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The 10 Best NHL Players to Ever Play for the Seattle Thunderbirds

Seattle is about to be the new kid on the block in the NHL. A new chapter in the history of professional hockey will begin in 2020, over a century after we became the first U.S. city to win Lord Stanley's cup. But although the NHL has never been here, there have still been many great players who got their start in the Emerald City. Here are the best NHL players that have ever donned a Seattle Thunderbirds jersey:

10*. Mathew Barzal

Barzal is wrapping up an incredible rookie season and is a top choice to win the Calder trophy this year. He leads all rookies with 68 points through 67 games and is the only rookie averaging more than a point per game. He's also just the 18th rookie in the last 30 years to register a 5-point game, joining a list that includes Connor McDavid, Sergei Fedorov, Teemu Selanne, and his teammate John Tavares. No player on that list had more than one 5-point night in their rookie campaign except for Barzal. He has 3. Barzal was always the best player on the ice during his 4 seasons with the Seattle Thunderbirds, where he amassed 63 goals and 215 assists in 202 career games. His game has translated well to the NHL so far, and if his career continues on this path he very well could be the best NHL player to ever play in a Thunderbird jersey.

*Barzal should probably be higher on this list, but it's hard to justify with a sample size of less than 1 full season

9. Brenden Dillon

I will always remember Dillon as being one of my dad's least favorite Thunderbirds, which I can understand when I see that in his fourth and final season with the team he had a +/- of -25. However he also finished second on that team in points with 59. He went undrafted but worked his way up through the Dallas Stars' system and played a full season at the pro level in 2012. He scored his first goal that year and in that same game also tallied his first Gordie Howe hat trick. He was traded to San Jose in 2014 and seems to have found a home there. While he doesn't provide much in the way of offense, his defensive numbers have slowly improved. His corsi numbers have been above 50% in each of the last 2 seasons and he has seen an increase in ice time of almost a full minute this year compared to last year. He's also had at least 150 hits and 80 blocked shots in each full season with the Sharks.

8. Turner Stevenson

Stevenson played hockey with every bit of his 6'3", 220 lb frame. He made a career as a third line big bodied forward, and it all started in Seattle. He played 4 seasons with the Thunderbirds, racking up a club record 886 PIM and scoring 203 points in 246 games. He was drafted 12th overall by his childhood favorite Montreal Canadiens and after 2 and a half years with their AHL affiliate finally managed to grab a roster spot in 1994. He was sent to New Jersey in 2000, winning a Stanley Cup in 2003. Stevenson finished his career with 190 points in 644 games and just shy of 1000 PIM.

7. Mark Parrish

In his lone season in the WHL Parrish lead all Thunderbirds in goals with 54 and tied for the lead in points with 92 despite only playing in 54 games. He had a great rookie season, scoring 24 goals and finishing 4th in Calder trophy voting. He scored at least 20 goals in 6 of his first 7 seasons, but only topped 30 once in 2002, which was enough to earn him a spot in the NHL All-Star game. He played in over 700 NHL games in his career and ended with 387 points. He played the majority of his final 3 seasons in the AHL before retiring in 2012.

6. Nate Thompson

Thompson did not have an easy road to the NHL. After playing 4 full seasons with the Thunderbirds where he scored 143 points in 243 games, he spent the better part of 3 seasons in the AHL before being claimed by the Islanders in 2008. But it wasn't until 2010 when he was claimed by the Tampa Bay Lightning that he established himself as a true NHL level 2-way center. He played 5 seasons with the Lightning, and in 2013 was named an alternate captain. When the Lightning made a run to the Stanley Cup finals in 2011 he finished 3rd among all forwards in the NHL with 81 blocked shots. He has won at least 50% of his faceoffs in 9 of 10 seasons. Thompson is currenlty playing for the LA Kings.

5. Brooks Laich

Laich spent 2 seasons with the Thunderbirds and led the team in 2002-03 with 94 points. He spent the majority of his career with the Washington Capitals, where he notched 324 points in 742 games. He had his first of 3 consecutive 20-goal seasons in 2007-08 and helped the Capitals to their first playoff birth in 4 seasons. Although the goal production wasn't quite what it was in the WHL he did manage to establish himself as a solid defensive forward much like Thompson. In 2011-12 he led all forwards with 92 blocked shots and tacked on 24 more in the playoffs during the Capitals run to the Eastern Conference semi-finals. While he hasn't officially retired yet, his last game was with the LA Kings was in November and he has since been released.

