This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.
In hockey, defensemen who not only prevent the other team from scoring goals, but can also quarterback their own team’s offense, both on the power play and at even strength, are invaluable to a team’s success. Throughout the long history of the NHL, a select few players have brilliantly displayed both of these skills – two of these legends are Brian Leetch and Al MacInnis, who are recognized as two of the most offensively-gifted defensemen of all time and are part of a rare group that has reached the 1,000 career point milestone from the blueline. In comparing the long and accomplished careers of these two players, the question is:
Who was better – Brian Leetch or Al MacInnis?
The Beginning
Both Leetch and MacInnis dominated at the junior and collegiate hockey levels and were able to parlay that success into being first round draft picks – whereas Leetch burst onto the NHL scene immediately, MacInnis would develop more slowly into a star defenseman.
Originally born in Texas, Leetch grew up in Connecticut and starred as a high schooler in both baseball and hockey. Following a sterling high school hockey career, he was drafted ninth overall in the first round of the 1986 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Rangers; nevertheless, he enrolled at Boston College and was named an All-American defenseman in his one season there. After playing in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Leetch made his NHL debut with the Rangers in February 1988 and recorded 14 points in 17 games played. The next season, in 1988-1989, he set a rookie defenseman record with 23 goals, along with 48 assists, for 71 points and a +8 +/- rating to win the Calder Trophy for top rookie and finish 11th for the Norris Trophy for top defenseman.
Meanwhile, MacInnis grew up in Nova Scotia, Canada as one of six brothers and eight kids total. As a teenager, he went west to play for the Regina Pat Blues of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) before moving to Ontario to join the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). After leading Kitchener to a league title in 1980-1981, MacInnis was selected 15th overall in the first round of the 1981 NHL Entry Draft by the Calgary Flames, though he returned to Kitchener and first won the Memorial Cup in 1982, followed by the Max Kaminsky Trophy as the OHL’s best defenseman the following year. He only played a combined 16 games during the 1981-1982 and 1982-1983 NHL seasons before joining Calgary for good partway through the 1983-1984 season, finishing with 11 goals and 34 assists for 45 points and a -1 +/- rating in 51 games.
Career Comparison
During their lengthy NHL careers, Leetch and MacInnis both produced at an elite level for close to two decades and were each recognized by winning the Norris Trophy on at least one occasion as the league’s top defenseman.
As a follow-up to his stellar rookie campaign, Leetch dipped to 56 points and a -18 +/- rating the next year, but rebounded in 1990-1991 with 16 goals and 72 assists for 88 points with a +2 +/- rating to finish fourth for the Norris Trophy. His finest season may have been 1991-1992 – by putting up 22 goals and 80 assists for 102 points and a +25 +/- rating, Leetch won his first Norris Trophy and finished ninth for the MVP (Hart Trophy), in the process becoming just the fifth defenseman and the first and only American-born defenseman to have a 100-point season. In 1993-1994, he matched his career-high with 23 goals, along with 56 assists and a +28 +/- rating in 1993-1994, to finish fifth for the Norris.
After two more top-five Norris finishes in 1994-1995 (9 goals and 32 assists for 41 points and an even +/- rating in a strike-shortened season) and 1995-1996 (15 goals and 70 assists for 85 points and a +12 +/- rating), Leetch would earn his second career Norris Trophy in 1996-1997 on the strength of 20 goals and 58 assists for 78 points and a career-best +31 +/- rating. Additionally, he became the Rangers captain in 1997 after Mark Messier left for the Vancouver Canucks and held the title until Messier’s return to New York in 2000. However, from a numbers perspective, he dropped to a career-worst -36 +/- rating after his Norris-winning campaign, the first of four consecutive seasons with a negative +/- rating (after having only one such season in the first decade of his career).
Nevertheless, Leetch managed another top-five Norris finish in 2000-2001 with 21 goals and 58 assists for 79 points despite a -18 +/- rating. He returned to positive territory the following year with 10 goals and 45 assists for 55 points and a +14 +/- rating, resulting in his last top-10 Norris season. Midway through the 2003-2004 campaign, Leetch was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs at the trade deadline for prospects and draft picks; ultimately, he only played 15 games in Toronto as the lockout wiped out the 2004-2005 season. As a free agent, Leetch signed with the Boston Bruins for the 2005-2006 season, where he would record his 1,000th career point before retiring at season’s end at age 37.
