The Puck Stops Here

This is post 5 in the series. Look back for the other 4.

New Jersey Devils (includes Colorado Rockies and Kansas City Scouts) - Martin Brodeur. He's been an all star goalie for years for them. Early cadidates include Wilf Paiment, Lanny McDonald and Chico Resch. Kirk Muller, Ken Daneyko and John MacLean are some of the next group of players. Scott Stevens is Brodeur's closest competitor. Patrik Elias and Scott Niedermayer are some other top players on the current team.

New York Islanders- Mike Bossy. For a while he was the second best playing in the NHL (behind Gretzky). Ed Westfall and Billy Harris were the first stars on this team. Then came Bryan Trottier, Billy Smith, Denis Potvin and Clarke Gillies in the cup years. Pat LaFontaine was next. Alexei Yashin and Adrian Aucoin have probably been the best of the current bunch.

New York Rangers- Brian Leetch. Conn Smythe trophy winner in their only Stanley Cup of most of our lifetimes. Early stars include Bill Cook, Frank Boucher, Art Coulter and Davey Kerr. Harry Howell and Andy Bathgate are stars in the original six years. The 70's included Ed Giacomin and the GAG (goal a game) line Jean Ratelle, Rod Gilbert and Vic Hadfield. Barry Beck was probably their biggest star in the 80's. Mark Messier was a star and is still with the team. Wayne Gretzky also starred for a few years. Jaromir Jagr has the talent that if he can still have a multi-year run in New York he can join the group.

Philadelphia Flyers- Bobby Clarke. He's still the face of the Flyers years after retiring. Ed Van Impe was the first Flyer star. Then along came Bernie Parent, Reggie Leach, Rick MacLeish and some Stanley Cups. Bill Barber, Brian Propp, Dave Poulin, Tim Kerr, Mark Howe and Rick Tocchet were stars of the 80s. Eric Lindros, John LeClair and Eric Desjardins dominated the 90's, while Ron Hextall kind of straddled both decades. Today, Jeremy Roenick is probably their biggest star with Simon Gagne most likely to one day rise to that level.

Pittsburgh Penguins- Mario Lemieux. Who else? Early players were Jean Pronovost and Orest Kindrachuk. Rick Kehoe and Randy Carlyle came next. Mario's time was shared with Kevin Stevens, Paul Coffey, Tom Barrasso and Jaromir Jagr. Mark Recchi has also been a star and might climb on this list as he returns to the team.