Tyler Walker: Definition of Talented Mediocrity?

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Tyler Walker: Definition of Talented Mediocrity

 

 

Tyler Walker recently announced that he will be retiring at the end of the season.  The defender who finds himself playing his eighth season in the VHL on the dominant Moscow Menace team, is hoping to add a Continental Cup to his rather empty resume.  “It’s what I have always wanted.  I haven’t been able to win at this level and it has felt like I’m the problem.  I have to hope this season can be different.”  Not inspiring words coming out of Walker’s mouth, but then again he isn’t wrong.  

 

He was the epitome of a good player on a bad team for much of his career, but one has to honestly wonder if he is the consistent piece that hurt the team in the end.  Assuming Moscow makes the playoffs this year, Walker will have made the playoffs in five of his eight VHL seasons, but the lack of success has been mind-boggling.  He was knocked out in the first round in both seasons he made it with Calgary and played on both Malmo Nighthawks teams that got knocked out in the second round during the S73 and S74 campaigns.  He also spent his prime years playing on a Davos Dynamo team that missed the playoffs in each of Season 75, 76 and 77.

 

Walker wasn’t untalented though as he currently sits with 517 points, 1131 hits and 1189 blocked shots over the course of 561 career games.  He has been a stat padder ever since he randomly decided to hit back in Season 76, after recording just 73 hits over his first three seasons.  If he adds two more goals this season he will have also recorded double-digit goals eight times and has been a beacon of consistency, never recording less than 52 points in a season. His 90 point campaign in S77 was easily his highlight year, as he added 290 hits and 165 blocked shots.  However, one look at his -43 plus/minus and his abundance of penalties and you see perhaps the biggest reason he has never won any awards or had any team success. Let the record show that I don’t consider his Founder’s Cup victory in S72 an example of being a born winner or anything as even during that run he struggled at times. 

 

The remainder of the S80 campaign could certainly change some of this narrative.  The Moscow Menace have been a dominant team and certainly have the means to win the Continental Cup.  Walker has even been a lot more disciplined this season after tallying 630 penalty minutes over the previous four seasons (2.19 PIM/G), he has only taken 63 penalty minutes over this 57 game campaign so far (1.10 PIM/G).  Hard to say though and it certainly won’t really change too much about his legacy.  He has been a good player this year but is more of just an accessory to the Menace’s best players, and ultimately that has been the only way he’s ever found success.

 

He will not be a Hall of Fame player.  He never was good enough to win an Award.  He couldn’t win the big one.  He only really ever had team success when he wasn’t one of the team’s best players.  Tyler Walker was the definition of talented mediocrity.

Edited October 20, 2021 by Advantage

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REVIEW

 

I liked this piece a lot! Though I'm a relative noob in the VHL you made it easy to understand your player's journey and experience with the VHL. Unfortunately many players end up with careers far from the Hall of Fame, but that doesn't mean they were bad. Sometimes it's just the situation surrounding them that doesn't work out. I loved the flow, loved the formatiing. Great job 10/10