Daily Faceoff’s NHL Quarter Century Team: The top 25 players of the past 25 years

Credit: Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Connor McDavid and Nicklas Lidstrom (Imagn Images)

Over the past quarter century of NHL hockey, we’ve witnessed sweeping changes across the sport. The Dead Puck Era died out, the New NHL arrived after the 2004-05 lockout, and high-end talents were freed up to showcase their skills. The past 25 years have birthed some of the greatest superstars the sport has ever known.

The NHL unveiled Quarter Century Teams for all 32 franchises earlier this winter, and it’s now conducting a fan vote to determine the top 25 players of the past 25 years, regardless of position. At Daily Faceoff, we thought that sounded like a fun exercise, so we decided to try it.

A panel of nine submitted their top 25 lists for the quarter century. The results were aggregated, awarding 25 points for a first-place vote, 24 for second-place vote and so on. Whereas the fan vote only allows submissions for players named to their own franchise’s First Teams, we eschewed that rule.

Our panel:

Nick Alberga, co-host of Leafs Morning Take
Steven Ellis, DFO associate editor & prospect analyst
Jason Gregor, co-host of The DFO Rundown podcast
Jonny Lazarus, co-host of Morning Cuppa Hockey & DFO writer
Matt Larkin, DFO managing editor & senior writer
Scott Maxwell, DFO writer
Paul Pidutti, creator of Adjusted Hockey & DFO Writer
Frank Seravalli, DFO president of hockey content
Arun Srinivasan, Leafs Nation managing editor

How difficult was the voting process? A total of 44 players received votes, and only six appeared on all nine ballots. Here’s a look at how the process played out.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

The following players didn’t receive enough votes to crack the top 25. In some cases, it was because a player hadn’t accumulated a long enough career yet – such as Colorado Avalanche superstar Cale Makar, who only has 372 (excellent) games to his name. In other instances, a player absolutely had the resume to be a top-25er but did most of his damage before the year 2000, which is why Hall of Famer Joe Sakic, for instance, didn’t make the top 25. A few others slipped through the cracks simply because there were so many great options to choose from. Duncan Keith and Scott Niedermayer are Norris Trophy winners, Conn Smythe Trophy winners, multi-time Stanley Cup winners and multi-time Olympic gold medallists this century and still couldn’t make it.

The full list of players who received top-25 votes but not enough to qualify for the final list:

Marc-Andre Fleury
Connor Hellebuyck
Marian Hossa
Roman Josi
Duncan Keith
Roberto Luongo
Cale Makar
Patrick Marleau
Artemi Panarin
David Pastrnak
Carey Price
Tuukka Rask
Joe Sakic
Henrik Sedin
Daniel Sedin
Martin St. Louis
John Tavares
Jonathan Toews

Now, let’s break down the top 25. Presenting Daily Faceoff’s Quarter Century team, rated based on performances from 2000 onward. Special thanks to Paul Pidutti for contributing the graphics for each player depicting what they accomplished over that span.

25. Drew Doughty, D

Doughty was an impact player almost right away, a Norris Trophy finalist and Olympic gold medallist in his second season at just 20 years old. His offensive creativity and fiery competitiveness have made him one of this generation’s most well-rounded blueliners. He’s a two-time Stanley Cup champion as a lifelong Los Angeles King, a one-time Norris winner and four-time finalist. He’s also a true workhorse, averaging more than 26 minutes of ice time per game across his entire 1,183-game career to date.

24. Anze Kopitar, C

Kopitar is another pillar of the Kings’ most successful era in franchise history, which yielded their first and only Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014. Kopitar has been Patrice Bergeron West, one of this generation’s most consistently elite defensive forwards, but Kopitar’s offense peaked higher. He’s a two-time Selke Trophy winner but also well north of 1,200 career points, and he should pass Marcel Dionne for the Kings’ all-time scoring lead by next season.

