The best 50 small men in NHL history (Nos. 1-10)

Welcome to the fifth instalment of a comprehensive list of the best diminutive players all-time, taking into account the eras in which they played

Stan Mikita went from thug to gentleman and continued his high level of play.

One time I was speaking with Theo Fleury and he made the bold proclamation: “I’m one of the greatest small men to ever play the game.” That got me thinking, just how good was Fleury compared to other small men? (Spoiler alert: Fleury was right.)

So I thought I would come up with a comprehensive list of the top 50 small men to ever play in the NHL. I enlisted a panel consisting of hockey historians Eric Zweig and Bob Duff, former USA Today hockey writer Kevin Allen, TSN senior managing editor Steve Dryden, former hockey card executive Ken Whitmell and myself, who ranked our top 50 small players in order. I also got some valuable input from Scotty Bowman.