Brad Freeman's All-Time Lifetime Hockey Team

My all-time hockey team during my lifetime.

Starting Lineup:

C: Wayne Gretzky (Edmonton Oilers/Los Angeles Kings) *favorite position player growing up

LW: Brendan Shanahan (St. Louis Blues/Detroit Red Wings)

RW: Brett Hull (St. Louis Blues/Dallas Stars/Detroit Red Wings)

LD: Ray Bourque (Boston Bruins/Colorado Avalanche)

RD: Paul Coffey (Edmonton Oilers/Pittsburgh Penguins/Los Angeles Kings/Detroit Red Wings)

G: Patrick Roy (Montréal Canadians/Colorado Avalanche) *favorite Goalie growing up

Bench:

C Steve Yzerman (Detroit Red Wings)

C Jeremy Roenick (Chicago Blackhawks)

C Mario Lemieux (Pittsburgh Penguins)

LW/C: Mark Messier (Edmonton Oilers/New York Rangers)

LW: Vyacheslav Kozlov (Detroit Red Wings)

LW: Paul Kariya (Anaheim Ducks)

RW: Claude Lemieux (New Jersey Devils/Colorado Avalanche)

RW: Jaromír Jágr (Pittsburgh Penguins)

RW: Teemu Selanne (Anaheim Ducks)

LD: Nicklaus Lidstrom (Detroit Red Wings)

LD: Scott Stevens (New Jersey Devils)

RD: Chris Chelios (Montréal Canadians/Chicago Blackhawks/Detroit Red Wings)

RD: Scott Niedermayer (New Jersey Devils/Anaheim Ducks)

G: Martin Brodeur (New Jersey Devils)

Non-Roster Players (in case someone gets injured since rosters have expanded from the traditional 20 players above to 23):

C Joe Sakic (Colorado Avalanche)

LD: Brian Leetch (New York Rangers)

RD: Al MacInnis (Calgary Flames/St. Louis Blues)

Honorable Mention:

C: Mike Modano (Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars)

LW/C: Peter Forsberg (Philadelphia Flyers/Colorado Avalanche)

G: Dominik Hasek (Buffalo Sabres)

G: Ed Belfour (Chicago Blackhawks/Dallas Stars)

G: Grant Fuhr (Edmonton Oilers)

*Being born in July 1984, much like basketball, I didn’t have a home team that was tied to one city’s market being from Kansas City, MO. So I got games from all over the country. A lot of my favorite players were guys from the eighties, nineties, and 1^st decade of the 2000s. I adopted the NHL’s San Jose Sharks as my “home team” because at the time I was growing up, the minor league hockey team we did have in Kansas City was called the Blades, and they were the Sharks minor league affiliate. People have asked me since you’re a Kansas City Mavericks fan, which is the new minor league team since the Blades don’t exist anymore, are you a New York Islanders fan because the Mavericks are the Islanders minor league affiliate now? To be honest, no I’m not. But I’m always happy for the players who played for the Blades, and the Mavericks now, when they make it to the NHL because it’s hard to make it to any of the major sports leagues for all 5 sports in general. However, like most Missourians I rooted for the Blues when they finally made and won the Stanley Cup Finals 2018-19.

*My favorite teams in the Western Conference were the Colorado Avalanche, Detroit Red Wings, and Chicago Blackhawks. That Western Conference Final between the Avalanche and the Red Wings during the 95-96 season was rather epic. My team in the East was the New Jersey Devils by the way.

*I wrote down 5 Goaltenders because even though my favorite player was Wayne Gretzky, when I participated in hockey games during PE class, or recess, I always made a great Goalie sitting in my power chair. It was my way to participate. So most of the time, I analyzed the Goalkeeper because that was the position I usually played.