23. Erik Karlsson, D

Karlsson has been a polarizing player at times in his career, thought to be more of a one-way weapon on defense. But what a weapon. He’s the only blueliner in the past 33 years to produce a 100-point season; he’s finished top-10 among all players in assists five times and in points twice; and he’s a three-time Norris winner. Karlsson may not be the most complete defenseman in the game, but he’s the best offensive defenseman of his generation, with Makar and Quinn Hughes fighting to see who takes the mantle next.

22. Andrei Vasilevskiy, G

Vasilevskiy’s first eight seasons were a Hall of Fame career on their own; he led the NHL in wins five straight times and took home two Stanley Cups, a Conn Smythe and the Vezina Trophy. He’s already well north of 300 wins by 30. A back injury slowed him down last season, but he’s back to being a star in 2024-25, and he should amass one of the best resumes of any goalie by the time his career ends. He’s the Patrick Roy of his generation in the sense that ‘Vasy’ is the goalie most people pick for the “if you had to win one game” scenario. He has a 2.28 goals-against average and .919 save percentage when facing elimination in his career.

21. Jarome Iginla, RW

Iginla was the game’s premier power forward in his day, a deadly goal scorer, a great leader and a vicious competitor who would readily drop the gloves. He led the league in goals twice and points once, was a three-time first-team all-star and, perhaps most impressively, buried 625 goals – 556 since 2000 – despite playing a significant chunk of his career during one of hockey’s lowest-scoring eras.

20. Pavel Datsyuk, C

The Magic Man could do everything. He had some of the most dizzyingly beautiful stickhandling the game has ever seen, regularly producing did-you-see-that highlights. He’s one of the best defensive forwards of all-time, having won three consecutive Selke Trophies at one point. He was also one of the sport’s classiest players, winning four consecutive Lady Byng Trophies. It’s particularly impressive to play such a gentlemanly game when you’re a premier shutdown center.

19. Steven Stamkos, C

Bridging the gap between era-defining snipers Alex Ovechkin and Auston Matthews, Stamkos is one of the most consistent and feared goal scorers ever. He was the only player to deliver a 60-goal season in a 14-year stretch between 2007-08 and 2021-22. He has terrorized goalies with a blistering one-timer for 17 seasons. This quarter century, only two players have put the puck in the net more times than Stamkos.

18. Auston Matthews, C

Matthews is the first player on this list for which some projection is likely factored in, consciously or not. What he’s already done should land him in the Hall of Fame, to be clear: he’s a three-time Rocket Richard winner, a Hart winner, and he’s only player this quarter century to deliver multiple 60-goal seasons. His 69 last season stand as the highest single-season total this quarter century. But the fact he’s pacing ahead of Ovechkin’s all-time goal-scoring rate through the same number of games likely influenced the vote. We know Matthews will be looked back on as one of the two greatest goal scorers of the past three decades – and maybe a top-two pure sniper ever. To climb higher on this list, however, he would’ve needed more than one playoff series win with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

17. Chris Pronger, D

Pronger was a throwback to legends like Eddie Shore – in that Pronger blended superstardom with true viciousness. He could beat you on the scoresheet, he could smother and shut down his opponents’ top forwards, and he could also badly hurt you whether he was making a clean or dirty play. His heart-and-soul game helped him carry many of the teams he played on. He’s the only defenseman since Bobby Orr, and the only defenseman in the past 52 years, to win the Hart Trophy as league MVP.

16. Jaromir Jagr, RW

Jagr was a tough player to rank. If we were grading his entire career, he’d obviously land near the top of the list as the No. 2 scorer in NHL history. “Only” two of his Art Rosses and three of his first-team all-star nods, and none of his Stanley Cups, came in the 2000s. Yet what Jagr did after that point alone, from age 27 to 45, would represent a Hall of Fame career for many, just short of 400 goals and 1,000 points. He set a New York Rangers franchise record for points with 123 in 2005-06 in his age-33 season. He finished seventh in the Hart vote in his age-43 season. Few if any players stayed so good for so long, and it’s astounding that he’s still playing pro hockey in the Czech Extraliga today at 53.