About half a decade before his American counterpart, MacInnis quickly blossomed into one of the NHL’s top defensemen and a point-per-game producer from the blueline with gradually increasing production: 66 points in 1984-1985 in 67 games, 68 points in 77 games in 1985-1986, and then 76 points in 1986-1987. After a stellar 1987-1988 season (25 goals and 58 assists for 83 points with a +13 +/- rating), he embarked on three straight seasons during his prime finishing top-three for the Norris Trophy:
- 1988-1989: 16 goals and 58 assists for 74 points with a +38 +/- rating; finished third for the Norris
- 1989-1990: 28 goals (a career-high reached on three occasions) and 62 assists for 90 points with a +20 +/- rating; finished second to Ray Bourque for the Norris
- 1990-1991: arguably his best individual season with 28 goals and 75 assists for a career-high 103 points and a career-best +42 +/- rating; became just the fourth defenseman in NHL history with a 100-point season, but once again finished second to Bourque for the Norris
Post this three year run, MacInnis would rack up two more point-per-game seasons, including matching his career high in goals in 1993-1994 with 28 goals and 54 assists for 82 points with a +35 +/- rating, good for another third-place Norris finish. However, this would also be his last season in Calgary; as a free agent, MacInnis signed with the St. Louis Blues, leaving Calgary as the Flames’ then all-time leader in assists and scoring (both since surpassed by Jarome Iginla).
In St. Louis, MacInnis teamed with fellow Hall of Famer Chris Pronger to form one of the most potent defensemen combos in NHL history. In the more defensive-minded era of the 1990s, he remained a consistent 40-60 point producer, with his best season coming in 1998-1999: with 20 goals and 42 assists for 62 points and a +33 +/- rating, MacInnis finally won a Norris Trophy while also finishing 10th for the Hart. This was followed by consecutive top-10 Norris finishes and after a slightly down year in 2001-2002, he had another great season at age 39 in 2002-2003 – with 16 goals and 52 assists for 68 points (his best scoring output in St. Louis) and a +22 +/- rating, MacInnis finished second to Nicklas Lidstrom for the Norris and sixth for the Hart. Unfortunately, due to vision problems from a detached retina, he only played in three games in 2003-2004 and then with the lockout wiping out the following season, announced his retirement in 2005.
Overall, MacInnis played 23 NHL seasons to Leetch’s 18 years of service – with the benefit of around 200 additional games played, this gives MacInnis the edge in every offensive category (goals, assists, and points), as well as a significant advantage in career +/- rating. Moreover, as a testament to his consistency, MacInnis also outscored Leetch on a per-game basis (0.90 points per game vs. 0.85). From an awards and accolades perspective, their achievements are similar – MacInnis played in one more All-Star Game (12 vs. 11), while Leetch won two Norris Trophies to MacInnis’ one and was also Rookie of the Year. Given the length and greatness of each player’s career, it should come as no surprise that both defensemen were first ballot Hall of Famers, MacInnis in 2007 followed by Leetch in 2009.
Regular Season Statistics
| Brian Leetch | Player | Al MacInnis |
| 18 (1987-2006) | Seasons | 23 (1981-2004) |
| 1,205 | Games Played | 1,416 |
| 247 | Goals | 340 |
| 781 | Assists | 934 |
| 1,028 | Points | 1,274 |
| +25 | +/- | +371 |
| 11x | All-Star Games | 12x |
| 2x | Norris Trophies | 1x |
| 1x | Stanley Cups | 1x |
| 1x | Conn Smythes | 1x |
| ROY | Other Awards | – |
| 2009 | Hall of Fame Induction | 2007 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
Further to their gaudy regular season numbers, Leetch and MacInnis were both instrumental in leading their teams to monumental playoff success – not only did they capture the sport’s greatest team prize in the Stanley Cup, but were also individually honored as Conn Smythe winners.
