from Eric Duhatschek of The Athletic,

Welcome to NHL99, The Athletic’s countdown of the best 100 players in modern NHL history. We’re ranking 100 players but calling it 99 because we all know who’s No. 1 — it’s the 99 spots behind No. 99 we have to figure out. Every Monday through Saturday until February we’ll unveil new members of the list.

Lapointe is ranked No. 98 on The Athletic’s list of the top 100 players of the NHL’s post-1967 expansion era — likeable and popular off the ice, sometimes tremendously underrated on the ice, one of the NHL’s greatest all-time practical jokers, someone always trying to lighten the mood while playing for a series of demanding, all-business coaches.

On the ice, there’s almost always a pecking order to the Big Three and it usually goes Robinson, Savard and Lapointe. But in his autobiography, “Robinson for The Defence,” Robinson wrote of Lapointe: “In his heyday, a great defenseman — and not too far behind Bobby Orr. He rushed. He played the body. He blocked shots (and had two eye injuries to show for it). He was there in the heavy traffic and he had one of the best point shots in the game.

“Guy Lapointe simply did everything — and the people who compared him to (Brad) Park did him a disservice; he was better than Park because he could do more.”

In all, Lapointe won six Stanley Cup championships with the Canadiens and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993. In 884 NHL games, Lapointe recorded 171 goals and 451 assists for 622 points. He also produced 70 points in 123 career playoff games.

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