BEST PLAYER IN THE LEAGUE

There may not be a definitive answer as to who the greatest NHL hockey player of all time is, as it's a matter of personal opinion and interpretation. Many fans and experts have their personal favorites and use their own criteria for this determination.

Excluding Goaltenders:

There are no goaltenders on this list as comparing goaltenders and skaters in ice hockey is extraordinarily challenging and nearly impossible for many reasons. It is similar to comparing a Major League baseball pitcher to a hitter. How can one compare the player you are considering to a modern day Babe Ruth or the dual threat and MLB’s “unicorn”, Shohei Ohtani? Analyzing goaltenders and skaters on a direct, one-to-one basis is seemingly impossible as each contributes uniquely and differently to the game. Fans of Patrick Roy, Dominik Hasek, Martin Brodeur, Ken Dryden, Jacques Plante, and Terry Sawchuck must separate goaltending skills from this discussion on the best skater ever. An interesting fact is that perhaps the greatest skater and greatest goaltender, Mario Lemieux and Patrick Roy, were both born on the same day (October 5, 1965) in the Province of Quebec.

Modern Era Players:

In 1944-45, Maurice Richard of the Montreal Canadiens was the first player in NHL history to score 50 goals in one season. Thus, making a definitive judgment call that any great NHL players who played prior to Maurice Richard’s achievements will not be included in the pool of players for discussion. Howie Morenz, Cy Denneny, Eddie Shore, Charlie Conacher, “Dit” Clapper and Toe Blake are not given status for this conversation. In addition the Zamboni was invented in the same decade and soon brought consistency to ice playing surfaces across the NHL.

Honorable Mentions:

Jean Beliveau, Stan Mikita, Phil Esposito, Marcel Dionne, Guy Lafleur, Denis Potvin, Mike Bossy, Ray Bourque, Mark Messier, Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull, Joe Sakic, Teemu Selanne and Paul Coffey

All of the honorable mentions above could be included in a broader debate of the greatest NHL player ever if we decided to include additional top players from the modern era. I am a fan of all of these legends of the NHL, but when looking at which ones make the list of best players of their era, in my opinion these players do not make the final cut. Many had great teammates: Jean Beliveau - Maruice Richard, Stan Mikita - Bobby Hull, Phil Esposito - Bobby Orr, Mark Messier - Wayne Gretzky, etc. Deciding who is the best player of all time one must consider which of the two paired teammates could be considered the more dominant and accomplished player.

We began the list trying to narrow it down to ten players who could be arguably considered as the best ever based upon the era that they played, and We finished with eleven possible skaters.

Points per Game / Adjusted Points per Game:

All time Points per Game NHL leaders are all some of the most amazing NHL players in history.

It is hard to evaluate players across different era's, but to be transparent we can use Hockey-Reference’s era-adjusted Points information to manually calcuate the Adjusted Points Per Game average for some of the greatest players of all time.

Conner McDavid does come out on top slightly ahead of Lemieux at #2 and Gretzky at #3 using Hockey Reference on era scoring adjustment. But Gretzky and Lemieux finished their careers where McDavid is in the peak scoring prime of his career based upon his current age. Gretzky and Lemieux were both over 2 points a game at the same age that McDavid is currently, again adjusting for era.

Evaluating the top 11:

Each of these players (including some of the honorable mentions) could be debated as being the best player in the league during their playing careers. The Chart above is based upon the criteria on the previous page trying to be as objective as possible. Each of these players have merits for their inclusion when debating who is the greatest player ever.

Looking at the criteria, quantitiative statistical measures as well as NHL game highlights, I believe the Final Four in no particular order would be Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. The Atheltic recently did an article choosing the top 100 NHL players in history, post the 1967 expansion (meaning Gordie Howe was not eligible). They had Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux as their top 3. As amazing player and trailblazer, Orr changed the game from a defensmen position, but his career was cut noticeably short by knee injuries. Gordie Howe played before the mass adoption of the curved hockey stick blade and goaltenders started wearing masks in the 1960's. Gordie was known for his toughness and his goal scoring ability with a "Gordie Howe Hat Trick" (when a player collects a goal, an assist and a fight in the same game) named after him. I found it humorous when I learned that Gordie Howe only recorded this feat twice in his career. Rick Tocchet holds the record of 18 during his playing career with Brendan Shanahan a close second with 17. Due to Orr's incredible but short career and Gordie playing playing in the original 6 era, I would eliminate them from the conversation on the "Best Ever", which leaves us with Gretzky vs Lemieux for comparison. Two players close enough in age that they played both with each other and against each other, with overlapping careers.