Messier, Mark, << MEHS yay, mahrk >> (1961-…), a Canadian ice hockey player, became one of the greatest centers in the history of the National Hockey League (NHL) . During his career, Messier scored 1,887 points on 694 goals and 1,193 assists, placing him third in NHL career scoring behind Wayne Gretzky and Jaromir Jagr . Messier starred on six Stanley Cup championship teams. In the 1989-1990 and 1991-1992 seasons, he won the Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded by the NHL to its Most Valuable Player. Those same seasons, he won the Lester Pearson Award as best player, an honor given in a vote by NHL players. Messier also won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player in the 1983-1984 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Mark Douglas Messier was born on Jan. 18, 1961, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. After playing briefly in the World Hockey Association, he was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers of the NHL in 1979. He played for the Oilers until 1991. During that time, the team won five Stanley Cups. Messier played for the New York Rangers from 1991 to 1997 and for the Vancouver Canucks from 1997 to 2000. He returned to the Rangers in 2000 and retired in 2005. Messier was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2021, he joined the ESPN cable network as a hockey analyst.
