GOAT Index

Two legends at a time. Thousands of votes. One ranking.

0Voters
0Matchups judged

Mark Messier: the case for the GOAT

Who's greater?

Standings

Filter voters

    About you

    Optional

    This lets the standings split by age and region, so you can see where generations and continents disagree. Votes are anonymous: no name or email is ever collected.

    Mark Messier: the case for the GOAT

    C · Oilers, Rangers · Born 18 January 1961, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada · Career 1978–2004

    A ferocious power centre and the archetypal captain, Messier won five Cups with the Oilers and then ended the Rangers' 54-year title drought in 1994.

    Career highlights

    Why Mark Messier could be the GOAT

    Messier is the ultimate winner and leader: six Cups, including one in Edmonton after Gretzky left and the famous 1994 Rangers title after his guaranteed win in Game 6. He combined power, skill and intimidation, and ranks among the top scorers ever. No one did more to will teams to championships.

    What fans say

    Mark Messier is #15 of 25 in the fan ranking, with a 1–1 head-to-head record from 23 NHL votes. See the full NHL GOAT ranking

    Mark Messier head to head

    How the ranking works. Every head-to-head vote is a result, like a game. The standings use a Bradley–Terry model, the same idea behind chess ratings: beating a highly rated legend counts for more than beating a long shot. Ratings are shown on a chess-style scale centred on 1500.

    One vote per matchup per person. If you see a pairing again in another session your new answer replaces the old one, so nobody can stuff the ballot by repeating a matchup.

    Anonymous by design. No account needed. A quick bot check from Cloudflare runs once when you arrive, and your votes are tied to a random ID kept in your browser, not to your name or email. Privacy policy.

    Photo credits

      Photos come from Wikimedia Commons under the licenses listed. Each links to its source page.