Imagine hockey without Gretzky, Orr, Howe, Richard or Beliveau. What
would it look like? Nothing like it does today. All of them, as well as
the rest of the game's greatest players, revolutionized the way hockey
has been played.
Yet the game has been changed just as much off the ice where - for
better and for worse - many of hockey's movers and shakers have made
their mark on the game...in behind-the-scenes negotiations (Gary
Bettman), shady backroom deals (Alan Eagleson), in front of the
microphone (Foster Hewitt), one the phone (Bruce McNall), in the front
office (Sam Pollock), behind the bench (Scotty Bowman) and on Saturday
night television (Don Cherry).
From to the seismic shift of Wayne Gretzky coming to America, to Willie
O'Ree breaking the color barrier, to Anatoli Tarasov laying the
groundwork for the sublime finesse of Soviet hockey, to Sheldon
Kennedy's courage in opening the eyes of the hockey world to one of its
most darkest secrets - the biggest game changers are compiled here in
the definitive list of powerbrokers and influencers in hockey history.
Together, these 100 on-ice icons and off-ice authorities have shaped the
sport into what it is today- the world's greatest game.