In celebration of their 60th anniversary, The Hockey News took a look at the top ten players for each team over the past sixty years.
Here is how THN contributer Peter Kerzel (who also wrote this year’s Caps’ preview for the THN Annual Yearbook) saw Washington’s Top Ten:
- Peter Bondra
- Rod Langway
- Olaf Kolzig
- Mike Gartner
- Dale Hunter
- Kevin Hatcher
- Calle Johansson
- Bengt Gustafsson
- Scott Stevens
- Alex Ovechkin
Our own Gustafsson, who initially alerted us to the list, noted that Montreal’s top ten didn’t include Patrick Roy. (As Gustafsson said, it’s hard to move past Jacques Plante and Ken Dryden on that list.) Then he read on and discovered that Roy is #3 on the Colorado Avalanche’s top ten. Apparently the rank is, among other factors, based on a player’s time in each particular sweater, so there were a number of athletes who were listed more than once. These players included the following:
- Dave Andreychuk (BUF, TB)
- Rob Blake (COL, LA)
- Andrew Brunette (ATL, MIN)
- Pavel Bure (FLA, VAN)
- Dany Heatley (ATL, OTT)
- Sergei Fedorov (CLM, DET)
- Ron Francis (CAR, PIT)
- Wayne Gretzky (EDM, LA)
- Glenn Hall (CHI, STL)
- Arturs Irbe (CAR, SJ)
- Ed Jovanoski (FLA, VAN)
- Paul Kariya (ANA, NSH)
- Pat LaFontaine (BUF, NYI)
- Roberto Luongo (FLA, VAN)
- Ziggy Palffy (LA NYI)
- Jeremy Roenick (CHI, PHO)
- Mark Messier (EDM, NYR)
- Scott Niedermayer (ANA, NJ)
- Scott Stevens (NJ, WAS)
So what do you think? Did The Hockey News miss anyone or include someone they shouldn’t have?
Thanks to Gustafsson for so diligently reading The Hockey News and passing along the information.
9 Comments
It’s easy to diligently read The Hockey News when you’re in the hospital after the birth of a child and said child and wife are asleep and there is nothing on the whopping 15 channels on the hospital cable system. Unfortunately, the NHL Network has not been picked up by the INOVA Hospital System.
Even more fun is drafting a blog post on your cell phone for publishing by your blogmates. The hospital has 14 wireless networks and none are available for the patients.
Clearly, Jean-Luc Grand Pierre is an omission!
I think AO should be ahead of Calle Jo, but otherwise, it’s a stellar list, IMO. Tough to argue against that Top 5.
Congrats to Gustafsson and family
Is Kevin Hatcher really the sixth best player the Caps have ever had?
I think I would lose Hatcher and add Pivonka.
No space for Don Beaupre?
Ya gotta take Hatch off the list. He never gave the Caps 100%.
I actually agree with Hatcher’s placement. Once Stevens left, KH was the most important player on the team from 90-91 to 93-94. He was our best all-around player, always at the top or near the top in scoring and ice time, and one of our better defenders. When he went down in our 1990 Cup run, that was it for our offensively challenged team.
I agree that he definitely played soft after Stevens left and never reached his peak. He was a tough player when he joined the Caps - it’s too bad he tailed off so quickly and passively. But don’t underestimate his impact!
Langway should be first on the list. He essentially saved the Caps–the team was close to leaving town or folding before he arrived and became the key element in finally getting the Caps to the playoffs after 8 seasons in a row of missing them.
Ok, all those guys are good, but 5 guys who were not Caps long but still should be on the list (in no particular order):
1) Steve Konowalchuk–best captain, always gave the team 110%
2) Dave Poulin–instrumental in shutting down Mario Lemieux in the only time that the Caps beat the Penguins in the playoffs (’94)
3) Dino Ciccarelli–troubled guy off the ice but always fiesty, and dependable for scoring garbage goals
4) Joe Juneau–Scored the biggest goal in Caps history against Buffalo in ‘98 that sent the Caps to their only Cup Finals appearance
5)Dennis Maruk–Can you say “60 goals in 81-’82″????
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