Top Ten hockey players since 1980

[up2here 41]

Saw an interesting debate in another forum.People were asked to name the top 10 hockey players since 1980(Post european invasion).There were some interesting names,for what its worth heres mine in no particlar order:

Yzerman

Lemieux(Mario not Claude)

Gretzky

Brodeur

Bossy

Makarov

Fetisov

Sakic

Lidstrom

Stastny

Let the arguments begin!

[Winged Scooter 0]

I would have to say in no particualr order:

Yzerman

Lemieux

Gretzky

Broduer

Roy ( even though I despised him, can't argue the numbers )

Sakic

Statsny

Borque

Messier

Modano

two guys that easily would have made this list had it not been for injuries, LaFontaine and Cam Neely....

[TheLegend19 1]

I'd have to say Gretzky, Yzerman, Lidstrom, Modano, Sakic, Roy (or Brodeur), Messier, Shannahan, Thorton, Crosby. Those are in no particular order, but I do know that the 10th best hockey player since 1980 is...

The fans.

That's right. We are the 10th best hockey player since 1980. Without us, there would be no game. Although hockey fans may be far and few between now, those that remain after the lockout are the true, diehard, passionate fans that simply love the sport.

[KrazyGangsta 79]

I'd have to say Gretzky, Yzerman, Lidstrom, Modano, Sakic, Roy (or Brodeur), Messier, Shannahan, Thorton, Crosby. Those are in no particular order, but I do know that the 10th best hockey player since 1980 is...

The fans.

That's right. We are the 10th best hockey player since 1980. Without us, there would be no game. Although hockey fans may be far and few between now, those that remain after the lockout are the true, diehard, passionate fans that simply love the sport.

Crosby wasnt even borned in 1980

[RedRum #1 0]

1. Gretz

2. Wayne

3. Mario

4. Roy

5. Yzerman

6. Mess

7. Lidstrom

8. Bourque

9. Sakic

10. Fedorov/Forsberg tied

....Just as an aside, any Wings fan putting Mike Modano ahead of Fedorov on their top 10 's, give your head a shake. I'd take Fedorov in his prime 10 times over Mo, and I'm from Livonia.

Edited March 21, 2007 by RedRum #1

[Yzermaniac192005 0]

Crosby wasnt even borned in 1980

Yeah, I wasn't borned either in 1980

..Sorry I couldn't resist.

But My top 10, in no particular order would be:

Yzerman

Gretzky

Mario

Brodeur

Roy

Hull

Lidstrom

Forsberg

Kovalev

Jagr

[BigTex 1]

great topic.

I nominate the 1980 US olympic team, all ten spots.

[Dano33 41]

Yeah, I wasn't borned either in 1980

..Sorry I couldn't resist.

But My top 10, in no particular order would be:

Yzerman

Gretzky

Mario

Brodeur

Roy

Hull

Lidstrom

Forsberg

Kovalev

Jagr

NOOOO, not even close. what about Dino Ciccarelli? 608 goals, 1200 points, 1429 PIM's. id think about putting him in mine, but you gotta have guys like messier and sakic in there first.

Edited March 21, 2007 by Dano33

[Winged Scooter 0]

Dino's a great one, didn't even think about that, you could also make an argument for Mike Gartner....

[eva unit zero 271]

Starting with the 79-80 season, here are the top ten scoring forwards and defensemen:

1. Wayne Gretzky, C

2. Mark Messier, C/LW

3. Ron Francis, C

4. Steve Yzerman, C

5. Mario Lemieux, C

6. Joe Sakic, C

7. Jaromir Jagr, RW

8. Adam Oates, C

9. Doug Gilmour, C

10. Dale Hawerchuk, C

1. Ray Bourque, D

2. Paul Coffey, D

3. Al MacInnis, D

4. Phil Housley, D

5. Larry Murphy, D

6. Brian Leetch, D

7. Chris Chelios, D

8. Scott Stevens, D

9. Nicklas Lidstrom, D

10. Gary Suter, D

We'll start by assembling a 'top ten players' list from those lists.

You have to include Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman, and Bourque right off the bat. Chelios and Lidstrom have been too good too often to be left off, and Messier 's career speaks for itself. That leaves us three more to pick. We'll go with, for now, Sakic, Jagr, and Stevens.

Now we must consider goaltenders. Roy, Brodeur, Hasek are the only ones that really stand out as potential choices--beyond those three, you get into the second tier realm with guys like Belfour, Osgood, Vernon, Barrasso, Fuhr, Joseph, Moog, Smith as well as the 'good but not enough yet' young guys like Kiprusoff, Luongo and Miller.

So we have narrowed it down to a list of 13 players who are being considered. I will add Modano and Stastny as well since they have played all or most of their career and have offensive numbers not far off the number ten forward spot, and are already in the discussion.

We need to shave off five players from the list of:

Forwards;

Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman, Messier, Sakic, Jagr, Modano, Stastny

Defensemen:

Bourque, Lidstrom, Chelios, Stevens

Goaltenders:

Roy, Hasek, Brodeur

The first step to eliminate players will be 'was he ever the best at his position?' (First team forward or Norris winner)

This step eliminates Stastny, Modano, and Stevens, leaving us with:

Forwards;

Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman, Messier, Sakic, Jagr

Defensemen:

Bourque, Lidstrom, Chelios

Goaltenders:

Roy, Hasek, Brodeur

Now we must consider 'was he ever the best skater in the league?' (Hart, Smythe, or Pearson)

Chelios and Brodeur are eliminated at this point.

Conclusion:

Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman, Bourque, Messier, Lidstrom, Jagr, Roy, Hasek, Sakic are the top ten players (in no order) since 1980.

[up2here 41]

Starting with the 79-80 season, here are the top ten scoring forwards and defensemen:

1. Wayne Gretzky, C

2. Mark Messier, C/LW

3. Ron Francis, C

4. Steve Yzerman, C

5. Mario Lemieux, C

6. Joe Sakic, C

7. Jaromir Jagr, RW

8. Adam Oates, C

9. Doug Gilmour, C

10. Dale Hawerchuk, C

1. Ray Bourque, D

2. Paul Coffey, D

3. Al MacInnis, D

4. Phil Housley, D

5. Larry Murphy, D

6. Brian Leetch, D

7. Chris Chelios, D

8. Scott Stevens, D

9. Nicklas Lidstrom, D

10. Gary Suter, D

We'll start by assembling a 'top ten players' list from those lists.

You have to include Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman, and Bourque right off the bat. Chelios and Lidstrom have been too good too often to be left off, and Messier 's career speaks for itself. That leaves us three more to pick. We'll go with, for now, Sakic, Jagr, and Stevens.

Now we must consider goaltenders. Roy, Brodeur, Hasek are the only ones that really stand out as potential choices--beyond those three, you get into the second tier realm with guys like Belfour, Osgood, Vernon, Barrasso, Fuhr, Joseph, Moog, Smith as well as the 'good but not enough yet' young guys like Kiprusoff, Luongo and Miller.

So we have narrowed it down to a list of 13 players who are being considered. I will add Modano and Stastny as well since they have played all or most of their career and have offensive numbers not far off the number ten forward spot, and are already in the discussion.

We need to shave off five players from the list of:

Forwards;

Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman, Messier, Sakic, Jagr, Modano, Stastny

Defensemen:

Bourque, Lidstrom, Chelios, Stevens

Goaltenders:

Roy, Hasek, Brodeur

The first step to eliminate players will be 'was he ever the best at his position?' (First team forward or Norris winner)

This step eliminates Stastny, Modano, and Stevens, leaving us with:

Forwards;

Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman, Messier, Sakic, Jagr

Defensemen:

Bourque, Lidstrom, Chelios

Goaltenders:

Roy, Hasek, Brodeur

Now we must consider 'was he ever the best skater in the league?' (Hart, Smythe, or Pearson)

Chelios and Brodeur are eliminated at this point.

Conclusion:

Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman, Bourque, Messier, Lidstrom, Jagr, Roy, Hasek, Sakic are the top ten players (in no order) since 1980.

First I love how well laid out your argument is,however there is one flaw.I had to put 2 Soviet players on my list(I debated with Larionov also) and theyre points dont count.

[Guest pornstar]

not a lot of love out there for brett hull.

[eva unit zero 271]

First I love how well laid out your argument is,however there is one flaw.I had to put 2 Soviet players on my list(I debated with Larionov also) and theyre points dont count.

I left off Soviets because although you included them, everyone else was sticking to an 'in the NHL' qualifier.

That said, including Soviets, I would replace Jagr and Sakic with Fetisov and Makarov.

[DEVILSWATERBOY 10]

Yzerman,Lafontain,Gretzky,M. Lemieux,Lidstrom,Messier,Roy,Brodeur,Lucky Luc ,and Hull this is my first list second is the younger players Dats,Zet,Crosby,Malkin,Stahl,Oviechcan,Kolvuchuk,Doan,Sullivan,Cam Ward

[Bender 0]

Starting with the 79-80 season, here are the top ten scoring forwards and defensemen:

point.

