So who *are* the NHL's generational players?

[Dekes For Days]

Are Malkin and Matthews gonna potentially break Gretzky's goal scoring record?

Not sure what that has to do with anything. Ovechkin was considered generational like a decade before he approached 700 goals. It's likely that none of Ovechkin, Malkin, or Matthews break Gretzky's record, but if Ovechkin is included for his goal-scoring abilities specifically, and McDavid is included despite being 24, there's really no valid argument to exclude Matthews.

 

[saintunspecified]

When I read stuff like this, I think that I'm just way out of step. Martin Brodeur was a dominant player for so long, but evaluations during his career and after his career despite... everything continue to underrate him. I don't even see Roy and Brodeur in the same category. It's not close IMO. (Because Brodeur nearly eliminated the dump and chase until the league changed the rules). But I realize I'm out of step.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

Another major omission is Guy Lafleur he was the most influential player in Habs history among Maurice Richard.

 

[hmc1987]

Because he might go a point per game as a rookie in a couple years, but yeah Alexandre Daigle was getting close to considered generational at one point so let's pump the breaks

Exactly...Nail Yakupov was supposed to be special. Nolan Patrick, Pavel Zacha, Jake Virtanen, Pavel Brendl, etc etc etc etc

Double you tea if ?

 

[These Are The Days]

Not sure what that has to do with anything. Ovechkin was considered generational like a decade before he approached 700 goals. It's likely that none of Ovechkin, Malkin, or Matthews break Gretzky's record, but if Ovechkin is included for his goal-scoring abilities specifically, and McDavid is included despite being 24, there's really no valid argument to exclude Matthews.

Then they aren't generational. We're gonna see another Crosby, McDavid, Malkin, Matthews etc. It could be 40 years or more before anyone does what Ovechkin is doing now chasing Gretzky's goal scoring record. That is literally the definition of generational. No shit guys are more talented now than they were then. Being THAT far ahead of your superiors and having accomplishments that maybe like 1 other guy has ever done is what makes you generational to begin with.

Now more than ever the current era makes it nearly impossible to produce players who hold their own substantial record. It will never be harder than it is now and Ovechkin is the only guy who is gonna come close to a big record and my money is on him breaking it.


Matthews finishes his career with like 600 goals and someone has the balls to call him generational if Ovechkin has 800 joining only Gretzky and Howe to reach that mark

 

[Dekes For Days]

Then they aren't generational. We're gonna see another Crosby, McDavid, Malkin, Matthews etc. It could be 40 years or more before anyone does what Ovechkin is doing now chasing Gretzky's goal scoring record.

Lol, that's ridiculous. Ovechkin is still quite far away from that record, and even ignoring future prospects, there's somebody who has a decent chance to do the same thing, in the league right now.

 

[Voodoo Child]

If Sakic and Yzerman weren't generational, then Malkin isn't either.

Crosby
Ovy
McDavid

McDavid is the only one at the apex of his powers.

I'd augur for Brodeur as generational. He has the cups, the numbers and the hardware, but most importantly he revolutionized the position - who ever heard of a puck moving goalie before him?

And now, every goalie needs to be able to competently move the puck.

 

[saintunspecified]

I'd augur for Brodeur as generational. He has the cups, the numbers and the hardware, but most importantly he revolutionized the position - who ever heard of a puck moving goalie before him?

And now, every goalie needs to be able to competently move the puck.

I still haven't seen a goalie that moves the puck as effectively as he did. (Turco came the closest IMO, but lol).

Brodeur also played 70 games a year, which last happened in 2014-2015, and before that in 2011-2012.

Brodeur played 70 games 10 years in a row. He won 2 stanley cups during that time, and lost 1 final, so you can imagine all the additional games played. He was a freak.

 

[Voodoo Child]

I still haven't seen a goalie that moves the puck as effectively as he did. (Turco came the closest IMO, but lol).

Brodeur also played 70 games a year, which last happened in 2014-2015, and before that in 2011-2012.

Brodeur played 70 games 10 years in a row. He won 2 stanley cups during that time. He was a freak.

People sell him short because he was on a powerhouse team for so long.

He didn't have the mystique of Roy or Hasek, but he was still a very terrifying player to go up against.

 

[Steve]

Not sure what that has to do with anything. Ovechkin was considered generational like a decade before he approached 700 goals. It's likely that none of Ovechkin, Malkin, or Matthews break Gretzky's record, but if Ovechkin is included for his goal-scoring abilities specifically, and McDavid is included despite being 24, there's really no valid argument to exclude Matthews.

