Recently The Hockey News released its 2015-2016 Yearbook and along with that their top 20 players were leaked by SwissHabs. You can see their article here, but this was their list:
- Carey Price, G, Montreal Canadiens
- Jonathan Toews, C, Chicago Blackhawks
- Alex Ovechkin, LW, Washington Capitals
- Sidney Crosby, C, Pittsburgh Penguins
- Duncan Keith, D, Chicago Blackhawks
- John Tavares, C, New York Islanders
- Erik Karlsson, D, Ottawa Senators
- Drew Doughty, D, Los Angeles Kings
- Steven Stamkos, C, Tampa Bay Lightning
- Victor Hedman, D, Tampa Bay Lightning
- Patrick Kane, RW, Chicago Blackhawks
- Jaime Benn, LW, Dallas Stars
- Anze Kopitar, C, Los Angeles Kings
- Ryan Getzlaf, C, Anaheim Ducks
- Pekka Rinne, G, Nashville Predators
- Tyler Seguin, C, Dallas Stars
- Shea Weber, D, Nashville Predators
- Claude Giroux, G, Philadelphia Flyers
- Corey Perry, RW, Anaheim Ducks
- Patrice Bergeron, C, Boston Bruins
So before critiquing, I want to say I realize this is very subjective and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It just so happens that their opinion is wrong. So let’s get to it.
Carey Price is without a doubt an incredible goalie and after the season he just had it’s hard to argue he isn’t the best goalie in the league. When you combine that with the fact that he almost singlehandedly dragged the Canadiens to a post-season birth I have no problems declaring he is the best player in the NHL. But it seems unfair to combine goalies and skaters in the same list because the influence of a single player is nowhere near as high as the influence of a good goaltender. (See Minnesota Wild, 2014-2015) Nevertheless they included goalies in their list and I will include them in my revised list; but back to the critique.
Jonathan Toews Is Not Better Than Sidney Crosby
I’m not sure how many times this argument needs to be stated, but clearly it isn’t common knowledge because we are still seeing people suggest that Toews is better than Crosby. Since Crosby entered the league in 2005 he has lead the league with 869 points in 645 games. He’s the third best goal scorer at even-strength, (one behind Perry, and 40 back of Ovechkin) and the second best goal-scorer on an even-strength per 60 (G/60) basis (He sits 0.03 G/60 behind Stamkos). Just over the past three years is the second best scorer at even-strength registering 2.68 points per 60 minutes (P/60) played. (just 0.01 back of Ryan Getzlaf) When you add his power play usage on top of that Crosby leap-frogs the competition surging ahead to 3.42 points per 60 minutes played. For context the next closest player is Evgeni Malkin at 3.22, followed by Patrick Kane at 3.09. To say there’s no one in the league quite like Crosby is an understatement. The man is miles ahead of his competition and it’s ridiculous that at this point in his career there are still people wondering if he is the best player in the NHL.
Keith, Karlsson, Who’s Better?
What’s the difference between Karlsson and Keith? Ask anyone and they’ll probably tell you Keith is great defensively and strong offensively, while Karlsson excels at offense and is okay at defense. I’m not sure that’s true. First the base stats: over the past two years Karlsson has out-hit Keith nearly 3:1, he’s drawn 18 more penalties and taken just three more. Keith has a slight edge in blocked shots (1 blocked shot attempt per game compared to Karlssons 0.95) but his takeaways to giveaway ratio is slightly worse than Karlsson’s (-65 compared to -63). It’s when you look at scoring chances that you start to see that these two defenders may not be that different. Keith allows 13.98 high-danger scoring chances against per 60 minutes (HSCA60), while Karlsson allows a barely higher 14.65 HSCA60. The same rings true for scoring chances in general. Keith gives up 24.5 SCA60 while Karlsson gives up 25.79 SCA60. If the difference between these two players is that nominal on defense then surely the fact that Karlsson has put up 8 more points in 31 less games should give him the edge over Keith.
Should Rinne Really be the Runner Up?
Since we’ve already talked about some of the forwards and defensemen on this list I figure it’s only fair to cover the goaltenders as well. Rinne comes in at number 15 on this list but as the second best goaltender in the league, and while I realize that he is still coming off an injury that took him out for most of the 2013-2014 season, his performance last season, and in years past haven’t been enough for me to be convinced that he is the second best goaltender the league has to offer. A simple look at the adjusted even-strength save percentage (ESAdSv%) of goaltenders over the last four years tells us that Rinne isn’t even in the conversation. His 92.74 ESAdSv% pales in comparison to Tukka Rask’s 94.07%, Cory Schneider’s 93.81%, or Herik Lundqvists 93.66% all of whom fill out the top 3 of the list. To have Rinne in your top 20 players in the league is to do a disservice to the stellar performances of those men.
Missing Malkin
Finally, I thought the biggest error in this piece was that Evgeni Malkin was nowhere to be found. Over the past 3 seasons he is the 11th best even-strength scorer with 2.32 P/60, and sits second in P/60 at full strength. He’s a dominant possession driver (54.71 CF% over the past 3 seasons, 5.6 CF%Rel) and has the ability to dominate a game like no one else.
The List
Now, to the part where you get to judge me, and call me dumb. Here is my list of the top 20 players in the NHL.
- Carey Price, G, Montreal Canadiens
- Sidney Crosby, C, Pittsburgh Penguins
- Alex Ovechkin, LW, Washington Capitals
- Ryan Getzlaf, C, Anaheim Ducks
- Erik Karlsson, D, Ottawa Senators
- Evgeni Malkin, C, Pittsburgh Penguins
- Kris Letang, D, Pittsburgh Penguins
- Patrick Kane, RW, Chicago Blackhawks
- John Tavares, C, New York Islanders
- Patrice Bergeron, C, Boston Bruins
- Jonathan Toews, C, Chicago Blackhawks
- P.K. Subban, D, Montreal Canadiens
- Taylor Hall, LW, Edmonton Oilers
- Jaime Benn, LW, Dallas Stars
- Anze Kopitar, C, Los Angeles Kings
- Tyler Seguin, C, Dallas Stars
- Vladimir Tarasenko, RW, St. Louis Blues
- Drew Doughty, D, Los Angeles Kings
- Jakub Voracek RW, Philadelphia Flyers
- Claude Giroux, C, Philadelphia Flyers
So there you go, give me your lists in the comments.
