Here are the top NHL players of all time. Ranking number one was not that difficult, but ranking the others was difficult. It really is Wayne Gretzky and everyone else. A great hockey player can make a team unstoppable. The opposing team must account for them. Who would you rank as the best?
5. Maurice Richard (Montreal Canadians)
Maurice “Rocket” Richard is the namesake of the award now given to the league’s top goal scorer at season’s end. He was the first great scorer. He earned 14 All-Star selections. Richard won eight championships with the Montreal Canadiens over an 18-year career. He was the first player to 500 goals. When he retired, Richard’s 544 goals stood as an all-time record. He totaled 965 points in 978 appearances leading to a 1961 induction into the Hall of Fame.
4. Mario Lemieux (Pittsburgh Penguins)
Mario Lemieux owns four of the 17 highest single-season outputs in league history. He is synonymous with the Pittsburgh Penguins, for whom he played his entire career. Wayne Gretzky is the only other player to tally 69 goals on four separate occasions. Lemieux totaled 1,723 points, won three Hart Trophies and two Stanley Cups, and made nine All-Star teams.
Lemieux began his storied Pittsburgh Penguins days with six consecutive 100-point campaigns, peaking at 199—the fifth-most ever—before an injury-shortened 1990-91. He’d ultimately record four more 100-point years despite a bout with cancer interrupting the prime of his career.
3. Bobby Orr (Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks)
Famous for his leaping celebration in the 1970 Stanley Cup Final (which might be the most iconic sports picture of all time), Bobby Orr was the first offensive defenseman. He was the Paul Coffey, before Paul Coffey. Injuries shortened Orr‘s career. He scored 270 goals and had 645 assists which totaled 915 points. All of which were records for his position at the time. He did that in just 657 games.
In 1969-70, he became the first defenseman to ever lead the league in points (120). Orr finished second with a career-high 139 the next season before returning to the No. 1 spot with 135 in 1974-75. He scored at least 100 points in 6 consecutive seasons. But his offensive contributions are only part of Orr’s greatness. He secured eight straight Norris Trophies as the league’s top defenseman.
2. Gordie Howe (Detroit Red Wings, WHA, Hartford Whalers)
Howe started in the NHL with the Detroit Red Wings in 1946. After 32 professional seasons—and even skating alongside his sons Marty and Mark—the right winger played his last game in 1980 with the Hartford Whalers.
He is known as Mr. Hockey and spent 25 seasons in Detroit. Howe was not just an accumulator of statistics over a long career. He won six league MVP awards, six scoring titles, and four Stanley Cup championships. He is known for the “Gordie Howe Hat Trick,” which is accomplished with a goal, an assist, and a fight in a single game.
Howe, who also played six seasons in the WHA after his 25 with Detroit, wrapped up his career with 41 points. Otherwise, 1,809 of his 1,850 NHL points happened in Detroit. Nobody has appeared in more NHL games (1,767), and his 22 consecutive 20-goal NHL seasons remain unmatched. His longevity was something.
1. Wayne Gretzky (Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues, New York Rangers)
The Great One is the best scorer ever, and it’s not close. That is why he is still number one. For a simple explanation of Gretzky‘s dominance, consider this. He totaled 1,963 assists over his 21 years. No player in history has collected more goals and assists combined than he has assists, and you can add 894 more goals to that account.
Gretzky, who won the Stanley Cup four times, secured 18 All-Star nods (18!), 10 Art Ross Trophies (leading the NHL in points), and nine Hart Trophies (NHL Most Valuable Player). He played for four teams and made everyone he played with on all four of them better. He holds numerous career records in both the regular season and playoffs.
Honorable Mention
Honorable mentions do not help out that much when ranking NHL players because after the top 4 the next 20, or so, great ones are all bunched together. Therefore, the list here is debatable and the recent goal-scoring record by Alexander Ovechkin could be argued to change the rankings. However, he is just a goal scorer, and this list is for more well-rounded players. So, here is the list.
Bryan Trottier (New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins), Guy Lafleur (Montreal Canadians); Mark Messier (Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers), Jean Beliveau (Montreal Canadians), Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins).
Conclusion
After the top 4 NHL players, the rest of the top players are all bunched together. This makes ranking the honorable mentions particularly difficult. That said ranking the top hockey player of all time, despite the fact he is recently no longer the top goal scorer in the NHL history, was not difficult.
