NHL Top-100 Players

Photo credit:Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

5 years ago

Trying not to read player rankings is as difficult as not eating a scrumptious Big Turk sitting in front of me. I love reading rankings of players. I devour a Big Turk when I see it. Of course, I rarely will agree with every aspect of the rankings, nor with those who dislike the deliciousness of Big Turk, but if I see a list I’m always reading it.

Sportsnet released their top-100 NHL players list today. I’ve compiled lists before and they are much more difficult than you think. Deciding why one player is ranked 23rd and the next 24th isn’t as easy as you’d think. They are fun to put together, and I have separated their top-100 into the five positions: Centre, left wing, right wing, defence and goalies.

It is interesting to note they had 30 centres and 29 D-men in their top-100 which fits with the belief centres and defenceman can impact the flow of the game the most. They also had 15 goalies, 14 RW and 12 LW.

Let’s go position by position.

Centre:

Mar 31, 2018; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (97) during the first period against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

No surprises at the top of the list. I’m sure we can all make strong debates about a player we like moving up a few spots. I’d have Barkov higher, but it is likely just nitpicking if we want a player #8 instead of #10.

It interesting to note that ten of the top-30 centres play in the Pacific division. Edmonton, Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose have two, while Calgary and Vegas have one. The Atlantic division has eight while the Central and Metropolitan have six.

The four Pacific teams along with Pittsburgh, Toronto, Washington, Florida and Tampa Bay had two centres on the list, while Calgary, Vegas, Colorado, Winnipeg, Boston, Dallas, NYI, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Chicago, St.Louis and Minnesota had one.

Which means ten teams didn’t have one centre in the top-30: Arizona, Vancouver, Nashville, Detroit, Montreal, Ottawa, NYR, Carolina, New Jersey and Columbus. I’m sure some in Nashville will argue Ryan Johansen could have made the list, but if Nashville is going to hoist the Cup do they need a better top-line centre?

Connor McDavid, Edmonton
Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh
Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh
Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado
Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles
John Tavares, Toronto
Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg
Auston Matthews, Toronto
Patrice Bergeron, Boston
Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay
Tyler Seguin, Dallas
Evgeny Kuznetsov, Washington
Nicklas Backstrom, Washington
Aleksander Barkov, Florida
Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders
Sean Couturier, Philadelphia
Jack Eichel, Buffalo
Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim
William Karlsson, Vegas
Jonathan Toews, Chicago
Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton
Logan Couture, San Jose
Joe Pavelski, San Jose
Sean Monahan, Calgary
Brayden Point, Tampa Bay
Ryan O’Reilly, St.Louis
Rickard Rakell, Anaheim
Vincent Trocheck, Florida
Eric Staal, Minnesota
Jeff Carter, Los Angeles

Right Wing

Oct 19, 2016; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) chases Winnipeg Jets right wing Patrik Laine (29) during the third period at MTS Centre. Winnipeg won 5-4 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports

The Central division is home to half of the top right-wingers in the NHL. Seven of the top-14 reside in the Central, while four play in the Atlantic, two are in the Metro and only one in the Pacific. The Central is stacked with Kane, Wheeler, Laine and Tarasenko. Vancouver’s Brock Boeser was the only representative from the Pacific.

Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay
Patrick Kane, Chicago
Blake Wheeler, Winnipeg
Patrik Laine, Winnipeg
Vladimir Tarasenko, St.Louis
David Pastrnak, Boston
Phil Kessel, Pittsburgh
Jakub Voracek, Philadelphia
Mitch Marner, Toronto
Brock Boeser, Vancouver
Mikko Rantanen, Colorado
Mark Stone, Ottawa
Viktor Arvidsson, Nashville
Alexander, Radulov, Dallas

Left Wing

Oct 19, 2017; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; New Jersey Devils left wing Taylor Hall (9) skates with the puck in the second period against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports

The Metro has the top-three left wingers in the game. Some Oilers fans will cringe reading this list. It is interesting to note only 12 LW cracked this top-100 list. I’d have had Jaden Schwartz on my list. I think he is very good. I could also see players like Kyle Connor, Evander Kane and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, now that he is a left winger, move up this list next season.

