Top 5 hockey players in the world
Trying to rank the greatest hockey players of all time usually ends in an argument. Do you look purely at point totals? Stanley Cup rings? Or how much a player forced the league to change the way the game was played?
Comparing eras is notoriously messy. A goaltender in the Original Six era played an entirely different sport than an NHL winger does today. When Encyclopaedia Britannica published its take on the ten best hockey players ever, it sparked plenty of debate by prioritizing distinct eras, roles, and historical impact over a straight stat-sheet comparison.
Taking inspiration from that list, here is a closer look at five legends—an unstoppable modern scorer, two iconic goalies, a consummate captain, and Montreal’s ultimate champion—who genuinely altered the sport.
1. Alex Ovechkin: The Ultimate Goal-Scorer
For decades, Wayne Gretzky’s regular-season record of 894 goals was treated like Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hit streak—a monument no one would ever touch.
Alex Ovechkin shattered that assumption. His journey from an electric, hit-everything rookie in 2005 to passing “The Great One” with his 895th goal against the Islanders in April 2025 is arguably the most impressive feat of modern athletic longevity.
What makes “Ovi” fascinating isn’t just the final tally; it’s the predictability of it. Every penalty killer and goalie on the planet knows exactly where he sets up on the power play: the left face-off circle. Yet for two decades, even with modern video scouting and customized goalie gear, almost no one could stop his one-timer. Add to that a 2018 Stanley Cup run and a mountain of hits that should have broken a lesser player’s body, and Ovechkin stands as the most lethal pure goal scorer hockey has ever seen.
2. Jacques Plante: The Innovator Between the Pipes
Before Jacques Plante, stopping pucks was genuinely hazardous to your life.
Plante is universally remembered for the night of November 1, 1959. After catching a puck to the face at Madison Square Garden, he refused to return to the ice unless Montreal head coach Toe Blake allowed him to wear his homemade fiberglass mask. Blake hated the idea, worried it would obstruct his sightlines, but Plante didn’t give him a choice. He returned, won the game, and permanently changed goalie safety.
Lost behind the mask folklore is just how dominant Plante actually was. He won six Stanley Cups—including five straight with the Canadiens dynasty from 1956 to 1960—and claimed seven Vezina Trophies. More than that, Plante was the first goalie who dared to leave his crease. He skated behind the net to retrieve loose pucks and shouted positional directions to his defensemen, inventing the modern puck-handling netminder out of thin air.
3. Steve Yzerman: The Blueprint for Leadership
Early in his career, Steve Yzerman was an offensive dynamo who racked up 155 points in a single season (1988–89). Yet the Detroit Red Wings couldn’t get over the playoff hump.
Then Scotty Bowman arrived, and Yzerman did the hardest thing a superstar can do: he sacrificed his personal stats to become a relentless two-way center. That pivot changed everything. Yzerman transformed into a shutdown forward, won the Selke Trophy, and captained Detroit to back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1997 and 1998, followed by a third in 2002 while playing through a shredded knee.
“Stevie Y” finished with 1,755 career points, but his legacy in Detroit isn’t measured in scoring titles. It’s defined by a player who redefined himself to teach an entire franchise how to win.
4. Terry Sawchuk: Toughness and Pure Reflexes
If Plante was the great innovator of goaltending, Terry Sawchuk was its fiercest combatant.
Playing through an era without masks, decent padding, or modern sports medicine, Sawchuk racked up 447 wins and 103 shutouts—records that stood for decades. In each of his first five full seasons with the Red Wings in the early 1950s, he posted a goals-against average below 2.00, an absurd baseline of consistency that backstopped Detroit to three Stanley Cups in four years.
Sawchuk’s career was grueling. He played through collapsed lungs, chronic back pain, and hundreds of facial stitches, crouching in a low, punishing gorilla stance that took a heavy physical toll. Yet his lightning-fast reflexes and sheer refusal to yield set the gold standard for Original Six netminders.
5. Jean Béliveau: The Standard of Class and Dominance
It is impossible to write the history of hockey without Jean Béliveau. Tall, graceful, and smooth on his skates, Béliveau was the centerpiece of the greatest dynasty the NHL has ever seen.
In his 18 full seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, Béliveau won the Stanley Cup 10 times as a player—a total matched by only Henri Richard. He scored 507 regular-season goals, captured two Hart Trophies, won an Art Ross scoring title, and was awarded the inaugural Conn Smythe Trophy in 1965 as playoff MVP.
Beyond the hardware, Béliveau was revered across the league. He carried himself with an effortless dignity that earned him universal respect from opponents, referees, and fans alike. In an era often defined by bare-knuckle physical intimidation, Béliveau proved you could dominate the league with skill, vision, and poise.
Where Does This Leave the GOAT Debate?
Are these the undisputed top five players in history? Probably not. Any traditional list that leaves off Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr, Mario Lemieux, or Gordie Howe is bound to raise eyebrows.
Gretzky remains the undisputed statistical king; Orr revolutionized defense like no one before or since; Lemieux possessed arguably the highest raw talent the sport has ever seen; and Howe embodied hockey’s rugged soul for five decades.
What this selection highlights, however, is that “greatness” in hockey comes in many forms. It’s found in Plante’s stubborn courage to innovate, Yzerman’s willingness to change his game for the team, Sawchuk’s raw endurance, Béliveau’s championship consistency, and Ovechkin’s relentless pursuit of history. You don’t need to settle on a single GOAT to appreciate how these five permanently altered the game.