The majority of Leetch’s eight playoff appearances came in the early part of his career, with only one trip post-2000 with the Maple Leafs. By far his most memorable postseason came in 1994 – after leading the Rangers to the Presidents’ Trophy during the regular season and getting by a young Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals, Leetch helped New York end a 54-year title drought by prevailing over the Vancouver Canucks in the Stanley Cup Finals in another seven-game series. Leetch compiled 11 goals and 23 assists for 34 points with a +19 +/- rating during the playoffs to win the Conn Smythe for postseason MVP, becoming the first non-Canadian to win the award and the only American to do so until goalie Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins in 2011. Additionally, he became only the second player in NHL history (behind the legendary Bobby Orr) to win the Calder, Norris, and Conn Smythe trifecta.
In contrast, MacInnis was a playoff stalwart with 19 postseason appearances during his career split almost evenly between Calgary (10x) and St. Louis (9x). His greatest playoff moments came in Calgary though – in 1986, he led the postseason with 15 assists (along with 5 goals), though the Flames fell to Patrick Roy and the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Finals. Three years later, in 1989, Calgary would prevail in a rematch vs. Montreal in six games for their first (and to-date, only) Stanley Cup; MacInnis led the postseason with 31 points (7 goals and 24 assists), including 4 goals and 5 assists in the Finals, to take home the Conn Smythe; moreover, he became the first defenseman to lead the NHL in postseason scoring.
On the international stage, Leetch represented Team USA at three Winter Olympics – at the aforementioned 1988 Games in Calgary, then at the inaugural NHL-eligible tournament at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, and finally, winning a silver medal on home ice at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. Similarly, after representing Canada at both the World Championships and the Canada Cup in the early 1990s, MacInnis likewise participated in both the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics; in Salt Lake City, he was part of the gold-medal winning team that defeated the Americans in a riveting final.
Playoff Statistics
| Brian Leetch | Player | Al MacInnis |
| 95 | Games Played | 177 |
| 28 | Goals | 39 |
| 61 | Assists | 121 |
| 89 | Points | 160 |
| +1 | +/- | +11 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; though Leetch’s performance waned in the twilight of his career as the Rangers entered rebuilding mode, MacInnis maintained a high level of play well into his early 40s before a serious eye injury ended his career. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete, though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Brian Leetch | Player | Al MacInnis |
| 1988-1989, 1990-1992, 1993-1997, 1998-1999, 2000-2002 | Decade of Dominance | 1986-1994, 1998-1999, 2002-2003 |
| 770 | Games Played | 754 |
| 172 | Goals | 212 |
| 561 | Assists | 557 |
| 733 | Points | 769 |
| +95 | +/- | +251 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
In looking at their decades of dominance, the scoring gap between Leetch and MacInnis closes quite a bit – with his blistering slapshot (he consistently had one of the fastest in the game), MacInnis still holds the edge in goals, but Leetch chipped in more helpers; however, MacInnis continues to have the far superior +/- rating, perhaps a testament to playing on better Flames and Blues teams during his prime.
My Thoughts
Among offensively gifted defensemen, Brian Leetch and Al MacInnis stand out as two of the best to have ever laced up their skates in the NHL. As great as each player was, they were both often overshadowed by other Hall of Fame defensemen, chief among them the likes of Ray Bourque and Nicklas Lidstrom (or in MacInnis’ case, by his own teammate on the Blues, Chris Pronger, at one point). Overall, both completed the career trifecta of winning a Norris Trophy (twice in Leetch’s case), a Stanley Cup, and a Conn Smythe – I think what separates MacInnis is not only his greater consistency and longevity (which are reflected in better cumulative and per-game numbers), but also the fact that he was able to play at an elite level for not one, but two franchises (the Flames and the Blues), and stake a claim to be part of the all-time first defensemen pairing for both teams.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Al MacInnis
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
More Good Stuff
- Watch: Get tickets to see the New York Rangers, Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues, or any other NHL team in action
- Wear: Buy sports apparel for the Rangers, Flames, Blues, or any other NHL team
- Collect: Buy unique sports memorabilia for Brian Leetch, Al MacInnis, or your favorite NHL player(s) or team(s)
- Play: Show off your hockey knowledge by playing daily fantasy hockey
- Build: Start your own sports website/blog
Previous
H2H 54: John Havlicek vs. Scottie Pippen
2 responses to “H2H 55: Brian Leetch vs. Al MacInnis – Who was Better?”