Habs Heroes: The 100 Greatest Canadiens Ever

    By
    Rick Stephens
    -
    6
    293

    Rocket:

    Here’s a top 100 Habs list from a new book titled “Habs Heroes: The Definitive List Of The 100 Greatest Canadiens Ever” by Ken Campbell. Campbell is a senior writer for The Hockey News.

    Lists like this are always tough to compile and Campbell has done a pretty good job. Lots of fond Canadien memories quickly came back as I slowly scrolled through the list of greats. It also prompted me to learn more about players like Sylvio Mantha and Pit Lepine.

    There can be lots of discussion about the placement of certain players and I’ll reserve my opinions for now, but there are at least two inclusions that are completely ridiculous. Murray Wilson and Patrice Brisebois don’t belong anywhere on this list. And Jose Theodore, with one good season, is a marginal addition.

    1. Maurice Richard
    2. Jean Béliveau
    3. Doug Harvey
    4. Guy Lafleur
    5. Howie Morenz
    6. Jacques Plante
    7. Larry Robinson
    8. Patrick Roy
    9. Henri Richard
    10. Newsy Lalonde
    11. Dickie Moore
    12. Serge Savard
    13. Bernie Geoffrion
    14. Ken Dryden
    15. Yvan Cournoyer
    16. Bill Durnan
    17. Elmer Lach
    18. Aurel Joliat
    19. Bob Gainey
    20. Jacques Lemaire
    21. Guy Lapointe
    22. Toe Blake
    23. Georges Vézina
    24. Jacques Laperrière
    25. Emile (Butch) Bouchard
    26. Steve Shutt
    27. J.C.Tremblay
    28. Frank Mahovlich
    29. Didier Pitre
    30. Ken Reardon
    31. Peter Mahovlich
    32. Guy Carbonneau
    33. John Ferguson
    34. George Hainsworth
    35. Sylvio Mantha
    36. Mats Naslund
    37. Bert Olmstead
    38. Tom Johnson
    39. Claude Provost
    40. Chris Chelios
    41. Saku Koivu
    42. Gilles Tremblay
    43. Ralph Backstrom
    44. Doug Jarvis
    45. Gump Worsley
    46. Bobby Rousseau
    47. Doug Risebrough
    48. Stéphane Richer
    49. Dick Duff
    50. Gerry McNeil
    51. Jean-Guy Talbot
    52. Pit Lépine
    53. Éric Desjardins
    54. Bobby Smith
    55. Charlie Hodge
    56. Ken Mosdell
    57. Vincent Damphousse
    58. Johnny Gagnon
    59. Phil Goyette
    60. Kirk Muller
    61. Pierre Mondou
    62. Yvon Lambert
    63. Sprague Cleghorn
    64. Mario Tremblay
    65. Dollard St-Laurent
    66. Claude Lemieux
    67. Réjean Houle
    68. Floyd Curry
    69. Ryan Walter
    70. Jack Laviolette
    71. Andrei Markov
    72. Rod Langway
    73. Georges Mantha
    74. Albert Leduc
    75. Billy Reay
    76. Claude Larose
    77. Don Marshall
    78. Petr Svoboda
    79. Brian Engblom
    80. Rogatien Vachon
    81. Mark Recchi
    82. José Theodore
    83. Glen Harmon
    84. Rick Green
    85. Pierre Larouche
    86. Alexei Kovalev
    87. Ted Harris
    88. Bob Turner
    89. Mathieu Schneider
    90. Terry Harper
    91. Brian Skrudland
    92. Patrice Brisebois
    93. Murph Chamberlain
    94. Buddy O’Connor
    95. Herb Gardiner
    96. Billy Coutu
    97. Jimmy Roberts
    98. Murray Wilson
    99. Pierre Turgeon
    100. Joe Malone

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    6 COMMENTS

    1. Joe Malone is rated lower than Mario Tremblay and Ted Harper! Do people that do these lists know anything than what they’ve seen.

    2. WHAT? Guillaume Latendresse isn’t even on the list? What a ripoff!!!

      Okay, kokes aside, I really can’t argue for or against the list. I think it’s weird that a guy like Recchi or Kovalev are there even if they played little with the Habs.

      Then again, I know that there are a total of 706 players (could be wrong two or three players here) to ever wear the mythical CH even for one game so… a Top 100 is bound to have names that could be forgotten.

      So are we talking “best players to ever wear the bleu-blanc-rouge? If so how come Denis Savard isn’t even there?

      Are we talking contribution as a Habs for the time a player was on the team? Then how come a guy like Desjardins (7 seasons, 43 goals, 179 points) is rated 30 spots higher than a Hart and Vezina winner?

      Truth is, a list like that is very hard to do because there are so many ways to do it that there is no way to please everybody.

      I’m just Glad Koivu is ranked higher than Kirk Muller…

    3. Hey guys,

      Whenever someone compiles a list like this one, there will always be some subjective selections. I guess that’s what makes it fun to debate about.

      It’s always very hard to make comparisons between different eras of hockey due to many variables.

      BB, I wouldn’t have put Denis Savard on the list simply because he only played three seasons towards the tail end of his brilliant career. He was only a shadow of his former greatness when he got here in one of the worst trades ever made by the Canadiens.

      Anonymous, I don’t have a problem with Mario Tremblay (4 seasons of 30+ goals and 60+ points….plus 564 points) being ahead of Joe Malone. Like you, I do question Terry Harper ahead of Malone though.

      It’s hard to argue with most of the selections, maybe the order of selection is more debatable.

      Here are two names that didn’t make the list that I’ll throw out for debating purposes: Mark Napier and Mike Keane……..food for thought, especially when you consider Brian Skrudland made the list at #91.

    4. I don’t mind your two additions Habster especially in place of Wilson and Brisebois. Hell, I’d take Gaston Gingras in place of Brise!

      Here’s a few more names: Brian Savage is comparable to Mike Keane and Ryan Walter had more points than Napier. Even Russ Courtnall would be a better pick than Wilson.

      But, for me, the biggest omission from this list is Shane Corson.

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