# Who is the best NHL player born in 1965?

> One birth year produced two scoring titans, a handful of elite goaltenders and a long tail of snipers, grinders and Cup-winning role players. Pick the one who mattered most.

*By YPB Team · Published November 5, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/who-is-the-best-nhl-player-born-in-1965*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Mario Lemieux** — score 1000/1000
   Born October 5, 1965, he scored 690 goals and 1,723 points in 915 games, all with Pittsburgh, and won the Stanley Cup in 1991 and 1992.
2. **Pat LaFontaine** — score 646/1000
   American center who scored 468 goals and 1,013 points in 865 games for the Islanders, Sabres and Rangers, including 148 points in 1992-93.
3. **Brian Bradley** — score 517/1000
   Scored 42 goals for the expansion Tampa Bay Lightning in their 1992-93 debut season and finished with 503 career points.
4. **Steve Yzerman** — score 473/1000
   Detroit's captain for two decades, he posted 692 goals and 1,755 points in 1,514 games and lifted the Cup in 1997, 1998 and 2002.
5. **Cliff Ronning** — score 473/1000
   Five-foot-eight center who piled up 869 points in 1,137 games and reached the 1994 Final with Vancouver.
6. **Cam Neely** — score 473/1000
   Boston power forward who scored 395 goals in 726 games and netted 50 goals in 44 games during 1993-94.
7. **Steve Duchesne** — score 423/1000
   Offensive defenseman with 752 points in 1,113 games who finished his career as a 2002 Stanley Cup champion in Detroit.
8. **Dominik Hašek** — score 423/1000
   Czech goaltender who won six Vezina Trophies and two Hart Trophies with Buffalo, then Stanley Cups with Detroit in 2002 and 2008.
9. **Esa Tikkanen** — score 423/1000
   Finnish checking winger who collected five Stanley Cup rings, four with Edmonton and one with the 1994 Rangers.
10. **Claude Lemieux** — score 367/1000
   Four-time Cup winner (1986, 1995, 1996, 2000) with Montreal, New Jersey and Colorado who took the 1995 Conn Smythe Trophy.
11. **Sylvain Turgeon** — score 302/1000
   Hartford took him second overall in 1983, and he scored 45 goals for the Whalers in 1985-86 on the way to 269 career goals.
12. **Russ Courtnall** — score 302/1000
   Speedy winger who recorded 744 points in 1,029 games across stints in Toronto, Montreal, Dallas, Vancouver and elsewhere.
13. **Patrick Roy** — score 302/1000
   Goaltender with 551 regular-season wins, four Stanley Cups split between Montreal and Colorado, and three Conn Smythe Trophies (1986, 1993, 2001).
14. **Dan Quinn** — score 228/1000
   Calgary's 1983 first-round pick who went on to record 685 points in 805 NHL games, his best years coming in Pittsburgh.
15. **Ed Belfour** — score 228/1000
   Calder and Vezina winner with Chicago in 1990-91 who retired with 484 wins and backstopped Dallas to the 1999 Stanley Cup.
16. **Jeff Beukeboom** — score 228/1000
   Physical defenseman who won three Stanley Cups with Edmonton and a fourth with the 1994 New York Rangers.
17. **Uwe Krupp** — score 228/1000
   German defenseman whose triple-overtime goal in Game 4 clinched the 1996 Stanley Cup for the Colorado Avalanche.
18. **Kevin Stevens** — score 141/1000
   Pittsburgh left winger who scored 54 and 55 goals in back-to-back seasons and won Cups in 1991 and 1992.
19. **Tom Barrasso** — score 141/1000
   Won the Calder and Vezina Trophies as an 18-year-old with Buffalo in 1983-84 and later two Stanley Cups in Pittsburgh.

Tags: sports, 60s, hockey, players, nhl, 1965