On Friday, January 27, as part of the NHL All-Star Weekend, the NHL unveiled their 100 Greatest NHL Players of all-time during a ceremony that took place at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles.
And by all-time, I mean all-time.
The list ranged anywhere from Mr. Hockey to The Great One to Sid the Kid. The Montreal Canadiens were well covered, with 24 players making the list.
The impressive list had some great Canadiens nicknames as well: all-time top goal-scorer, The Rocket; 10-time Stanley Cup-winner, The Roadrunner, and; a three-time Conn Smythe Trophy-winner named Saint Patrick, just to name a few.
So who among them are considered the greatest players of all-time in the NHL?
Goaltenders
Georges Vézina (1910-1926)
Bill Durnan (1943-1950)
Jacques Plante (1952-1963)
Tony Esposito (1968-1969)
Ken Dryden (1970-1979)
Patrick Roy (1984-1995)
Centres
Howie Morenz (1923-1937)
Elmer Lach (1940-1954)
Jean Béliveau (1950-1971)
Henri Richard (1955-1975)
Jacques Lemaire (1967-1979)
Denis Savard (1990-1993)
Wingers
Toe Blake (1935-1948)
Maurice Richard (1942-1960)
Bernard Geoffrion (1950-1964)
Dickie Moore (1951-1963)
Yvan Cournoyer (1963-1979)
Guy Lafleur (1971-1985)
Frank Mahovlich (1970-1974)
Bob Gainey (1973-1989)
Defensemen
Doug Harvey (1947-1961)
Serge Savard (1966-1981)
Larry Robinson (1972-1989)
Chris Chelios (1983-1990)
There have been so many great Canadiens to hit the ice over the years, with many great accomplishments among them. What do you think of the list? Are there players who should or should not be included on the Top 100 List?
The other 76 members to be named were:
Sid Abel
Syl Apps
Andy Bathgate
Max Bentley
Mike Bossy
Ray Bourque
Johnny Bower
Turk Broda
Martin Brodeur
Johnny Bucyk
Pavel Bure
King Clancy
Bobby Clarke
Paul Coffey
Charlie Conacher
Sidney Crosby
Pavel Datsyuk
Alex Delvecchio
Marcel Dionne
Phil Esposito
Sergei Fedorov
Peter Forsberg
Ron Francis
Grant Fuhr
Mike Gartner
Wayne Gretzky
Glenn Hall
Dominik Hasek
Tim Horton
Gordie Howe
Bobby Hull
Brett Hull
Jaromir Jagr
Patrick Kane
Duncan Keith
Red Kelly
Ted Kennedy
Dave Keon
Jari Kurri
Pat LaFontaine
Brian Leetch
Mario Lemieux
Nicklas Lidstrom
Eric Lindros
Ted Lindsay
Al MacInnis
Mark Messier
Stan Mikita
Mike Modano
Scott Niedermayer
Joe Nieuwendyk
Adam Oates
Bobby Orr
Alex Ovechkin
Bernie Parent
Brad Park
Gilbert Perreault
Denis Potvin
Chris Pronger
Jean Ratelle
Luc Robitaille
Joe Sakic
Borje Salming
Terry Sawchuk
Milt Schmidt
Teemu Selanne
Brendan Shanahan
Eddie Shore
Darryl Sittler
Billy Smith
Peter Stastny
Scott Stevens
Mats Sundin
Jonathan Toews
Bryan Trottier
Steve Yzerman
