(Ed Note: Writer Michael Traeger lives in Pittsburgh and is a staff writer for the Pittsburgh media website Benstonium.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @PolemicLicense. Anyone interested in contributing an article or column to the blog can pitch yo stuff here. Now, here's Michael...)

by Michael Traeger

The 2012-2013 NHL season marks the twentieth anniversary of the release of EA Sports’ NHL 93, a title considered by many to be amongst the greatest hockey video games ever made.

In honor of NHL 93 and of all of the hockey greats that have come since, here are the top 10 greatest hockey video game players of all time.

10 | Jaromir Jagr – NHL Hockey 2001 (2000, EA Sports)

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Everything about Jaromir Jagr in NHL 2001 was destined for greatness. From his unstoppable dekes to his pinpoint shot accuracy, the ageless Jagr dominates every facet of the game.

Trying to check Jagr results in defenders hovering in midair like Wile E. Coyote, and his slapshots flatten even the game’s best goaltenders, leading to easy rebound goals.

CPU-controlled Jagr is particularly devastating. When playing against the Penguins, it’s not unusual for Jagr to dance through all of your defenders and then whistle a wrist shot past your net minder from sixty feet out.

His ridiculous ability aside, the real reason Jaromir Jagr rises to the top of the 2001 player universe is his Mullet.

If Jagr’s player rating was a 93, then his Mullet is an easy 207. It’s completely conceivable (if not downright likely) that 1980’s Bon Jovi stepped inside the EA Sports studio to serve as Jagr’s hair model, only to have the game’s graphic budget run dry, which in turn forced the designers to render Jagr’s amazing mullet into a mortal two dimensions.

Then, in what has to be one of the all-time great decisions by upper-management, EA Sports decided that the mullet had to stay, regardless of how terrible his painted-on hair looked.

9 | Tie Domi – NHL Hitz 2003 (2002, Midway Games)

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Tie Domi is a former NHL enforcer better known for his panache with elbows and for his excellence in fan relations than for his offensive or defensive game.

Objectively speaking, the only way that Tie Domi could dominate a hockey video game enough to make this list would be for the game to reward violence, and for raw skill to take a backseat to cheap shot shenanigans.

Cue “NHL Hitz,” the video game series that celebrates the Darius Kasparaitises of the world, and brings the pain in the form of violent collisions and gratuitous fisticuffs. Domi is great in NHL Hitz because, as a noted hockey pugilist, he wins a majority of his bouts against opponents who then have to sit out the remainder of the contest.

Another one of the game’s superstars is Scott Stevens, which allows fans of the New Jersey Devils the opportunity to seek revenge against one of the NHL’s all-time villains.

8 | Skinny Guy – Nintendo Ice Hockey (1988, Nintendo)

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He skates like Pavel Bure. He falls down as often as Scotty Hartnell. He has the forehead of Olli Jokinen.

The player popularly known as the “Skinny Guy” from Nintendo’s “Ice Hockey” is one of the genre’s most recognizable body types, and his skill in winning face-offs, along with a penchant for knocking his much bigger adversaries to the ice, makes him an easy addition to this list.

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