Four Colorado Avalanche all-time great superstars and three Pittsburgh Penguins icons led the way as the NHL’s final Quarter-Century Team was revealed this week.
Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby (Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images)
The Edmonton Oilers, Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins and Calgary Flames also had two players each named to the Quarter-Century team, which was selected via a fan vote from Feb. 12 to April 1.
The four Avalanche players named to the team are no surprise. Goalie Patrick Roy, centers Joe Sakic and Nathan MacKinnon, and defenseman Cale Makar made the cut, while Penguins legends Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury also made the team. In addition, Oilers star centers Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were honored by being named to the team, as were Bruins stars Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron. Finally, Red Wings stars Pavel Datsyuk and Nicklas Lidstrom made the team, as did Flames stars Jarome Iginla and the late Johnny Gaudreau.
Otherwise, ten other franchises had one player named to the team, including Washington (Alex Ovechkin), Tampa Bay (Steven Stamkos), Toronto (Auston Matthews), Anaheim (Teemu Selanne), San Jose (Joe Thornton), Montreal (Carey Price), New Jersey (Martin Brodeur), Florida/Vancouver (Roberto Luongo), the New York Rangers (Henrik Lundqvist) and Chicago (Patrick Kane). And really, there’s no arguing any of the choices.
Winning a Stanley Cup made it easier to make this list, as 16 of the 25 players had won a Cup at some point in their career. But approximately one-third of the list included players who either didn’t win a Cup in their on-ice days or who are still competing for one today.
In total, the 25 players who made the Quarter-Century team combined to win 35 Stanley Cups, 14 Hart Trophies as the league MVP, nine Conn Smythe Trophies as the playoff MVP, 14 Art Ross Trophies as the top point-producer in the game, 19 Rocket Richard Trophies as the top goal-scorer, nine Norris Trophies as the best defenseman, and 10 Vezina Trophies as the top netminder. In short, if you were an NHL star who had their name engraved on one of the NHL’s trophies, you had a good chance to make the Quarter-Century squad.
Twenty-five years from now, when the NHL compiles this kind of list again, you’ll be seeing some of the same names that we saw from this Quarter-Century list. For instance, MacKinnon and Makar are both young enough and successful enough to make the next Quarter-Century team, as are Matthews, McDavid, and Draisaitl. But there will be other youngsters who step up and impose their will on games when they matter most, and for that reason, there will be a new batch of honorees to celebrate in 2050.
For now, though, there’s plenty to appreciate about this Quarter-Century team. You’d want to have any of the 25 players on your side, for good reason. They could (and can) do it all, and they’re all proven winners in their own right.
