In a new feature aimed to warm the heart and numb the mind, Buster Gunning presents “Busters Little Heroes”, tales of local amateur athletes who go above and beyond their sport and achieve greatness, if only for one day. This week’s her, Paul Homenock of Dallas, Texas, is fresh off a four-ringer performance at a Dallas pool party last weekend.
Throughout the year we will be ranking who we think the top 5 players are in each position every month. These lists will change and it’s based on what they’ve done thus far in the year.
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By Nick Obergan
10. Stan Mikita – Chicago Black Hawks – 21 seasons/1394 games
Mikita’s career began in the 1959-60 season and as the decade progressed, he turned into one of, if not the, best center in all of the `60s. He began as a very physical player who piled up more penalty minutes than points. In his first 6 seasons he acquired 685 penalty minutes in 408 games; however, he also notched 408 points. He changed his ways, however, and later won the Lady Byng Trophy for his sportsmanship in 1967 and 1968. Those 2 seasons also saw Mikita win the Art Ross for leading the league in points, and also the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP both years. He won the Art Ross two more times earlier that decade in 1964 and 1965. His career total of 1467 points ranked 2nd all-time to Gordie Howe when Stan retired in 1980 and now sits 13th. In his second full season, 1960-61, the Hawks won the Stanley cup, and haven’t won it since. In all, he played in the playoffs in 18 seasons, totaling 59 goals, 90 assists and 150 points in 155 games. Mikita was a 9-time All-Star between 1964 and 1975 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame on his first ballot in 1983. The Hawks haven’t been the same since.
9. Joe Sakic – Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche – 20 seasons/1343 games + counting
Sakic is one of the great all-around players and leaders of the modern era. Though his age is climbing and retirement has to be a thought in the near future, he is showing no signs of slowing down coming off his 6th 100-point season last year at age 37. He has never been the greatest goal scorer or the greatest playmaker but always very good at both. Twice he has scored more than 50 goals, three more times he scored over 40, and three more over 30. His career started much like Steve Yzerman’s – he was an offensive-minded player putting up big numbers on a very bad team. In his first 3 years in the league he was -102. He played 4 more years in Quebec before the franchise relocated to Colorado in 1995 where he has enjoyed his most success. The Avalanche were one of the dominant forces in the Western Conference in the late ‘90s and the early part of the following decade, and Joe won 2 Stanley Cups to prove it. He has notched 178 points in 162 playoff games, which puts him 11th all-time (and only 12 points shy of 6th place). Among his playoff heroics is his record 6 overtime winners, many coming by way of his wrist shot which is considered one of the best ever. His best season was the 2000-2001 season when he scored 54 goals, assisted on 64 others, and led the league with a +45 rating en route to winning the Hart Trophy (MVP), Lady Byng (Most Sportsmanlike) and Pearson Award (MVP voted by his peers). He has also won a Conn Smythe (playoff MVP) in 1996 after scoring 34 points in 22 games and has been an All-Star 13 times, scoring 22 points which is third ever behind Gretzky and Lemieux. His gaudy career numbers (617 goals – 14th, 994 assists -11th, 1611 points – 8th) are sure to make him a first ballot Hall of Famer whenever he decides to hang the skates up.
8. Nicklas Lidstrom – Detroit Red Wings – 16 seasons/1216 games + counting
It’s plain and simple: whenever the 37-year old decides to retire, he will go down as one of the five best defensemen to ever play the game. One could even make a case that he is the best European born and trained player to ever play in the NHL (as The Hockey News suggests). The only defenseman that is clearly better is Bobby Orr. A case could be made for Lidstrom against any other D-man: Doug Harvey, Ray Bourque, Paul Coffey, Denis Potvin, Phil Housley, you name it. He has amassed a career of astonishing consistency. Seven times he has had over 60 points, and five other times he had at least 56. In the 2005-06 season he set a Red Wings' record for points in a season by a defenseman with 80. For his career, he is 2 assists shy of 700 and has 904 career points. If he continues at his current pace of production (last year he had 62 points in 80 games, this year he has 36 points in 40 games), he should reach the 1000-point plateau sometime next season – becoming just the 8th defenseman to ever reach that mark – as well as reach 800 assists which only 5 defenseman have done. It is not just his offense that makes him special though, but also the fact that he is considered one of the most intellectually gifted players in the league. Instead of issuing bone-crushing hits, he relies on his smarts to beat players to any spot on the ice and create turnovers through interceptions and deft stick-work. Nightly he plays against the opposing team’s top offensive line and since ESPN started keeping track of ice-time, he has never averaged less than 27 minutes per game – almost half the game. You only need to look at his trophy case to see if he has any peers in today’s game: he has been nominated for the Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenseman 9 times in the last 8 seasons, and has won 5 of them – only Bobby Orr (8), Doug Harvey (7) and Ray Bourque (5) have won as many. He has been an All-Star 9 times and is guaranteed his 10th this year. He was a key member of the Red Wings’ Cup teams in 1997, 1998 and 2002, winning the Conn Smythe in 2002. In fact, he has had a stellar post-season career as well, notching 97 assists (2nd among active players) and 136 points in 192 games. The production never ends.
