Best Hockey Player

Bobby Orr redefined the defenceman position for the Boston Bruins, winning the Art Ross Trophy twice, the only blue liner ever to do so. He added 8 consecutive Norris Trophies, 3 straight Hart Trophies and 2 Stanley Cups before chronic knee injuries ended his career early.

Mario Lemieux spent his entire playing career with the Pittsburgh Penguins, scoring 1723 points in 915 games. He won 6 Art Ross Trophies, 3 Hart Trophies and 2 Stanley Cups as a player, overcoming back surgery and a Hodgkin's lymphoma diagnosis along the way.

Gordie Howe played right wing across 26 NHL seasons, mostly with the Detroit Red Wings, and stayed active professionally into his fifties. His totals include 801 NHL goals, 1850 points, 6 Hart Trophies, 6 Art Ross Trophies and 4 Stanley Cups.

Maurice Richard starred at right wing for the Montreal Canadiens for his entire career. He became the first player to score 50 goals in 50 games and the first to reach 500 career goals, winning 8 Stanley Cups and becoming a lasting cultural symbol in Quebec.

Dominik Hasek, nicknamed 'The Dominator', backstopped the Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings with an unorthodox style. He won 6 Vezina Trophies, remains the only goaltender to take back-to-back Hart Trophies, captured Olympic gold with Czechia in 1998 and 2 Stanley Cups in Detroit.

Sidney Crosby has centred the Pittsburgh Penguins for his entire career, captaining all three of the club's recent Stanley Cup wins in 2009, 2016 and 2017. He has 2 Hart Trophies, 2 Art Ross Trophies, 2 Conn Smythe Trophies and scored Canada's golden goal at the 2010 Olympics.

Patrick Roy played goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens and Colorado Avalanche, winning 4 Stanley Cups and a record 3 Conn Smythe Trophies across three different decades. He is widely credited with popularising the butterfly style that now dominates the position.

Jean Beliveau captained the Montreal Canadiens through a decade of dominance, winning 10 Stanley Cups as a player and 7 more as a team executive afterward. He collected 2 Hart Trophies and was the inaugural winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1965.

Doug Harvey anchored the blue line for the Montreal Canadiens before the modern Norris Trophy era even had many contenders, winning it 7 times in 8 seasons between 1955 and 1962. He also won 6 Stanley Cups with Montreal, controlling tempo from the back end.

Bobby Hull, known as 'The Golden Jet', played left wing for the Chicago Black Hawks and later the Winnipeg Jets. He scored 610 NHL goals plus 303 more in the WHA, won 2 Hart Trophies and 3 Art Ross Trophies, and his slapshot was once clocked above 100 mph.

Nicklas Lidstrom anchored the Detroit Red Wings blue line for two decades without ever needing to play a physical style. He won 7 Norris Trophies, 4 Stanley Cups and the 2002 Conn Smythe Trophy, becoming the first European born and trained captain to lift the Cup.

Ray Bourque manned the point for the Boston Bruins for two decades before finishing his career with the Colorado Avalanche. He won 5 Norris Trophies and finished with 1579 points, the most by any defenceman, capping his career with a Stanley Cup in his final NHL game.

Mark Messier played centre for the Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks, winning 6 Stanley Cups and 2 Hart Trophies. He remains the only player to captain two different franchises to a championship, finishing with 1887 career points.

Eddie Shore was the most feared defenceman of the 1920s and 1930s, anchoring the Boston Bruins to 2 Stanley Cups. He won 4 Hart Trophies, still the most by any defenceman in NHL history, and helped set the physical standard for the position.

Jaromir Jagr played right wing across four decades of professional hockey, mostly with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He retired with 1921 NHL points, second only to Wayne Gretzky, along with 5 Art Ross Trophies, a Hart Trophy and 2 Stanley Cups won in Pittsburgh.

Alex Ovechkin has played left wing for the Washington Capitals for his entire NHL career. He passed Wayne Gretzky as the league's all-time goal leader in April 2025, and his resume includes 9 Rocket Richard Trophies, 3 Hart Trophies and a 2018 Stanley Cup with Conn Smythe Trophy.

Connor McDavid centres the Edmonton Oilers and is the fastest skater in the sport's history. He has won 6 Art Ross Trophies and 3 Hart Trophies, including a 153-point season in 2022-23, the highest single-season total since Mario Lemieux in 1996.

Terry Sawchuk tended goal for five NHL teams, most notably the Detroit Red Wings, in an era before masks were standard equipment. He recorded 103 career shutouts, a record that stood for 46 years, alongside 4 Vezina Trophies and 4 Stanley Cups.

Jacques Plante spent a decade in the Montreal Canadiens net before moving through five more NHL teams. He won 7 Vezina Trophies, 6 Stanley Cups and a Hart Trophy, and permanently adopted the goalie mask in 1959 after a facial injury, changing the position forever.

Right wing who starred for the Montreal Canadiens dynasty of the 1970s, later playing for the New York Rangers and Quebec Nordiques. He won five Stanley Cups, three Art Ross Trophies and two Hart Trophies, and remains the only player to record six straight seasons of 50 goals and 100 points.

Soviet goaltender who played his entire career with CSKA Moscow and the national team. He won three Olympic gold medals and ten World Championship titles, and in 1989 became the first Soviet player inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Goaltender who spent nearly his whole career with the New Jersey Devils, briefly finishing with St. Louis. He retired holding the NHL records for wins, 691, and shutouts, 125, added four Vezina Trophies, three Stanley Cups and two Olympic golds with Canada.

Centre for the Montreal Canadiens in the 1920s and 1930s, also skating briefly for Chicago and the New York Rangers. Nicknamed the Stratford Streak, he won three Hart Trophies and three Stanley Cups and is credited with popularising the sport in the United States before his death in 1937 from injuri...

Long-serving centre and captain of the Detroit Red Wings for his entire 22 season career. He scored 1,755 points, won three Stanley Cups and took the 1998 Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP after transforming from a pure scorer into the league's model two-way leader.

Centre who played for Chicago, Boston and the New York Rangers. He was the first NHL player to reach 100 points in a season and the first to score 76 goals in one, winning five Art Ross Trophies, two Hart Trophies and two Stanley Cups with Boston.

Defenceman who spent his entire 15 season career with the New York Islanders. He won three Norris Trophies as the league's top defenceman and captained the club to four consecutive Stanley Cups from 1980 through 1983.

Slovak-born centre who played his whole NHL career with the Chicago Black Hawks. He won four Art Ross Trophies, two Hart Trophies and a Stanley Cup, and remains the only player to sweep the Hart, Art Ross and Lady Byng in the same season, doing it in back-to-back years.

Soviet left wing who played his career with CSKA Moscow. He won two Olympic golds and eight World Championship titles and was named MVP of Game 1 in the 1972 Summit Series against Canada. He was killed in a car crash at age 33 in 1981.

Centre for Detroit, Los Angeles and the New York Rangers who scored 1,771 points, currently sixth on the NHL's all-time list, and won the 1980 Art Ross Trophy. He never reached a Stanley Cup final despite that scoring output across an 18 season career.