Who are your top 10 NHL players?

[Hoss]

Sitting here thinking about how impressive it is that Connor McDavid is approaching 100 points in the shortened season (he's at 96 points with four games remaining) ... I got to thinking about who is in that next wave of players after him.

Who is in YOUR top 10? Should I make this a poll?

My crack at it:

1. Connor McDavid

2. Nathan MacKinnon

3. Sidney Crosby

4. Nikita Kucherov

5. Leon Draisaitl

6. Aleksander Barkov

7. Artemi Panarin

8. Victor Hedman

9. Auston Matthews

10. Mark Stone

Guys I left JUST off the list: Vasilevskiy, Ovechkin, Kane, Marchand, Rantanen.

Defensively I don't think there are a ton of pillars right now. A lot of younger guys who I'll need to see another year or two of prowess before I bump them up. This exercise also made me realize I'm not sure if Jack Eichel is in the top 20 ... or maybe even top 25.

[North Buffalo]

I would switch out Panarin with Ratanen and move Matthews up though I hate the Great Satan.  JE this past year certainly isn't in the top 25.  I would had Pastarnak and Bergeron in top guys you left off and I would replace Hedman this year with Aho or Kaprizov.  Huberdeau, Erickon EK, and Hintz also get honorable mentions.  Hedman has had a down year for him.

[Hoss]

30 minutes ago, North Buffalo said:

I would switch out Panarin with Ratanen and move Matthews up though I hate the Great Satan.  JE this past year certainly isn't in the top 25.  I would had Pastarnak and Bergeron in top guys you left off and I would replace Hedman this year with Aho or Kaprizov.  Huberdeau, Erickon EK, and Hintz also get honorable mentions.  Hedman has had a down year for him.

No chance Kaprizov is in the conversation yet. Nor Eriksson Ek or Hintz. Hedman is still top 10 in this “down year.” Huberdeau isn’t quite in the conversation but he’s an under appreciated guy. Same with Aho.

[North Buffalo]

21 minutes ago, Hoss said:

No chance Kaprizov is in the conversation yet. Nor Eriksson Ek or Hintz. Hedman is still top 10 in this “down year.” Huberdeau isn’t quite in the conversation but he’s an under appreciated guy. Same with Aho.

http://www.nhl.com/stats/leaders

I disagree on Huberdeau and we always forget about Marner

[Hoss]

17 minutes ago, North Buffalo said:

http://www.nhl.com/stats/leaders

I disagree on Huberdeau and we always forget about Marner

I am aware on how to navigate to the NHL stats page. Point production alone isn’t going to put a guy in the top 10 for me so Marner isn’t there either.

[inkman]

1 hour ago, North Buffalo said:

I would switch out Panarin with Ratanen and move Matthews up though I hate the Great Satan.  

Am I the only one that can’t get past calling a city (team?) Satan when WE HAD A PROMINENT PLAYER IN OUR RECENT HISTORY WITH THE SAME FREAKING NAME!?!?!

[Thorner]

5 hours ago, Hoss said:

Sitting here thinking about how impressive it is that Connor McDavid is approaching 100 points in the shortened season (he's at 96 points with four games remaining) ... I got to thinking about who is in that next wave of players after him.

Who is in YOUR top 10? Should I make this a poll?

My crack at it:

1. Connor McDavid

2. Nathan MacKinnon

3. Sidney Crosby

4. Nikita Kucherov

5. Leon Draisaitl

6. Aleksander Barkov

7. Artemi Panarin

8. Victor Hedman

9. Auston Matthews

10. Mark Stone

Guys I left JUST off the list: Vasilevskiy, Ovechkin, Kane, Marchand, Rantanen.

Defensively I don't think there are a ton of pillars right now. A lot of younger guys who I'll need to see another year or two of prowess before I bump them up. This exercise also made me realize I'm not sure if Jack Eichel is in the top 20 ... or maybe even top 25.

I like your top 10, though I might bump Stone down a tad. Matthews probably too low IMO. And Eichel is better than a couple of the JUST left off guys. 

