#5 Steve Yzerman – A lifetime Red Wing, “ Stevie Wonder” amassed 1,755 points in his career with 692 goals. Yzerman was the Red Wings first round pick 4th overall in the 1983 NHL entry draft and was an immediate contributor scoring 87 points in his rookie campaign. Steve was undersized, but he had the heart of a lion. Early in his career Steve was known as a gifted offensive player, recording 155 points while winning the Lester B. Pearson Trophy. As the leader of the Detroit Red Wings, Yzerman changed his game in the 90’s, becoming a threat on the defensive end. In order to win the Stanley Cup Steve worked hard on his defensive game with the help of legendary coach Scotty Bowman. In 2000 Yzerman won the Frank Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward in the game. Over his career Steve Yzerman won three Stanley Cups (‘97,’98,2002) winning the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1998 as the top player in the playoffs. “Stevie Wonder” sits 5th all time in league scoring and is known as one the best leaders ever.

#4 Phil Esposito – Phil played in the league from 1963-1964 until 1980-1981 recording 1,590 points good for eighth all time. Esposito led the league in scoring five times and won the Hart trophy as league MVP in 1969 and 1974. His most productive year was in 1970-1971 when he recorded 76 goals and 76 assists for 155 points with a plus ranking of 71. He spent time with three franchises the Chicago Blackhawks (4 years), the Boston Bruins (9 years) and the New York Rangers (6 years) to end out his career. Phil was a leader for Canada in the 1972 summit series, one the best moments in Canadian hockey history. During the summit series Esposito led Canada with 7 goals and 13 points in an 8 game series against Russia. Phil was a great playoff performer recording 137 points in a career 130 playoff games.

#3 Marcel Dionne - Marcel played his first season with the Detroit Red Wings in 1971-1972, but is well known as a Los Angeles King where he played 12 seasons. Fourth all time in scoring as a center, Dionne had 731 career goals and 1,771 career points. Marcel was known as a sniper firing shots from all over the ice and recorded over 230 power play goals over his illustrious career. He won the Art Ross in 1980 as the leagues leading scorer when he recorded 53 goals and 137 points. Playing in Los Angeles Dionne didn’t have the playoff success as the rest of the guys on this list only playing 49 career playoff games. Marcel represented his home country Canada through out his career in Canada Cups. It would have been nice to see Marcel Dionne play in more meaningful NHL games, we will never know how great he could have been. His downfall will always be that he never played more then 10 playoff games within a single season and no Stanley Cups.

#2 Mario Lemieux – “Super Mario” cannot be over looked as maybe the bast talent the NHL has ever seen. He battled injuries and illness throughout his career and played less games then anyone else on this list. He only played 915 games and still recorded 1,723 career points. He was drafted 1st overall in 1984 and played his entire career with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He won the Calder Trophy that year and went on to lead the Penguins to two Stanley Cup titles. No doubt his best season was in 1988-1989 when he recorded an astonishing 199 points with 85 goals and 114 assists. Lemieux was big and he had great hands and scored highlight goals seemingly in every game he played in. Mario also led Team Canada to an Olympic Gold Medal in 2002 along side another person on this list Steve Yzerman. Injuries and cancer caused Lemieux to retire from hockey after the 1997 season, but he made a triumphant return in 2000. Who knows if it wasn’t for the injuries and missed time we might talk about Mario Lemieux as the best player to ever lace up skates.

#1 Wayne Gretzky - Surprise, Surprise the “Great One” is at the top of this list. Wayne is the most productive player in NHL history, from the day he entered the NHL he was the best player on the ice. The career leader points Gretzky had 894 goals, 1963 assists and 2,857 points throughout his record smashing career. He won the Hart trophy as league MVP nine times and was by far the best player in the NHL throughout the ‘80’s. Its hard to say what his best season was, he recorded three straight years of 200 or more points between 1983-1987. He scored a career high 92 goals in the 1981-1982. He also was a great playoff performer winning the Conn Smythe for top performer in the playoffs twice, and recorded a career 382 playoff points. “The Great One” led the league in scoring 10 times and led the league in plus/minus four times. Wayne is the best player to ever play and I could go on forever listing his career records and highlights.