I don't think you should include anyone for a specific element of the game as I feel it waters down the dominance of the term "generational". If Ovi is a generational goal scorer, would that make Niedermayer a generational skater or Probert a generational fighter? I feel if you are deemed "generational" then it's your overall game. That's why I've got 3 listed - Gretzky, Lemieux and Orr.

 

[chauron]

Top 10 all time points are:

1		Wayne Gretzky
2		Jaromír Jágr
3		Mark Messier
4		Gordie Howe
5		Ron Francis
6		Marcel Dionne
7		Steve Yzerman
8		Mario Lemieux
9		Joe Sakic
10		Phil Esposito

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

I wonder if any of these are generational ... Dionne, Jagr?

 

[tarheelhockey]

Another major omission is Guy Lafleur he was the most influential player in Habs history among Maurice Richard.

I'm not necessarily disagreeing (see previous post where I said Lafleur is one that makes me hesitate) but the tricky thing with him is that his best years happened in a league that was:

a) Very heavily diluted of talent by the WHA and expansion, so there were literal minor-league outfits posing as NHL clubs for several years.

b) Devoid of European talent, at a time when that meant missing several top-tier elite players.

c) Dominated by a very heavily stacked superteam, which Lafleur happened to play on.

So on the one hand you've got a guy who was clearly a game-changing elite talent, on the other hand he's running roughshod over the Washington Generals on a lot of nights while guys who could have challenged him weren't even playing in the league.

It's a tough one, and really there's not much to be done but hold one's own opinion about how good he really was. But I struggle to view his achievements in the same light I would have viewed them a decade or two earlier OR later.

 

[Dekes For Days]

I don't think you should include anyone for a specific element of the game as I feel it waters down the dominance of the term "generational". If Ovi is a generational goal scorer, would that make Niedermayer a generational skater or Probert a generational fighter? I feel if you are deemed "generational" then it's your overall game.

I have nothing against people using that criteria. The issue with a lot of the lists is inconsistency, not the criteria itself.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Help me out because I don't know my hockey history that well.

Lost Generation (1885 - 1910)

• Georges Vezina

Greatest Generation (1911 - 1924)

• Maurice Richard

Silent Generation (1925 - 1945)

• Gordie Howe

Baby Boomers (1946 - 1962)

• Mike Bossy
• Ken Dryden
• Wayne Gretzky
• Bobby Orr
• Denis Potvin

Gen X (1963 - 1979)

• Dominik Hasek
• Jaromir Jagr
• Mario Lemieux
• Nik Lidstrom
• Eric Lindros

Millennials (1980 - 1996)

• Sidney Crosby
• Patrik Kane
• Evgeni Malkin
• Alex Ovechkin

Zoomers (1997 - 2012)

• Connor McDavid
• Auston Matthews
• Connor Bedard

Gen α (2013 - Present)

Remove:
Bossy, Vezina, Potvin, Dryden, Hasek, Kane, Malkin, Matthews, Bedard (why is he listed?) Jagr, Lindros (though he likely would've been) Lidstrom.

Richard, Howe, Orr, Gretzky, Lemieux, Crosby, Ovechkin, McDavid. That's about it. I don't think there's a goalie who's been generational although Dryden and Hasek could make good cases for it. If I were to add any players it would be Doug Harvey (who likely would've won 9 Norris trophies if it existed) and maybe Eddie Shore. Bobby Hull would also be on the cusp. He left for the AHL or his numbers would've been insane.

Guys like Bossy, Jagr, Lafleur etc... incredible players who were best in the league for a time but I don't think that qualifies for generational.

 

[bleedgreen]

Lol, that's ridiculous. Ovechkin is still quite far away from that record, and even ignoring future prospects, there's somebody who has a decent chance to do the same thing, in the league right now.

Who has a decent chance right now?!?

You do know Gretzky put up a 92 goal season right? Everyone playing right now is woefully behind with the possible exception of Ovy.

 

[bleedgreen]

Howe, Orr, Gretzky, Lemieux.

There’s room for Mcdavid if he can keep it up for another 10 plus years and lead to a couple of cups.

