Inspired by Bill Simmons' great Book of Basketball, and his pyramid of the 96 greatest basketball players of all-time, here is my pyramid of 100+ hockey players, and where they rank in history.
A word about how I determine greatness. The absolute greatest players have a mixture of elite performance, reasonable longevity, team success, and perhaps some intangible element that makes them memorable throughout history. Given the choice between a player who was dominant in the game for perhaps five or six years vs. a player who was merely very good for a longer period of time, I tend to value the displays of dominance more than consistency and longevity. Having said that, consistently good production for 15-20 years has to count for something.
Taking a page from Simmons' "secret" of basketball, I've also given some points for team success, although not nearly to the degree that one should when judging basketball players (since teams often rely solely on their best player or second-best player to win games, whereas hockey is a true team game more akin to football). If a player disappeared when the chips were down (i.e. Joe Thornton), that's one thing, but one can't fault a Mats Sundin or a Marcel Dionne for having the misfortune of being on non-championship teams year in and year out. Still, hockey is a team sport and players are judged based on team success, so the multiple championships of players like Yvon Cournoyer, Jacques Lemaire and Jari Kurri are factored into their overall ranking.
A word about comparing eras. I've developed a (not very original) system for adjusting statistics to level the playing field. When you look at a player's stats here, it's their adjusted statistics, prorated over an 82-game scheduled and "leveled" to a common league-wide scoring rate. In other words, 100 points in the 2000s is not the same as 100 points in the run-and-gun 1980s, or 70 points in the 1930s. The numbers you will see will be the same...it'll be apples-to-apples instead of apples-to-oranges. But it's still very difficult to judge players that I never saw play, or have even seen in footage. While Bobby Hull, Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr live on on ESPN Classic, I will never see Eddie Shore or Howie Morenz, so when a 90 year-old claims they are "the greatest player that ever lived", it's hard to argue either for or against.
Still, I do believe in sports evolution, and so the notion that a player playing when a game was in its infancy and had only six teams had more difficult competition than someone now playing in the global NHL, which has 30 teams and players from Europe involved, is somewhat hard to swallow. So I give respect to the old-timers, but if it comes down to a coin-toss between someone of the old era and a newer superstar, I give the edge to the modern player nearly every time. Also, even though I have ranked players who played in the 1920s, 30s and 40s...anything before that becomes just too obscure to consider. So apologies to Newsy Lalonde and others...I'm afraid I need a little more than just black-and-white photographs of you standing smiling on the ice to be convinced of your greatness.
For the players who are currently playing, I've tried to walk a delicate balance between what they've accomplished so far and a reasonable projection of where they'll finish their careers. Players like Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin could easily crack the top 20, possibly even the top 10 (Crosby could be a Pantheon player), by the time all is said and done, while other players like Evgeni Malkin and Eric Staal will most likely move up the list. But there is always the possibility that injuries will hamper their careers and they will be closer to an Eric Lindros or Paul Kariya career-trajectory. The concussion suffered by Crosby and the knee injury suffered by Malkin demonstrate how difficult it is to stay healthy in today's NHL.
Finally, a word about my pyramid vs. the hockey hall-of-fame. The hockey hall-of-fame is notoriously one of the easiest to get into. Do I mean that it's easy to put together a hall-of-fame NHL career? No, of course not. But the standards for greatness are not quite as high as, say, major league baseball (interestingly, in recent years, the NHL seems to have stiffened its standards, while MLB has relaxed theirs). But with my pyramid, I've only considered players who are already in the Hall, or very likely to get in (in the case of modern players). That's the cutoff point...the best of the group already determined to be the best. So sorry Clark Gillies, your entry will have to wait for now.
For the players who did not make the cut, you can see my defence in the But What About section here:
BUT WHAT ABOUT
But enough gabbing, the list, in its entirety. And then there's nothing to do but look at each player's individual entry to understand some of the reasoning.