Conclusion:

Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman, Bourque, Messier, Lidstrom, Jagr, Roy, Hasek, Sakic are the top ten players (in no order) since 1980.

Well said.

[Viperar 16]

while he doesnt have the fame and glory and numbers of these players, I think Ollie Jokinen is one of the best players in my mind. He provides that central role for the panthers to unite around, and while they arent the best team, he has stuck with them loyally, and always comes up big for them. I think he is a fantastic player with a lot of heart.

[TheLegend19 1]

Crosby wasnt even borned in 1980

This thread is about top ten hockey players since 1980, which, by the definition of the word since, means any player that has played in the league during or after that time period; so Crosby is still eligible.

With that being said, I have rethought my stance on that since my earlier posting. Hull would probably have to be in consideration.

[yzerman&thewings=CUP 0]

while he doesnt have the fame and glory and numbers of these players, I think Ollie Jokinen is one of the best players in my mind. He provides that central role for the panthers to unite around, and while they arent the best team, he has stuck with them loyally, and always comes up big for them. I think he is a fantastic player with a lot of heart.

I sure hope you're kidding. Granted, he's a highly talented player, but certainly not one of the top 10 since 1980. My 10 most talented would be in no particular order - Gretzky, Lemieux, Oates, Ciccarelli, Yzerman, Fedorov, Brodeur, Roy, Hasek, and Jagr. We're talking about talent right? If so, thats my list.

Did someone say Kovalev earlier???? I'd put him in the same bin as Jokinen, although certainly talented, not worthy of top 10 since 1980.

[Vonnie182 0]

1) Yzerman

2) Gretzky

3) Lemieux

4) Lidstrom

5) Brodeur

6) Hull

7) Bourque

8) Roy

9) Sakic

10) Modano

thats mine....IN OFFICIAL ORDER (even though it felt gross putting Roy on there)

[toby91_ca 620]

How can someone seriously compile a top 10 list since 1980 and leave both Messier and Bourque off? These two are up there in terms of ALL TIME greats. Leaving them off of a top ten list since 1980 invalidates your list in my opinion....you know who you are.

[TheUltimateWingsFan 1]

Damn, it's hard to limit it to 10.

I'd say the following 6 are locks:

Gretzky

Lemieux

Jagr

Bourque

Lidstrom

Roy

The next 4 are probable:

Yzerman

Sakic

Messier

Hasek

But somehow these fellas need to be mentioned:

Chelios

Stastny

Hawerchuk

Savard

Hull

Bure

Selanne

Goulet

Kurri

Coffey

Also, if Mike Bossy is eligible, he should be a lock.

[rwfan007 18]

Damn, it's hard to limit it to 10.

I'd say the following 6 are locks:

Gretzky

Lemieux

Jagr

Bourque

Lidstrom

Roy

The next 4 are probable:

Yzerman

Sakic

Messier

Hasek

But somehow these fellas need to be mentioned:

Chelios

Stastny

Hawerchuk

Savard

Hull

Bure

Selanne

Goulet

Kurri

Coffey

Also, if Mike Bossy is eligible, he should be a lock.

not to be a homer, but i think 6 vezinas and 2 harts in a 27 year stretch pretty much makes Dom a lock in that category. last time i checked Roy only had 3 vezinas and 0 harts... and only 1 more cup than Dom, and Dom is not done yet. Roy was an unbelievable goalie, but Dom, in terms of accomplishments, is almost equal to Roy.

[LondonWing 0]

Surely Gordie Howe should be on the list, he was still playing in the 1980's

[up2here 41]

How can someone seriously compile a top 10 list since 1980 and leave both Messier and Bourque off? These two are up there in terms of ALL TIME greats. Leaving them off of a top ten list since 1980 invalidates your list in my opinion....you know who you are.

Messier,Bourque,Stastny,Coffey,Shanahan,Robiitaille,Hull,Roy are ALL deserving.The point of the list is to debate and hear peoples opinions.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Starting with the 79-80 season, here are the top ten scoring forwards and defensemen:

....TEXT DELETED FOR THE SAKE OF SPACE[/i]

Conclusion:

Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman, Bourque, Messier, Lidstrom, Jagr, Roy, Hasek, Sakic are the top ten players (in no order) since 1980.

Ahhh- it does my scientific eyes good to see a well reasoned argument structured like that.