Top 10 Best Players in NHL History – #5 Maurice Richard
#5 – Maurice Richard
Once again, how can you not give a guy like Maurice “the Rocket” Richard the credit he deserves. I consider him the best Montreal Canadien player ever even though he doesn’t hold the most tiles.
Maurice Richard won 8 Stenley Cups in an era when scoring 20 goals in a season led a player into stardom. Richard surpassed that mark for 14 consecutive seasons. Over that time he led the league in goals four different times.
When Maurice Richard retired he held the all-time record for goals, but that has since been passed as he has since fell out of the top 25.
Top 10 Best Players in NHL History – #4 Mario Lemieux
#4 – Mario Lemieux
It’s hard not to feel guilty leaving Mario Lemieux out of the top 3. He was drafted by the last place Penguins and transformed them into Stanley Cup contenders. Not only did he win back to back championships in 1991 and 1992, he later won 3 Stanley Cups as an owner becoming the only person to win both as a player and owner.
He was a scoring machine who had health problems cut his career short. Lemieux is currently ranked 8th all-time scoring despite being the only player in the top 30 to play fewer than 1,000 games. I don’t fault you all for ranking him ahead of the old timers who played for longer that hold the #2 and #3 spots on this list.
Top 10 Best Players in NHL History – #3 Bobby Orr
#3 – Bobby Orr
Bobby Orr completely broke the mold for what is expected from a defenseman in the NHL. There was nobody like him and there has been nobody like him since as Bobby Orr scored at an unprecedented rate.
Over the 1969-70 season, he became the first defenseman ever to lead the league in points with 120. He then followed up with a career high 139 points.
Bobby Orr was clearly the best of his time earning 8 straight Norris Trophies as the league’s top defenseman.
Injuries would shorten his career, but at that point he already made history. He finished his career with 915 points in only 657 games.