7. Bobby Clarke – Philadelphia Flyers – 15 seasons/1144 games
If you are not from Philadelphia, odds are when you hear the name Bobby Clarke, you think of a hard-nosed, gritty leader who captained the ‘Broad Street Bullies’ in the 1970s to 2 Stanley Cup victories. What you may not remember are the armful of accolades and trophies he won along the way as one of the best players on ice in that era. You likely don’t remember that he had back-to-back 89-assist seasons. When he retired in 1984, his 852 career assists were good for 4th all-time (now 22nd), and his 1210 career points were 11th (now 40th). His leadership was evident by his captaincy for 10 seasons and the fact that he was a player/assistant coach for 3 others. His perseverance and determination through injuries earned him the Bill Masterton Trophy in 1972. He won the Hart Trophy as league MVP three times in four seasons (1973, ’75, ’76) and winning the Pearson award for MVP voted by the Player’s Association in 1974. These are lofty praises when you think of the other great players battling him for these honors at that time: Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Guy LaFleur and Bill Barber to name a few. He also earned praises as one of the best defensive forwards of that era and perhaps ever, winning the Selke Trophy in 1983 and boasting a career plus/minus of +506. He owns numerous Flyers' career records: points, assists, games played, +/-, shorthanded goals (32), playoff games played (136), playoff assists (77), and playoff points (119). After he retired he immediately became general manager, and three years later he was a first ballot Hall of Famer. Now that you know all of this, perhaps you will remember him differently when his name is mentioned; he was one of the best.
6. Maurice Richard – Montreal Canadiens – 18 seasons/978 games
“The Rocket’s” impact is legendary amongst hockey fans, particularly those in Canada and especially in Quebec. He was the league’s very first truly great and pure goal scorer. He was the first ever player to score 50 goals in 50 games in 1944-45. To note just how rare and impressive that feat is, Mike Bossy was the next to achieve this feat, doing it in the 1980-81 season – 35 years later. Since Bossy, it hasn’t even been completed a dozen times; Wayne Gretzky accounted for three of those. Now, goalies are better, and it is a feat in itself just to score 50 goals at all. To ensure that his scoring touch would never be forgotten, the Canadiens' organization donated a trophy to the NHL simply called the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy, and it gets handed out to the player(s) with the most goals during the regular season. Despite playing 18 seasons, all of which were played during the Original Six era of the NHL, Rocket doesn’t crack the top-50 in the career points' list. In fact, he didn’t even average a point per game, notching 965 career points in 978 games. But let’s not forget, he wasn’t about getting points; he was about scoring. He scored 544 goals in his career – the first to ever reach 500 goals – and he still sits 23rd all-time in that department. Richard did plenty of damage in the playoffs as well, winning 8 Stanley Cups and captaining the last 5. He is tied (with Joe Sakic) for 7th all-time in playoff goals with 82 and tied for 1st (with Sakic) all-time with 6 overtime winners. In addition to being a gifted goal scorer, Richard was a very physical and intimidating player. He was also one of the best.
5. Jean Beliveau – Montreal Canadiens – 18 seasons/1125 games
It was very difficult to distinguish Beliveau and Richard when I wasn’t around to watch them play at the time. Watching clips now doesn’t help much when judging their entire careers. But I found there was a few things that separate the two Montreal greats, and both landed in Beliveau’s favor of having a greater career. One aspect was the quantity of winning. Beliveau’s 10 Stanley Cups as a player are second only to former teammate Henri Richard’s 11. Five of his Cup victories were after Rocket Richard retired, and his last 3 were after the NHL expanded from 6 teams to 12, making winning a bit more difficult with more competition, and all the more impressive than Rocket’s 8 Cups. Though he wasn’t a pure goal scorer in the sense that Rocket and Bossy were, he still notched 507 career goals and averaged over a point per game to amass 1219 for his career, good for 38th all-time and 2nd in Canadiens' history to Guy LaFleur (Beliveau’s 712 career assists are also 2nd in team history to LaFleur). He won two league MVP’s (Hart Trophy) in 1956 and 1964 – the fact that they were 8 seasons apart are indicative of how long he was a truly great player – an Art Ross trophy (most points in 1956) and a Conn Smythe (playoff MVP in 1965). He played in 14 All-Star games, is the longest-serving captain in team history (1961-1971), and they have been trying to find someone to replace his overall impact ever since his retirement in following the 1971 season.