4. Brendan Witt

Brendan Witt spent 3 full seasons with the Seattle Thunderbirds, amassing 79 points and 686 penalty minutes in 193 games, good enough for 7th most PIM in Thunderbirds history. Standing 6'2" he was always a physical presence on the ice and never afraid to drop the gloves when necessary. He was drafted 11th overall by the Washington Capitals and played 48 games in his first season with the Caps. In the 1997-98 season Witt played 64 games and helped his team make the Stanley Cup finals. Beginning in 1999 Witt averaged at least 20 minutes of ice time per game in every season in which he played at least 50 games, including the 2003-04 season when he averaged almost 23 minutes.
(Sidenote: Steve Konowalchuk, future head coach of the first championship team in T-Birds history, played 6 games with that Capitals team)
The Capitals traded Witt in the 2005-06 season to the Nashville Predators and Witt finished the season 2nd in the league with 209 PIM. He finished his career with the Islanders and retired in 2010.

3. Petr Nedved

Nedved played only one season in Seattle, but it was a pretty fantastic season. He averaged over 2 points per game, finishing with 145 in 71 games (and somehow was still only the third highest scorer on the team). He was the 2nd overall pick in a draft that included the likes of Owen Nolan, Keith Tkachuk, Martin Brodeur and fellow Czech native Jaromir Jagr. Nedved's career spanned 15 seasons in the NHL where he amassed 310 goals and 407 assists over 982 games, ending his career with the 7th most points of any Czech born player. In 1996, while playing with the Pittsburgh Penguins, he ended what was at the time the longest NHL game in 60 years, scoring with 45 seconds left in the 4th overtime period. He scored 3 hat tricks in a span of less than 2 months with the New York Rangers in 2000. In 2007 he left the NHL to finish his career out in his home country. He retired from hockey in 2013, but recently came out of retirement for one game only to play against his friend and former teammate Jaromir Jagr in Jagr's return to the Czech Republic. Jagr's team won the game, but a 46-year old Nedved still managed to score a goal and an assist in his first game in almost 5 years.

2. Chris Osgood

Chris Osgood only played 40 games in a Seattle Thunderbirds jersey, if you include playoffs, but he also remains the only Thunderbird goalie to win a Memorial Cup game. He spent 14 of his 17 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings during their historic run of playoff success. He made his debut in 1993, winning 23 games as a rookie. He played in 744 total games in his NHL career, finishing with a .905 SV% and a 2.49 GAA, the latter of which puts him 11th best all time among goaltenders to play at least 500 games in the modern era. He's had his name enshrined on the Stanley Cup on 3 separate occasions, and won the William M. Jennings trophy twice. He had the most wins of any goaltender in the 1995-96 season, a season which also saw him score a goal. He finished in the top 5 in shutouts 3 times. He was a part of the best goalie fight of all time in the 1998 playoffs against the rival Colorado Avalanche. In 2008 he took over for starter Dominik Hasek in the first round of the playoffs and proceeded to win 9 straight games en route to his third and final Stanley Cup Trophy. To sum it all up, it's a dang shame that he has not been inducted into the Hall of Fame yet.

1. Patrick Marleau

Marleau was a Seattle Thunderbird for 2 seasons, racking up 199 (man that's frustrating that it's not 200) points in 143 games and another 30 in 20 playoff games. He has the 17th most points of any Thunderbird. 15 of the 16 guys in front of him all played at least 4 seasons. He is currently playing in his 20th NHL season, his first one not with the San Jose Sharks. Across all 20 years (excluding the shortened 1012-13 season, where he played every game), the fewest games he ever played in was 74, when he was an 18-year old rookie. Right now he sits at 12th in the all time leaderboard for most games played and will pass Nick Lidstrom by the end of this season. Every other eligible player in the top 20 is in the Hall of Fame. He is 34th all time in goals scored with 528, and 59th in points with 1118, just 6 shy of Mike Bossy. Marleau will retire as the Sharks all time leading goal scorer by a wide margin, and unless Joe Thornton manages to play a couple more seasons, he will also finish with the most points of any San Jose player. The only reason anyone questions his Hall of Fame career is his lack of individual awards. He has never won the Art Ross, the highest he's finished in Hart trophy voting is 9th, and he's never won a Stanley Cup. But looking at the company he's in on the NHL career leaders, it's easy to see he deserves a spot in the Hall, and that he's the best NHL player to come through Seattle.

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