It used to be that Ron Francis was widely considered the "most underrated" player in the NHL.
The idea was always sort of laughable since Francis played the fourth-most games in league history and is its fifth all-time leading scorer. The rep on Francis was that he spent the prime of his career plying his craft in Hartford and then came to Pittsburgh where he was well below Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr on the marquee.
Well, these days it's Florida's Aleksander Barkov who seems to be the player that's most often labeled as "underrated." However, that's hardly the case in the Penguins' dressing room or the 29 others around the league.
To continue reading, log into your account:
