The most iconic player in the history of every NHL franchise

Teemu Selanne bounced around a lot, and his 76-goal season was as a Jet. Ryan Getzlaf was definitely in the running as well. However, when it comes to the most iconic Duck, Mighty Duck in this instance, it’s Kariya. After winning the Hobey Baker, Kariya became the first star for the Anaheim franchise. He finished second in the Hart voting once. When we think of the Ducks, and the player that defines the Ducks in our mind, it’s the Hall of Famer Kariya.

The most famous hockey photo features Orr in a Bruins jersey. He’s one of the defining players of NHL history, the most dynamic offensive player to ever be a defenseman by trade. Orr won eight Norris trophies as the league’s best defenseman, but also three Harts as MVP. He reshaped the NHL, not to mention the history of the Bruins as a franchise.

It’s too bad that Hasek spent much of his Sabres tenure wearing those stupid black-and-red jerseys with the buffalo head. Of course, wearing that uniform, he won two Hart trophies and carried the Sabres to a Stanley Cup Final. Hasek is in the running for best goalie in NHL history, and he won six Vezinas with Buffalo. He didn’t do it in Patrick Roy style, either, succeeding through astute positioning and preparation. Hasek was chaos in the crease, flopping around and throwing his limbs to and fro to stop pucks. He made great goaltending exciting.

It would have been nice if Iginla had won a Cup with the Flames, and you don’t need to be a Flames fan to feel that way. He didn’t even get a Ray Bourque-style ring at the end of his career as he bopped around the NHL. Iginla scored 525 of his 625 goals with the Flames, and he scored 50 goals at a time when that was a rarity in the NHL. He’s the Hall of Famer most associated with the Flames, and the franchise’s biggest icon.

Yes, Brind’Amour’s status as the longtime Hurricanes head coach plays a role in this. It’s further ingrained him in the legacy of the franchise. He was the captain of Carolina when it won the Stanley Cup. Brind’Amour was the gritty, Selke-winning face of the franchise. Eric Staal had a better tenure with the Hurricanes, to be sure, but Brind’Amour’s time coaching the team and continuing to impart his ethos on the franchise makes him the reigning icon.

Chris Chelios was great with the Blackhawks, but he bounced around the league and played for so long that he had lengthy tenures with multiple franchises. The best player in Chicago history is Stan Mikita. We didn’t eschew old-school names from this list, but Mikita retired in 1980. He’s not one of the names like Orr that have continued to remain in the firmament of the NHL. Kane is third in games played, third in goals, and second in points. He also played for three teams that won the Cup, including one that ended a lengthy drought.

When you played 20 seasons for a franchise, captained them to two Cups, and have 500 points more than anybody else in franchise history, you’re pretty obviously the foremost icon. Beyond that, though, Sakic returned to the Avalanche as a front-office decision-maker, and they went on to win another Cup. Nathan MacKinnon may spend his entire Hall of Fame career with Colorado, but he will not unseat Sakic.

The Blue Jackets have been around for a quarter-century now, but they have made little dent in the hockey landscape. Making the playoffs so few times plays a part in that, to be sure. It’s also not much of a free agent destination. Nash was the franchise’s first pick and a first-overall pick. That really helped him on his way to becoming a known quantity. He then led the NHL in goals one season, and he’s the franchise’s all-time leader on that front to this day. Even though he didn’t get to 300 before moving on.

Modano is one of the best American players in history, and he was a star with both the North Stars and the non-directional Stars. While he didn’t rack up awards, he was a leader of the team for years and lifted a Cup. He comfortably leads all the major statistical categories, and by dint of being a great American player, got a lot of love and attention through the years.

Steve Yzerman is “The Captain,” and Stevie Y returned to the franchise to run the front office. As strong as his resume is, Howe is freakin’ “Mr. Hockey.” It couldn’t be anybody else. Howe was the best player of his generation and comfortably the greatest Red Wing until Yzerman’s tenure. Plus, Gordie stayed around forever. He spent years with the Whalers and he still has played 100 more games as a Red Wing than anybody else. Yzerman is an icon of the franchise. Howe is an icon of the sport.

That’s right. Wayne Gretzky got himself traded away. Mark Messier was in Gretzky’s shadow until Gretzky left, and then Messier left as well. For now, McDavid has only played for the Oilers. He’s as good of a player as Messier was, and probably better. He’s the best player since Mario Lemieux. He won the Conn Smythe as a forward on a losing team. If McDavid does go elsewhere someday, maybe we reconsider. For now, he is the icon of the Oilers.

