NHL

Top 10 NHL Players of the Modern Era

Is Wayne Gretzky really the best player based on the advanced analytics? Or does somebody else have him beat?

We've been enamored by the Sidney Crosby/Alex Ovechkin rivalry in recent years. In a way, it makes sense.

They've been the two most individually gifted players in the NHL since 2005-06, when both entered the league. And, of course, it helps that their teams have been stalwarts in the NHL playoffs for the past 10 seasons.

As intriguing as the rivalry is, though, sometimes we become prisoners of the moment. We get caught off guard by the hype of the game. Overreaching statements like "He's the best ever!" are made erroneously. We forget about the past.

Oh, how wrong we are when forgetting about those that have come before. Their greatness is beyond what we've seen sustained for quite some time, so maybe that's why we do it. Either way, it's wrong for that same reason: we just haven't seen it for a while.

What's that all-time great standard? And which players have helped to set it?

Using Hockey Reference's point shares metric the following are 10 players with at least 900 games played since the modern era (1967-68) with the best point shares marks on a per-game basis.