Signature Players for each Team

[Chief Nine]

After seeing so many great iconic players gathered in the same place this All Star weekend, it got me to thinking:

Curious to see what everyone thinks who would be the one signature player for their teams aside from the obvious ones (at least who I consider the obvious ones - correct me if I'm wrong!)?

Boston - Orr
Edmonton - Gretzky
Detroit - Howe
Pittsburgh - Lemieux
Chicago - Bobby Hull
Philadelphia - Clarke
NJ Devils - Brodeur

Then there's "the not so clear" group:

Montreal - Beliveau or Richard
Toronto - Keon or Sittler
NY Rangers - Bathgate, Gilbert, or Messier
Hartford - Francis
St. Louis - Brett Hull
Washington - Ovechkin
Tampa - St. Louis
Buffalo - Perreault
Islanders - Bossy, Potvin, Smith, Trottier


Would love to hear what everyone thinks who they are for the newer and moved teams

Click to read more...

 

[Admiral Awesome]

Joe Sakic for Colorado

When considering Winnipeg, do you separate the two franchises into wpg/az and atl/wpg?

 

[BayStreetBully]

Anaheim - Teemu Selanne
Arizona - Shane Doan
Boston - Bobby Orr
Buffalo - Gilbert Perreault
Calgary - Al MacInnis
Carolina - Ron Francis
Colorado - Joe Sakic
Columbus - Rick Nash
Dallas - Mike Modano
Detroit - Gordie Howe
Edmonton - Wayne Gretzky
Florida - Roberto Luongo
LA - Wayne Gretzky
Minnesota - Brian Bellows
Montreal - Maurice Richard
Nashville - Shea Weber
New Jersey - Scott Stevens
NYI - Mike Bossy
NYR - Mark Messier
Ottawa - Daniel Alfredsson
Philadelphia - Bobby Clarke
Pittsburgh - Mario Lemieux
San Jose - Joe Thornton
St. Louis - Brett Hull
Tampa Bay - Martin St. Louis
Toronto - Dave Keon
Vancouver - Pavel Bure
Washington - Alex Ovechkin
Winnipeg - Dale Hawerchuk

Some close calls, but if I had to choose one...

 

[GMR]

After seeing so many great iconic players gathered in the same place this All Star weekend, it got me to thinking:

Curious to see what everyone thinks who would be the one signature player for their teams aside from the obvious ones (at least who I consider the obvious ones - correct me if I'm wrong!)?

Boston - Orr
Edmonton - Gretzky
Detroit - Howe
Pittsburgh - Lemieux
Chicago - Bobby Hull
Philadelphia - Clarke
NJ Devils - Brodeur

Then there's "the not so clear" group:

Montreal - Beliveau or Richard
Toronto - Keon or Sittler
NY Rangers - Bathgate, Gilbert, or Messier
Hartford - Francis
St. Louis - Brett Hull
Washington - Ovechkin
Tampa - St. Louis
Buffalo - Perreault
Islanders - Bossy, Potvin, Smith, Trottier


Would love to hear what everyone thinks who they are for the newer and moved teams

Is Hull clearly ahead of Mikita in this category? Mikita played far more games with the franchise.

Also, I'd put Ovechkin in that top group.

 

[ESH]

Iginla is definitely the guy for Calgary.

 

[Chief Nine]

Is Hull clearly ahead of Mikita in this category? Mikita played far more games with the franchise.

Also, I'd put Ovechkin in that top group.

I can't argue this. I'm a huge Mikita fan and I saw them both play. I would think that Hull is the guy, but he did leave for the WHA and as you point out, Mikita was a Hawk for much longer.

I think it comes down to who's more well known, especially in this case and that would be Hull.

Just wondering what Chicago fans think.

And I agree with your assessment of Ovechkin.

