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The Hockey 100: The Definitive Ranking of Ice Hockey's Greatest Players by The Athletic's Journalists
Not yet published
Expected 27 Oct 26In the wake of The Athletic’s popular Football 100, Basketball 100, and Soccer 100, the world’s leading authority on sports reporting presents The Hockey 100—the comprehensive ranking and in-depth stories behind the 100 most accomplished hockey players to ever slap the puck.
Ice hockey is a sport like no other. It requires its players to master the majestic finesse of figure skating, the brutal hits of football, the goaltending and defensive demands of soccer, and—somehow, occasionally—the thrilling bloodied noses of an MMA fight. Not to mention, in lieu of an inflated ball, the game is played with a rock-hard puck flying at averages above 90 miles per hour that is frozen solid before the match.
A sport this unique attracts an equally fascinating cadre of characters—and now, the world-class sports journalists at The Athletic offer their definitive ranking of the 100 greatest of these singular athletes.
• Hall of Famer Rob Blake nearly missed out on his hockey career because he was too busy priming tobacco on a local farm in Ontario.
• Alexander Mogilny, the first Soviet player to be recruited to a US team during an era where the USSR blocked its players from being exported, needed to sneak off to Sweden to discuss his prospects—causing two hockey club executives to go into hiding after they became convinced they were being followed and their calls traced.
• Amidst an Olympic gold medal win and multiple record-breaking seasons, legendary goaltender Carey Price’s descent into alcoholism nearly cost him everything.
• Despite breaking the same leg on two separate occasions, Serge Savard went on to win the Stanley Cup seven times.
With 100 original profiles of modern hockey’s brightest stars, you’ll learn everything about the historic greats all the way to Ovechkin, Lemieux, and Gretsky.
Written with the deep love for the game that wins awards for The Athletic’s journalists, The Hockey 100 is the ultimate book for ice hockey’s tens of millions of fans worldwide.
Ice hockey is a sport like no other. It requires its players to master the majestic finesse of figure skating, the brutal hits of football, the goaltending and defensive demands of soccer, and—somehow, occasionally—the thrilling bloodied noses of an MMA fight. Not to mention, in lieu of an inflated ball, the game is played with a rock-hard puck flying at averages above 90 miles per hour that is frozen solid before the match.
A sport this unique attracts an equally fascinating cadre of characters—and now, the world-class sports journalists at The Athletic offer their definitive ranking of the 100 greatest of these singular athletes.
• Hall of Famer Rob Blake nearly missed out on his hockey career because he was too busy priming tobacco on a local farm in Ontario.
• Alexander Mogilny, the first Soviet player to be recruited to a US team during an era where the USSR blocked its players from being exported, needed to sneak off to Sweden to discuss his prospects—causing two hockey club executives to go into hiding after they became convinced they were being followed and their calls traced.
• Amidst an Olympic gold medal win and multiple record-breaking seasons, legendary goaltender Carey Price’s descent into alcoholism nearly cost him everything.
• Despite breaking the same leg on two separate occasions, Serge Savard went on to win the Stanley Cup seven times.
With 100 original profiles of modern hockey’s brightest stars, you’ll learn everything about the historic greats all the way to Ovechkin, Lemieux, and Gretsky.
Written with the deep love for the game that wins awards for The Athletic’s journalists, The Hockey 100 is the ultimate book for ice hockey’s tens of millions of fans worldwide.
- GenresHockey
Kindle Edition
Expected publication October 27, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Since hockey has some unique traditions like playoff beards and an octopus thrown out on the ice at Detroit, it is only fitting that some of the greatest players in the game have some unique stories as well. This book, listing the 100 greatest players since the NHL expanded from six teams to 12 in 1967, has some of those stories. These have been collected from various writers for The Athletic and compiled by Sean McIndoe and Dan Robson. These are stories that every hockey fan should read.
Since this is a subjective list of those 100 players, there will be omissions or arguments about where certain players should be ranked. While those are always good for sports bar arguments or even friendly (?) discourse around the couch while a game is on the television, these rankings are grounded in well-reasoned arguments.
