Who's the 5th best ever?

[Say Hey Kid]

Pretend that we all agree that Gretzky, Howe, Orr, and Lemieux are top 4 all time. Who's the 5th best ever? The poll choices are a copy of the History of Hockey's Top 100 project.

Rank	Player	Position	Born	Nation	Birth City
1	Wayne Gretzky	C	1961	Canada	Brantford, Ontario
2	Gordie Howe	RW	1928	Canada	Floral, Saskatchewan
3	Bobby Orr	D	1948	Canada	Parry Sound, Ontario
4	Mario Lemieux	C	1965	Canada	Montreal, Quebec
5	Bobby Hull	LW	1939	Canada	Point Anne, Ontario
6	Jean Beliveau	C	1931	Canada	Trois-Rivieres, Quebec
7	Patrick Roy	G	1965	Canada	Quebec City, Quebec
8	Doug Harvey	D	1924	Canada	Montreal, Quebec
9	Maurice Richard	RW	1921	Canada	Montreal, Quebec
10	Ray Bourque	D	1960	Canada	Saint-Laurent, Quebec
11	Howie Morenz	C	1902	Canada	Mitchell, Ontario
12	Sidney Crosby	C	1987	Canada	Halifax, Nova Scotia
13	Dominik Hasek	G	1965	Czech Republic	Pardubice, Czechoslovakia
14	Eddie Shore	D	1902	Canada	Fort Qu'Appelle, Northwest Territories
15	Nicklas Lidstrom	D	1970	Sweden	Krylbo, Sweden
16	Jaromir Jagr	RW	1972	Czech Republic	Kladno, Czechoslovakia
17	Red Kelly	D / C	1927	Canada	Simcoe, Ontario
18	Denis Potvin	D	1953	Canada	Vanier, Ontario

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

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[Hollowmoon]

Hasek.

 

[DFAC]

Went with Jagr

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Hasek seems like a good choice. Most dominant player at his position.

 

[Dread Clawz]

Jagr easily. There are some truly great names here but none of them touch Jagr.

 

[Mbraunm]

Jagr or Harvey

 

[hamzarocks]

Crosby

Injuries took away from him the chance to pass Howe.

Healthy Crosby wins the 11,12,13, and 15 art Ross trophies along with hart+lindsay combos in 3 of the 4. 07/08 he would have also been closer to the Ross though I think he ends up losing out. His 3 best years were unfortunately riddled with injuries from 11-13

 

[JackSlater]

There are many options for the fifth spot, but I like Hasek there. In my opinion he has the best peak outside of the four removed players and his longevity is actually quite impressive.

 

[bobholly39]

Crosby

Injuries took away from him the chance to pass Howe.

Healthy Crosby wins the 11,12,13, and 15 art Ross trophies along with hart+lindsay combos in 3 of the 4. 07/08 he would have also been closer to the Ross though I think he ends up losing out. His 3 best years were unfortunately riddled with injuries from 11-13

Healthy Crosby wins the 11 and 13 Ross + hart/lindsay combo.
Healthy Crosby can win the same awards in 2012 - but you can't just assume so. He was a better player than Malkin at that point in time - but it's also possibly the best offensive season in the past 15 years, and it's unfair to Malkin to assume Crosby does better. Let's say 50/50 he wins some awards, as it likely it between him and Malkin that year.
07-08 He'd have had a chance at the Ross. Let's say a 30% chance, to give respect to Ovi's great season.

2015 - he was healthy. Every player misses a few games here and there - this shouldn't count. Imo he lost this one fair and square, and did so on the last game of the year while being shutout playing a league worst Buffalo Sabres - this one's on him.

Outside of that - i don't disagree with your post. How good Crosby would look vs Howe (and others) would depend on how many of these awards he ends up winning, vs not. On the upper end of expectations he looks good with Howe, on the lower end, still behind, but closer.

 

[InfinityIggy]

Hasek or Dionne, for me.

 

[Just doink]

I don't have anyone from Orr-era or earlier on top10. That stupid goofy-looking, all canadian, somewhat hockeyish sport is different game and noten even era-adjusted orrs don't belong here.

I'm fine with 2 timelines in ranking starting with #99.

 

[Cotton]

Hasek's dominance was during the regular season, so I personally wouldn't put him over a few other goaltenders who had lesser peaks but stellar playoff resumes (Roy, Plante, Sawchuk).

I wish the NHL had a boxing like pound-for-pound rating system, because I believe there are players from older eras that largely get forgotten when it comes to these lists.

I picked Roy, but I don't think it would be odd to hear an argument for Eddie Shore or Joe Malone.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

Very difficult to pick but I went with Jagr in the end due to the unique longeivity + nostalgia homerism.

 

[Backcheckmonster3]

Jack Hughes

 

[SotasicA]

I wanted to vote Brad Park. Had to go "other".

 

[Highmarker]

It's Jagr i think.

 

[Voight]

Healthy Crosby wins the 11 and 13 Ross + hart/lindsay combo.
Healthy Crosby can win the same awards in 2012 - but you can't just assume so. He was a better player than Malkin at that point in time - but it's also possibly the best offensive season in the past 15 years, and it's unfair to Malkin to assume Crosby does better. Let's say 50/50 he wins some awards, as it likely it between him and Malkin that year.
07-08 He'd have had a chance at the Ross. Let's say a 30% chance, to give respect to Ovi's great season.

2015 - he was healthy. Every player misses a few games here and there - this shouldn't count. Imo he lost this one fair and square, and did so on the last game of the year while being shutout playing a league worst Buffalo Sabres - this one's on him.

Outside of that - i don't disagree with your post. How good Crosby would look vs Howe (and others) would depend on how many of these awards he ends up winning, vs not. On the upper end of expectations he looks good with Howe, on the lower end, still behind, but closer.

He'd still be behind Howe in top 10 finishes, AST's, Ross' and Harts.

 

[Trap Jesus]

So at 32 years old people already have Crosby as the 5th best player of all time? This board is insane.

 

[Voight]

BS not to include Ovy here as an option BTW.

 

[DannyGallivan]

I cannot believe that Bobby Hull isn't an option. He was voted number five by the 32 participants of Hockey History's "Top 120" list.

Edit. it was pointed out that he was actually the first on the list.

 

[DannyGallivan]

I wanted to vote Brad Park. Had to go "other".

... as the fifth best player of all time?

 

[Trap Jesus]

I cannot believe that Bobby Hull isn't an option. He was voted number five by the 32 participants of Hockey History's "Top 120" list.

Uhh read the first name again

 

[DannyGallivan]

Uhh read the first name again

Ahhhh...

 

[bobholly39]

He'd still be behind Howe in top 10 finishes, AST's, Ross' and Harts.

AST and top 10 finishes have to take into consideration that there is much more competition in today's league, than before. So I don't think it's fair to not adjust for # of teams/stars in league.

As to Ross and Harts - I think on the most optimistic of projections he ends up tied for Ross, 1 back for hart. Again - considering the somewhat stronger era and his strong playoff resume - It would be quite close. That's for the most optimistic of projections of course - the reality could have been quite a bit less, even with better health.

 

[filinski77]

BS not to include Ovy here as an option BTW.

Completely agree, I wouldn't personally put Ovi as #5 (at this point in his career at least - if ever), but he definitely is ahead of a good number of players that are options in the poll.