Top 30 Canadian Players of All-Time - #5

[-AJ-]

Gordie Howe won the last poll with 58.82% of the votes.

Shore had three nominations, Morenz was second with two.

Eddie Shore was added to the list.

Congratulations to Gordie Howe for being named the #4 Canadian Player of All-Time!

We are going with the Country the player played for internationally.

Please remember to nominate someone to be added to the voting list!

The List:

#1 - Wayne Gretzky

#2 - Bobby Orr

#3 - Mario Lemieux

#4 - Gordie Howe

[c00kies]

Nominate Adam Oates.

[-AJ-]

I'm voting for Maurice Richard, one of the best goalscorers; if not, the best of All-Time. He's undoubtedly the best Canadien of all-time and that's saying a lot, considering the history of the Canadiens.

He was the first player to score 50 goals in a season and he did it in a 50-game season, no less. That goal scoring rate was not matched for nearly 40 years, until the high-scoring 80s. He lead the league in goal scoring for five seasons.

He was the first player to score 500 goals and when he retired, he held the NHL record for the most career goals. He held that record until 1963-64, when Howe passed him.

He remains 28th All-Time in goals scored, with Jarome Iginla as the only player even remotely close to passing him.

He still ranks 11th All-Time in goals-per-game at 0.56. This is an average of 46 goals per season in 82 game seasons.

If you count only players with 900+ games, he ranks 6th in this category.

It's interesting to note that, in the goals-per-game rankings, he and Bobby Hull are the only two players in the Top 40 that played in the 1950s, and Hull only started in 1958, near the end of the decade.

I'll go ahead and nominate Ray Bourque. A perennial all-star, Bourque had big shoes to fill with the early end of Orr's career, but he filled them remarkably well. He's the all-time leader among defensemen in goals, assists, points, powerplay goals, game-winning-goals and game-tying-goals.

Among all NHLers, he's first all-time in shots (by a margin of nearly 1,000 shots), as well as 9th All-time in games played.

His number is retired by both the Bruins and the Avalanche, one of the only players to have his number retired by more than one team.

And of course, who can forget "Ray's Cup" in 2001?

[goalie13]

I'm also voting for The Rocket.

Again nominating Howie Morenz.

Considered one of the first stars of the NHL, Morenz played 14 seasons in the league. He was a member of a Stanley Cup–winning team three times, all with the Canadiens. During his NHL career he placed in the top 10 leading scorers ten times. For seven straight seasons, Morenz led the Canadiens in both goals scored and points. Three times in his career he was named the most valuable player of the league, and he led the league once in goals scored and twice in points scored. He was named to the NHL All-Star Team three times.

Morenz died from complications of a broken leg, an injury he suffered in a game. After his death, the Canadiens retired his jersey number, the first time the team had done so for any player. When the Hockey Hall of Fame opened in 1945, Morenz was one of the original nine inductees. In 1950, the Canadian Press named him the best ice hockey player of the first half of the 20th century.

[mrsasaki]

Voting Messier

Nominating Bourque, thought he was already up there

[Master Mind]

Voting Richard.

Nominating Francis.

[Langdon Algur]

Also voting for the Rocket

and for the 3rd time nominating the NHL's orginal superstar Howie Morenz

[TOMapleLaughs]

Nominate Cam Neely.

[Xur]

Voted Brodeur

Nominating Bertuzzi.

[Pablo]

Voting Bossy

Nominating Bourque

[VanNuck]

My vote is for Jean Beliveau, one of the classiest players ever. Possessed a wealth of talent and true leadership. Helped elevate the Habs to the historic level of dominance they possessed - without him, they likely wouldn't have the 23 Cups in the bank.