Editor’s Note: This story is included in The Athletic’s Best of 2023. Welcome to NHL99, a project that aims to put a fresh spin on a familiar idea: Who are the top 100 players in post-1967 expansion NHL history? We’re calling it NHL99 because there are 99 spots up for debate on our Top 100 list and the number 99 …
Welcome to NHL99, The Athletic’s countdown of the best 100 players in modern NHL history. “He basically was running for his life to be able to go play hockey in North America,” Gretzky said of Peter Stastny. “There wasn’t a prouder athlete out there than Peter Stastny walking into the Olympic stadium with the Slovak flag,” he said. “There’s no …
Welcome to NHL99, The Athletic’s countdown of the best 100 players in modern NHL history. And he continued to play hockey, only he moved to right wing so he could see oncoming checkers with his left eye “so he wouldn’t get hammered,” Fleury says, laughing at the thought. What’s so tragic about it, Fleury says, is that Andre “smoked — …