 

[Chief Nine]

Anaheim - Teemu Selanne
Arizona - Shane Doan
Boston - Bobby Orr
Buffalo - Gilbert Perreault
Calgary - Al MacInnis
Carolina - Ron Francis
Colorado - Joe Sakic
Columbus - Rick Nash
Dallas - Mike Modano
Detroit - Gordie Howe
Edmonton - Wayne Gretzky
Florida - Roberto Luongo
LA - Wayne Gretzky
Minnesota - Brian Bellows
Montreal - Maurice Richard
Nashville - Shea Weber
New Jersey - Scott Stevens
NYI - Mike Bossy
NYR - Mark Messier
Ottawa - Daniel Alfredsson
Philadelphia - Bobby Clarke
Pittsburgh - Mario Lemieux
San Jose - Joe Thornton
St. Louis - Brett Hull
Tampa Bay - Martin St. Louis
Toronto - Dave Keon
Vancouver - Pavel Bure
Washington - Alex Ovechkin
Winnipeg - Dale Hawerchuk

Some close calls, but if I had to choose one...

Well done!

 

[Chief Nine]

Joe Sakic for Colorado

When considering Winnipeg, do you separate the two franchises into wpg/az and atl/wpg?

And could you make that case for Quebec/Colorado and then consider Peter Stastny as well?

 

[Syrinx]

Anaheim - Teemu Selanne
Arizona - Shane Doan
Boston - Bobby Orr
Buffalo - Gilbert Perreault
Calgary - Al MacInnis
Carolina - Ron Francis
Colorado - Joe Sakic
Columbus - Rick Nash
Dallas - Mike Modano
Detroit - Gordie Howe
Edmonton - Wayne Gretzky
Florida - Roberto Luongo
LA - Wayne Gretzky
Minnesota - Brian Bellows
Montreal - Maurice Richard
Nashville - Shea Weber
New Jersey - Scott Stevens
NYI - Mike Bossy
NYR - Mark Messier
Ottawa - Daniel Alfredsson
Philadelphia - Bobby Clarke
Pittsburgh - Mario Lemieux
San Jose - Joe Thornton
St. Louis - Brett Hull
Tampa Bay - Martin St. Louis
Toronto - Dave Keon
Vancouver - Pavel Bure
Washington - Alex Ovechkin
Winnipeg - Dale Hawerchuk

Some close calls, but if I had to choose one...

The only one I'd consider arguing is NJ. Nice list.

 

[Admiral Awesome]

And could you make that case for Quebec/Colorado and then consider Peter Stastny as well?

You could make a case for Stastny but I think Sakic still takes it.

 

[double5son10]

Anaheim - Teemu Selanne
Arizona - Shane Doan
Boston - Bobby Orr
Buffalo - Gilbert Perreault
Calgary - Al MacInnis
Carolina - Ron Francis
Colorado - Joe Sakic
Columbus - Rick Nash
Dallas - Mike Modano
Detroit - Gordie Howe
Edmonton - Wayne Gretzky
Florida - Roberto Luongo
LA - Wayne Gretzky
Minnesota - Brian Bellows
Montreal - Maurice Richard
Nashville - Shea Weber
New Jersey - Scott Stevens
NYI - Mike Bossy
NYR - Mark Messier
Ottawa - Daniel Alfredsson
Philadelphia - Bobby Clarke
Pittsburgh - Mario Lemieux
San Jose - Joe Thornton
St. Louis - Brett Hull
Tampa Bay - Martin St. Louis
Toronto - Dave Keon
Vancouver - Pavel Bure
Washington - Alex Ovechkin
Winnipeg - Dale Hawerchuk

Some close calls, but if I had to choose one...

Bellows played for the North Stars, which would fall under the Dallas entry (agree w/ the Modano selection btw). Not sure who the Wild's signature choice would be. Backstrom perhaps, maybe Koivu?

I also think one could make a pretty strong argument that the Kings signature player is Dionne, not Gretzky.