4. Mike Bossy – New York Islanders – 10 seasons/752 games
Bossy was probably the hardest to rank on this list. He could be higher if looking strictly at what he accomplished over a 10-year period that was statistically better than Yzerman’s first 10 years (however, you would also have to factor in that goals were more plentiful in Bossy’s era than the one in which Yzerman played). But, he could also be lower because when talking about careers, you have to take into account longevity, something Beliveau and Richard had. His reign as one of the NHL’s premier goal scorers was phenomenal, though. He scored 51 or more goals in each of his first 9 seasons (he had 38 in his injury riddled final year), scoring more than 60 on 5 occasions. In 1980-81 he became the first player since Rocket Richard to score 50 goals in the first 50 games. His 83 assists and 147 points in 1982 were records for a right winger (those have since been broken by Jaromir Jagr’s 87/149 in 1996). Despite only playing half of the games of some of the game’s all-time best, Bossy is 17th in goals scored with 573 (more than anyone on this list except Yzerman and Lemieux) and 49th in career points with 1126. Just 200 more points, or 2 healthy seasons, would have him jump to 28th. Bossy also won 4 straight Cups from 1980-83, and no team has won more than 2 in a row since. His 85 career playoff goals (69 over a 5-year period of Cup Finals appearances) are good for 6th all-time. He won the Calder trophy (top rookie), the Conn Smythe in ’82 (playoff MVP), and was the league’s most sportsmanlike player 3 times (’83, ’84, ’86) but retired at the age of 30 due to injuries.
3. Steve Yzerman – Detroit Red Wings – 22 seasons/1514 games
In Detroit, he was known simply as “The Captain,” which is fitting because he is the longest-serving captain for one team in the history of any major sport in North America (1986-2006). “Stevie Y” embodied everything you want to build your franchise around: a hard worker who led by his example and conduct on the ice; he made his teammates accountable but not before himself; played through pain; did whatever was best for the team. In an era where the names Gretzky and Lemieux dominated, Yzerman was often forgotten outside of Detroit. What people do recall about him was his determination, class, and fantastic 2-way play that led to back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1997 & 1998 (both sweeps) and another in 2002. What some tend to forget was how dominant and gifted he was offensively to begin his career. Yzerman owns the league’s highest ever single-season point total by anyone other than Lemieux or Gretzky when he scored 65 goals and dished out 90 assists for 155 points in the 1988-89 season – the season he won the Lester B. Pearson award for the MVP as voted by the NHL Player’s Association. In his first 10 seasons he played 757 games and scored 1040 points (his 1755 career points rank 6th all-time). Then Detroit hired Scotty Bowman as their head coach, and he made Yzerman accountable defensively like no coach before him. Yzerman realized the importance of 2-way play for his team especially given the Wings had another 1-way forward on their roster in Sergei Fedorov. Yzerman, a 10-time All-Star who was known for not playing defense at all, would become one of the best defensive forwards in the game, earning a Selke Award for just that in 2000. Maybe the most fitting example of how great his career was in 2005. After he notified Team Canada that he would not play in the 2006 Olympics because he felt that younger, quicker players would make the team better, Wayne Gretzky announced that the country was retiring #19, and just as in Detroit, no one else for Team Canada would ever don that number again.
2. Martin Brodeur – New Jersey Devils – 15 seasons/925 games + counting
Brodeur is the only goalie on the list and one starting to make his case as the game’s best of all time. Pretty much anything that needs to be said about Marty can be found here. With him as the #1 goaltender, the Devils have led the league in fewest goals against 4 times and likely have come close every other year. He carried a franchise known for its lack of offensive firepower to 3 Stanley Cup victories between 1995 and 2003. He has won 3 Vezina trophies as the league’s top goalie (2003, ’04, ’07) and played in every All-Star game from 1996-2004 (the 2002 All-Star game was replaced by the Winter Olympics, where Brodeur backstopped Team Canada to a gold medal). In 2007 he set the single-season wins record with 48. Brodeur has won at least 35 games for 10 straight seasons and is the only goalie ever to have six 40-win seasons. He needs only 39 wins, 9 regular season shutouts and 2 playoff shutouts to become the career leader in those important stats.
1. Mario Lemieux – Pittsburgh Penguins – 17 seasons/915 games
Lemieux is arguably (possibly without argument, actually) the second best player of all-time behind Wayne Gretzky. However, when assessing his career, you need to factor in his lack of health that began with his 1993 announcement that he had Hodgkin’s Disease (a cancer of the lymph node involving radiation treatment) and continued with two back surgeries and an irregular heartbeat. The late ‘80s and '90s belonged to Lemieux and Gretzky. “Super Mario” scored his 600th career goal in only his 719th NHL game (Gretzky did it in his 718th). Lemieux has 10 100-point seasons to Gretzky’s 15. The only stat I could find where he bettered Gretzky was goals per game (Mario’s 0.75 was much better than Wayne’s 0.6). His numbers as they sit are impressive on their own: 1723 career points (7th all-time), 690 goals (9th), 1033 assists (10th). But what if we take Lemieux’s career points-per-game rate (1.88, second to Gretzky’s 1.92) and make-believe that he was not so injury riddled? He only played 53.8 games per season on average throughout his career; what if he averaged 70 games played per season over his 17 year career? 1190 games played x 1.88 points-per-game would equal 2237 career points – 350 more points than Mark Messier who currently sits second on the all-time list. That doesn’t factor in his first retirement where he did not play between 1997 and 2000 nor the strike that wiped out the 2004-05 season. His career as it is, though, is still phenomenal. Lemieux won 3 MVP’s (‘88, ‘93, ’96), 6 scoring titles (’88, ’89, ’92, ’93, ’96, ’97), 2 Stanley Cups & Conn Smythes (’91, ’92), Rookie of the Year (’85), and what amounts to a boatload of other awards. He was in almost in a class by himself.
