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Top 50 Players of All-Time
The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.
No. 8 Left Winger Bobby Hull
Bobby Hull was a force. In full stride, he skated at almost 30 miles per hour. His slapshot travelled 118 mph, 19 mph faster than the winning blast at the 1997 all-star skills competition. The Golden Jet pushed the envelope on how fast a man could skate, how hard he could shoot, how bravely he could ask for more money and his charisma matched the power of his game. “You know,” he once told his Chicago Black Hawks’ coach Billy Reay, “I might want to coach some day.” “Geez,” Reay said, suddenly insecure, “I hope not here.” In Hull’s era, no player was bigger than his sport. Today every sport is only as big as its marquee players. For hockey, one of the master architects of that change was Robert Marvin Hull. Hull’s…
No. 24 Defenseman Larry Robinson
It is a trickle now, but once there was a flow of players from farms and small towns across Canada who brought with them a rural ethos that would shape the NHL. Eddie Shore walked off the farm in Ft. Qu’ Appelle, Sask., towards stardom and the Boston Bruins. Floral, Sask, gave the world Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull was the product of tiny Pt. Anne, Ont. Like them, Larry Robinson was a rural kid. Big, tough and a little slow to ripen. The Montreal Canadiens’ Hall of Fame defenseman grew up on a dairy farm in Marvelville, Ont., near Ottawa and over 20 NHL seasons, 17 in Montreal, pieced together a game born of the earth: resolute, relentless and powerful. While Robinson’s contributions far outstripped the statistical, his 958 points nonetheless remains the…
No. 19 Defenseman Denis Potvin
Because his middle-class family in Ottawa included two older brothers, Denis Potvin had to make do with third-hand hockey equipment. Maybe that’s why from the moment he stepped into the NHL, Potvin wanted to be front and center. Potvin battled New York Islanders’ coach Al Arbour over his playing style, distanced himself from teammates and flouted the demands of diplomacy. “I’m going to stir up people’s emotions one way or the other,” he said. Alternately egotistical and insecure, Potvin’s growth as a person and a player mirrored that of the Islanders from sad sack expansionists to four-time Stanley Cup champions. Potvin, a three-time Norris Trophy winner and fivetime first team all-star was the linchpin of the Islanders’ power play and a gifted offensive defenseman who broke the 20-goal standard nine times-sharing a record…
No. 21 Left Winger Ted Lindsay
To ‘Terrible’ Ted Lindsay there were no strangers, only players he hadn’t fought yet. In 1965, Lindsay retired not only as the NHL’s all-time penalty king, but also the catalyst of a Detroit Red Wings’ dynasty that saw the club claim four Stanley Cups and eight league titles. The Production Line, one of the greatest units of all time, was powered by Gordie Howe, steered by veteran center Sid Abel and sparked by Ted Lindsay. Lindsay, who played at 5-foot-8 and 160 pounds, was always the runt of the litter. He was the youngest of nine children and when the Kirkland Lake, Ont., native starred at Toronto’s St. Michael’s College, his destiny as a Maple Leaf seemed assured. But a knee injury soured the Leafs on Lindsay, who recovered and signed instead with…
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