will capture the most under-honored.</p><div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="150"></div>



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<p><strong>How were the lists built?</strong> Each time a player crossed a certain performance threshold in an individual season, they banked value. The total of that value created the player’s <em>Expected</em> Award Points. Expected Award Points were compared to actual Award Points, using the legend in the chart below. The gap determined who was most over-honored. Note that any player already in the Qualified tier of <a href="https://adjustedhockey.com/inspiration/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PPS</a>, my <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/a-whole-new-way-to-determine-hall-of-fame-worthiness" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hockey Hall of Fame worthiness metric</a>, was exempt.</p>


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<p>While it might seem like hockey has <em>too</em> many awards (no offence, <a href="https://www.hockey-reference.com/awards/messier.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mark Messier</a>), the same superstars monopolize most of the big prizes and vote share. This leaves much of the league under-honored and few over-honored. So, you’ll notice everyone on this list was, or continues to be, an excellent NHL player — they’ve simply earned prestige beyond their play.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="136"></div>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-10-taylor-hall">#10. Taylor Hall</h2>



<p><strong>Expected Award Points:</strong> 35; <strong>Award Points:</strong> 45; Over-Honored by 10</p>



<p>Hall’s signature 2017-18 season delivered a first-team all-star nod and Hart Trophy. It’s that MVP award that lands him on the list, his emergence out of a crowded field that year bestowing an honor typically reserved for all-time greats. Incredibly, every eligible Hart-winning skater except Tom Anderson (1941-42) has been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Despite an fine career to date, Hall has no clear path to induction.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-9-brady-tkachuk-8-clayton-keller">#9. Brady Tkachuk &amp;<br>#8. Clayton Keller</h2>



<p><strong>Expected Award Points:</strong> 9; <strong>Award Points:</strong> 20; Over-Honored by 11</p>



<p>While we can all feign outrage on the All-Star Game format and selections each year, let’s be honest — it’s long been for host cities, kids, casual hockey fans, mascots, and corporate sponsors. Enter Tkachuk and Keller. While both are fantastic, marketable players, labeling them “four-time all-stars” is a bit much. Okay, it’s <em>way</em> too much — they’ve each hit the 70-point plateau once.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="2" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="155"></div>



<p>The pair have now played in more All-Star Games than six-time Norris finalist Victor Hedman. Team representation makes sense for the league and fan bases, but excluding so many true superstars shreds the pages of the NHL’s record book.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-7-jonathan-quick">#7. Jonathan Quick</h2>



<p><strong>Expected Award Points:</strong> 57; <strong>Award Points:</strong> 70; <strong>Over-Honored</strong> by 13</p>



<p>Outside the two famous Cup runs, Quick’s overall impact with the Kings has always been divisive. If flags fly forever — and many Leafs fans with arthritis will gladly tell you they do — then Quick is a Hall of Fame-worthy sensation. Yet, his year-to-year play has been mostly “mid,” as the kids say. With only a couple of great seasons in 17 years, his two Vezina finalist nods, two Jennings Trophies, Smythe, and fifth-place MVP finish, among other honors, offer a generous likeness of Quick’s full career portrait.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="3" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="138"></div>


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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-6-mathew-barzal">#6. Mathew Barzal</h2>



<p><strong>Expected Award Points:</strong> 11; <strong>Award Points:</strong> 25; Over-Honored by 14</p>



<p>Barzal is both an elite playmaker and <a href="https://allthreezones.substack.com/p/lets-talk-about-mat-barzal" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">puck carrier</a>, yielding three All-Star Game appearances and a well-deserved Calder Trophy. But the honors don’t square up with one 20-goal season, a so-so defensive record, and a career absent even a single down-ballot MVP vote. When we check the Award Points from his loaded <a href="https://www.hockey-reference.com/draft/NHL_2015_entry.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2015 NHL Entry Draft</a> cohort, we see the disconnect: Jack Eichel (23), Mikko Rantanen (21), Sebastian Aho (18), Kyle Connor (8). Each player has at least 83 goals(!) and 49 points more than Barzal, yet all have been honored <em>less</em>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-5-corey-perry">#5. Corey Perry</h2>



<p><strong>Expected Award Points:</strong> 60; <strong>Award Points:</strong> 75; Over-Honored by 15</p>



