the Hockey News NHLs top 50

[Crabcakes]

6 hours ago, Monty said:

Not sure if this is serious or not

You read the list.....

 

Makar > Hughes.......it's clearly bull 

[Canuck Surfer]

7 hours ago, mll said:

Carter Hutton at 50 ?  

Surely they meant Carter Hart?

[Phil_314]

I think Pete's in the right range, tough to pinpoint an exact number but could argue Kuch/ Point/ Matthews above him and Aho closer to him, but that's about it.

Quinn and that slew of defensemen are probably in the right place -- if Makar's that low (far below Heiskanen) then I could see Quinn being there (though I think both of them and Shea Theodore should be next to Heiskanen).

Horvat's probably a spot too high, Zibanejad had high regular season scoring totals.  If they go based on playoffs then sure (but if that was the case and they argue by recency bias then he's too low).  

[DeNiro]

Matthews behind Petey!

 

Cue TSN coming out with their own list shortly in response.

 

1. Matthews

2. McDavid

3. Tavares

4. Mackinnon

5. Marner

6. Crosby 

7. Reilly 

8. Panarin

9. Draisaitl

10. Nylander 

...

50. Thornton

 

 

 

Edited December 4, 2020 by DeNiro

[IBatch]

13 hours ago, Vanuckles said:

And Panarin and Pastrnak are known for their defense? Ovi is the best consistent goal scorer the game has ever seen and he's been doing it for 15 years. There has to be some respect given there. You can put Crosby ahead of Ovi if you want (and over their respective careers, sure I'd probably take Crosby over Ovi), but for this past year I would have taken Ovi over Crosby. They barely squeaked him in at #15 on their list...

Panarin is for sure, many felt he was the best player in the league last year  ... Pastrnak can’t comment on him, although he does play with a defensive minded line so perhaps.   5 x 5 matters too...Ovi should be the all-time leader in this by the end of his next full season.  Nothing wrong with that.   I was also a little surprised to see him at 15... but of the wingers ahead of him, each guy had a good argument to be there.   
 

As an aside ... Wayne wasn’t a power play goal guy really more of a set up man.   200 ish goals .... his 74 short handed ones sure pop off the page though.   Ovi has four of those.   Also these things will never work for everyone, EP at 8 was nothing short of shocking, they must be expecting some great things of him next season.   Makes sense, he’s right about the age players take another step, if not next season the one after that ... like McKinnon, it’s coming. 

[Gurn]

On 12/3/2020 at 7:57 AM, Squamfan said:

lol typically BS list, where is  Petey

Number 8, now come back and take the lumps you deserve!     lol

[D-Money]

Seems crazy a couple years ago to think you could make a top 50 players list without Johnny Gaudreau on it. But it’s entirely deserving. 
 

Only one Flame made the list, and just barely. But I suspect they would have a handful of guys in the 51-100 range (Lindholm, Gaudreau, Markstrom, Giordano).

[IBatch]

33 minutes ago, D-Money said:

Seems crazy a couple years ago to think you could make a top 50 players list without Johnny Gaudreau on it. But it’s entirely deserving. 
 

Only one Flame made the list, and just barely. But I suspect they would have a handful of guys in the 51-100 range (Lindholm, Gaudreau, Markstrom, Giordano).

Are you a closet Flamer fan?  Sure can understand some upset given no Markstrom on the list ... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha and ha ha no Giordano (how old is he again) and Johnny can’t take any sort of “playoff” Hockey.   Lindholm... well the biggest omission for sure is Hamilton.   Bad bad bad bad terrible trade.   
 

Now that I’ve got that out of my system, yes, you are correct.  CAL had one (barely) player on their list.   It’s just warm and fuzzy to think about it and yes it’s true - nobody else belongs. 

[drummer4now]

Meh what a bush league of a list! 

 

There is no way Ovi is #14 on the list and McDavid #2... 

 

[Nave]

Pettersson right behind Hedman... unreal. For real though, I think Hedman should be top 5. Maybe 3 or 4

[Caboose]

On 12/3/2020 at 10:25 AM, Monty said:

Not sure if this is serious or not

Yeah that's a pretty bad joke lol. Tkachuk dunks Horvat. That Calgary team lives and dies with him just look at the playoffs for example.

[DeNiro]

20 hours ago, drummer4now said:

Meh what a bush league of a list! 

 

There is no way Ovi is #14 on the list and McDavid #2... 

 

It’s the old Gretzky vs Lemieux debate. Many have argued that Lemieux was the better player.

 

It all depends what your metrics are. Mackinnon does a lot of good things that McDavid can’t do.

 

[King Heffy]

On 12/5/2020 at 11:09 AM, Caboose said:

Yeah that's a pretty bad joke lol. Tkachuk dunks Horvat. That Calgary team lives and dies with him just look at the playoffs for example.

