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Top 100 Defensemen of All-Time
In our 2020 Collectors' Edition, The Hockey News counts down the Top 100 Defensemen of All-Time and tells the tale of each legendary player on the list.
18. Brian Leetch
BORN: March 3, 1968, Corpus Christi, Texas NHL CAREER: 1988-2006 TEAMS: NYR, Tor, Bos STATS: GP 1,205 G 247 A 781 P 1,028 PIM 571 ALL-STAR: 5 (First-2, Second-3) TROPHIES: 4 (Norris-2, Smythe-1, Calder-1) STANLEY CUPS: 1 HHOF: 2009 BRIAN LEETCH laughed. The puck was about to drop, but he couldn’t help it. On March 24, 1988, his New York Rangers were hosting the Edmonton Oilers at Madison Square Garden. Leetch was a rookie playing in his 12th NHL game. He looked across at his opponents and saw three living legends from the greatest active dynasty in sports: Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri and Paul Coffey. “It’s the first time I’ve ever been that close to Wayne Gretzky, and he looks exactly the same as he does in magazines and on TV,” Leetch said. The pinch-me moment caused the laugh.…
7. Red Kelly
BORN: July 9, 1927, Simcoe, Ont. NHL CAREER: 1947-196 TEAMS: Det, Tor STATS: GP 1,316 G 281 A 542 P 823 PIM 327 ALL-STAR: 8 (First-6, Second-2) TROPHIES: 5 (Norris-1, Lady Byng-4) STANLEY CUPS: 8 HHOF: 1958 THE BIG NEWS DURING the 2020 NFL off-season was the decision by six-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady to take his services from the New England Patriots, the only NFL home he’d ever known, to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Imagine if after the move, the Bucs announced that Brady was switching positions from quarterback to safety? Now you know how Red Kelly felt in February 1960. Kelly was an NHL all-star defenseman, the first winner of the Norris Trophy as the league’s top rearguard. With the Detroit Red Wings, the only NHL home he’d known, Kelly played in seven Stanley Cup finals, winning four…
8. Larry Robinson
BORN: June 2, 1951, Winchester, Ont. NHL CAREER: 1972-1992 TEAMS: Mtl, LA STATS: GP 1,384 G 208 A 750 P 958 PIM 793 ALL-STAR: 6 (First-3, Second-3) TROPHIES: 3 (Norris-2, Smythe-1) STANLEY CUPS: 6 HHOF: 1995 NONE OF THIS WAS ever meant to happen. And it might not have if Larry Robinson hadn’t arrived in Brockville, Ont., for training camp in 1969 to play for a Jr. A team that had only three defensemen on the roster. Imagine, for a moment, Larry Robinson as a center. Would he have become the next Jean Beliveau, or perhaps the 1970s and ’80s version of Joe Thornton? Would he have made the NHL at all? All moot questions, because a coach by the name of Dan Dexter convinced Robinson to move to the blueline out of sheer desperation. “I had played Jr.…
59. Allan Stanley
BORN: March 1, 1926, Timmins, Ont. NHL CAREER: 1948-1969 TEAMS: NYR, Chi, Bos, Tor, Phi STATS: GP 1,244 G 100 A 333 P 433 PIM 792 ALL-STAR: 3 (Second-3) STANLEY CUPS: 4 HHOF: 1981 THOUGH HE PLAYED for four Original Six franchises during his career, Allan Stanley is best remembered for his days with the Maple Leafs of the 1960s. Those Buds won back-to-back-to-back Stanley Cups in the beginning of the decade, then one more in 1967 – and the franchise famously hasn’t won another since then. Like many members of Toronto’s core back in those days, Stanley hailed from northern Ontario – in his case, the mining town of Timmins (Frank Mahovlich was also born there). About an hour north of Timmins, up Highway 11, you’ll find Cochrane, Ont., the home of Tim Horton. Stanley and Horton…
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