3 NHL Players Make the ESPN Top 100 Professional Athletes Since 2000 List
Photo Credit: Pensburgh.com
ESPN recently came out with a list that caught a lot of attention. The top 100 athletes this century. Sports fans have had the honor to watch the best athletes and competitors in the world, and this list certainly had a hefty amount of big names: Tom Brady, Michael Phelps, Lebron James, Serena Williams, Lionel Messi, and much more.
Hockey is not known as the most popular of the major four sports, but it did get some attention on this list as three players made it. Sidney Crosby came in at the highest at 22, then Alex Ovechkin at 54, and lastly Connor McDavid at 98.
First, start with the best player of this generation, Sidney Crosby. The 2005 first-overall draft pick had all the weight on his shoulders, and saying the expectations were high would be an understatement. When heading to Pittsburgh, he had to follow in the footsteps of hockey legend Mario Lemieux and save the franchise. This season, Crosby is coming into his 19th season in the NHL and has exceeded all expectations. 3 Stanley Cups, 2 Olympic gold medals, 2 NHL scoring titles, 2 playoff MVPs, 2 NHL MVPs, 3 Ted Lindsay Award winners—and still not done.
On the biggest stage, you can always count on Crosby to come up big, and that's what makes him a top 25 athlete on this list. In the 2010 Olympics, Team Canada was in overtime against the United States, and Crosby scored the game-winner known as the Golden Goal. It would be the biggest goal of his career and go down in history as a top moment in the sport of hockey.
After suffering from numerous injuries from 2011–2013, Crosby battled adversity and went on to play the best hockey of his career, making him a top-5 player of all time.
As mentioned, Crosby still has unfinished business heading into his 19th season with the Penguins. He is 4 points away from 1,600 points, 46 points away from 9th all-time in points, and 8 goals away from 600 career goals. Crosby represents the game on and off the ice, and he has given the game everything he has. It will be a very sad day once Crosby retires, as for now, Crosby is still dominating a young man's game, approaching 37 years old.
Next up is the great 8 in Alex Ovechkin. Drafted first overall in the 2004 NHL draft, a rookie phenom would be born. Despite the 2004 season being a lockout year by the NHL, causing Ovechkin to miss his first year eligible to play, he scored 52 goals in his rookie season and had 106 points. Ovechkin would win the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year, and his 106 pints are the 3rd most by a rookie in NHL history. His 52 goals as a rookie have him ranked 3rd all-time in rookie-year goal scoring. This would just be the start, as Ovechkin and Crosby would save the NHL with their play and stardom after a lockout season.
Ovechkin is going into his 20th NHL season and has put together a solid resume. A Stanley Cup Champion in 2018, an Art Ross Trophy, a Calder trophy, a Conn Smythe, a three-time Hart Trophy winner, a nine-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner, and a three-time Ted Lindsay award winner. Ovechkin is the best pure goal scorer this generation has ever seen. An Ovi slapshot is pure cinema.
Ovechkin is inching closer to a record no one thought could be broken—the all-time NHL goal record held by the great Wayne Gretzky with 894 goals. Ovechkin is 42 goals away from the record and had 31 goals this past season; it’s very possible it can be broken this season, and if not next season.
Last but certainly not least on this list is Connor McDavid, who continues to amaze year after year at age 27. In the next decade, if ESPN decides to do this exact list again, do not be shocked if McDavid ranks in the top 10. His talent and skill level are so far beyond those of his competitors in the NHL. His speed up the ice is like nothing anyone has seen before.
Already approaching his 10th season in the NHL, he has accomplished pretty much everything you can as a hockey player except the Stanley Cup. 5 Art Ross trophies as the NHL scoring champion, 1 playoff MVP winning the Conn Smythe, 3 time MVP, a Rocket Richard winner, and 4 time Ted Lindsay award winner. McDavid is also coming up with a big milestone as he sits 18 points away from 1000. He was the 5th fastest player ever with 900 points. Already having 300 career NHL goals, he was the 3rd fastest active player to achieve this milestone. The sky's the limit for McDavid, as he is in the prime of his career.
McDavid came close to capturing his first Stanley Cup this year. Despite being down 0-3 to the Florida Panthers, McDavid led his team to fight back and force Game 7, but would fall short and lose by a goal. McDavid put on a show and won the playoff MVP, yet he was on the losing side. On the grandest stage of all, McDavid showed why he is a generational-type player and will go down as one of the greatest players ever to put on a pair of skates.
Some honorable mentions that could have made the ESPN list are Patrick Kane, the greatest American ice hockey player, two-time Stanley Cup Champion Nikita Kucherov, King Henrik Lundqvist, and Auston Matthews.
For the three NHL players that ESPN included, they got it right. If this list comes out again in a decade, there will be more NHL players, as the league has more talent and skill than ever before.