The NHL may have 32 teams, but some of the best players in history have skated for the same team.
Every team has at least four players that comprise its Mount Rushmore, whether you are talking about the great players of the Montreal Canadiens dynasty years or the Pittsburgh Penguins’ championship seasons in the current age.
At the end of the day, the fun part about these debates is deciding which NHL legends will be in attendance. Additionally, creating a list of the top five teams with the best players is even more difficult.
We did our best, however. These are the top five teams with the greatest legends in the NHL, excluding legendary teams like the Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers.
Top 5 NHL Teams with the Greatest Legends on Mount Rushmore
1. Edmonton Oilers
Wayne Gretzky – Mark Messier – Paul Coffey – Grant Fuhr
The Edmonton Oilers joined the NHL in 1979, the same year Wayne Gretzky made his debut. The team won five Stanley Cup titles in 11 seasons, and Gretzky broke the record with 1,669 points in just 696 games.
In addition to “The Great One,” the team also had Mark Messier, who took over as captain after Gretzky left in 1988 and led the club to its last championship in 1990. Ultimately, “The Moose” ended the curse of his 54-year career in New York, becoming the only skater in NHL history to lead two franchises to a Stanley Cup.
In the meantime, Paul Coffey, who won two Norris Trophies and scored 669 points in 532 games with the Oilers, was unquestionably one of the best defensemen of all time and one of the best skaters of the 1980s.
Grant Fuhr, who won five Stanley Cups with Edmonton, is regarded as one of the greatest players in history. Despite breaking a few NHL records while playing in various cities, he is primarily known for his home team.
2. Montreal Canadiens
Maurice Richard – Jean Beliveau – Guy Lafleur – Patrick Roy
The Canadiens have drafted the best player of all time and are the only one to win 24 Stanley Cup titles. They continue to be a team of As you enter the Bell Center, banners run from one end to the other honoring the greats who played at Le Bleu Blanc Rouge.
Maurice “Rocket” Richard became the first NHL player to score 50 goals in a season and 500 goals in his career. When he was suspended for one game in 1955, the city of Montreal rioted in support of their local hero. The NHL’s leading scorer award is now named after him.
Jean Béliveau, the only skater to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup 18 times, not only as a player but also as an official, once sat directly behind the bench in the old glass-walled Montreal Forum. When he retired in 1971, he was one of only two players in Montreal’s history to score more than 1,000 points.
Guy LaFleur is a hockey legend and remains the franchise’s all-time leading scorer with 1,246 points. Throughout his career, he consistently scored over 100 points and wowed fans with his end-to-end runs while winning the Stanley Cup five times.
There are many candidates for that No. 4 spot considering how many big-name players have played for the Canadiens, but there’s no denying that Patrick Roy is one of the greatest players in franchise history. After leading the club to its last two championships in 1986 and 1993, his transfer in 1995 shocked the hockey world and changed the NHL landscape forever.
Roy is considered as one of the all-time great NHL goaltenders, having invented the butterfly style.
3. Boston Bruins
Bobby Orr – Phil Esposito – Ray Bourque – Patrice Bergeron
Gretzky holds all the scoring records, but many people think Bobby Orr is the greatest player of all time. , would argue that he changed the game forever as a rookie defender. He later won the title of top scorer.
Additionally, he is also the only defenseman to win the Norris Trophy eight times, from his 1968 to his 1975. Without his career-defining knee injury, there’s no telling how far Orr would have led his team.
Shortly after Orr left the Boston Bruins, they signed Ray Burke, the best defenseman in NHL history, who ranks 11th overall with 1,579 points. He won the Stanley Cup in his final game, capping off an incredible 22-year career and will be fondly remembered as one of the most talented players of all time.
In addition to being a defenseman, Phil Esposicio is one of the best forwards in Boston history, not only winning two titles with Orr, but also winning multiple scoring titles and being the first to score 70 goals and 100 points in a season. became an NHL player. He also played in New York, but his best years in the NHL were in Boston.
Like the Canadiens, the Bruins are celebrating their 100th season, and the list of candidates is endless. But no player has won the Frank J. Zelke Trophy five times as the league’s best defensive striker than Patrice Bergeron.
He wore Spoke B for 19 seasons, scoring 1,040 points and winning the Stanley Cup in 2011. As one of the longest-tenured players in club history, he put his body on the line year after year and left behind one of Boston’s most respected legacies.
4. Detroit Red Wings
Gordie Howe – Terry Sawchuk – Steve Yzerman – Nicklas Lidstrom
The Detroit Red Wings have won 11 Stanley Cup titles and are one of the original six teams. They are the third most successful team in the world. Their list of legends is as long as any team from previous eras, but only one “Mr. Hockey” Gordie Howe.
Hower, the first player in NHL history to play beyond the age of fifty, enjoyed one of the most illustrious careers, amassing 1,850 points over 26 seasons. Because of his impact, a player’s goal, assist, and fight are now referred to as a “Gordie Howe hat trick,” paying homage to the player’s style of play during the 1950s and 1960s.
Terry Sawchuk played for four of the original six teams, but his greatest success came with the Red Wings in the 1950s. Sawchuk was perhaps the best NHL goaltender of all time until Roy and Martin Brodeur surpassed most of his records in the 1990s and 2000s. Sawciak leaves behind a legend that will remain untouched for generations thanks to his success and courage in playing the position without a mask.
Steve Yzerman is the current general manager of the Red Wings and played his entire 22-year career for the Red Wings, nearly breaking all of Howe’s team records. Yzerman, who was captain from 1986 until 2006, is one of the most decorated players in Wings history, and although he hails from Ontario, he is forever in Detroit. I found my hometown.
Finally, Nicklas Lidstrom is considered one of the greatest hockey players of all time, having spent his entire life in Detroit and chasing Orr’s Norris Trophy record. The first European-born captain to win the Stanley Cup, he is considered the greatest player ever to come from outside North America.
5. The Penguins of Pittsburgh
Jaromir Jagr, Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, and Mario Lemieux
Even more amazing than Gretzky was, Mario Lemieux could have smashed most of his records if it weren’t for his cancer and back issues. Following his 1984 draft selection by the Penguins, he not only kept the team afloat on the ice but also in the boardroom, where he became the first player-owner in history in 2000.
Le Magnifique is without doubt one of the greatest players of all time, and he leaves behind one of the most unique legacies in NHL history, almost setting him aside.
When Lemieux led the Penguins to Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992, one of his linemates was young Jaromir Jagr, who scored 1,921 points, the second-most in NHL history.
Naturally, for a man devoted to his craft, Jagr continues to play professional hockey in his native Czech Republic at the age of 52. Until the next two players joined the list, Lemieux and Jagr led in nearly every scoring category in team history.
But as the saying goes, records are meant to be broken. Since his 2005 debut, Sidney Crosby has remained the face of his NHL. He won three Stanley Cup titles and scored one of the most legendary goals in Olympic history, while also chasing every record set by former host Lemieux.
With Evgeni Malkin, the last 15 years of hockey in Pittsburgh have outlasted everything Lemieux and Jagr accomplished together.
Now, at the end of their careers, fans can watch Crosby and Malkin, who combined for 2,830 points, play together and hopefully ride off into the sunset together as the series’ most iconic duo.