You know a franchise was languishing for many years when the biggest icon in its history had a resume that was basically, “Um, one time he killed a rat with his hockey stick and then the team was good for a season.” Now, the franchise has an actual great player who has also captained a Cup winner. Guys like Sergei Bobrovsky and Matthew Tkachuk joined in and helped Barkov out, but he’s a great player and a three-time Selke winner. Those guys were the seasoning. Barkov has always been the meat of these Panthers teams.

Hockey fans might think of Anze Kopitar or Drew Doughty, both of whom did more specifically as Kings. Sports fans and non-sports fans think of Gretzky. Gretzky’s move to Los Angeles was huge. It put the Kings on the map for many. Also, let us not forget that Gretzky is the best player in NHL history. He played 539 regular-season games with the Kings and had 918 points.

Gaborik is a placeholder now that Kirill Kaprizov is sticking around on a long-term deal. Mikko Koivu is the longest-tenured Wild player, but he wasn’t exactly splashy. Gaborik was. His goal-scoring skills stood out on the early Minnesota teams. He also left after eight seasons, but he was the first star player in the Wild's history. Frankly, Kaprizov is only really their second.

There are so many options with the Canadiens, but as with the Red Wings we’re going old school. Maurice “The Rocket” Richard is still the franchise’s leading goal scorer. He’s also the guy the NHL decided to name the award for most goals in a season after. That’s how impactful he was. Also, when Richard was suspended once, hockey fans in Montreal rioted. When you mean that much to a city at any point, your iconic status is passed on from generation to generation.

Filip Forsberg might give Josi a run for his money when both retire. He has that fun mustache, and he’s comfortably the team’s all-time leading goal scorer already. Goals are exciting and that helps solidify icon status. Josi, though, has spent 15 seasons with the Predators and he is their all-time leading scorer. That’s while playing on defense, and playing defense well. He has a Norris Trophy and has been in the running several times. Forsberg’s flashy goal scorer helps his Q rating, but he’ll be hard-pressed to have a better career than Josi.

The neutral-zone trap Devils were dull as dishwater and helped diminish casual interest in hockey. However, it was also an empirically successful era. Brodeur may have worn a mask, but he was the face of the Devils’ success. He won three Cups and four Vezinas with the Devils. Brodeur is the all-time leader in games played by a goalie, in wins, in shutouts, and also in losses, for what it’s worth. All but seven of those games were played with New Jersey. Man, it’s weird he played for the Blues for a second there.

Rangers fans play a part in this and we will explain that momentarily. Potvin is second in all-time games to Bryan Trottier, and he’s third in points to Trottier and Mike Bossy. All three played on the fourpeat Islanders of the ‘80s, of course. Potvin was a defenseman, though, and a three-time Norris winner. What puts Potvin over the edge, though, is that even to this day Rangers fans regularly chant “Potvin sucks.” They even do it when the Rangers aren’t playing the Islanders! That gave Potvin the edge.

Henrik Lundqvist and Brian Leetch were both Rangers greats. Rod Gilbert had over 1,000 points with the franchise. Messier is “only” fifth in points, and he spent so many years with the Oilers. However, Messier was the captain during the 1993-94 season. He guaranteed a win over the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference Finals when the Rangers had their backs against the wall, and the Rangers won. They went on to win the Stanley Cup. It just so happened to be the franchise’s first title since 1940. Messier’s guarantee and Messier later lifting that Cup? Those are two of the defining NHL moments of the last 50 years.

There’s no real question about this. Alfredsson won the Calder with the Senators and then proceeded to be either their best player or one of their best players for 15 years. He is so far ahead of the pack in career points it’s ridiculous. Alfredsson is the only Hall of Famer thought of first and foremost as a Senator. An easy call to be sure.

For better or worse, the “Broad Street Bullies” of the 1970s have forever shaped the Flyers as a franchise. That ethos proved an issue at times, such as when Clarke was in the Flyers’ front office and ran Eric Lindros out of town because he was essentially mad at Lindros for not playing through concussions. As a player, though, Clarke won three Harts as a Flyer and helped lead the team to two Cups.

