Canada Quarter-Century Teams selected by NHL.com during 4 Nations Face-Off

The 4 Nations Face-Off is currently taking place in Montreal and Boston until Feb. 20. It is a best-on-best tournament with teams from Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States featuring NHL players only.

To help celebrate the past quarter-century, NHL.com will be naming Quarter-Century Teams for each of the four nations.

Today, we present the First and Second Quarter-Century Teams for Canada, as selected by Canada-based NHL.com staff writers Dave Stubbs, Derek Van Diest and Mike Zeisberger. The players, listed in alphabetical order, were judged based on their NHL stats and international contributions from Jan. 1, 2000, to Dec. 31, 2024.

First Team

Forwards

Sidney Crosby

Nathan MacKinnon

Connor McDavid

Defensemen

Drew Doughty

Chris Pronger

Goalie

Martin Brodeur

Forwards: Crosby led the NHL in scoring in the past quarter century with 1,637 points (602 goals, 1,035 assists) in 1,311 games. Selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins with the No. 1 pick in the 2005 NHL Draft, he has won the Stanley Cup three times (2009, 2016, 2017) and is considered among one of the best players in the history of the League. Crosby also has won two Olympic gold medals for Canada (2010, 2014), a World Hockey Championship (2015), a World Junior Championship (2005) and the World Cup of Hockey 2016. He has won the Hart Trophy as NHL most valuable player twice (2007, 2014) and the Ted Lindsay Award as most outstanding player, voted on by his peers, three times (2007, 2013, 2014). MacKinnon was selected No. 1 by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2013 NHL Draft. He has the fourth-highest points-per-game average in the past quarter-century among Canada-born players (1.16), behind Connor McDavid (1.53), Mario Lemieux (1.35) and Crosby (1.25). MacKinnon was tied with Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand for 14th in points by a Canada-born player in the quarter-century with 960 (349 goals, 611 assists) in 829 games. MacKinnon won the Stanley Cup with the Avalanche in 2022 and has 114 points (48 goals, 66 assists) in 88 playoff games. McDavid was 10th in points over the quarter century among his countrymen with 1,036 (350 goals, 686 assists) in 679 games. Selected by the Edmonton Oilers with the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, McDavid has won the Art Ross Trophy as the League’s points leader five times (2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023), Ted Lindsay Award four times (2017, 2018, 2021, 2023) and the Hart Trophy three times (2017, 2021, 2023).

Defensemen: Doughty has won pretty much everything a defenseman can. The veteran helped the Los Angeles Kings win the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014, leading all defensemen with 18 points (five goals, 13 assists) in the postseason during that second Cup run (26 games). He won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman in 2016, after he had 51 points (14 goals, 37 assists) in 82 games and finished plus-24. Doughty also was a member of Canada’s Olympic gold medal-winning teams of 2010 and 2014. Pronger won the Hart Trophy as MVP in 2000 with the St. Louis Blues. Not only is he the last defenseman to win the Hart, he is the last defenseman to be named a finalist for the award. He also won the Norris that season. Seven years, later Pronger hoisted the Stanley Cup as a member of the Anaheim Ducks. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015.

Goalie: Brodeur is in every discussion about the greatest goalie of all time, both statistically and for his impact on the game. Selected by the New Jersey Devils in the first round (No. 20) of the 1990 NHL Draft, he won the Stanley Cup with the Devils in 2000 and 2003 to add to the championship he won with them in 1995. Among Canada-born goalies in the past quarter-century, Brodeur was first in shutouts (87) and third in wins (470), games played (857), time on ice (50798:43) and saves (19,864). He won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goalie in 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2008. Of his NHL-record eight 40-win seasons, six were in the past 25 years. For good measure, he anchored Canada at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, when it ended the country’s 50-year gold-medal drought.

Second Team

Forwards

Jarome Iginla

Steven Stamkos

Joe Thornton

Defensemen

Duncan Keith

Scott Niedermayer

Goalie

Marc-Andre Fleury

Forwards: Iginla was fourth among Canada-born players over the past quarter-century with 1,148 points (556 goals, 592 assists) in 1,285 games. He is the Calgary Flames’ leader over that time with 943 points (456 goals, 487 assists) in 950 games and helped the Flames make it to Game 7 of the 2004 Stanley Cup Final, where they lost 2-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Iginla won the Art Ross Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award in 2002, and the Mark Messier Leadership Award in 2009. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2020. Stamkos was just ahead of Iginla, ranking third among Canadians in the past 25 years with 1,160 points (566 goals, 594 assists) in 1,120 games. Stamkos also is Tampa Bay’s leader over that time with 1,137 points (555 goals, 582 assists) in 1,082 games. He won the Stanley Cup with the Lightning in 2020 and 2021. Thornton is No. 2 among Canadian players in the past quarter-century with 1,459 points (402 goals, 1,057 assists) in 1,541 games. He is the San Jose Sharks’ leader over that time with 1,055 points (251 goals, 804 assists) in 1,104 games. Thornton won the Hart Trophy and the Art Ross Trophy in 2006 after finishing the season with 125 points (29 goals, 96 assists) in 81 games between the Bruins and Sharks. He is the only player to win the awards in a season spent with two teams.

Defensemen: Keith was the backbone of a Chicago Blackhawks team that won the Stanley Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015. His goal in Game 6 of the 2015 Cup Final proved to be the winner in Chicago’s Cup-clinching 2-0 victory against Tampa Bay, and he won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, finishing with 21 points (three goals, 18 assists) and a plus-16 rating in 23 postseason games. Add two Norris Trophy wins to his resume (2010, 2014), and he has quite the impressive cache of hockey hardware. Also part of that collection is a pair of gold medals from representing Canada at the 2010 and 2014 Olympics. Niedermayer was the captain of that 2010 gold medal-winning team and also won gold for Canada at the 2002 Olympics. One of the best skaters of his generation, he was part of three Stanley Cup-winning teams in the past quarter century: with the Devils in 2000 and 2003, and with the Ducks in 2007. He won the Norris with New Jersey in 2004 and the Conn Smythe with Anaheim in 2007. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2013.

Goalie: Fleury has absolutely lived up to the expectations and pressures of being chosen by the Penguins with the No. 1 pick in the 2003 NHL Draft, being part of Pittsburgh’s Stanley Cup championship teams in 2009, 2016 and 2017. Then, in 2017-18, he was a cornerstone of the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, helping them reach the Stanley Cup Final in their first season. In 2021, he won both the Vezina and the Jennings Trophy (with Robin Lehner), given annually to the goalies for the team that allows the fewest goals. His Vezina win came the first time he’d been a finalist for the award; it was recognition for the then-36-year-old’s record of 26-10-0, 1.98 goals-against average and .928 save percentage, the best of his career. In the past quarter-century, Fleury was first in the NHL in games played (1,036) and wins (567), and third in shutouts (75). With Pittsburgh, Vegas, Chicago and now the Minnesota Wild, Fleury has been an inspirational leader on the ice and dressing room, and a charismatic favorite among fans at every stop.