Orr was greater than The Great One: Steve Simmons' Top 10 NHL players of all time
BY STEVE SIMMONS, TORONTO SUN
MONDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2016 08:00 PM EST
TORONTO — One hundred years.
What a time to be celebrating all that is and has been National Hockey League talent.
It starts, as all hockey lists must start, with Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky. Best defenceman ever. Best forward ever.
They aren’t one and two as much as they are 1 and 1a. And the debate is like all great sporting debates — there is no definitive answer as to who has been the best player in NHL history. That’s a personal choice, based on age and opinion and all kinds of biases and how you view the game and whatever prisms you might happen to view the sport through.
Both changed the game. Both played at a level we have never seen before. Both accomplished statistically and artistically what no one had been able to do before or since.
I feel fortunate to have been watching the NHL for the past 50-plus years, first as a fan, then as a reporter, fortunate to have been working games for the past 36 years, to have been allowed to stay up late to watch George Armstrong shoot the puck into an empty net to ensure the celebration on the last Maple Leafs championship, to watch the league grow from six to 12 teams and in my working time from 21 to 30.
The assignment here was simple, yet complicated: Come up with a list of the Top 10 NHL players ever. My list. One hundred players from one hundred seasons. Come up with 10 even though the game has changed, the rules have changed, coaching has changed, goaltending has changed, the eras being so different from one another.
In the end, I asked a lot of questions of a lot of people: coaches, general managers, former players, former executives, writers, broadcasters. I wanted their views to help me shape mine. In the end, it worked this way: 60 players were selected from the post-expansion era; 40 players from 1967 and before that.
Of the 10 players listed, I’ve seen them play, some of them late in their careers. This list came together by asking the basic question: Who was the better player? And who had the better career?
It is hair splitting at times. It is agonizing and challenging. Is it Brad Park or Paul Coffey? Borje Salming or Brian Leetch? Patrick Roy or Dominik Hasek?
Who was better? Bobby Hull or Rocket Richard? Bryan Trottier or Bobby Clarke? Pierre Pilote or Tim Horton? Jonathan Toews or Dave Keon? And where do you rank them?
The list isn’t perfect, but it’s mine: The Top 10 in this, the 100th season of NHL hockey. Ladies and gentleman, start your arguments.
1. Bobby Orr, D
1966-1979 | Boston, Chicago
657 games played; 270 goals; 645 assists; 915 points
Could do everything and then something you’ve never seen before while changing the way the game was played. A combination of speed, power, toughness and offensive brilliance we will never witness again.
2. Wayne Gretzky, C
1979-1999 | Edmonton, Los Angeles, St. Louis, New York
1,487-894-1,963-2,857
Appropriately known as The Great One, no one will ever match his impossible, incredible scoring numbers.
3. Mario Lemieux, C
1984-2006 | Pittsburgh
915-690-1,033-1,723
The most extreme combination of size and talent in hockey history.
4. Gordie Howe, RW
1946-1971; 1979-80 | Detroit, Hartford
1,767-801-1,049-1,850
Mr. Hockey. The name and the numbers say it all.
5. Jean Beliveau, C
1950-1971 | Montreal
1,125-507-712-1,219
The hockey player’s hockey player, skilled, smooth, full of grace and universally beloved.
6. Maurice Richard, RW
1942-1960 | Montreal
978-544-421-965
The Rocket — the first 50-goal scorer was an iconic Montreal figure and a 14-time all-star.
7. Bobby Hull, LW
1957-1972; 1979-1980 | Chicago, Winnipeg, Hartford
1,063-610-560-1,170
The most electrifying player in history; everything he did, including the booming slap shot, seemed somehow larger than life.
8. Doug Harvey, D
1948-1964; 1967-1969 | Montreal, New York, Detroit, St. Louis
1,113-88-452-540
In an 11-year period in his prime, Harvey was a first team all-star 10 times and a seven-time Norris Trophy winner.
9. Guy Lafleur, RW
1971-1985; 1988-1991 | Montreal, New York, Quebec
1,126-560-793-1,353
The most beautiful player we’ve ever seen in so many different ways.
10. Sidney Crosby, C
2005-present | Pittsburgh
736-362-614-976
Fifth in history in points per game in an era where scoring is oh so challenging.
