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?
  1. Connor McDavid, Edmonton
  2. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh
  3. Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh
  4. Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado
  5. Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles
  6. John Tavares, Toronto
  7. Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg
  8. Auston Matthews, Toronto
  9. Patrice Bergeron, Boston
  10. Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay
  11. Tyler Seguin, Dallas
  12. Evgeny Kuznetsov, Washington
  13. Nicklas Backstrom, Washington
  14. Aleksander Barkov, Florida
  15. Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders
  16. Sean Couturier, Philadelphia
  17. Jack Eichel, Buffalo
  18. Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim
  19. William Karlsson, Vegas
  20. Jonathan Toews, Chicago
  21. Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton
  22. Logan Couture, San Jose
  23. Joe Pavelski, San Jose
  24. Sean Monahan, Calgary
  25. Brayden Point, Tampa Bay
  26. Ryan O’Reilly, St.Louis
  27. Rickard Rakell, Anaheim
  28. Vincent Trocheck, Florida
  29. Eric Staal, Minnesota
  30. 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.
  1. Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay
  2. Patrick Kane, Chicago
  3. Blake Wheeler, Winnipeg
  4. Patrik Laine, Winnipeg
  5. Vladimir Tarasenko, St.Louis
  6. David Pastrnak, Boston
  7. Phil Kessel, Pittsburgh
  8. Jakub Voracek, Philadelphia
  9. Mitch Marner, Toronto
  10. Brock Boeser, Vancouver
  11. Mikko Rantanen, Colorado
  12. Mark Stone, Ottawa
  13. Viktor Arvidsson, Nashville
  14. 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.
  1. Alex Ovechkin, Washington
  2. Taylor Hall, New Jersey
  3. Claude Giroux, Philadelphia
  4. Brad Marchand, Boston
  5. Jamie Benn, Dallas
  6. Artemi Panarin, Columbus
  7. Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary
  8. Filip Forsberg, Nashville
  9. Jonathan Marchessault, Vegas
  10. Nikolaj Ehlers, Winnipeg
  11. Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida
  12. 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.
  1. Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay
  2. Erik Karlsson, Ottawa
  3. Drew Doughty, Los Angeles
  4. Brent Burns, San Jose
  5. K. Subban, Nashville
  6. Roman Josi, Nashville
  7. Seth Jones, Columbus
  8. Dustin Byfuglien, Winnipeg
  9. Alex Pietrangelo, St.Louis
  10. John Carlson, Washington
  11. John Klingberg, Dallas
  12. Marc-Edouard Vlasic, San Jose
  13. Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Arizona
  14. Duncan Keith, Chicago
  15. Aaron Ekblad, Florida
  16. Zach Werenski, Columbus
  17. Shayne Gostisbehere, Philadelphia
  18. Ryan Suter, Minnesota
  19. Dougie Hamiton, Carolina
  20. Mark Giordano, Calgary
  21. Kris Letang, Pittsburgh
  22. Shea Weber, Montreal
  23. Morgan Reilly, Toronto
  24. Ryan Ellis, Nashville
  25. Hampus Lindholm, Anaheim
  26. Ivan Provorov, Philadelphia
  27. Zdeno Chara, Boston
  28. Colton Parayko, St.Louis
  29. 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.
  1. Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus
  2. Braden Holtby, Washington
  3. Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay
  4. Carey Price, Montreal
  5. Marc-Andre Fleury, Vegas
  6. Pekka Rinne, Nashville
  7. Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles
  8. Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg
  9. Frederik Andersen, Toronto
  10. Matt Murray, Pittsburgh
  11. John Gibson, Anaheim
  12. Tuukka Rask, Boston
  13. Devan Dubnyk, Minnesota
  14. Henrk Lundqvist, New York Rangers
  15. 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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