Pittsburgh penguins

Many people celebrate Mario Lemieux as the greatest player ever to play the game of hockey. He is almost universally on everyone's "top five" list if not "top three." Based on pure talent, it is hard to argue that he is not number one.

Notwithstanding his many awards and championships, and his mindbogglingly impressive statistics, perhaps the most amazing thing about Mario is he did this while battling a chronic back and hip injuries and Hodgkin's Disease.

Mario was the complete package.

He was a pure scorer and the ultimate playmaker fused into the body of giant. Often compared to Jean Beliveau,

Lemieux was big and strong but he rarely had to rely on brute strength to fend off defenders.

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Instead he left them baffled with an incredible series of fakes and dekes. With a few long strides he was seemingly untouchable in effortless end to end rushes. Rarely has a sport's dominant player made the game look so easy and natural.

Mario played in only games as he missed many games due t