15. Henrik Lundqvist, G

The King will always be remembered for his handsome looks and fashion sense, but he was also a hell of a goaltender, the most reliably excellent of his generation. In each of his first 10 seasons, he finished no lower than sixth in the Vezina vote, winning once and named a finalized five times. Lundqvist never captured that elusive Cup, but he was an all-time clutch goaltender; his six Game 7 wins tie him with Roy and Martin Brodeur for the most in NHL history. Lundqvist also led Sweden to Olympic gold in 2006.

14. Patrice Bergeron, C

The greatest defensive forward of all-time was a lock for our top 25. Bergeron, a dominant two-way presence and play driver, won a whopping six Selke Trophies. No other player has more than four. Just a single Cup feels low for a player as cerebral and tenacious as Bergeron, but he did make it to three Finals. He was the picture of class and hockey sense.

13. Leon Draisaitl, C

Draisaitl, Germany’s greatest hockey export, is pretty clearly the Evgeni Malkin of his generation, a superstar at times discredited by the fact he shares a team with an all-time Mount Rushmore legend. Like Malkin, Draisaitl has put together an amazing career that stands on its own two feet. He’s a scoring champion and an MVP, and he may add another couple major awards this season based on how well he’s played for the Edmonton Oilers. Only teammate Connor McDavid has more points than Draisaitl in the past 10 seasons. Among players with 50 or more games, only Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and McDavid average more points per game in the postseason.

12. Zdeno Chara, D

What a fascinating career trajectory Chara had. He started out as a curiosity, the largest man ever to play in the NHL at 6-foot-9 and 250 pounds, an imposing and unbelievably strong defenseman who was somewhat of a project. But he blossomed into stardom after the New York Islanders infamously traded him to the Ottawa Senators, and he matured into one of the game’s all-time best leaders as a Boston Bruin. Chara’s blistering shot was as punishing as his hits and fists. He only won a single Norris Trophy but was a six-time finalist and would’ve won more had he not peaked at the same time as Nicklas Lidstrom.

11. Victor Hedman, D

He’s a towering physical presence like Chara but also has the mobility and all-around scoring talents of the smallest and fastest defensemen in the game. Hedman can do pretty much anything, which is why he’s one of only two blueliners to appear on all nine voters’ ballots on our panel. Between 2016-17 and 2021-22, he was a Norris finalist six consecutive years, a two-time Stanley Cup champ and a Conn Smythe Trophy winner. What a beast.

10. Joe Thornton, C

Quick: name the greatest NHL player never to win a Stanley Cup. Thornton isn’t the only answer, but he’s the most frequent answer. He’s the only player to win the Hart and Art Ross Trophies for a season during which he was traded. The Boston Bruins sure would like that one back. Forging his best years during his tenure with the San Jose Sharks, ‘Jumbo’ was the game’s pre-eminent playmaker. He led the league in assists three times and sits seventh on the NHL’s all-time list. Even when he aged out of his prime years, he found a second life as a strong two-way forward and beloved dressing room presence.

9. Martin Brodeur, G

Brodeur was already an elite goaltender by 2000. But does this rank feel a little low considering he’s the all-time wins leader and won all four of his Vezinas and two of his three Cups after 2000? Put differently, if you only took his wins since 2000, he’d still have the fifth-highest total ever. Perhaps Brodeur was penalized slightly because he was partially the product of the New Jersey Devils’ peerless defensive system.

8. Nathan MacKinnon, C

Few images are more exciting – and, for the other team, frightful – than MacKinnon galloping down the ice with a head of steam. His combination of speed and power is beautiful. It’s amazing to think he was a disappointment in the first four years of his career; it feels so far away now, because MacKinnon has been one of the best two or three players on the planet every year for almost a decade now, culminating in a 2021-22 Stanley Cup win and a 2023-24 Hart. Coming off a 140-point year, he’s leading the NHL in assists and points this season to boot.

