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Daily Featured Ranking Question for 2022-06-08

The All Time Top 10 NHL Players (non-goalies) by Mark D. Hauser

(To give your answer and view the results to this ranking question, go to: Hockey: NHL: All Time: Individuals.)

1. Bobby Orr 2. Wayne Gretzky 3. Mario Lemieux 4. Gordie Howe 5. Mark Messier 6. Bobby Hull 7. Ray Bourque 8. Guy Lafleur 9. Maurice Richard 10. Jaromir Jagr.

Relax, Gretzky fans -- you get a vote too -- that is the beauty of this site. Besides, some of you have never even saw Orr play live. I did and it was a thing of beauty (especially his breathtaking end-to-end rushes.) And while Gretzky edges Orr in the polls, if only people who saw both of them play live were allowed to vote, I suspect it would be a dead heat. Admittedly, it is a very close call. And Orr called Gretzky the best passer he ever saw. I know Gretzky had a longer career, however, I feel Orr's career was long enough to stand on its own. Hence, I make no apologies for choosing Orr number one. Here is what I wrote in my article about the 25 Greatest Athletes of All-time (in which I placed Orr 9th):

"Here is my reasoning for placing Orr here instead of Gretzky: The difference between Orr and the second-best defenseman ever was greater than the difference between Gretzky and the second best offensive player ever. In addition, when watching Orr he seemed to control and dominate the rink more than Gretzky. Who knows what additional records Orr would have set in addition to awards and Stanley Cups won, had bad knees not prematurely ended his career. Orr won 2 Stanley Cups, 3 Hart Awards, 8 straight Top Defenseman Awards, and he was the only defenceman to lead the league in scoring (and he did it twice). He had blazing speed, quickness, agility, great balance, toughness, and awesome skill."

Gretzky deserves all the praise that he gets and his career numbers are mind-boggling. But, sorry, he is number two on my list. Like I said, you get a vote too.

Comments

• I still don't agree that the difference between Orr and the next best defenceman was bigger than Gretzky and the next best forward. Gretzky is the all time leading goal scorer. However, if he never scored a single goal, he'd still be the all time leading point scorer. He had more assists than anyone else has points! Orr did a lot to change the way defencemen played the game, but others have come along since (Bourque and Coffey just to name two) that were a lot closer to Orr than Lemieux or Howe were to Gretzky.
  Posted by andymuenz
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  Posted by mdh88

Past Featured Ranking Questions

The All Time Top 10 NBA Passers by Mark D. Hauser
The All Time Top 25 Athletes by Mark D. Hauser
My Favorite Ranking Question and Why by Mark D. Hauser
The All Time Top 10 NHL Players (non-goalies) by Mark D. Hauser
The 10 Greatest Boxers of All Time by Mark D. Hauser
The 10 Greatest Heavyweight Boxers of All Time by Mark D. Hauser
The Top 25 NBA Players of All Time by Mark D. Hauser