In 1997, The Hockey News assembled a panel to select the top 50 players in NHL history.
Asked to sit on this panel with many great hockey minds such as Scotty Bowman and Al Arbour was a thrill and a pleasure, and when it came time for me to select my list, I had no doubt who would be slotted No. 1.
In my opinion, Gordie Howe is, was and will always be the greatest player in the history of the game.
Why? Fair question.
Here’s my answer. Gordie could do it all. He could score, as his 801 NHL attest to, but if you took away his shot he had a Plan B.
“What I always remember about Gordie, besides the goals that he scored, which we know, over 800, he was such a playmaker,… Bowman said. “Gordie would set up Ted (Lindsay). You couldn't keep them apart. Ted Lindsay scored one year in the playoffs, four goals in a game, against Montreal.…
Howe could pass the puck. He could go in the corner and come out with the puck.
If someone was taking liberties with a teammate, Howe could and would settle accounts. And he did this at all stages of his career.
One night in Saskatoon, Howe’s hometown, Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur witnessed the wrath up Howe up close, and it wasn’t even in an official game.
Lafleur and Howe were with the NHL oldtimers, playing a team of area RCMP officers in a charity fundraiser when one of the cops got too rough with an old pro.
“One of our guys got hit pretty badly,… Lafleur recalled. “Gordie jumped on the ice and said ‘Watch this guys.’ At the faceoff he elbowed the guy and he knocked him out.
“The guy was down on the ice and he didn’t realize what happened to him. And Gordie turned to him and said, ‘Well guys, that’s what the fans are here for.’…
Howe could even play defense, and did on more than one occasion when his Detroit Red Wings were short-staffed. As former Montreal Canadiens GM Frank Selke Sr. once famously suggested, the only thing Gordie couldn’t do was sit on the bench.
In Bowman’s mind, he’d never seen a player like Howe before, and hasn’t seen another one like him since.
“There couldn't be a player that could do everything like he could,… Bowman said. “I am unwavered in the fact if you were ever going to make a mold for a player with size, strength, speed, you’d just take him and make a mold of it.
“He’s the template for the perfect player.…
In the days before hockey players were into weight training, Howe’s work alongside his dad Ab in the cement and construction business allowed him to develop a chiselled physique that enabled his to physically dominate the opposition.
That’s the element of Howe’s on-ice persona that most impressed current Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill.
“First of all, the type of player he was, he was the best of that type,… Blashill said. “There are very few of those types of players.
“I got asked the other day who plays like that today and there’s just very few players that play like that, that have that strength, toughness, speed and skill. The total package.
“We’d like to find one of those.…
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