These are the NHL's most iconic players of the last 25 years
Over the last 25 years, the NHL has only continued to get more skilled and more entertaining. Today, we're going to celebrate the stars who have led that charge with CBS Sports' NHL Quarter-Century team.
Cutting this team down to just 20 players total was a challenge. So many players have made a huge impact on the game of hockey in this young millennium, but the players on this team have become icons. For starters, the two players who most define the last 25 years of the NHL are Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin.
Crosby and Ovechkin entered the NHL at the same time, and they've served as the faces of the NHL ever since. That duo, once at the center of a heated rivalry between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals, have climbed the record books and filled trophy cases a couple times over.
A player who has more recently joined the ranks of superstardom is Connor McDavid, who has won just about everything there is to win, except for a Stanley Cup. McDavid has only been in the league for a decade, but he's already topped 1,000 points and won't stop anytime soon.
There are also some players who really excelled in the early portion of this era. The great Nicklas Lidstrom, arguably the best defenseman in hockey history, rattled off one Norris Trophy after another while leading the Detroit Red Wings to multiple Stanley Cups. Likewise, Martin Brodeur was the standard-bearer at his position, and no goaltender in NHL history has anywhere near his 691 wins.
On the whole, this quarter-century team is littered with Stanley Cups, awards, goals, assists and wins. Here are the 20 players who have made the biggest impact on the NHL over the last 25 years.
