‘Gentleman Jean’ Beliveau tops list of favourite NHL players

Rob McKenzie's broken chain of favourite ice hockey players begins with Jean Beliveau and ends with Jonathan Toews.

Powered by automated translation

My broken chain of favourite ice hockey players begins with Beliveau and ends with Toews.

Jean Beliveau He was the captain of the Montreal Canadiens when they won the Stanley Cup nearly every spring. He was nicknamed “Gentleman Jean” because he had a dignity about him. He played 20 seasons until 1970/71 and was like the mayor of hockey. When I was a star-struck little kid in Carman, Manitoba, one bedtime I said to my parents: “Dad, you’re the best dad in the world, even better than Jean Beliveau, and Mum, you’re the best mum in the world, even better than Jean Beliveau’s wife.”

Bobby Hull, Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson Star line of the Winnipeg Jets in the upstart World Hockey Association, now defunct.

Dale Hawerchuk/early Wayne Gretzky Two Hall of Famers; one was the star of my hometown Jets, one was the greatest hockey player ever. So, a tie.

Nobody The state of affairs while I was in university and had other interests.

Steve Nash While not technically a hockey player, he is Canadian and plays a team sport with great fluidity and invention. That’s good enough for me.

Jonathan Toews See main article above.

Plus, my daughter is in Chicago.

Double-plus, my friend Cadieux, who lived two doors from the Toews family in the south end of Winnipeg, says that Jonathan was a good kid. Pretty hard to argue with solid empirical evidence.

sports@thenational.ae