I would be remised if I didn’t mention some of the players who easily could have made this list, Mark Messier, Ron Francis, Stan Mikita, Joe Sakic, Alex Delvecchio and Bryan Trottier All of these players are hall of famers and are big part of NHL history

The six cities that were selected were California Seals , St. Louis Blues, Los Angeles Kings, Pittsburgh Penguins, Minnesota North Stars and Philadelphia Flyers. Unlike other professional sports leagues in North America, the NHL choose add all teams in one season. The biggest fear upon expanding the league was that the play would weaken with double the amount of players in the league. To fill the new rosters the NHL held an Expansion Draft in the summer of 1967, and each of the new six teams would pick 20 players from the existing NHL rosters. Some big names found their way to new franchises the Los Angeles Kings selected the legendary Terry Sawchuk from Toronto, the Maple Leafs also lost Bob Baun to the California Seals. Bruins goalie Bernie Parent went to Philadelphia and Glenn Hall moved from Chicago to St. Louis. The NHL also increased it schedule having each team play 74 games, increased from 70 games. The top four teams from each division would make the playoffs, and you would have to win three seven game series to win the Cup.

When the 1967-1968 season started it was clear the original six teams were still by far the class of the league. The Montreal Canadians won the regular season title and ended up facing the St. Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup Final. Montreal easily beat St. Louis in four games to claim Lord Stanley’s Cup. The Chicago Blackhawks forward Stan Mikita led the league with 87 points and claimed Most Valuable Player honors, Rogatien Vachon and Gump Worsley of Montreal split the best goalie honor and Bobby Hull led the league with 44 goals. The Oakland Seals (California Seals) were the worst team in league finishing with only 15 wins and missed the playoffs by 22 points.

In the 1967 season a young defenseman from Boston named Bobby Orr won the Calder Trophy (top Rookie), but in the 1968 season you really saw what he was going to become. He won his first Norris Trophy (top defenseman) and he would go on to win eight straight Norris’. Orr’s skill and talent would go on to change the game for ever, and is widely considered the best defenseman in NHL history. He was faster and stronger then most NHL players and he used those skills to score the famous Cup winning goal in 1970.

The Original NHL expansion in 1967-1968 expansion was a success for the league. Four of the franchises still play in their original locations Philadelphia, Los Angeles, St. Louis and Pittsburgh. The Philadelphia Flyers won the first Cup from an expansion team in 1974 and once again in 1975 led by forward Bobby Clarke and goalie Bernie Parent. Philadelphia has become one of the best hockey markets in the world, with devoted fans who love their tough Flyers.

In 1970 the NHL expanded again and added the Vancouver Canucks and the Buffalo Sabres. The expansion continues in 1972-1973 adding the Atlanta Flames and the New York Islanders and once again in 1974-1975 adding the Kansas City Scouts and the Washington Capitols. By this time some of the franchises were having troubles and would be relocated. The league now had 18 teams located all over North America, but not all the locations were selected well. The California Golden Seals had to move to Cleveland and Kansas City had to move to Colorado. Even after the move the original California franchise, that was now in Cleveland was forced to merge with the North Stars in Minnesota. The 70’s was a turbulent time for the NHL, lots of new teams and current teams finding new locations.

The 1970’s were ruled by the Montreal Canadian’s dynasty, Montreal won multiple cups. Led by exciting forward Guy Lafleur, defenseman Larry Robinson and solid goaltending by Ken Dryden. Lafleur was a first overall pick by the Canadians and played his first season in the 1971-1972 season. By the 1974 season Guy had become one of the if not the best player in the NHL and was a fan favorite at the infamous Montreal Forum. In the 1974-1975 season Lafleur almost doubled his career high in points in a season recording over 50 goals and 100 points, he would go on repeat those numbers for the next 5 years. For six straight years Guy was on top and leading the best team in the NHL, on his way to becoming the highest scoring player in Canadians history. Marcel Dionne was another player who was on top of his game in the 70’s, playing with both the Red Wings and the Kings he scored 40 plus goals six times in the decade. Unlike Lafleur, Dionne never had the team success with Los Angeles or Detroit.

In 1967 the NHL decided to expand and really has never stopped since. The decision to put 6 teams in to the league in one season was controversial, but ultimately successful. Four of those original six expansion franchises exist in their original form. The NHL continued to expand to its original state, with some great moves and some moves that didn’t work out. The truth of the matter is that if the NHL doesn’t expand in the 60’s we will never know what would have happened, but you can be assured the league benefitted from it. The expansion years caused a changing of the guard in the NHL, new owners, new players and eventually the need for European players.