7. Nikita Kucherov, RW

His hands, his deception, all the small little touch plays – they’re all elements of a package that make Kucherov an incredible offensive weapon and perhaps still an underrated one. He shares an era with McDavid, but Kucherov is a two-time scoring champ and two-time playoff scoring champ, throwing up 100-point seasons with ease and a cold swagger. Among players with 200 or more games, only McDavid and Crosby average more points than Kucherov this quarter century.

6. Evgeni Malkin, C

Sorry, but I’ll never stop beating the dead horse here: imagine winning three Stanley Cups, a Hart, two Art Rosses, a Conn Smythe and a Calder and not being named one of the NHL’s 100 greatest players. Evgeni Malkin had accomplished all those things aside from the third Cup when the NHL named that team in 2017, by the way. He’s criminally underrated, especially considering he played the best hockey of his career when Sidney Crosby was out of Pittsburgh’s lineup. Crosby took the torch from Lemieux as the Penguins’ hero, but Malkin, as much as any player in his generation, calls to mind the best of Mario, showing tremendous agility and fitness to complement his big-man strength.

5. Patrick Kane, RW

Kane ushered in a new era of the NHL in which small players actually had room to cook. His breathtaking hands inspired an entire generation of young American players to copy his moves watching his highlights on YouTube. Kane was a dominant scorer who was just as good in the playoffs when the pressure was highest. Showtime is a three-time Stanley Cup champ, an MVP, a scoring champ and the greatest all-around American player ever.

4. Nicklas Lidstrom, D

Try and picture Lidstrom making a mistake. Good luck with that. He was about as close as you’ll ever find to a perfect hockey player, almost robotic in his poise and precision. He set the standard for a modern style of defending, outsmarting his opponents with positioning and anticipation rather than bludgeoning them. He took home an incredible seven Norris Trophies, bested only by Bobby Orr’s eight, and if you had to craft one starting lineup featuring every player in the NHL’s 108-year history, you’re probably putting Lidstrom out there with Orr.

3. Connor McDavid, C

If we evaluate hockey players according to their evolution, regardless of era, McDavid is arguably the greatest hockey talent ever to walk the Earth. No player has done such amazing things with the puck on his stick at such high speeds. Relative to his age, his individual offensive accomplishments put him in a tier with Gretzky and Lemieux. McDavid already has a lifetime’s worth of individual accomplishments and records; to cement his G.O.A.T. argument he’ll need to starting winning championships, however.

2. Alex Ovechkin, LW

No player has led the NHL in goals more times. Few athletes in any major pro sport have remained as dominant deep into their 30s. No player has seemingly experienced more joy in the scoring of goals, either, and maybe that’s why Ovechkin has stayed good forever, pumping one-timers past an NHL-record 180 different netminders despite the fact everyone in the building knows the play is coming. Considering he lost 1.5 years to lockouts and another partial season to a pandemic, ‘Ovi’ was already the best goal-scorer of all-time, but with 16 more tallies, he’ll leapfrog Gretzky for No. 895 and make it official.

1. Sidney Crosby, C

He’s fast. He’s smart. His backhand is as hard as his forehand. He’s intense. He has tremendous athleticism and hand-eye coordination. He’s a faceoff maven. Crosby may be the most complete hockey player of all-time, and that has made him the consummate winner, a three-time Stanley Cup champion and the only player this quarter century to win the Conn Smythe twice. It’s so wonderful to know the concussion problems that threatened his longevity in his mid-20s didn’t stop him from putting together a career for the ages, which includes him currently being on pace to set an NHL record with a 20 consecutive point-per-game seasons. If it’s overtime, next-goal-wins, to win a single hockey game, he’s the first player you pick from the past 25 years. Easy decision.

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