LOS ANGELES -- The list is in.
And, as most expected, it’s wildly impressive.
The NHL unveiled the full list of its 100 greatest players on Friday night, in a star-studded gala event at the Microsoft Theatre.
Having earlier announced the first 33 ‘legends’ of the top 100 list -- which included the likes of Gordie Howe and Maurice ‘the Rocket’ Richard -- tonight, the league filled out the remaining 67 spots with a red carpet event, introducing players decade by decade.
And here’s how it went.
1970s: Bobby Orr, Brad Park, Larry Robinson, Serge Savard, Ken Dryden, Tony Esposito, Bernie Parent, Bobby Clarke, Marcel Dionne, Phil Esposito, Jacques Lemaire, Stan Mikita, Gilbert Perreault, Jean Ratelle, Darryl Sittler, Yvan Cournoyer, Bob Gainey, Bobby Hull, Guy Lafleur.
1980s: Jari Kurri, Mike Gartner, Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier, Peter Stastny, Denis Savard, Mark Messier, Pat LaFontaine, Wayne Gretzky, Ray Bourque, Paul Coffey, Al MacInnis, Denis Potvin, Borje Salming, Grant Fuhr, Billy Smith.
1990s: Patrick Roy, Dominik Hasek, Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, Brian Leetch, Chris Chelios, Pavel Bure, Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille, Brendan Shanahan, Sergei Fedorov, Peter Forsberg, Ron Francis, Mario Lemieux, Eric Lindros, Mike Modano, Joe Nieuwendyk, Adam Oates, Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin, Steve Yzerman.
2000s: Teemu Selanne, Chris Pronger, Nicklas Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, Martin Brodeur.
Active players: Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Jonathan Toews, Alexander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Jaromir Jagr.
Emceed by Jon Hamm of Mad Men fame, the NHL100 gala culminated with the six active players taking to the stage -- capped off by the introduction of Jagr, who recently moved into second all-time in NHL scoring.
Following the final six, Hamm gathered all of the NHL greats on stage for one final moment together. It was a big, demonstrative ending to what was arguably the league’s biggest, most demonstrative celebration to date.
A fitting conclusion. It’s Hollywood, after all.