Mark Messier
Overview
 
Mark Douglas Messier (ˈmɛsi.eɪ; born January 18, 1961) is a former Canadian professional ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 centre
Centre (ice hockey)
The centre in ice hockey is a forward position of a player whose primary zone of play is the middle of the ice, away from the side boards. Centres have more flexibility in their positioning and are expected to cover more ice surface than any other player...

 of the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

 and current special assistant to the president and general manager of the New York Rangers
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...

. He spent a quarter of a century in the NHL (1979–2004) with the Edmonton Oilers
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League ....

, New York Rangers, and Vancouver Canucks
Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver, :British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The Canucks play their home games at Rogers Arena, formerly known as General Motors Place,...

. He also played professionally with the World Hockey Association
World Hockey Association
The World Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major competition for the National Hockey League since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926...

 (WHA)'s Indianapolis Racers
Indianapolis Racers
The Indianapolis Racers were a franchise in the former World Hockey Association from 1974 to 1978. They competed in five seasons, folding 25 games into the 1978–79 season. They played at Market Square Arena...

 and Cincinnati Stingers
Cincinnati Stingers
The Cincinnati Stingers was an ice hockey team based in Cincinnati, Ohio, that played in the World Hockey Association from 1975 to 1979. Its home arena was Riverfront Coliseum and it was the only major-league hockey team ever to play in Cincinnati.-History:The Stingers franchise was awarded in...

. He was the last former WHA
World Hockey Association
The World Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major competition for the National Hockey League since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926...

 player to be active in professional hockey, and the last active player who had played in the NHL in the 1970s.

Messier is considered one of the greatest NHL players of all time, as well as among the greatest leaders in sport history.
 
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