Sidney Crosby is great, but he’s not Mario Lemieux. Lemieux is one of the five best players in history. Furthermore, when the Penguins were floundering as a franchise and at risk of having to relocate (or even possibly fold), he spearheaded a new ownership group. Lemieux was great on the ice for the Penguins, and he also literally saved the very existence of the Penguins.

Brett Hull was a better player, but his game kind of lacked for panache. MacInnis was no slouch, as he is a Norris-winning Hall of Famer. What it boils down to, though, is power. Hockey fans love a big, booming slap shot. In the ‘90s, MacInnis was the face of the slap shot. Additionally, he continued to use a wooden stick, which provided old-school fans with something to admire. MacInnis had a “thing,” and he also happened to be very good at hockey.

Joe Thornton was a better player, and when he joined the Sharks and paired up with Marleau they turned the franchise around. The keyword there is “joined,” though. Marleau was drafted by the Sharks and played 21 seasons with the team. He literally has the record for most regular-season games played, and almost all of them came in San Jose. Marleau may just barely hold the franchise’s points lead over Thornton, but the dude played over 1,600 games with the Sharks, not including the playoffs. He is fully synonymous with the franchise.

The Kraken are, obviously, the NHL’s newest franchise, so they have little history. Seattle fans would surely prefer a guy the franchise drafted as the reigning icon, but that just hasn’t worked out yet. Instead, it’s McCann, a guy they got in the expansion draft from Pittsburgh. McCann has been quite good for the Kraken, though. He’s comfortably their all-time leading goal scorer, and even gave them a 40-goal season. That’s a good thing for a franchise to have!

Victor Hedman has played in more games. Steven Stamkos was an elite goal scorer for the team and a first-overall pick. Nikita Kucherov is also a better player. And yet, we still think of St. Louis, the undersized, underdrafted player who became a star for Tampa Bay. He ended up with two Art Ross trophies and a Hart with the Lightning in his Hall of Fame career. There is more to being a franchise icon than just scoring goals and getting points.

Did you know nary a Maple Leafs player has gotten to 1,000 points with the franchise? Or to 500 goals? We think Auston Matthews will do both, and Sundin is really a placeholder until Matthews takes the title. It’ll just take a bit more time, because Sundin’s Hall of Fame career is already in the books. His 981 regular-season games and 987 points are in the books. Of course, the next reigning icon of the Maple Leafs may be whoever scores the game-winning goal the next time they win the Stanley Cup. Even if it’s, like, Matthew Knies or somebody.

The Mammoth technically have only existed for two seasons, and Arizona Coyotes history has been set aside. For the purposes of this, though, we wanted to include Coyotes history but also only consider players who made the move to Utah. That seemed like a fair compromise. That also made Keller an easy choice. In addition to being the only captain in Utah history, he had 418 points with the Coyotes and was the best player in those final wayward years. Shout out to Shane Doan, though.

The Sedin twins split the vote. We are joking, sort of, but Bure wins because he was such a force. “The Russian Rocket” was so fast, so dynamic, and took the NHL by storm. Bure had three 50-goal seasons with the Canucks, and two of those were 60-goal seasons. He’s just one of those guys. If you saw him, he’s always stuck with you. If you didn’t, you’ve heard somebody talk about what you missed out on. Nobody does that with the Sedins.

The “Golden Misfits” aka the first-ever Golden Knights roster, continue to exist in franchise lore. They will forever be beloved in Vegas. As such, we wanted to go with a Golden Misfit, one still with the franchise (which eliminated the franchise’s leading scorer Jonathan Marchessault.” That leaves us with the guy they jokingly, lovingly call “Wild Bill.” Karlsson came out of nowhere to score 43 goals in Vegas’ inaugural season and he’s stuck around to put himself near the top of many statistical categories.

As easy a choice as you can find. The dude has spent his entire career with the Capitals and broke Gretzky’s purportedly-unbreakable goal record. Ovechkin is as synonymous with the Capitals as anybody is with any franchise. His status as the Capitals’ all-time icon? That is as unbreakable as anything in hockey.

We go from one of the best goal scorers ever to one of the best goalies ever. He’s probably the best American goalie ever already, even though he’s spent his entire career playing for a Canadian team. It’s not just that Hellebuyck has three Vezinas. He also has a Hart trophy. While Hellebuyck has had some off days in the postseason, he’s unequivocally been at the heart of any success the Jets have had the last several seasons.