Flip side: engineers who curry favor without delivering value can't hide it quite as easily. Those who do their jobs without sucking up have a chance for recognition.
In every place I've worked, the person who has helped me get unstuck has always been one of the most productive and talented members of the team. If they weren't, why would I need their help?
Source: was a priest in WoW back in the day. Because nobody else wanted to, not because my warlock sucked.
Edit: I've been top of regular productivity charts AND the unanimous answer to "who do you go to to get unstuck?" at at least one company you've heard of. Management regularly promoted the suck ups. Read something like Blind and you'll know how prevalent this is.
I thought your flip side was an alternative perspective on those who help others get unstuck, not on those caught by the HR performance metrics filter.