Habs Heroes: The 100 Greatest Canadiens Ever

Rick Stephens
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6

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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Rick Stephens
http://www.allhabs.net/
Rick is the Editor-in-Chief, lead contributor, and owner of the All Habs network of websites. His mission is to build a community of Canadiens fans who are informed, engaged and connected. He is the vision behind all four sites within the network - All Habs, Habs Tweetup, We Are Canadiens, and The Montreal Forum - and is responsible for the design and layout of each. In concert with the strong belief that "Habs fans are everywhere!", Rick is pleased that people use All Habs as a conduit to find and connect with other Habs fans worldwide. He is also proud that Habs Tweetups have allowed fans to meet in person and develop long lasting friendships.

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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