LEVEL 1 (Make my hall-of-fame, barely)
132. Dino Ciccarelli, RW
131. Jeremy Roenick, C
130. Mike Gartner, RW
129. Pierre Turgeon, C
128. Dany Heatley, RW
127. Marian Hossa, RW
126. Alexander Mogilny, RW
125. Mike Vernon, G
124. Chris Osgood, G
123. Dave Andreychuk, LW
122. Dave Keon, C
121. Borje Salming, D
120. Pat LaFontaine, C
119. Theoren Fleury, RW
118. Sweeney Schriner, LW
117. Steve Shutt, LW
116. Serge Savard, D
115. Bob Gainey, C
114. Frank Brimsek, G
113. Ilya Kovalchuk, LW
112. Sid Abel, C
111. Guy Lapointe, D
110. Glenn Anderson, RW
109. Dit Clapper, D/RW
108. Darryl Sittler, C
107. Elmer Lach, C
106. Bill Barber, LW
105. Brad Richards, C
104. Vincent Lecavalier, C
103. Norm Ullman, C
102. Jean Ratelle, C
101. Tim Horton, D
LEVEL 2 (Very good, hall-of-fame careers)
100. Larry Murphy, D
99. Michel Goulet, LW
98. Pavel Bure, RW
97. Pierre Pilote, D
96. Eric Staal, C
95. Paul Kariya, LW
94. Daniel Alfredsson, RW
93. Toe Blake, LW
92. Evgeni Malkin, C
91. Milt Schmidt, C
90. Dale Hawerchuk, C
89. Bill Cook, RW
88. Henrik Zetterberg, LW
87. Bill Cowley, C
86. Andy Bathgate, RW
85. Jacques Lemaire, C
84. Gilbert Perreault, C
83. Joe Thornton, C
82. Eric Lindros, C
81. Peter Stastny, C
80. Martin St. Louis, RW
79. Doug Gilmour, C
78. Alex Delvecchio, C
77. Yvan Cournoyer, RW
76. Mats Sundin, C
LEVEL 3 (Either dominant at some point or impressive through longevity)
75. Adam Oates, C
74. Chris Pronger, D
73. Sergei Fedorov, C
72. Brad Park, D
71. Tony Esposito, G
70. Aurele Joliat, LW
69. Busher Jackson, LW
68. Brian Leetch, D
67. Scott Stevens, D
66. Bernie Parent, G
65. Nels Stewart, C
64. Dickie Moore, LW
63. Billy Smith, G
62. Pavel Datsyuk, C
61. Jarome Iginla, RW
60. Charlie Conacher, RW
59. Grant Fuhr, G
58. Denis Savard, C
57. Scott Niedermayer, D
56. Turk Broda, G
55. Alex Ovechkin, LW
54. Mike Modano, C
53. Syl Apps, C
52. Chris Chelios, D
51. Johnny Bucyk, LW
50. Brendan Shanahan, LW
49. Mark Recchi, RW
48. Henri Richard, C
47. Ed Belfour, G
LEVEL 4 (Elite dominant period or elite career stats)
46. Bill Durnan, G
45. Ron Francis, C
44. Luc Robitaille, LW
43. Teemu Selanne, RW
42. Al MacInnis, D
41. Marcel Dionne, C
40. Bernie Geoffrion, RW
39. Peter Forsberg, C
38. Jari Kurri, RW
37. Brett Hull, RW
36. Bobby Clarke, C
35. Sidney Crosby, C
34. Frank Mahovlich, LW
33. Red Kelly, D/C
32. Eddie Shore, D
31. Larry Robinson, D
LEVEL 5 (The greatest, bar none)
30. Howie Morenz, C
29. Bryan Trottier, C
28. Ted Lindsay, LW
27. Ken Dryden, G
26. Mike Bossy, RW
25. Paul Coffey, D
24. Denis Potvin, D
23. Terry Sawchuk, G
22. Steve Yzerman, C
21. Dominik Hasek, G
20. Glenn Hall, G
19. Jacques Plante, G
18. Stan Mikita, C
17. Mark Messier, C/LW
16. Guy Lafleur, RW
15. Joe Sakic, C
14. Phil Esposito, C
13. Doug Harvey, D
12. Jaromir Jagr, RW
11. Martin Brodeur, G
10. Ray Bourque, D
9. Nicklas Lidstrom, D
8. Patrick Roy, G
7. Bobby Hull, LW
6. Maurice Richard, RW
5. Jean Beliveau, C
LEVEL 6 (The Pantheon)
4. Mario Lemieux, C
3. Gordie Howe, RW
2. Bobby Orr, D
1. Wayne Gretzky, C
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