 

[Kaners Bald Spot]

Ovi is chasing down Gretzky the same way that Hank Aaron chased down Babe Ruth......By consistently scoring 40-55 goals. Gretzky and Ruth were more spectacular (higher G/HR seasons) but being consistently borderline great could get the job done. Hank Aaron never hit more than 47 HR in a year, but he still beat Ruth. Ovi is doing something similar.

 

[Dekes For Days]

Who has a decent chance right now?!? You do know Gretzky put up a 92 goal season right?

I don't know what the 92 goal season has to do with anything; we weren't discussing single-season peaks. Barring a career-altering injury, Matthews has a decent chance to match whatever career total Ovechkin ends up getting; both likely short of Gretzky's raw total.

 

[Finnish your Czech]

The "100% guaranteed generational" players:
Orr
Lemieux
Gretzky

The "current era probably generational" players:
Crosby
Ovechkin
McDavid

The "depends how you define generational" players:
Hasek
Jagr
Howe
Malkin
Lindros
Roy
Marincin

The "from before most of us followed hockey/were alive, so we don't really know generational" players:
Morenz
Shore
Harvey
Richard
Hull
Beliveau
Probably more

 

[Strexvale]

I started to reply to the OP in similar fashion but you’ve covered it nicely. For me the definition and criteria for being generational has grown wider and wider, what was once Elite people often now call Generational.

I’m not even sure I’d include Jagr and Hasek (both greats of the game) because they weren’t dominant enough for long enough and yes I know it’s a strict criteria. I wouldn’t include Roy and Bourque even if they were the best at their position for certain periods and I don’t know enough about Bobby Hull to have a view. I do though agree with everyone else you excluded. A generational talent needs to be an outlier, the truly exceptional talents of the game, Unicorns... by definition it cannot be a long list. There will have been times that there wasn’t even a generational player active in the league.

McDavid has a very good chance to end up in the generational bracket but it’s too early to say it, because like Lindros he could get derailed (let’s hope not).

How Dominik 'The Dominator' Hasek dominated the NHL with his unique style

I point to this quote regarding Hasek for why he belongs in the generational category, outside of his dominant stats.

"Certain aspects of Hasek's goaltending can be followed, but Davidson and Goldman don't believe anyone can mimic him completely.
"It's basically impossible to replicate that because his genetic biomechanics, his genetic framework or blueprint is completely unique to himself," Goldman said. "No one else is ever going to have the 'slinky for a spine' or that genetic flexibility."

"It's almost spiritual in nature," Goldman said. "To a goaltending guru, he was a work of art. ...You're just not going to see another goaltender like that."

On top of someone who was at the pinnacle of his position for most of a decade, combined with a style that hasn't been seen before, on top of revolutionzing aspects of the game which have become standard practice (dropping the stick to cover the puck for example), puts him in the generational category, possibly even beyond that at his position. At least until we see another goalie who can do what Hasek did.

How Dominik 'The Dominator' Hasek dominated the NHL with his unique style

 

[Raym11]

Draisaitl has played at a 125 point pace over the past 2 years. If Matthews is generational Draisaitl absolutely is.

good news because neither are

 

[Lacaar]

I will argue Hasek over the likes of Brodeur and Roy until I'm blue in the face.

Roy played on the strongest defensive team of the 80's and then engineered his success with a trade demand to another power house. He couldn't drag Montreal into the fight because he was such a sore loser.

Brodeur benefited massively from the strongest defensive team likely ever put together in the 90's.

Hasek did it despite the team in front of him that were above average at best. Honestly the last goalie to make a real difference at the position imo..

 

[Voight]

The "100% guaranteed generational" players:
Orr
Lemieux
Gretzky

The "current era probably generational" players:
Crosby
Ovechkin
McDavid

The "depends how you define generational" players:
Hasek
Jagr
Howe
Malkin
Lindros
Roy
Marincin

The "from before most of us followed hockey/were alive, so we don't really know generational" players:
Morenz
Shore
Harvey
Richard
Hull
Beliveau
Probably more

Lmfao absolutely no way you have Lemieux in the 100% category and not Howe

 

[Cape]

Matthews is not. Malkin is neither. Kane aswell.
Lindros generational talent maybe

Malkin and Kane are.

 

[Cape]

Generational means one player that is head and shoulders above the rest that only comes along ONCE in a generation.

There have only been 4 or 5 in the last 60-70 years.

Since the late 60s this is it.
Orr
Gretzky
Crosby
McDavid.

Lemieux not generational?