Some first impressions -
Bill Cowley - I don't want to dismiss him too quickly as being a product of the war years. He still won a Hart trophy and was twice a first-team all-star before the talent vacuum began (with four years in the top five in scoring). Remember that VsX already heavily discounts the war years, so I think those numbers can likely be taken at face value. Trivia - Cowley is the only player in history aside from Gretzky to lead the league in scoring on the strength of his assists alone. I'll need to look into how good he was in the playoffs, and just how bad was he defensively.
Bill Gadsby - is he any better than Chara, who has a somewhat similar style of play? The giant Slovak has a better Norris trophy voting record, and a stronger playoff resume.
Boris Mikhailov - back-to-back MVP trophies in the Soviet leagues is impressive (something that only Firsov and Tretiak ever accomplished). But I found him underwhelming in the Summit Series and Canada Cup.
Brian Leetch - atypical for an elite defenseman, he became noticeably worse in his thirties. Once he lost his elite speed, he wasn't able to cover his sometimes ill-advised rushes. That being said, I think he was generally better than he was given credit for defensively, both during and after his prime. Perhaps more than any other player this round (except possibly Chara), he brought enormous value on special teams. His playoff scoring numbers look exceptional (jumping about 20% from RS to PO!) - but remember that he made the postseason just once after age 28.
Duncan Keith - one can reasonably argue that he has the 2nd best playoff resume of any player from 2006 onwards (behind only Crosby). What hurts Keith is he has a lot of good regular seasons, but only a few that are great. He has two Norris trophies but was only in top five once more; for comparison, Leetch has five seasons in the top five, against stronger competition.
Ed Belfour - I like that he had Vezina calibre seasons on three different teams. He had some unexpected down periods though (towards the end of his time in Chicago; and that awful final season Dallas, before immediately bouncing back in Toronto). He was an excellent playoff performer (his adjusted playoff save percentage is identical to Hasek's, over a much larger number of games). He deserved serious consideration for the Smythe in 1999 (and that probably wasn't even his best postseason).
Eric Lindros - I don't think it's time for the Big E just yet - but he was a good playoff performer (better than generally recognized) and although I wouldn't call him a great defensive player in the traditional sense, he was so good at maintaining possession that his ES ratio (goals for to goals against while he's on the ice), especially during his prime in Philadelphia, is exceptional.
Martin St. Louis - I had him just outside the top 100, slightly behind contemporaries Iginla and Thornton. Two factors that work in his favour are he was pretty good defensively, and generally a strong playoff performer. But I can't help but feel that his trophy case is a lot better than it "should" be. He has two Art Ross trophies and a runner-up but I think he had some good luck (I've already written before that 2004 was one of the weakest years for top-end talent; in 2011 and 2013 I'm not convinced he was the best player on his own line).
Nels Stewart - he was already in my top five last round. His consistency and longevity (especially as a goal-scorer, but also as a point producer in general) was exceptional for his era. I find it significant that he was the NHL's all-time goal-scoring leader for 16 years (and points for 6 years). Two Hart trophies is also impressive. 1926 was something of a teaser though - he played very well in the postseason, and filled in as a defenseman - never again in his career was he a great playoff performer, nor was there any record of him playing well defensively. One of the strikes against Stewart is he's hard to build around (slow, bulky) but I see that as more of an issue in an All-Time Draft context.
Sergei Fedorov - I think I've soured on Fedorov in recent years; I used to rank him higher than Forsberg. Yes he was great defensively but I have a tough time seeing how little he produced after his big year (from 1995 to 2003, he was outscored by players like Palffy, Weight, Turgeon, LeClair and Amonte). His regular season resume is so thin compared to most other players on this list - but his strong playoff resume helps.
Zdeno Chara - I don't think that most people fully appreciate how good Chara has done in Norris trophy voting. He's one of only five players in history to have ten "significant" seasons (where he's getting at least a 5% vote share) - the others were Bourque, Lidstrom, Harvey and Pilote. It's true that he peaked in an era with weaker high-end talent, but if think we've already discount his resume significantly - on paper he should have gone with MacInnis several rounds ago.