For more than a hundred years, hockey has been a Pennsylvania passion. Its people and teams have made an indelible mark on both the NHL and the sport itself, and fans on both sides of the state have had plenty to cheer, yell, hope, mope, and even cry about. From Hall of Fame classes to
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* games played is as of the beginning of this season when this article was originally produced There was certainly a large disparity of first-round talent drafted in the 2000s. Some teams, like the Pittsburgh Penguins, drafted franchise cornerstones such as Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Marc-Andre Fleury at the top of the draft. Other teams,
While the adage goes that defense wins championships, 16 goalies have won the Conn Smythe Trophy in NHL history compared to just 10 defensemen. Considering the Montreal Canadiens have won a league-high 24 Stanley Cups, that’s a lot of good goalies from which to choose when selecting the best in team history. Granted, championships alone
June 26, 1999, was a day that changed the fortunes of the Vancouver Canucks for more than just the next decade. This, of course, being the day of the NHL Draft that saw Henrik and Daniel Sedin join the Canucks. While there are some cynics who think the team’s success was stunted by the events
The top three all-time San Jose Sharks goalies is a tough list to come up with. While there have been many goaltenders who have prowled the blue paint at the SAP Center, only a handful can be considered the best in franchise history. The Hockey Writers boiled down the list and ranked the trio of
For an NHL franchise that began playing in 1917, it took a long time–65 years–for one player to finally score 50 goals in a season. No other franchise has taken anywhere near as long to crack the milestone. The Toronto Maple Leafs 50-Goal Club includes Gary Leeman, Rick Vaive and Dave Andreychuk. (Vince Richards/THW) Despite the
Records are made to be broken. But, more than 40 years after Darryl Sittler set the record for most points scored in a single game, it has yet to be matched, much less broken. Sittler’s name literally covered the scoresheet as he piled up six goals and four assists in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 11-4
To be named the captain of an NHL team is an honor. He is the first to hoist the Stanley Cup after a victory and is often the center of media attention. He is the one who interacts with the refs on the ice and is often the face of the organization. Every team has
On the walls of a small house in Landrienne, Quebec, a tiny rural community in the Abitibi region 645 kilometers north of Montreal, hung three pictures: one of Pope Pius XII, one of Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis and the other of Maurice “The Rocket” Richard. These iconic personalities not only represented the main areas of
The saying is that records are meant to be broken, but in certain cases, they simply won’t be broken. Barring radical changes to the playing style and rules of the NHL, it’s highly unlikely that we’ll ever see anything like the below occurrences. Some relate to scoring, others awards, and a few singular oddball events
The National Hockey League has witnessed a number of sensational rookie campaigns throughout its storied history and this trend is set to continue. With the next squad of exceptional young stars, the NHL is stronger than ever in terms of elite young talent. However, despite the incredible skills of these players, it is highly unlikely that any
While most jokes about the Philadelphia Flyers are aimed at the guys who play between the pipes, the Flyers actually have a rich history of goalies. Unfortunately, for recent teams — or even the teams of the ’90s — those goalies played, for the most part, in the ’70s and ’80s. The three best goalies
Little Big Men have always been a staple in the NHL. You know the type: fast as the wind, nimble on their feet, quick with their hands and tough to play against. Henri Richard, Marcel Dionne, Brian Gionta. In the modern era of hockey, it’s impossible to discuss the phenomenon of the Little Big Men
What makes for a great NHL backup? Judging by this list of the best ones in the game today, it could really be either youth or experience. There’s really no rhyme or reason to the job, although it’s safe to say that if you’ve got a Vezina Trophy win notched on your belt, like the
The Chicago Blackhawks are one of the NHL’s “Original Six” teams. As such, Chicago has gone through many goalies in the history of the franchise — some memorable, and some not so memorable. For this list, the focus will be not just on the most memorable, but the absolute best. The cream of the crop.
Hockey is played hard and fast. Athletes will hook, trip, face wash and pester to gain a winning edge. Like all sports, hockey has official rules and unwritten rules. It also has a code of respect. And there are many players that blur the lines between the two. Or cross them entirely. They can be
Mats Naslund played a style of hockey that was far larger than his 5-foot-7, 160-pound frame. Possessing tremendous speed and an ability to generate offense seemingly on a whim, Naslund was the star forward for the Montreal Canadiens during the decade of the 1980s. Combining his skill, determination, and Nordic heritage, the fans of Montreal
Perhaps no team in the National Hockey League had as inauspicious a start as the Washington Capitals. In the entire century-plus of NHL history, the 1974-75 Capitals, one of two expansion teams to enter the league that year (after a horrendously unfair expansion draft from an already depleted league), hold the league’s worst-ever single-season points