Top 30 NHL Players of All-Time: #30

For the past couple years, a friend of mine and I have spent lots of time making lists. We both really enjoy reading them which in turn awakes a challenge of making one yourself. The lists have varied from movies to music to sports. I am going to share some of my results on here starting with my current one, The Top 30 NHL Players of All-Time.

For this list, I made my rankings based on a number of factors and a primary focus of wanting to look back on my list in 5 years and feel it still has held up well. However, given stars like McDavid, Matthews, Kucherov and others, their impacts have been huge thus far but too small a sample size to ASSUME they will remain healthy and on the same projection they currently are on. I have also included cards from my collection to make this fun for myself. In addition, I've been sharing my list on Twitter which I have included what I have already said but have been able to add a little more insight on here because I am not faced with character restrictions.

If a player made the NHL they were eligible for the list and I also included their international resume as well so that I was comparing complete careers as a whole.

#30. Marcel Dionne. Marcel didn’t accomplish as much as most HOFers in terms of awards but he did pile up stats galore. Marcel averaged the 5th most PPG (1.31) in NHL history and was a 4 time all-star. In 18 years he’d only play 49 playoff games but he’d have 45 points there.

1971-72 OPC Rookie

1992-93 OPC Alternate Rookie Autographed

When I started my list I had a larger list of players who I felt would make a case to make the top 30. Some spots were easier than others but where you make a "cut-off" is both difficult and important as you are saying this in the minimum of what it would take to make your list. Yes Dionne's resume is not as great as others but hockey is a team sport and it speaks as much about him as it does as his circumstances.

I can't imagine leaving someone who had scored 731 regular season goals and 1771 points off my list. Marcel would top 100 points 8 times in his career, 5 times of those placed him in the top 3 in the league. Internationally Marcel would represent Canada a number of times and put up very respectable numbers on those occasions. For his efforts he'd win a Canada Cup in 1976 and three bronze medals at the World Hockey Championship at a time when Canada didn't send their best and Russia had a pro team participating.

Why isn't he higher? To be honest, he has done nothing wrong in his career but hasn't done enough to separate himself from the players above. Still I have him ranked higher than Joe Thornton, Guy Lafleur, Sergei Fedorov and many other HOFers. I believe that Marcel is a player who was excellent in a time when the league was rough and if you moved him to any other era he would have been just as successful individually as he was in his career.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there.

Marcel Dionne Auto and Used

A few deals have come my way featuring Marcel Dionne. I do have a TTM from him which set me back 10 bills but both of these cards each clocked in for less than that! Enjoy

11-12 Certified never fails to impress me, here is a nice on card auto numbered to just 99! 

Here is another expo card, this time it is the Ultimate Memorabilia 10th edition. This card is numbered to just 9 copies and I had watched it as an auction a couple of times fail to get any bids. Finally the seller dipped the price to the point where I wanted to lay a bid in and sure enough I was the only one. Hard to believe there aren't any big Dionne fans out there. The scan came out blurry because of the holder, but it is a pretty nice card with a good sized yellow swatch (I love the old Kings yellow).

For those wondering, I will post this weekend details on the Travelling box and we can get this all started up!

Tape Stained Rookies - Re-upped

I hated how poorly the last batch of scans came out, so here they are again.

Tape Stained Rookies - A Surprise Haul

Life always seems to be full of surprises. I was on my way home from work and I had heard earlier that day that the Devils claimed Ryan Carter off waivers. Well, I remembered my local hobby guy had a Ryan Carter Sweet Shot rookie in his cheapy bin so I thought I would stop off on the way home and buy it. Some I pick up my toddler son and stop off at the shop on my way home. I am in the store for no more than a minute with my son in my arms when the owner Jon calls me over to show me something. He just picked up a lot of cards and wants to unload them cheap.

I walked over and was in heaven. I needed to know the price, he said a price I couldn't refuse. 39 bucks brought the lot home. I will let the cards speak for themselves. All cards are from the 71-72 OPC Set.


Guy La Fleur Rookie
A few tape stains on the front and some corner rounding...but that is it!


Bad scan, but the backside is perfect!

Yvon Cournoyer
Tape and rounding...

Clean back!

Tony Esposito

Best conditioned card, no creases and good corner....and NO tape

Back is perfect again, a little glare from the penny sleave.

#$%#$ Ken Dryden Rookie

Some tape staining for sure....one or two light creases as well.


Back is near perfect!!! I LOVE this card

Marcel Dionne Rookie

This card somehow was spared from the tape fiasco. Some rounding of corners and off-centered but otherwise in decent shape!

- Accidently deleted the backside...I will upload again later....lots very nice, just some discolouration from aging...

Richard Martin Rookie

Even though I already own a mint version of this card, I couldn't leave it behind. It has some corner dings, but no tape or stains and is a good card for trait bait!

- Like Dionne, I accidently deleted the back, but I will upload that later too.

Bobby Orr All Star Card

This card is in the roughest shape. A few stains and some serious creases. Still, my first of two Bobby's and my only Bobby's from his playing days.

Here is the back side.

Bobby Orr Double Award Winner

The nicer of the two Orrs, this one just suffers from some tape staining.

Here is the back side.

Gilbert Perreault 2nd year card

Some tape staining and rounded corners
A light crease on the back, otherwise pretty clean.

There you have it, a deal I couldn't pass up! I didn't own ANY of these cards before, so I feel awesome getting some serious HOF rookies that I don't think normally I would have owned.

Marcel Dionne TTM

The poll results said go for it and I did. Here is my return on Marcel Dionne which came back in just 15 days.

The rest of the story can be found at Dirty Dangle.

ITG Decades Box Break - Part 2 of 3

Hope you don't mind camera shots again! Here are hits 4-6.

The pack gets more interesting as we get our first memorabilia hit.

Hit 4

I am definitely a fan of Nifty Middleton. This card is numbered to 130 which isn't too bad for the highest numbered memorabilia insert.

Wayne Gretzky once played on a line with Middleton and Perreault and he marveled at how skilled Middleton was. There appeared to be a little piece of wood or something stuck in the jersey. I left it there....

Hit 5!!!!!

Wow! This may be one of the funnest cards I have ever pulled! These four guys are amazing and this is the Silver Version which is numbered to 30. Love the swatches, love the players, this made the box. According to the back of the card, all swatches are from their NHL clubs except Mario which is from a Team Canada Jersey. That part is what I think makes this the coolest card I own.

Hit 6

This one was a bit of a surprise. I came down from the high of the last card and missed something key on first inspection of this card. I was happy to see Leetch, he is an amazing defensemen. He is in the Hall of Fame and Messier called him the greatest Ranger of all-time. What I missed at first glance is this is a Silver Version which is also numbered to 30. This box is shaping up to be a winner!

Marcel Dionne Debate

For a while I have been debating myself on whether or not I should mail away to Marcel Dionne. He is like Gilbert Perreault and charges for his autograph. From what I read, Dionne charges 10 bucks per autograph so I would mail away one item if I were to do it at all. What are your thoughts? Should I do it? I set up a poll on the upper right hand side of my blog to leave your response. After the polls close in a week, I will do what you guys suggest.