In 2017, the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

commemorated its 100th anniversary with a list of the 100 Greatest NHL Players. The list was made through voting compiled by a panel of 58 people, including media members, NHL alumni and NHL executives.Greg Wyshynski
NHL reveals top 100 players of all-time, with some surprises
Yahoo! Sports The list is in alphabetical order rather than ranked. The first 33, representing players who played prior to 1966, were unveiled during a

pre-game ceremony A pre-game ceremony or pre-match ceremony is an on-field ceremony occurring before a sporting event. Such ceremonies may celebrate a past event, honour a retiring athlete, commemorate a deceased athlete, or promote a cause. Celebrating past event ...

at the NHL Centennial Classic outdoor game on January 1, 2017. The remaining players were announced on January 27, 2017, at a special ''NHL 100 Gala'' ceremony held at the Microsoft Theater in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, two days before the 2017 NHL All-Star Game.

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The inclusions of

Duncan Keith Duncan Keith (born July 16, 1983) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played 17 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Chicago Blackhawks and Edmonton Oilers. He won three Stanley Cup championships with Chicago in ...

Jonathan Toews Jonathan Bryan Toews ( ; born April 29, 1988) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and captain of the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Nicknamed "Captain Serious", Toews was selected by the Blackhawks with the t ...

Colin Fleming
Five In, Five Out: Who should have made the NHL's top-100 list?
''Sports Illustrated''Dave Lozo
EVGENI MALKIN'S TOP 100 SNUB IS A DAMN TRAVESTY
, Vice Sports and Patrick Kane, all of them then-active players and three-time Stanley Cup champions, were considered controversial.

Evgeni Malkin Evgeni Vladimirovich Malkin ( rus, Евге́ний Влади́мирович Ма́лкин, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ˈmaɫkʲɪn; born 31 July 1986) is a Russian professional ice hockey centre and alternate captain for the Pittsburgh Penguins of ...

,Greg Wyshynski
Who were biggest snubs of 100 Greatest NHL Players list?
Yahoo! Sports Ed Belfour,Helene Elliott and Curtis Zupke
NHL honors 100 greatest players ahead of All-Star game
''Los Angeles Times''

Dale Hawerchuk Dale Martin Hawerchuk (April 4, 1963 – August 18, 2020) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach. Drafted first overall by the Winnipeg Jets in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft, Hawerchuk played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for ...

, Joe Thornton, Jarome Iginla, Zdeno Chara,

Pierre Pilote Joseph Albert Pierre Paul Pilote (December 11, 1931 – September 9, 2017) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman and perennial All-Star, most notably for the Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League (NHL), for which he served ...

and

Michel Goulet Michel Bernard Goulet (born April 21, 1960) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played for the Birmingham Bulls in the World Hockey Association and the Quebec Nordiques and Chicago Blackhawks in the National Hockey League. ...

were considered to be notable players omitted from the list. Malkin responded to his omission by joking that he could be the 101st best player, and remarked that all who were featured on the list earned the honour.

Summary

Of the players on the list, 39 are centremen, 21 are defencemen, 15 are

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

s, 15 are right wingers and 10 are left wingers. There are 21 players who started their NHL career in the decade of the 1980s, and 22 who last played in the NHL during the decade of the 2000s, the most by decade for each category. The player on the list with the shortest NHL career is goaltender

Bill Durnan William Ronald Durnan (January 22, 1916 – October 31, 1972) was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played seven seasons with the Montreal Canadiens in the National Hockey League (NHL). During his career he was one of the most domin ...

, who played for six seasonswinning the

Vezina Trophy The Vezina Trophy is awarded annually to the National Hockey League's (NHL) goaltender who is "adjudged to be the best at this position". At the end of each season, the thirty-two NHL general managers vote to determine the winner. It is named in ...

and selected to the NHL First All-Star team in every season. The two players on the list with the longest NHL career, at 26 seasons each, are: right winger

Gordie Howe Gordon Howe (March 31, 1928 – June 10, 2016) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. From 1946 to 1980, he played 26 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) and six seasons in the World Hockey Association (WHA); his first 25 seaso ...

, over a 33 year period, having retired for two seasons before returning to the

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

for six seasons, closing with a final year in the NHL; and defenceman Chris Chelios, over a 27 year period, playing in the International Hockey League during the cancelled 2004–05 NHL lockout season.

References

{{reflist, 30em National Hockey League lists

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Summary

See also

References