One great example of this is the story of Marcel Dionne, ranked #15 on this list. The writer of this story points out that when people rattle off great players in the history of the NHL, Dionne is overlooked because he was never on a team that won the Stanley Cup. I wanted to stand up and cheer this author – it’s an argument I always make about any great player in a team sport. I have always felt that degrading a player because his team didn’t win a championship is unfair. The player doesn’t make personnel decisions – that’s up to the coaching staff and the front office.
The other aspect of this book that I really like is that many of the stories of these players don’t always revolve around their statistics and accomplishments. Of course, each player’s feats are included, but they aren’t always THE story.
Here are two examples: The first is about Bryan Trottier, who was a key player on the New York Islanders teams that won four consecutive Stanley Cups, has been very active in making the voice of Canadian Indigenous people heard. The second is about Alexander Mogilny, a Russian player who came to the NHL before the USSR allowed its players to play in North America. Mogilny had to make his arrangements in Sweden and even there, the team executives working on the deal felt the Soviet Union might be following them and tracing their calls. This story was even more intriguing than the well-known story of The Russian Five from the Detroit Red Wings. Some of those players made this list as well.
Some hockey fans will not only be disappointed with the book because of player rankings, but it will also leave out greats from the Original Six era like Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau and Gordie Howe (he’s left out because even though he played after 1967, his best years were prior to that). Even without them, it does make for great reading for hockey fans and pays homage to the great players of the last 60 years.
I wish to thank William Morrow for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this book are strictly my own.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
Since this is a subjective list of those 100 players, there will be omissions or arguments about where certain players should be ranked. While those are always good for sports bar arguments or even friendly (?) discourse around the couch while a game is on the television, these rankings are grounded in well-reasoned arguments.
One great example of this is the story of Marcel Dionne, ranked #15 on this list. The writer of this story points out that when people rattle off great players in the history of the NHL, Dionne is overlooked because he was never on a team that won the Stanley Cup. I wanted to stand up and cheer this author – it’s an argument I always make about any great player in a team sport. I have always felt that degrading a player because his team didn’t win a championship is unfair. The player doesn’t make personnel decisions – that’s up to the coaching staff and the front office.
The other aspect of this book that I really like is that many of the stories of these players don’t always revolve around their statistics and accomplishments. Of course, each player’s feats are included, but they aren’t always THE story.
Here are two examples: The first is about Bryan Trottier, who was a key player on the New York Islanders teams that won four consecutive Stanley Cups, has been very active in making the voice of Canadian Indigenous people heard. The second is about Alexander Mogilny, a Russian player who came to the NHL before the USSR allowed its players to play in North America. Mogilny had to make his arrangements in Sweden and even there, the team executives working on the deal felt the Soviet Union might be following them and tracing their calls. This story was even more intriguing than the well-known story of The Russian Five from the Detroit Red Wings. Some of those players made this list as well.
Some hockey fans will not only be disappointed with the book because of player rankings, but it will also leave out greats from the Original Six era like Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau and Gordie Howe (he’s left out because even though he played after 1967, his best years were prior to that). Even without them, it does make for great reading for hockey fans and pays homage to the great players of the last 60 years.
I wish to thank William Morrow for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this book are strictly my own.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
As an avid hockey fan, I can’t escape the stories of how wonderful the players are, both on and off the ice, and how they contribute to their communities. While those stories are great, the ones included in this collection give you another glimpse at the private lives of the top 100 players that don’t necessarily have to do with their public persona. I enjoyed the unique look at the men they are off the ice. Highly recommended for hockey fans who want a different perspective and/or those who love feel good stories.
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the review copy.
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the review copy.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This was awesome. Hockey is one of the sports I don't know a ton of history on and this book covered a lot of ground on that front. I liked that the players were from all decades post-expansion as it helped explain and demonstrate some of the evolution of the game through the different eras of more defensive/offensive playstyles and so forth. I also liked that there was such a variety of players and that all aspects of the game were analyzed and appreciated in the rankings. Biased of course but love that Malkin was ranked so highly, playing with Sidney Crosby for 20 years I feel like he's always been overlooked in comparison to Sid and also to other Russian Ovechkin and it was good to see Geno get the recognition he deserves in this. The stories were interesting and easy to read which is no surprise since the Athletic's hockey newsletter is written by some of the same journalists and is always extremely informative and easily digestible. Overall, would highly recommend this to any sports fan.
Thank you to William Morrow and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion
Thank you to William Morrow and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews