As the offseason drags along, NHL Network revealed their annual summer listing of the best centers in the lig.
I’m not too jammed up over lists, but we do we make of this? Outrage with the gal to put Connor McDavid over Sidney Crosby? Demoting Evgeni Malkin all the way to 13th after a bad year?
It’s all a big bag of meh to me. Everything sort of looks reasonable enough, especially considering they’re obviously weighing how thinks went in 2018-19 very highly. I’m glad to see Nathan MacKinnon and Aleksander Barkov get some love and be ranked very highly, both deserve it. Not sure if Anze Kopitar quietly announced retirement (he didn’t) so I’m not sure when he doesn’t appear on the list, but so it goes, not too fired up over a list.
John Tavares and Auston Matthews seem a touch over-rated, but hey what can ya do? Also, Tavares had a great year last season so it’s tough to knock him. I’d think I would move Ryan O’Reilly and Sebastien Aho above players like Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point for all-around games, but that’s just a style opinion. Still seems a bit odd to have Patrice Bergeron slotting in five places ahead of O’Reilly.
Hopefully Malkin bounces back to claim a higher place next year, but now at age 33 this just goes to show how many good young centermen are really stepping into the limelight. And Malkin will need to perform to stay ahead of guys like Aho and Elias Pettersson who will probably be higher next year themselves.
What’s your take? List about right? What moves would you make?