#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