Jacob Billington of The Hockey Writers recently conducted a poll, ranking the best players in the NHL through over 10,000 head-to-head votes, excluding goaltenders. Connor McDavid took the top spot in this list, with Nathan MacKinnon, Nikita Kucherov, and Cale Makar unsurprisingly trailing. The New York Islanders had three players appear on the list: Mathew Barzal (45), Noah Dobson (46), and Bo Horvat (75).
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Notably, Islanders All-Star Brock Nelson was omitted from the list, despite having outscored several players named over the last season and the past three to four years. The players listed include Claude Giroux (100), Evgeni Malkin (97), Alex Tuch (95), Quinton Byfield (92), and Seth Jarvis (90), as well as John Tavares (78), Nikolaj Ehlers (65), Timo Meier (64), Cole Caufield (58), and many others. This is not to say Nelson is a top-50 player in the NHL, and many of the players mentioned are arguably deserving of their rankings, but his absence from the list is concerning.
Nelson is an Elite Sniper
One reason to believe Nelson has flown under the radar is due to how he scores his goals. He is a tall center who skates very well, but he is not flashy. He does not skate like Barzal, speeding and dangling through defenders, despite maintaining somewhat similar speeds according to NHL Edge (Barzal was in the 98th percentile in speed bursts over 20 MPH last season, Nelson in the 86th percentile). Additionally, Barzal ranked higher in top shot speed than Nelson despite having a significantly lower shooting percentage and goal total in recent seasons.
What makes Nelson such a great goal scorer is not his strength or skating, but rather his ability to score from high-danger areas and utilize his quick and lethally accurate shot. According to NHL Edge, the majority of Nelson’s goals and shots come from the slot, and he maximizes his talent and scoring chances.
What makes Nelson’s absence from the list so fascinating is that the 2023-24 season was not even the best of his career yet still better than so many of the players listed. He scored 30+ goals in each of the past three seasons and has career-highs of 37 goals (2021-22) and 75 points (2022-23), yet somehow was left off the list for players like Jarvis and Byfield who have never touched his 2023-24 stat line of 69 points (34 goals and 35 assists), let alone his recently-set career highs. Jarvis broke out with 67 points (33 goals and 34 assists) but had a career-high of 17 goals and 40 points prior, and Byfield also broke out but had just 22 points (three goals and 19 points) in 53 games the season prior, proving Nelson has been better in any period you look at.
Do not get me wrong, Jarvis and Byfield are amazing players, but they are not better than Nelson — at least not yet. If this was a list of the best players to start a new NHL team with, 32-year-old Nelson’s absence would be understandable. However, this list was a ranking of the current, best players. While Jarvis and Byfield will continue developing, potentially surpassing Nelson’s production this season, they have yet to show any reason to deserve a higher placement.
Nelson is More Than a Sniper
While Nelson’s strongest assets are his elite shot and scoring ability, he is much more than that. Last season, he finished with 23 primary assists, the third most on the Islanders. Notably, he finished ahead of NHL stars Jordan Kyrou, Miro Heiskanen, Troy Terry, Mitch Marner, Troy Terry, Pavel Buchnevich, and Brad Marchand, as well as Byfield (21) and Jarvis (20).
Nelson also excels at drawing penalties, finishing last season with just 28 penalty minutes taken while drawing 38, finishing with a better penalty-minute differential than all but three Islanders. He also tallied 47 blocked shots, the sixth most among Islanders forwards, and 39 takeaways, the third most among Islanders players.
Nelson is also one of the most clutch goal-scorers the Islanders have had since their dynasty in the 1980s. In 78 career playoff games, he has 27 goals, including 24 in his last 60 games. He also has 43 points in that span.
Nelson finished last season with the most goals per 60 minutes (1.38) and second most points per 60 minutes (2.79) on the Islanders. In the entire NHL, he scored goals at the same rate as Mikko Rantanen and Wyatt Johnston, and at a higher rate than Jarvis, Byfield, Tage Thompson, Jake Guentzel, Clayton Keller, Mika Zibanejad, and many others.
Where Nelson Should Rank
Ranking NHL players is challenging, particularly when comparing players across different positions. While comparing players like Nelson and Horvat, who had similar production last season, might be tough, determining a general range isn’t as difficult. Nelson should be placed near Horvat, around the mid-70s. There is an argument for Nelson to be in the top 60, but placing him even in the 90s alongside players like Giroux, Jarvis, and Byfield is demeaning—let alone leaving him off the list entirely.