The Stanley Cup, is awarded annually to the Champion of the NHL. Unique to the National Hockey League the same Stanley Cup is awarded ever year and carries a lot of history and tradition. The name of the winning players, coaches, management, and staff are engraved on it for future generations to appreciate. The Stanley Cup was donated by Lord Stanley to be presented to the best amateur hockey team in Canada, but was purchased by the NHL in 1947, although he had been contested for by the NHL since 1926.

The 25 year original six era was dominated by dynasties. The Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup nine times in the 25 years, but have not been able to win it since 1967. The Montreal Canadians won five straight Stanley Cups 1956 – 1960, led by “The Rocket”. From 1948-1954 the Detroit Red Wings won seven consecutive regular season titles, no other team in NHL history have ever matched there regular season success.

Maurice “The Rocket” Richard of the Montreal Canadians became the first player to score 50 goals in one season in 1944-1945. Scoring 50 goals became the mark that all NHL goal scorers would try and reach, and is still the benchmark today.” The Rocket” played in Montreal from 1942 to 1960 and was widely considered the best player in the game and was idolized by Canadians fans. Richard was the first player to reach 500 goals in a career, he had 544 goals and 965 points over his career with Montreal.

Gordie Howe or Mr Hockey as you may know him played his first professional game in 1946 as a member of the Detroit Red Wings. He was an 18 year old right winger, who quickly established himself as a tremendous goal scorer and play maker. Gordie was a great goal scorer, but its important not to over look his physical toughness, he was as feisty as they come not shying away from fights. The saying “Gordie Howe hat trick” was coined for the way Gordie played. a goal, an assist, and a fight in one game. Mr. Hockey’s career spanned five decades and he retired as the highest scoring player in NHL history. Howe and Richard will go down as the best players of the era and be compared to each other forever.

In 1958 the colour barrier was broken in the NHL when Willie O’Ree played for the Boston Bruins. Willie only played 45 career NHL games, and faced constant taunts and racism, he scored four goals in his career. In 1956 Jacques Plante a goalie with the Montreal Canadians became the first to wear a face mask. Hard to imagine today, but goaltenders used to block shots with nothing protecting there face from the puck. Plante was good , but Terry Sawchuk was arguably the best goalie of the Era. Terry made his NHL debut in 1950 as a member of the Detroit Red Wings and amassed 501 wins and 115 shutouts over his career (including playoffs) Terry helped lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to there final Stanley cup in 1967.

In the early days a lot of the NHL was controlled by the Norris family, they had a stake in as many as four NHL teams. The Norris family owned the Detroit Red Wings, had a partnership with the Blackhawks and had control of Madison Square Gardens where the New York Rangers played. The Chicago Blackhawks history has always been one of disappointment, never having a team that was dominant for an extended period of time. Chicago did win a cup in 1961 led by the newly acquired Ted Lindsay and Glen Hall, but haven’t managed to win one since.

In 1952, Hockey Night in Canada was brought to the airways. The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) put a hockey game between t

weekly game quickly became the highest rated shows on Canadian television and still is highly rated to this day. The first players union was introduced in 1957, by Red Wings forward Ted Lindsay as a result of the owners not opening up the books. The players wanted increased wages and pensions, this caused a rift between the players and the ownership and Lindsay was traded to the Blackhawks as a punishment.

The NHL has had its ups and downs in its historic run as the dominant hockey league in the world. A lot of hockey people will tell you that between 1942 and 1967 you could have witnessed the best game ever. The rivalries were great between the teams and there players. Dynasties ruled the era with the Montreal Canadians, Toronto Maple and Detroit Red Wings battling it out every year for the right to win Lord Stanley’s Cup. Hockey will never be as pure as it was in the original six era, we will never see players like Gordie Howe or Maurice Richard in today’s game. The mixture or skill and toughness made the game exciting no matter what brand of hockey you preferred. Along the way technology made the game more excess able and a lot of people were exposed to the game for the first time. All hockey fans should look back at the history, I guarantee you will have a better appreciation for the game. The NHL is full of history that is un-matched in any other professional leagues. Hockey players dream of skating around the ice lifting Lord Stanley’s Cup or having there name written along the sides of there idols.