ESPN stirred the pot a bit with New Jersey Devils fans, who watched their all-time wins leader, Martin Brodeur, tumble to seventh place in the company’s rankings of the top 25 NHL players of the 21st century.
After ranking the top 100 athletes of the century two weeks ago, featuring only three NHL players, the sports empire released their hockey rankings on Friday.
Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, and Connor McDavid took the top spots. Patrick Kane, Nicklas Lidström, and Nathan MacKinnon, the league’s reigning MVP, followed.
In seventh place, the NHL’s all-time win and shutout leader is ranked one spot ahead of Hudson River rival Henrik Lundqvist.
Meanwhile, the final two spots in the top 10 went to Evgeni Malkin and Patrice Bergeron.
In all fairness, both Lidström and Brodeur played in the 1990s, thus beginning their careers in the 20th century, while everyone in the top 10 played their entire careers after 2000.
Before midnight on Jan. 1, 2000, Lidström and Brodeur had three Stanley Cup titles and were already on their way to the Hall of Fame before playing for over a decade in the 2010s.
However, it is a bit of a surprise to see that Kane and MacKinnon ranked higher than the man who backstopped a franchise to three Stanley Cup titles, won an unchallengeable 691 games, recorded 125 shutouts, and forced the NHL to change its rules about netminders playing the puck.
Without question, Brodeur is the greatest statistical netminder in league history and isn’t in the same conversation as Lundqvist, who is arguably the best netminder to ever come from Europe.
So, to see them ranked together back-to-back is odd.
But, it is a little understandable because, as mentioned, Brodeur played 447 games between 1992 and 2000, producing a 244-125-65 record with 42 shutouts.
Surprisingly, in the final 14 seasons, he dressed in 819 games, earning a 447-272-89 record with 83 shutouts. He won as many games in the 2000s as he played in the 1990s.
How that statistic alone gets you in the top five is one Devils fans have a right to argue about for weeks to come.
Ultimately, Brodeur is the only player with connections to New Jersey to crack the top 25, but some of the players on the list have created their fair share of moments playing against the team.
Do you agree with ESPN’s choices? Let us know in the comments.