Leaving Jack out of a top 20, or top 25, after last season would have been unthinkable. Way too much recency bias with that last bit

8th in MVP voting. Top 10 in scoring (on THIS team, under RALPH?) That player is assuredly a top 20 player in the league

- - - 

I also admit it's kinda funny I mentioned recency bias when you included old OV as just missing. Love the guy but he's not that player anymore. He has 25 even strength points this year (good for a tie for 82nd in the league) - Jack Eichel is a better player at this time, sans injury. At least if last season can be "believed".

I honestly think people are forgetting how dominant Jack had become. Then covid happened. And long layoff after long layoff. And then an injury. A lot of empty space came after last season. I think people forgot. Especially because, the Jack we had seen up until before last season wasn't the same Jack we saw last season - he had taken his MacKinnon like jump. 

As I said, he needs to replicate it. I suppose it depends on if you count the player we saw as the real him - I do. 

Edited May 7, 2021 by Thorny

[Thorner]

I understand this is always a subjective ranking but after last season, the general placement on these type of lists for Jack was in the 11-20 range league wide. 

https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-current-players-ranked-numbers-20-11/c-319915812?tid=290583266

NHL.com had him 15th. That was about par for the course. 

Admittedly there's not too much of a gap between that and 20, so fair deuce on that I suppose. But I think him potentially not being in the top 25 is a real big stretch - again - unless one puts stock into what we saw from him this season and, admittedly, I just don't, personally. 

[Taro T]

2 minutes ago, Thorny said:

I understand this is always a subjective ranking but after last season, the general placement on these type of lists for Jack was in the 11-20 range league wide. 

https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-current-players-ranked-numbers-20-11/c-319915812?tid=290583266

NHL.com had him 15th. That was about par for the course. 

Admittedly there's not too much of a gap between that and 20, so fair deuce on that I suppose. But I think him potentially not being in the top 25 is a real big stretch - again - unless one puts stock into what we saw from him this season and, admittedly, I just don't, personally. 

THN had him at 13.

[dudacek]

I maintain Jack is one of the top 10 assets in the league. That factors in his production, position, contract and potential moving forward.

[Taro T]

My position has been & remains (even after this horrid injury wrecked year) is that his closest comparable is MacKinnon.  Until this year, he's tracked at or slightly ahead of Nathan for comparable ages.

Which, should this neck/shoulder issue be something he can fully recover from, bodes well for the future.

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, Taro T said:

THN had him at 13.

Ya I agree he is in that range. To be fair to Hoss's ranking, "maybe not top 20" seems eye-brow raising at first, but I'm so used to forward rankings or centre rankings. All players in the league considered? You are knocking off a fair chunk of those spots to D-men and maybe a goalie or 2, so if Jack wants to land in that list the runway shrinks pretty fast. 

I maintain finding 24 players better would be a stretch, though.

But..

5 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I maintain Jack is one of the top 10 assets in the league. That factors in his production, position, contract and potential moving forward.

This is always my gut too, but I mention Jack's injury history as much as anyone around here and even I may not give it enough play - at this point if one wanted to factor that into their evaluations and move Jack down on the list accordingly, there'd be logic to it 

Jack *is* a top 20 player. Except when he's not. And he's not when he's injured. And at some point injuries should factor into the equation.

I dunno when. 

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, Taro T said:

My position has been & remains (even after this horrid injury wrecked year) is that his closest comparable is MacKinnon.  Until this year, he's tracked at or slightly ahead of Nathan for comparable ages.

Which, should this neck/shoulder issue be something he can fully recover from, bodes well for the future.

I do put a lot of stock in last season because his big jump came at exactly the point where you'd expect that jump to come - he had been on a steady upwards trajectory since coming into the league and that is actually quite uncommon. It didn't "feel" fluky, to me, it felt appropriate. 

[Buffalonill]

Kane is not top ten ? 

[Stoner]

3 hours ago, inkman said:

Am I the only one that can’t get past calling a city (team?) Satan when WE HAD A PROMINENT PLAYER IN OUR RECENT HISTORY WITH THE SAME FREAKING NAME!?!?!

Yes.

