from Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal,

What the NHL should be doing is naming the divisions or conferences (seven teams in the West and Central geographic areas and eight in the East) are Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr, Gordie Howe and either Mario Lemieux or Rocket Richard. Gretzky, Orr and Howe are the three greatest players with Lemieux arguably fourth and Richard has the scoring (most goals in a season) named after the storied Montreal winger.

Gretzky is the easiest fit for the grouping with Edmonton. He has a statue outside the rink here, he played in LA and coached in Phoenix.

Lemieux, the greatest Penguin, could head up the division with the New York area teams although the bitter rivals in Philly might not like being in a division named Lemieux.

Boston and Detroit are in the same division so Orr and Howe would have to fight it out there, I suppose. Richard was the ultimate Montreal player too so that’s three Hall of Famers and one division. I say go with Orr in division C, which brings us to B. Howe was never a Blackhawks but unless we suddenly come up with Hull for that one because Bobby played in Chicago and his boy Brett in St. Louis and Dallas, this one goes to Howe.

Surely the NHL can honour its greatest players as they went overboard with builders names years back.

Will they? I have my doubts–they could easily go with Pacific and Central, Atlantic and Can-East– but maybe the staid NHL will surprise me.

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