And they die in the playoffs, in no small part due the fact that Tkachuk keeps taking stupid penalties because he's too much of a turtling coward to take a hit like a man.  At least Horvat isn't the laughing stock of the league from refusing to drop the mitts after being a complete disgrace to the sport for his gutless play.

 

Tkachuk is lucky to be allowed to play in a men's league.

[Psycho_Path]

On 12/3/2020 at 3:25 PM, Vanuckles said:

Hedman needs to be in the top 5 for me. My top 5:

 

1. McDavid

2. Mackinnon

3. Ovechkin (a toss up between top 3)

4. Crosby

5. Hedman

 

Ovechkin was on pace for 58 goals over 82 games as a 35 year old in the NHL while hitting anything that moves. How this man was not included in the top 3 let alone top 5 is asinine. It's downright proof of the anti-Russian stance in the NHL.

Zibanejad was on pace for 59 with his 41 in 57 games, and he was 48th. Pretty ridiculous.

[IBatch]

On 12/5/2020 at 2:19 PM, DeNiro said:

It’s the old Gretzky vs Lemieux debate. Many have argued that Lemieux was the better player.

 

It all depends what your metrics are. Mackinnon does a lot of good things that McDavid can’t do.

 

Those two were beauties.   Prime Gretzky was for sure up to the task for prime Mario.   Both had exceptional support....would have been more of comparable if Mario also had Wayne’s longevity....

[JeremyCuddles]

Petey seems high to me. Or at the very least Point should be ahead of him. Point did what Stamkos never could. Carried Tampa to the Finals. Hughes feels low to me. But I may be bias. I dunno. Not a huge fan of the list. I dislike Marchand, but he's been a top winger in the league the last 5-6 years. Marchand > Pasta. Draisaitl > Pasta as well. Petey I'd have closer to 10-11 maybe even slightly lower. Marchand and Point I'd move ahead of him, and Patty Kane too. Of course this is all as of right now. Petey is a stud and that playoff experience could propel him into the top 5 this season if he builds on it. But I can't use a small sample size to justify him over guys like Patty Kane, Point and Marchand.

 

Scheifele I could very easily argue for top 15 but is somehow 25. Yeah I could nitpick this list all day. Huberdeau I'd easily move up to the early to mid 20s. Theodore, Makar and Hughes all in my books should be in the mid to late 30s. I could go on all day about my changes. Lol. 

[shiznak]

Nice to see Pettersson get recognized, but I would probably have 12 players ranked ahead of him.

IMO, Point, Kucherov, Marchand, Kane, Ovechkin, Malkin, Josi, Pietrangelo, Scheifele, Aho, Stone, Marner, and Stone should all be ahead of him. You can also make a case that Matthews and Eichel should be ahead of him as well, but they’re bit overrated in the media. 

 

A noticeable omission from the list is Stamkos. I still think he’s a top 50 player in this league and should be on the list over guys like Slavin, Heiskanen, Lehner, Tkachuk, Lanie, and even our very own Horvat.

Edited December 17, 2020 by shiznak

[Diamonds]

1 hour ago, shiznak said:

Nice to see Pettersson get recognized, but I would probably have 12 players ranked ahead of him.

IMO, Point, Kucherov, Marchand, Kane, Ovechkin, Malkin, Josi, Pietrangelo, Scheifele, Aho, Stone, Marner, and Stone should all be ahead of him. You can also make a case that Matthews and Eichel should be ahead of him as well, but they’re bit overrated in the media. 

 

A noticeable omission from the list is Stamkos. I still think he’s a top 50 player in this league and should be on the list over guys like Slavin, Heiskanen, Lehner, Tkachuk, Lanie, and even our very own Horvat.

I didn't notice Stamkos was missing until you pointed it out. The only reason I can think of for him being left off the list is concern over whether or not he's healthy. There's no question when healthy he's a top 50 player in the NHL and I don't think it would be a reach to say he's in the top 20. He finished 11th in PPG last year and has also scored at over a point per game in each of the three prior seasons.

[IBatch]

Just for fun compare the NHL.com recent power rankings for forwards...this list looks pretty fair ... some who’ve noted Ovi is too low and EP too high might find this one a little more palatable and realistic...

 

1.  McDavid

2.  Mckinnon

3.  Crosby

4. Drasaitl

5. Kucherov

6. Ovi

7. Pastrnak

8. Panarin

9. Kane

10. Mathews 

11. Bergeron

12.Eichel

13.Point

14.Malkin

15. Marchand

16. EP

 

Edit:  there were a dozen or so players in that also got votes...EP got 28, the next highest was Scheiffle with 18, then Stone, Stamkos, O’Reilly, AHO, Zibanejad etc also got votes... I’d say the fact EP is on both lists and ranked as high as he is ahead of some very strong stars he’s definitely getting recognition and acknowledgment.  Also really if you could pick anyone ... who would you rather have ages and all considered?  Not many players would I pick before EP...he’s got 100 point seasons in him it’s just a matter of when ...

Edited December 17, 2020 by IBatch