NHL question

Who is the best player in the NHL?

Ovechkin hands down

Better then McDavid & Matthews?

Veteran Ovechkin

Rookie, Ryan donato.

Ovechkin has been one of the best points man of this generation. And a consistant player. I also like to look at the players attitude.

Crosby would be on my list but I find his attitude to be a prissy boy.

Dutchboy wrote:

Who is the best player in the NHL?

Define best.

Most talented.
Best all around player.
Best pure goal scorer.
Best play maker.
Most valuable.

You could easily name a defferent player for each category.

Who would you draft to start a team around tomorrow.

Who are you going with Dutch?

Don’t know. Thats why i’m asking.

Tomorrow? Probably McDavid. I’m building for the future.

Everyone always goes to the scorer, the forward. Truth is if Ovechkin is the best in the NHL then Ryan McDoangh must be in a different league because he can flat out shut Ovechkin down one on one. I have seen Ryan catch 8 from behind. Been doing it for years.

Now if you think for one second any D in the league has a chance in heck one on one against McDavid, well you are mistaken. Kid plays faster with the puck and leaves All star NHL D men looking like fools.

Best goal scorer? over a career 8 but the Laine in Winnipeg is making a bid to set records.

Truth is, hockey players are only getting better.The average age of an NHL player is younger than it has ever been, 24. The stars of the NHL, best most electrifying players are under 22 years of age. McDavid, Laine, and Matthews. These kids are like nothing the NHL has ever seen. Skill development is elite at the youth level, I have been looking forward to players born after 1997 for 10 years. There are massive numbers of elite players coming.

Bottom line though, Crosby is still the best all around player, he wins championships. Lots of them.

Ovi is a great all around player but he doesn’t play both sides all year long.

Crosby gets a bad rap. But I think he’s a more complete player. Things always seem to happen offensively when he’s on the ice.

McD is really dynamic and incredibly talented but I’m told he doesn’t play both sides.

MacKinnon is an underrated player in my opinion. Very hard worker, one of the fastest and most talented in the entire league. He is a phenomenal playmaker and scored on the PP.

Who would I choose. Throw a dart.

Dutchboy wrote:

Who would you draft to start a team around tomorrow.

Matt Dumba

Charlie Coyle no question, just ask Grouse!

Some choices are easy, others are too close to call….

Best Player Overall is still Crosby

Best pure goal scorer is still Ovi, but Laine & Kucherov are getting closer

Best Skater is McDavid closely followed my McKinnon and Hall

Best Stick Handler is Kane

Best Passer is Backstrom then a bunch others like Goudreau, Granlund

Hardest shot is Weber

Best offensive forward is McDavid then Mathews then a bunch others like Kuznetsov, McKinnon, Eichel

Best Defensive Forward is Bergeron

Best Offensive Defenseman is Karlson or Burns

Best Defensive Defenseman is Vlasic or Orpik?

Best Goalie is Brobrovski or Lundquist

I’m sure there are many other names I missed, but these were my quick guesses…

You ask 100 hockey fans this question and you will likely get about 20 different answers. For me, Crosby is the best overall player because he plays both ends of the ice and has for years. Ovie is great, but up to the last couple years only played on the offensive end of the rink. He has definitely shaped that up, but nowhere near the complete player that Crosby is.

To be considered “the best” you really have to look at guys that make those around them better. To me Crosby does this and has done it his entire career.

I am amazed when I watch McDavid and while he may be the most dynamic player in the game, he still doesn’t measure up to Crosby with is all around game and making those around him better.

Of course McDavid
https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-network-best-players-10-1/c-300467910

I’m not sure if Crosby can bring it every night any more so I think it’s one of the young forwards. McDavid would my pick but fair arguments can be made for Matthews, MacKinnon, Pastrnak, Laine, Eichel, plus a few others.

Nothing against any D man but it’s pretty hard to separate the top 10-15 guys these days so I’ll take a dynamic two way forward and go from there.

Kucherov is slowly becoming one of the best, in my mind. Once his contract is up, it will be interesting to see what happens. As much as I would like him to be a franchise player his whole career, it would be interesting to see how he does somewhere else.

Hellebuyck doesn’t get enough attention as a great goalie, but he has a long way to go before he hits veteran status.

Not sure if BG is joking when he says Dumba, but I believe he is one of the most underrated defenseman in the league. He is slowly getting more and more opportunity to shine and he isn’t letting us down.

A list wouldn’t be complete without Crosby. As much as I can’t stand his attitude, the dude is flat out good with a puck.

And yet on any team, the most intelligent players are Defensemen. IF you ask youth hockey coaches why they began a player at the defense position 99% of them would say because they were the smartest kids on the team.

The other 1% would say because they were the only kids that could skate backwards…..

That said, yes there are a handful of highly responsible d-men in the league. The wild have one of them, they are protoypes of each other. McD, Suter, Hedman, etc…

Guys like Dumba are a liability in their own end but make up for irresponsible play in the o zone. The protypical d-men are stay at home until they see the opportunity, they maintain tight gaps so you rarely see them in situations that are dangerous. They set themselves up for success from the opponents blue line. They give the opponent only what they was to give them then take it away. The confidence, skill and hockey sense is off the charts.

By the way the best skater is hands down Skinner from Buffalo. All you have to do is watch his feet on a rush, dont look at anything else but at the same time look at defenders feet. Skinners mohawk transitions at top speed confound d-men they never know where he is going. it is pretty spectacular.

wormdunker wrote:

And yet on any team, the most intelligent players are Defensemen. IF you ask youth hockey coaches why they began a player at the defense position 99% of them would say because they were the smartest kids on the team.

WRONG! It’s the goalie!

404 ERROR wrote:

Not sure if BG is joking when he says Dumba, but I believe he is one of the most underrated defenseman in the league. He is slowly getting more and more opportunity to shine and he isn’t letting us down.

Definitely joking. Yes he’s really good and very underrated but he definitely has the most intercepted passes of anyone on the team.

wormdunker wrote:

By the way the best skater is hands down Skinner from Buffalo. All you have to do is watch his feet on a rush, don’t look at anything else but at the same time look at defenders feet. Skinners mohawk transitions at top speed confound d-men they never know where he is going. it is pretty spectacular.

so with that mindset then Ulf Dahlen was the greatest skater to ever lace them up?

I guess if you had a category of skating along the boards…Skinner and Zucker (two modern players who use the mohawk move alot) are standout skaters…but Skinner would be left in the dust by McDavid or McKinnon, Zucker does have good straight line speed, but not at their level…

I would give Crosby the title of best overall Edge work on his skates, go search youtube, he’s just incredible…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I guess if you had a category of skating along the boards…Skinner and Zucker (two modern players who use the mohawk move alot) are standout skaters…but Skinner would be left in the dust by McDavid or McKinnon, Zucker does have good straight line speed, but not at their level…

I agree. McDavid is faster than 95% of the NHL players when he skates with the puck than if they don’t. He is just incredible speed wise.
He is one of the few players that are “Appointment TV” for me if he is playing. Just electrifying.

Zucker and Skinner are not even close. Skinner can spin on a dime using edges most dont know exist and to compare Ulf Dahlen to any modern day skater is ridiculous. Ask any pro level skater and they will tell you the skill levels are off the charts across the board from yesteryear.

You can tell Zucker learned how to skate on roller blades, he is lightning quick vertically, he does open up from time to time on the wall but he is a stiffer skater that has difficulty in tight spaces. He is improving but you obviously have not watched Skinner, who learned how to skate on figure skates. His ability to get in and out of tight spaces and move vertical are legendary. He was added to Buffalo and they now top the NHL. Not saying he is the greatest hockey player but he is the best all around technical skater.

Yes the thing about McDavid that is unreal is that he is faster with the puck. just amazing.

404 ERROR wrote:

Kucherov is slowly becoming one of the best, in my mind. Once his contract is up, it will be interesting to see what happens.

2027 is a long time to wait.

mplspug wrote:

2027 is a long time to wait.

I’m not holding my breath for the full 8, sorry. Even if the contract lasts, low-mid 30’s isn’t geriatric.

I’d have to say the best all-around player in the NHL is Ovechkin. A case also could be made for Crosby. Both of these players are goal-scoring machines, two-way players, and team leaders.

Being a top goal scorer IMO only gets you on the B list IMO because there are plenty of goal scorers who sit watching the playoffs from a bar stool every year because they lack complete 2-way games. r

This doesn’t discount the importance of goaltending and defense because behind every great offensive player is a great defense. The problem is nobody ever won a hockey game 0-0.

Grouse

Check out Hermantown’s roster for the best players

Dutchboy wrote:

Who is the best player in the NHL?

If you’re answer isn’t McDavid or Crosby then I’m sorry but you’re wrong.