TOM LAIDLAW

Most recently, Tom Laidlaw was a leading agent for two decades for both the National Hockey League and Europe-based players. Before entering the business world, Laidlaw was an NHL defenseman for 10 seasons with the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings from 1980-81 to the 1989-90 season. He served briefly as captain of the Rangers and served as an alternate captain with the Kings when Wayne Gretzky was on the team in the late 1980s. 

In the 2009 book, 100 Ranger Greats by Russ Cohen, Laidlaw was ranked No. 87 among all players who wore the Rangers’ sweater. Laidlaw also made the Central College Hockey Association’s all-decade team for his standout career at Northern Michigan University. Laidlaw, a speech major, was a member of the freshmen class recruited for the new hockey program at Northern Michigan in 1976. Four years later, he was captain of the Wildcats squad that advanced to the NCAA Final. No college hockey program to date has reached the final quicker than Laidlaw’s Wildcats.

Kevin Allen

Kevin Allen has been a hockey writer for USA TODAY since 1986, and has spoken hockey fluently since he was a young man growing up in Wayne, MI. He has covered roughly 570 NHL playoff games, 25 Stanley Cup finals and seven Olympic tournaments.

He wrote his first NHL story in 1970, and covered his first playoff series in 1983-84. He believes Gordie Howe is the best all-around player in NHL history, Glenn Hall's record of 502 consecutive games in net will never be broken and that Pittsburgh's Igloo, may it rest in peace, was an underrated arena. Allen has also written more than 15 books and has covered the NCAA Final Four, the World Series, the Super Bowl and NBA Finals in his career.