Greatest Hockey Player Ever

[joel]

you have no tenders in your top 10 list.

i think an often overlooked stat of Orr's is his amazing +/-. In 11 seasons and just under 700 nhl games he has a recorded +/- of 594. He is second only to larry robinson who played nearly twice the games he did.

He did lead the league in +/- each season for half of his career (a total of 6 times). A record that exists still today.

So not only did he contribute offensively, but when he was on the ice very few goals were ever let in.

Not only that but he played with a physical edge, an area where both lemieux and gretz fall short. His 953 PIMs is a testament to that.

[tiger]

Goaltenders are hard to compare with forwards/d b/c the stats are completely different. Plus GAA and SV%'s were recorded later. The different eras make a really big difference. In the 30's, you could be the 3rd best goalie in the league. Which meant that you were average 3/6. Not many goalies played 60-70 games before the 80's.

Some of the goalie greats, IMO.

1990+: Hasek, Brodeur
1980+: Roy
1970: Dryden, Cheevers, Tony Esposito, Parent
50's-60's: Plante, Glenn Hall, Sawchuk
Pre-50's: Hainsworth? Vezina?

Interesting stat: Glenn Hall holds the goalie ironman streak at 502 consecutive games. Dude played 7 season straight. I'm sure if they counted the playoffs too. Luongo can't last 1 playoff run. I guess that's how you earn the nickname Mr. Goalie.
Hall also did it without playing with a mask, plus he was the 1st to play what we know as the Butterfly style now. Butterfly style puts the goalie closer to the ice, which increases the chance of getting hit in the face vs. the stand up style.

If I had to rank goalies: (Hard to say for sure since I didn't see some goalies play)
1a. Hasek (unorthodox style, but very effective. Best forwards couldn't score on him when he was in the zone).
1b. Tretiak (nobody knew for sure how good he was until the 1972 Summit Series. Outplayed Team Canada's goalies).
1c. Dryden (retired early to pursue law. Best SO/games played post 1937.)
4. Roy (cocky SOB, and could back it up. Clutch playoff goalie).
5. Brodeur (benefitted from NJ's system, and complemented it well)
6. Hainsworth (94 shutouts in 465 games. That's a SO every 5 games!) Or Vezina (this guy must have been good to name a trophy after him)
7-10. Glenn Hall, Sawchuk, Plante, Tony O.

For forwards, I forgot about Kharlarmov. This guy probably would have been a superstar in the NHL. In terms of talent, would be around #6. Small in size though.

For the Russians, Mikhailov and Yakushev were pretty good too. Larionov was a great passer, but didn't put up superstar numbers in the NHL. He and Gretzky are about the same age.