Alex Ovechkin, Washington
Taylor Hall, New Jersey
Claude Giroux, Philadelphia
Brad Marchand, Boston
Jamie Benn, Dallas
Artemi Panarin, Columbus
Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary
Filip Forsberg, Nashville
Jonathan Marchessault, Vegas
Nikolaj Ehlers, Winnipeg
Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida
Max Pacioretty, Montreal

Defence

Oct 30, 2016; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Ottawa Senators defensemen Erik Karlsson (65) tries to check Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid (97) during the second period at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

Having solid defenders can really help your chances of success. While Nashville had no centres in the top-30, they have three D-men in the top-29 and two in the top-six. Much of the Predators success begins on the backend and it is why they are considered a strong contender in the West.

The Central division has nine D-men on this list, while the Metro and Atlantic each have seven and the Pacific has six. Edmonton, Vancouver, Vegas, Colorado, New Jersey, NYI, NYR, Detroit and Buffalo aren’t represented on this list. The two Rasmus’ in Buffalo could be on this list next season, and if Oscar Klefbom can stay healthy he will likely be in the conversation.

Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay
Erik Karlsson, Ottawa
Drew Doughty, Los Angeles
Brent Burns, San Jose
K. Subban, Nashville
Roman Josi, Nashville
Seth Jones, Columbus
Dustin Byfuglien, Winnipeg
Alex Pietrangelo, St.Louis
John Carlson, Washington
John Klingberg, Dallas
Marc-Edouard Vlasic, San Jose
Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Arizona
Duncan Keith, Chicago
Aaron Ekblad, Florida
Zach Werenski, Columbus
Shayne Gostisbehere, Philadelphia
Ryan Suter, Minnesota
Dougie Hamiton, Carolina
Mark Giordano, Calgary
Kris Letang, Pittsburgh
Shea Weber, Montreal
Morgan Reilly, Toronto
Ryan Ellis, Nashville
Hampus Lindholm, Anaheim
Ivan Provorov, Philadelphia
Zdeno Chara, Boston
Colton Parayko, St.Louis
Charlie McAvoy, Boston

Goalie

Dec 21, 2017; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang (58) scores past Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (72) for a shootout win at PPG PAINTS Arena. The Penguins won 3-2 in a shootout. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

This was split very evenly across the divisions. Every division had four goalies except the Pacific who had three. Martin Jones, Antti Raanta and Cam Talbot are likely in the 16-20 range. Of the 15 goalies on this list, 12 of them were on playoff teams last year. Only Carey Price, Henrik Lundqvist and Corey Crawford didn’t make the postseason. Four teams made the playoffs without a top-15 goalie; Philadelphia, San Jose, New Jersey and Colorado.

Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus
Braden Holtby, Washington
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay
Carey Price, Montreal
Marc-Andre Fleury, Vegas
Pekka Rinne, Nashville
Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles
Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg
Frederik Andersen, Toronto
Matt Murray, Pittsburgh
John Gibson, Anaheim
Tuukka Rask, Boston
Devan Dubnyk, Minnesota
Henrk Lundqvist, New York Rangers
Corey Crawford, Chicago

WRAP UP…

Here is how many players each team had on the list:

Six: Nashville and Boston
Five: Winnipeg, Tampa, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Washington
Four: Anaheim, San Jose, LA, Chicago, Dallas, St. Louis, Florida and Columbus
Three: Vegas, Calgary, Minnesota and Montreal
Two: Edmonton, Colorado and Ottawa
One: Arizona, Vancouver, Buffalo, New Jersey, Carolina, NYI and NYR.
Zero: Detroit

It is no surprise Washington, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Tampa Bay, Boston and Winnipeg are at the top. Those teams are considered leading contenders for the Cup on virtually every list of playoff predictions.

New Jersey and Colorado proved you don’t need many elite players to make the playoffs, and they, along with other teams with little representation in the top-100, will need their depth players to perform well and support the few elite players.

The Oilers fall into this category. We know McDavid will produce offensively, and most likely lead the league in points, but their defence, goaltending and supporting cast of forwards will need to be competitive and productive like they were in 2017 if the Oilers want to get back in the playoffs.

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