10 NHL players of the past you should know

Lots of bloggers take shots at pro athletes.  I am neither a blogger or a pro athlete.  I am a washed up never-was hockey player who could smell the big time from the next room.  What I like to do as a former player is make fun of fans and bloggers from my office in Columbus, OH.  It is also in my best interest to educate the fans of Columbus about hockey so that my obscure references are not confused with my references to Alexander Mogilny.

With that, I give you 10 players that not everybody knows, but probably should.  This is not based on skill or dominance, rather than their notability as hockey players.

10.  Alexander Mogilny - Russians are common in the NHL now a days, but when Mogilny hit the scene in the early 90's there weren't many around and he could score.  Also, back then they were called Soviets.  Any Soviets that were here were typically NHL rookies in their early 30's after the Red Army spit them out.  Oh, and Mogilny's defection and subsequent extortion by the Russian organized crime was scary and made for an HBO hockey special.

The Russian Mob - not sexy.

9.  Adam Oates - this guy centered some dude named Hull.  This guy centered some dude named Neely.  This guy centered some dude named Bondra.  He was the "also ran" center to some monster wingers. I don't say also ran, sports writers do. John Stockton was the Adam Oates of Basketball.  Oates is 6th all time in assists.  The only HOF eligible player in the top 25 of all-time assist leaders not in the Hall of Fame.  WHY?  Dunno, but at least he was voted sexiest hockey player a number of times.

**Update 6/27 - Congrats to Adam Oates on his 2012 HOF Selection**

Soy tan sexy que mi amor.

8.  Mike Bossy - no one in hockey has a better shot.  No one had a worse back which caused him to retire from hockey shortly after his 30th birthday.  He scored less than 50 goals only once in his 10 year career.  9 straight 50 goal seasons is his NHL record alone.  He's tied with some guy named Gretzky on a couple other records playing in half the number of seasons.

Marla Hooch, what a hitter.

7.  Al Iafrate - He wore a bandana, smoked cigarettes during intermissions, and birthed the phrase "Howizter from the point."  Before the All-Star game was turned into snob-fest by Gary Bettman, Iafrate was one of the biggest draws to the skills competition.  The All-Star game was for the players voted by the fans, the skills competition was for those most skilled in the events, whether voted by the fans or not.  Once the skills comp was for all-stars only, this colorful character was lost to obscurity.  105.2 with a wooden stick.

Mullets and Marlboros, not sexy.  105.2 MPH, Tu es un garçon sexy

6.  Dino Ciccerelli.  600 goals, 1400 PIMS and it took him 11 years to get in the Hockey Hall of fame.  Apparently, if you do the things Mike Milbury does, but have a great career, they snub you in the Hall of Fame.  If you're Mike Milbury, MSNBC puts you on TV.   Ciccarelli would out work you at every turn and punish you any chance he got.  Did I mention he entered the league undrafted after spending a couple seasons in the minors after juniors?  600 career goals.

He's a bad-ass, high scoring Italian hockey player, I don't need to say it do I?

5.  Pavel Bure - Candice Cameron's brother-in-law is my favorite non-friend/family hockey player.  I had my own number, but if someone onthe team wanted it, I wore number 10.  This guy was fast and it seemed most of his goals were highlight reels.  He was like Ovechkin, but handsome.  He was able to score 50 goals in three different seasons after the New Jersey Devils ruined hockey with the Trap.  Bad Knees ended his carreer at the tender age of 32.

My favorite player, and the most handsome hockey player Russia has ever produced

3 & 4 - Radek Bonk and Alexander Daigle.  Nothing personal guys, but the Ottawa Senators were Blue Jacket-esqe with their draft picks in the early years.  Bonk wasn't a total bust, especially since the 1994 draft was very, very lean.  I look at Alexandre Daigle and see Nail Yakupov.

Obsure Bonk photo that has nothing to do with sexy or hockey.

2.  Brian Leetch - aside from being (I think) the only member of the 1993-1994 New York Rangers not to have previously won a cup with the Edmonton Oilers. Not the fastest, not the strongest, but brilliant with the puck.  He is the last defenceman to record 100 points in a single season.  Leetch made it look like the Rangers were on the powerplay whenever he had the puck.

Smooth. Clean. Classy. Delicious. Soft core porn for hockey fans.

1.  Doug Gilmour.  Killer.  Fierce.  Don Cherry never gave Gilmour a hard time for wearing a Vanity Number.  450 goals in the NHL while only scoring 40 or more in a season once, usually playing injured.  1400 points in 1500 games and won only a single Stanely Cup with the greatest team no one remembers, the 89 Flames.  He was the captain of three of the seven teams he played for.  The October 12th 1998 issue of Sports Illustrated has a great article on Gilmour, which I consider the Webster's definition of a Hockey Player.

The last of a dying breed.  The HOF selection committee thinks he's sexier than Oates.  Maybe They're right.

And there you have it.  10 players from the 80's and 90's that hockey fans should know.  Not necessarily my favorites, or ten best, or ten of anything,  Just 8 solid hockey players and 2, oh yeah, those guys.  And I found the following picture too good to leave out. 

Since my folks are likely to read this, I'll leave out the 'smell test' joke.