Top 10 Greatest NHL Players of All Time

In my opinion, being good at hockey doesn't mean being the fastest, or having the best shot, or anything like that. It's about knowing the game, and this man knew it very well. He was always where he needed to be, and if you're always where you need to be, you will score goals and make assists. If you know the game and have passion for it, you don't always have to have the best shot or be the fastest.

They don't call him The Great One for nothing. He also has more assists than anyone has goals and assists. And four 200-point seasons along with a 196-point season. Only four times ever done.

Mario Lemieux is better than all the players because it only took him one shot to score his very first goal. That's why he should be top spot. He's amazing because I don't know anyone else who can score in just one shot.

Lemieux was great, but I believe Rob Ray scored a goal on his first NHL shift. That doesn't mean anything. The thing that made Lemieux great is that he kept on scoring all the way to the end of his career!

Lemieux took second to Gretzky in one category: goals. As far as an all-around player, Lemieux has the clear edge and rightfully so. If Lemieux came before Gretzky, he would be called The Great One. The best hockey player of all time. Likely Crosby will take that title in years to come.

This guy is way better than Mario Lemieux. What did Lemieux do to revolutionize the NHL? Bobby Orr changed the way the position of defense is played. He was the one who made sure defensemen scored double-digit goals in a season, and he changed the skating style of the NHL.

Mario Lemieux, for his first years, was pretty much in the shadow of Gretzky. When Gretzky got traded, he took over, but when Gretzky was with Edmonton, Gretzky was better than Lemieux. There was no one to challenge Orr defensively. The next best defenseman was Brad Park when Orr played. Orr should be second best of all time.

Crosby is the best player in the world right now. He's not my favorite, but there's no doubt he's the greatest. The kid is on track to beat The Great One. He lives the game. Yeah, he used to be a sook, but he's not anymore. But the reputation is stuck with him. The guy's a living legend.

Very talented player, not as good as McDavid though.

Won the Stanley Cup 2 times in a row. That's impressive.

801 goals! Only one person has more than that, and that is Wayne Gretzky. Bobby Orr said Gordie was the best, so did Wayne, Rocket, and Mario. He must be the best if all of them say that.

This guy starred on my favorite team, the Whalers. Even though they haven't won a Stanley Cup, they will always be the greatest team ever.

Very dedicated player.

Ovi is the first player to win the four major awards, all in one season: Hart, Richard, Ross, and Pearson. He has also won the Hart three times! Crosby has only won the Hart once. This clearly shows that Alex is the better player and also shows that Crosby and Pittsburgh are just bandwagons.

He is the best player in the NHL now. How is Crosby in front of him? It's not right to see Crosby ahead of him. Now he and the Caps are ready for the Stanley Cup...

He is the best player of the 2010s. You can't change my mind. He's won the Hart, Stanley Cup, and has made the NHL Metropolitan ranking more than seven times.

Crosby is 8 slots over THE captain? Are you kidding me? How is he even outside of the top 10? Good god! He should absolutely be top 5, if not top 4.

Come on! He has the record for second place in point leading! By far the best leader ever. He went through all the news and said we will win tonight! He should be one step higher than Crosby. But just one. I agree Gretzky is one but still!

The Rangers were going to lose the series against the Devils, and he convinced everyone that the Rangers would win the game. And he scored a hat trick to win the game! Should be #4! God!

Very dedicated player. I wish he played longer.

How is Sid the Squid up higher than Stevie?!?!?! That makes no sense. Steve was the greatest leader of all time! He was passionate about hockey and didn't care about his stats and wasn't a cherry picker like Sid and Gretzky!

The best leader any team can have. Sure, he didn't have the stats as some of the other guys did, but he was probably the most passionate about the game of hockey. One of the best!

Yzerman played the game with passion, skill, heart, desire, and class.

The Rocket maybe could've been similar to Gretzky if he had the right to a curved stick. Maurice was physical, a team player, a goal assister, and a goal scorer!

How is he 17th?! This guy is in the top 5 for sure. He scored 50 in 50 in the 40s. No one had even scored 50 at that point. The next player to accomplish that feat was 40 years later.

Very talented and dedicated player.

Power and technique, scoring and passing, he had it all. Just an awesome player. One of the best in the history of the game.

Kane is the best American player in the NHL.

I like Crosby and Toews better, but he is my favorite hockey player from the U.S.

Greatest goal scorer of all time. Let's say he never had injury problems and he played as many games as Gretzky. If he kept his career pace, he would have had around 1100 goals, and even if he didn't, he still would probably have 950+ goals.

He is still one of the league's top scorers at age 40 and holds the record for the best rookie season ever. Not to mention one of the top goal scorers of all time, and still strong! Two words, Finnish Flash.

The Finnish Flash cannot be competed with in his rookie season.

By the time McDavid retires, he should be top 3. He's the speediest player in the league, absolutely amazing to watch on the breakaway. Let's get him higher!

Connor McDavid is totally AWESOME! Why did this same list put him as #1 on the most hated and worst NHL players? Doy!

This is a good player. I saw him score some cool goals, including one at 0.3 seconds in game 6 of the Sharks vs. Oilers.

Bobby Hull should be right up there with Jaromir Jagr at number 5. Sidney and Alex are great modern players, but they are overrated on this list as they haven't concluded their careers. Bobby Hull at number 16 is absurd. He was the first player to score more than 50 goals in a year and did it three times in 10 years in the original six-team league. At that time, 50 goals was like hitting 60 home runs in baseball. Two other players each scored 50 goals only once before 1967. Bobby Hull was the greatest goal scorer ever and a great all-around player.

The way he played, in the playoffs especially, he is definitely the greatest NHL goalie of all time. Two Stanley Cups with the Avalanche.