NHL Network's list of top 20 centers

[DeltaSwede]

5 hours ago, mll said:

1.14ppg for Hughes while Pettersson was 0.85 last season.

 

 

I mean I look at the whole picture but I guess that's irrelevant if it's just based on last season

[Comeback_Kings]

Canucks have 3 top 50 centres, 2 top 40 d-men, 1 top 4 goalie.  Meanwhile the strength of the team may be on the wings.  Good to go.

[IBatch]

1 hour ago, Elias Pettersson said:

Petey is an elite centre, Horvat is not.  What makes you think that Petey doesn't qualify to be on the list, because he's not as good as Horvat on faceoffs?  You should probably look at the entire list and then look at Petey and Horvat and see which one has the most in common with all of the other centres on that list.  Petey in the 2nd half of last year was almost as good as McDavid and Draisaitl, averaging over a point per game in his last 40 games. 

 

Also, not sure when Horvat became an elite defensive player, I don't recall him ever being nominated or even being close to being nominated for a Selke trophy.  Miller was ranked higher in the Selke voting last year than Horvat.  Horvat is an average to above average defensive player.

 

At the end of the day, Petey and Miller are #1 centres in the NHL and Horvat is a #2 centre, maybe a #1 centre on a bottom feeding team.  

One thing Horvat did do, and this might surprise some folks. was score more goals then anyone else on the team down the stretch.   Would be ahead of everyone if what Bruce did after the change, duplicates over a full 82 games. Cy Young award for sure .. 45ish goals and 20 ish assists lol.   To me that was more about Horvat getting pushed by Miller and circumstance then anything.   EP is the real deal.    He's going to start taking a run at what the Sedins accomplished very soon ... and accomplished a lot more at the same age (only Bure, Linden and Nedved for one year did more then EP at the same age really .. and Nedved was one year!) ...

 

Horvat could be a really good playoff performer for us though.    Wish his sample size was bigger ... but so far he's done it at all levels.    

 

Here is the list ... yes EP, Miller ... and even Pearson we're line drivers.   That said wouldn't read much into it, a total blender really.   Hogs EP Podz isn't going to be the second coming of Wayne's and Mario's best lines. 

[JustABandwagoner]

Never forget that one year they put Jay Beagle as #20

[Vinny in Vancouver]

I guess I don't watch any Rangers' games, but can someone clue me in on why there's so much love for Zibanejad over everybody else who's below him on that list?

[-AJ-]

Yeah Bo isn't really even close to Top 20 Cs IMO. Average defense, solid goal scoring, and face-off ace. That said, if this were based off last year alone, Miller could be a spot or two higher. Who knows if he can do it again this year or not though.

[Canuck You]

I'd put Mackinnon first.

[MrCanuck94]

18 hours ago, Googlie said:

How can Horvat not be on this list?

 

Because Horvat isn't close to anyone on that list in terms of skill level lol

 

Horvat is a 2C. Not just in terms of usage, but in terms of capability.

 

Everyone on that list is an elite C.

[MrCanuck94]

8 hours ago, Googlie said:

Based on the criteria the authors laid out, Petey doesn't even qualify.  Worst faceoff % of anyone listed, 50% of his rushes seem to end in his falling down, but, yes, an elite passer.  Horvat would be high on the faceoff ranking, but is perhaps overly fond of leading the rush when maybe should be passing.

 

Surely though, if we are talking about elite centers, defensive prowess should factor in too, and there Horvat would be in the top 3rd of that list

Horvat has been below average defensively his whole career, so definitely not.

 

The drop of the puck aside, the rest of the 40 second shift, every player on that list is miles ahead of Bo in terms of capability.

[Baggins]

On 8/15/2022 at 9:04 AM, Googlie said:

Based on the criteria the authors laid out, Petey doesn't even qualify.  Worst faceoff % of anyone listed, 50% of his rushes seem to end in his falling down, but, yes, an elite passer.  Horvat would be high on the faceoff ranking, but is perhaps overly fond of leading the rush when maybe should be passing.

 

Surely though, if we are talking about elite centers, defensive prowess should factor in too, and there Horvat would be in the top 3rd of that list

Van Pettersson 44.1% FO

NJ Hughes 34.6% FO

[Guest]

On 8/15/2022 at 3:25 AM, D-Money said:

Look at how good our centers are. And look at how good our goalie is. Then look at where we were in the standings...

 

...And that is how bad our defense is.

Look at how good Petey was in the first 60% of the season.  

 

He was horrible and wouldn't have made the top 60 centers in the league. His injury is gone and his confidence is back.  

 

Our defense is average, not 'bad'. 

[EddieVedder]

No idea why Point isnt higher.  He is a legit top 5 centre in the league. Scheifele should be higher.  Mackinnon is the 2nd best centre and player on the planet.  

Jack Hughes puts up points but is atrocious when it comes to fulfilling responsibilities of an nhl centreman.    Eichel is going to fall off this list fast.  OReilly should be higher than Miller considering Miller only played half a season at centre and still isnt that solid both ways.  

[MikeyD]

On 8/15/2022 at 10:04 AM, Googlie said:

Based on the criteria the authors laid out, Petey doesn't even qualify.  Worst faceoff % of anyone listed, 50% of his rushes seem to end in his falling down, but, yes, an elite passer.  Horvat would be high on the faceoff ranking, but is perhaps overly fond of leading the rush when maybe should be passing.

 

Surely though, if we are talking about elite centers, defensive prowess should factor in too, and there Horvat would be in the top 3rd of that list

Bo Horvat has had one year where he was a + player. How is he phenomenal defensively? Because he wins faceoffs? 

[guntrix]

As others have said, not sure Jack Hughes should be there with the sample size they’re using. It’s different if he continues that form throughout the 2022/23 season.

[IBatch]

39 minutes ago, guntrix said:

As others have said, not sure Jack Hughes should be there with the sample size they’re using. It’s different if he continues that form throughout the 2022/23 season.

For sure recency bias ... but would you bet against him?  Maybe.  And maybe you should too.   Said it early on, going into year 3 of EPs career THN boldy stated (after the bubble) that EP was the 8th best player in the entire NHL and Horvat 43ish .. one spot away from Mathew T. 

[Canucklehead73]

On 8/15/2022 at 3:25 AM, D-Money said:

Look at how good our centers are. And look at how good our goalie is. Then look at where we were in the standings...

 

...And that is how bad our defense is.

You have to give the new coaching staff some time here, down the stretch we played pretty good hockey, but I would be on the side of we need NHL players on the backend... but might be a team strategy for focusing on offense to win games. The new NHL is pretty soft.

[204CanucksFan]

Yeah, not sure about anyone else on this board, but I'd take Horvat 100 times out of 100 over Kadri. Horvat has outperformed Kadri in every stat and every time I watch them play, Horvat definitely has more skill. 

 

Kadri managed to put together one good season in a 12 year career, playing an extremely sheltered role, gifted a spot on probably the most skilled PP line in the league and in a 30+ contract year, these are all huge red flags for me if I'm a GM considering signing him. 

 

I'm not homering here, I'm not advocating for Bo to be on this list but I do think Bo deserves to be here more than Kadri. Bo already has more 20+ goal seasons and they both have broken the 50 point mark the same number of times.