Gordie Howe, NHL Goal-Scoring Legend And 'Mr. Hockey,' Hospitalized After Auffering A Stroke

NHL legend Gordie Howe, one of the most prolific goal scorer in hockey history, has suffered a major stroke and is currently in intensive care, according to the Detroit Free Press.

This is the latest in a series of strokes Howe, 86, has suffered since the summer, the Free Press reports.

Howe ranks second on the all-time goal-scorers list, behind only Wayne Gretzky, scoring 801 during a 26-year career that ended in 1980. The 23-time All-Star ranks third all-time in career points with 1,850, and holds the top marks for career games played, seasons played, playoff scoring titles and All-Star appearances. Howe won four Stanley Cup championships, six Hart Trophies (awarded to the league's Most Valuable Player) and retired as the oldest ever NHL player, at age 52.

Known as "Mr. Hockey," Howe is the patriarch of one of the most elite hockey families of all time. Two of his sons, Mark and Marty Howe, also played in the NHL.

Mark Howe was a 2011 inductee into the Hockey Hall of Fame after a 16-year career as a defenseman. Marty Howe played six seasons in the NHL and worked as an assistant coach for the Chicago Wolves of the AHL from 2001-2006.

Mark Howe recently told The Canadian Press that his father was "not doing well at all" and that his health was declining.

"As a family, if we're not going to be able to reduce his pain, the outcome is not going to be good," Mark Howe told The Hockey News earlier this year.

ESPN personality Keith Olbermann recently gave a tribute Gordie Howe with a five-minute segment on his nightly show.

"Every time he stepped on the ice he was facing one of the five best — or, to be generous — 10 best goalies in the world, " Olbermann said.