<p>Now’s <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/corey-perry-on-struggles-with-alcohol-and-mental-health-i-hope-to-regain-the-trust-and-respect-of-everyone" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">not the time</a> to evaluate Perry’s legacy, so we’ll keep it brief. He’s been a key cog on rosters with overwhelming team success at every level. It’s just not a career in the tier of players you’d expect to have both an MVP <em>and</em> Rocket Richard Trophy. That’s Ovechkin, Crosby, McDavid, and Matthews. Yes, it’s Perry, three of the greatest players in NHL history, and a fourth guy well on his way.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="4" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="186"></div>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-4-nick-suzuki">#4. Nick Suzuki</h2>



<p><strong>Expected Award Points:</strong> 0; <strong>Award Points:</strong> 15; Over-Honored by 15</p>



<p>Suzuki’s spot here says more about Montreal’s recent standing in the league than him. He’s a young, developing center handling the captaincy of an Original Six hotbed well by all accounts. But even ardent Habs fans would agree that a three-time all-star with 87 goals well into his fifth NHL season isn’t evoking the spirit of Guy Lafleur. For comparison, Mark Stone, seven years Suzuki’s senior and the modern template of a <em>fully</em> developed, two-way weapon, has played in just one All-Star Game.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-adam-fox">#3. Adam Fox</h2>



<p><strong>Expected Award Points:</strong> 45; <strong>Award Points:</strong> 65; Over-Honored by 20</p>



<p>Fox is an all-world star by any measure, thriving on Broadway from the start. Through last season, his <a href="https://adjustedhockey.com/pps-player-cards/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PPS Player Card</a> below shows his score already at 234 vs. the Hall of Fame standard for modern defensemen of 269. So, what gives? Well, Fox’s honors the last three seasons are a lifetime’s worth — while still young enough to be covered under his parents’ health insurance. At age 25, he’s an All-Star Game and a second-team nod from matching P.K. Subban’s <em>entire</em> career. Check out Fox’s incredible run:</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="5" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="191"></div>



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<li><strong>2020-21:</strong> Norris winner; 1st-team all-star</li>



<li><strong>2021-22:</strong> Norris 5th-place; All-Star Game</li>



<li><strong>2022-23:</strong> Norris runner-up; 1st-team all-star; All-Star Game<br></li>
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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2-linus-ullmark">#2. Linus Ullmark</h2>



<p><strong>Expected Award Points:</strong> 13; <strong>Award Points:</strong> 38; Over-Honored by 25</p>



<p>In October 2022, Ullmark was 29 years old and finally settling into a steady but unspectacular career. He’d never firmly held a starter’s crease for a full season, let alone received an award vote. Then he had a <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/linus-ullmark-is-having-one-of-the-centurys-greatest-goalie-seasons-and-hes-not-alone" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">near-perfect season</a>. Vezina. Jennings. First-team all-star. All-Star Game. 10th-place in MVP voting. Tied for second-best adjusted save percentage (.935) ever. <em>Umm, let’s skip over the playoffs. </em>While Ullmark warranted every honor bestowed upon him in 2022-23, the performance remains a massive outlier — his one-season award haul is typically reserved for goaltenders with Hall of Fame résumés.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-1-ryan-o-reilly">#1. Ryan O’Reilly</h2>



<p><strong>Expected Award Points:</strong> 18; <strong>Award Points:</strong> 48; Over-Honored by 30</p>



<p>‘The Factor’ has been a coveted piece for NHL lineups before the iPad was invented. Advanced metrics have also been smitten with the man for a decade now. But we’ve got a couple of major awards (Smythe, Selke), three All-Star Games, and a Byng Trophy heaped on a player who’s peaked at 28 goals and topped 64 points just once. His company in that exclusive Smythe/Selke club is Toews, Yzerman, and Gainey — a trio named to the <a href="https://www.nhl.com/news/100-greatest-nhl-players-of-all-time-286030052" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">100 Greatest NHL Players of All Time</a>. When you add in the Byng, O’Reilly founds his own club. He’s a terrific, reputable player, but one with an overstocked trophy cabinet.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="6" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="226"></div>



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<p><strong>Just missed the cut:</strong> 11. Seth Jones; 12. Johnny Gaudreau; 13. Troy Terry; 14. Bo Horvat; 15. Dylan Larkin</p>



<p>Tune in to Part 2 next week — the Most<em> Under</em>-Honored players in the NHL today. Any guesses who cracks the list?</p>



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<p><em>Award information from <a href="https://www.hockey-reference.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hockey-Reference.com</a></em>;<em> Expected Award Points through 2022-23 season.</em></p>



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