 

[Canucks420]

GOALIE EDITION
Anaheim - Jean-Sebastien Giguere
Arizona - Mike Smith
Boston - Gerry Cheevers
Buffalo - Dominik Hasek
Calgary - Mike Vernon
Carolina - Cam Ward
Colorado - Patrick Roy
Columbus - Sergei Bobrovsky
Dallas - Marty Turco
Detroit - Terry Sawchuck
Edmonton - Grant Fuhr
Florida - Roberto Luongo
Los Angeles - Johnathon Quick (Can't argue with two cups)
Minnesota - Niklas Backstrom
Montreal - Jaques Plante
Nashville - Pekka Rinne
New Jersey - Martin Brodeur
New York Islanders - Billy Smith
New York Rangers - Henrik Lundquist
Ottawa - Patrick Lalime
Philadelphia - Bernie Parent
Pittsburgh - Marc-Andre Fleury
San Jose - Evgeni Nabokov
St. Louis - Mike Liut
Tampa Bay - Nikolai Khabibulin
Toronto - Walter "Turk" Broda
Vancouver - Roberto Luongo
Washington - Olaf Kolzig
Winnipeg/Atlanta - Ondrej Pavalec


Minnesota North Stars - John Casey/Lorne "Gump" Worsley
Quebec Nordiques - Mario Gosselin
Winnipeg Jets (original) - Brian Hayward?/Bob Essensa?
Colorado Rockies - Hardy Astrom

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

My personal opinion (in brackets is if we go by entire franchise history rather than team history):

Anaheim - Teemu Selanne
Arizona - Shane Doan (Dale Hawerchuk)
Boston - Bobby Orr
Buffalo - Dominik Hasek/Gilbert Perreault
Calgary - Jarome Iginla
Carolina - Rod Brind'Amour (Ron Francis)
Colorado - Joe Sakic
Columbus - Rick Nash
Dallas - Mike Modano
Detroit - Gordie Howe
Edmonton - Wayne Gretzky
Florida - Roberto Luongo
LA - Wayne Gretzky
Minnesota - Marian Gaborik
Montreal - Maurice Richard/Jean Beliveau
Nashville - Shea Weber
New Jersey - Scott Stevens/Martin Brodeur
NYI - Denis Potvin/Brian Trottier/Mike Bossy
NYR - Mark Messier
Ottawa - Daniel Alfredsson
Philadelphia - Bobby Clarke
Pittsburgh - Mario Lemieux
San Jose - Joe Thornton
St. Louis - Brett Hull
Tampa Bay - Martin St. Louis
Toronto - Mats Sundin
Vancouver - Pavel Bure/Henrik Sedin/Daniel Sedin
Washington - Alex Ovechkin
Winnipeg - Dustin Byfuglien (Ilya Kovalchuk)

 

[sharkhawk]

I can't argue this. I'm a huge Mikita fan and I saw them both play. I would think that Hull is the guy, but he did leave for the WHA and as you point out, Mikita was a Hawk for much longer.

I think it comes down to who's more well known, especially in this case and that would be Hull.

Just wondering what Chicago fans think.

And I agree with your assessment of Ovechkin.

In the 70's when I was a kid, especially after Hull left, Mikita was the man, we hated Wirtz, but Hull hurt too much. To me Stan was Mr. Hawk (compared to Ernie Banks Mr. Cub).

 

[decma]

I agree with most of the selections above but for St.L would go with Federko over Hull.

 

[Chief Nine]

I also think one could make a pretty strong argument that the Kings signature player is Dionne, not Gretzky.

Absolutely. And it just so happens that they're having this same conversation on NHL Radio on Sirius XM tonight and they brought up Luc Robitaille who could be the player everyone associates with the Kings

 

[VanIslander]

Nabokov? Thornton? Maybe if you ain't a Sharks fan. The correct answer is either Owen Nolan or...

 

[GMR]

Nabokov? Thornton? Maybe if you ain't a Sharks fan. The correct answer is either Owen Nolan or...

When I was in high school, Owen Nolan was definitely the first thing everyone associated with the Sharks. Since then, Marleau and Thornton have passed him easily.

Thornton is the better player, but Marleau has been there forever. I'd likely give him the nod.

 

[BayStreetBully]

When I was in high school, Owen Nolan was definitely the first thing everyone associated with the Sharks. Since then, Marleau and Thornton have passed him easily.

Thornton is the better player, but Marleau has been there forever. I'd likely give him the nod.

Those were my exact thoughts. San Jose was a close call for me. I chose Thornton, but could just as easily have gone with Marleau or my personal favorite Owen Nolan. Nolan has the advantage of being the pioneer for the Sharks.

A bunch of other teams had close calls too.