Sports Illustrated’s Jason Fink constructed a Red Wings “Mount Rushmore” consisting of Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom and Terry Sawchuk. The most pertinent paragraphs in his article aren’t the profiles of the above-mentioned players, however, but instead, these remarks:
The Red Wings could build multiple Mount Rushmores from the players who didn’t make this one and still have four Hall of Fame-caliber faces staring down from the mountain.
Players such as Alex Delvecchio, Ted Lindsay, Red Kelly, Sergei Fedorov, Brendan Shanahan, Pavel Datsyuk, Norm Ullman, Chris Osgood and Henrik Zetterberg could fill the other ones.
Howe, Yzerman, Lidstrom, and Sawchuk have something extra. Howe established the standard while Sawchuk backstopped a dynasty. Yzerman restored the franchise to glory while Lidstrom kept it there. And nearly eight decades after Howe first pulled on the Winged Wheel, those four careers provide a complete history of what made the Detroit Red Wings the Detroit Red Wings.
Continued; I once penned a guest column for Greg Wyshynski’s Yahoo Sports blog, suggesting that Howe, Yzerman, Lidstrom and Ted Lindsay were the Wings’ all-time best players, but there are so many names that could be raised to the rafters of franchise glory that it’s silly.
Which players have built your “Red Wings Mt. Rushmore?”