[Thorner]

Great new avi ^

[msw2112]

If you are looking at this season, there's no doubt that Jack isn't in the top 20.  I believe that if this same exercise is done a year from now, Jack will be in the top 10.  Assuming Granato stays, we've seen increases in production across the lineup.  Offensive players have been freed up to use their creativity and potential and taking off the "shackles" of Ralph's system has motivated the guys to play hard.  Why wouldn't a guy like Jack benefit from this too?  Now, please go get some goaltending.

[Stoner]

I'll take an eccentric approach to this. I truly am an odd hockey bird. Exasperated, the late (on here, anyway) X. Benedict asked me if I was a hockey fan or a Sabres fan. I'm a Sabres fan. I look at Hoss' list and can't say I've really noticed or appreciated most of them. Barkov? I'm looking up other trees, namely the Sabres as they come on and off the ice. The Others are almost always a blur. Helmets don't help. I'm not sure I could pick Mark Stone out of a police lineup.

But there are non-Sabres I do notice and, in a sense, enjoy — unless they're killing us. So my Top 10, drawn from a field of 11 if I'm being honest, and in no special order:

Brad Marchand — villains are fun

Kris Letang — in command

Alex Ovechkin — nasty in so many senses of the word

Matthew Barzal — crafty and dynamic

Casey Cizikas — a hockey player; maybe it's the number

Logan Couture — Go Bills!

Miles Wood — give me three of him and the Sabres make the playoffs

Zdeno Chara — ageless marvel

Connor McClavicle — I mean, come on

Curtis Lazar — I didn't want to include former Sabres, but I'm already out of choices... punchable, and he might have tried to celebrate with Dahlin soon after leaving Buffalo

[Thorner]

How do you not have Crosby in a Sabres-relative list?

[Stoner]

2 minutes ago, Thorny said:

How do you not have Crosby in a Sabres-relative list?

What's he have to do with the Sabres? Winter Classic? Golden goal?

He doesn't do it for me. I think I noticed him once last night.

[Thorner]

4 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

What's he have to do with the Sabres? Winter Classic? Golden goal?

He doesn't do it for me. I think I noticed him once last night.

I think he has more points against us than anyone. At the very least actively 

2 minutes ago, Thorny said:

I think he has more points against us than anyone. At the very least actively 

https://www.statmuse.com/nhl/ask/most-points-against-the-buffalo-sabres

wrong on the bold, right on the rest 

Pretty impressive IMO as he hasn't played in our division, while the next closest active guy, Spezza, has 

Edited May 7, 2021 by Thorny

[Hoss]

6 hours ago, Thorny said:

I understand this is always a subjective ranking but after last season, the general placement on these type of lists for Jack was in the 11-20 range league wide. 

https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-current-players-ranked-numbers-20-11/c-319915812?tid=290583266

NHL.com had him 15th. That was about par for the course. 

Admittedly there's not too much of a gap between that and 20, so fair deuce on that I suppose. But I think him potentially not being in the top 25 is a real big stretch - again - unless one puts stock into what we saw from him this season and, admittedly, I just don't, personally. 

I get all of this but you can’t ignore the impact a lost season due to injury can have. I might not rely on him as a top 20 player going into next season.

[Thorner]

19 minutes ago, Hoss said:

I get all of this but you can’t ignore the impact a lost season due to injury can have. I might not rely on him as a top 20 player going into next season.

It's a little scary how much off time the guy has had all factors considered, injury and otherwise

[Andrew Amerk]

In no particular order:

McDavid

Kane

Ovi

Matthews

Vasilevsky

Kucherov

MacKinnon

Aho 

Draisatl 

***sneaky pick: Adam Fox

Taxi Squad: Barzal, Crosby, Kopitar, Barkov, Tom Wilson 

Edited May 8, 2021 by Andrew Amerk

[Hoss]

46 minutes ago, Andrew Amerk said:

In no particular order:

McDavid

Kane

Ovi

Matthews

Vasilevsky

Kucherov

MacKinnon

Aho 

Draisatl 

***sneaky pick: Adam Fox

Taxi Squad: Barzal, Crosby, Kopitar, Barkov, Tom Wilson 

I know you’re trolling with Wilson so I’ll ignore that one but I think you’re a few years behind on Ovi and Kopitar.