The last decade has been a tumultuous one for the NHL. A complete season (2004-05) was lost to lock-out. Some all-time great players like Mario Lemieix, Peter Forsberg, Ray Borque, Joe Sakic and Steve Yzerman saw their careers come to an end. Future and present greats like Alexander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin, Henrik Zetterburg and Mike Green got their careers off to rousing starts.
Who had the best decade though? Who had the best ten year career from January 1st 2000 to December 31st 2009?
It was an era that saw two cups each awarded to perrenial playoff teams in Detroit and New Jersey. However newcomers Tampa Bay, Carolina and Anaheim also won their first and only Stanley cups.
Alex Ovechkin was the only two time winner of the Hart trophy during the decade but he's also only played 365 games and scored 470 points this decade.
Generally speaking the best performers for any decade are going to have established themselves a year or two before the decade starts and play their prime seasons through that decade. My list doesn't exactly conform to that criteria but mostly those are the type of players that I landed on my best ten NHLers of the 2000's list. Begin S ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Scott Weldon
Ten Best NHL Players of the Last Decade
January 4th, 2010 by Scott Weldon Leave a reply »
Advertisement