Best Overall Skating Ability Among Active Players #1

[Juxta Position]

Overall? Makar. Let’s not pretend we didn’t see Mcdavid skate backwards like he’s me during that figure 8 transition leg of the skills competition or any time he’s accidentally found himself skating backwards.

a quick google search and you can see a video of Mcdavid beating Tyson Barrie in race with Barrie skating forward and McDavid skating backwards. So let's not pretend that McDavid all of sudden forgets how to skate if he has to turn around.

I'd embed the video myself but for some reason this site isn't allowing me to embed videos.

 

[Rowlet]

It's Hughes/Makar in tight spaces, McDavid in the open

I went with Hughes because he's 0.001 seconds faster than Makar

 

[Play]

It's Hughes/Makar in tight spaces, McDavid in the open

I went with Hughes because he's 0.001 seconds faster than Makar

Your profile picture is adorable

 

[Rowlet]

Your profile picture is adorable

It's a Pokemon! My user name is his name, and his bow turns into a bow & arrow.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

McDavid for speed and making moves at high speed. Q. Hughes for maneuverability in tight spaces. To be elite at his size is really remarkable and a testament to his great edge work.

 

[Bone Density]

Nice to see Bratt up there. Dude's edgework is other worldly at times. He's made quite a few defenseman look like fools with his overall package and skating ability. Real shifty too.

 

[banks]

I picked McDavid. I know there might be some arguments to be made for others, or backwards skating could be held against McDavid. But I can't see any argument legit enough to change what I see regularly with my eyes.

McDavid is the best skater.

 

[Deadly Dogma]

Anyone voting for anyone not named McDavid is just being edgy

speaking of edgy, Marner's edge work should land him somewhere in the top 10 even though he isn't the fastest.

 

[Machinehead]

I went with Q. Hughes.

To me, McDavid's ability is more hands. He moves at top speed and somehow seems to handle the puck better the faster he moves. I don't consider that skating ability per se.

Still, there's a good argument to be made that McDavid is still the best skater regardless of his hands, so you know, that's why he's McDavid.

McDavid, Hughes, and Makar are in their own tier.

 

[Deadly Dogma]

I went with Q. Hughes.

To me, McDavid's ability is more hands. He moves at top speed and somehow seems to handle the puck better the faster he moves. I don't consider that skating ability per se.

Still, there's a good argument to be made that McDavid is still the best skater regardless of his hands, so you know, that's why he's McDavid.

McDavid, Hughes, and Makar are in their own tier.

100% the top 4 is easy, order after McDavid is tough tho
my guess is
McDavid
Makar
Hughes
Mack

 

[Machinehead]

100% the top 4 is easy, order after McDavid is tough tho
my guess is
McDavid
Makar
Hughes
Mack

Yeah, you could probably say MacKinnon is in that top 4 as well, and then it's everyone else.

MacKinnon is in the same boat as McDavid where I'm asking "how much of it is skating and how much of it is the fact that he never loses the puck skating at this speed?"

But like McDavid, the skating is elite on its own.

 

[Machinehead]

See, now I'm really thinking about this. MacKinnon probably has the best shot in full stride that I've ever seen. He doesn't need to come out of a sprint at all, he just shoots, and gets a lot on it. That's skating ability, but it's also shooting ability.

Like I said, those four are probably the best skaters anyway, but as you come down the list it's really something to think about.

Ryan Poheling is faster than almost everyone on that list. Julien Gauthier is a better skater than most of the list. Neither of them, for lack of other skills, can really do anything at a high speed.

At what point do you separate pure skating ability from the ability to do things while skating?

Where do the grinders go? Where would a player like Carl Hagelin place in this list? He couldn't do anything except move fast but a prime Carl Hagelin was never not a top 5 pure skater.

 

[authentic]

I’d go with Q. Hughes, Makar, McDavid, followed by Barzal and Dahlin.

Not sure Dahlin has the speed to be considered a top 5 skater. I would put MacKinnon instead.

 

[authentic]

Yeah, you could probably say MacKinnon is in that top 4 as well, and then it's everyone else.

MacKinnon is in the same boat as McDavid where I'm asking "how much of it is skating and how much of it is the fact that he never loses the puck skating at this speed?"

But like McDavid, the skating is elite on its own.

MacKinnon actually does lose the puck sometimes, not McDavid though, his control and balance are crazy for how fast he goes.

 

[Aqualung]

I think Jack is better skater than Quinn. Surprised not many mentions of Jack.

Edit maybe not better overall skater but definitely more explosive.

 

[Felidae]

Before moving on to number 2, anyone I should consider removing on the list?

I'll likely be adding Sanderson to the next one, maybe Poehling too.

 

[Bouboumaster]

It should be McDavid, unanimously

 

[Stephen]

We just saw them all assembled together on the same sheet of ice and McDavid was the best. The speed, the footwork, the agility.

 

[yada]

Fastest speed this year from NHL.com
Checked some of the listed names in thread for this one aspect listed in OP.

McDavid 99 percentile
MacKinnon 99 percentile
Hintz 98 percentile
Barzal 97 percentile
Sanderson 92 percentile
Stutzle 88 percentile
Makar 88 percentile
Jack Hughes 84 percentile
Chabot 83 percentile
Q. Hughes 65 percentile
William Nylander 63 percentile
Dahlin below 50 percentile

Link if want to check other players

NHL EDGE Puck and Player Tracking Statistics - Skaters

NHL EDGE Puck and Player Tracking Statistics for skaters including skating speed, skating distance, shot speed, shot location, and zone time.

edge.nhl.com

How was jack hughes percentile last season?

 

[Miro4Norris]

McDavid might have won some nice without puck and without game on competition (which MacK didn't even attend to) but stats (NHL edge) say it's clearly MacKinnon who should be on the lead.

- 71 35kmh+ bursts this season, second highest is McDavid's with 43!

- 448 32kmh+ bursts this season, second highest is Point with 294

- 3rd highest maximum speed this season after Tippett and Point

-One of the greatest at using his edges on small spaces and offensive zone as well

Just think how overpowered MacKinnon is according to these stats.

Guys, wanna explain why every poster says McDavid while MacKinnon has ridiculous 3.5% of votes?!?

 

[heretik27]

McDavid might have won some nice without puck and without game on competition (which MacK didn't even attend to) but stats (NHL edge) say it's clearly MacKinnon who should be on the lead.

- 71 35kmh+ bursts this season, second highest is McDavid's with 43!

- 448 32kmh+ bursts this season, second highest is Point with 294

- 3rd highest maximum speed this season after Tippett and Point

-One of the greatest at using his edges on small spaces and offensive zone as well

Just think how overpowered MacKinnon is according to these stats.

Guys, wanna explain why every poster says McDavid while MacKinnon has ridiculous 3.5% of votes?!?

Because Laine beat him in the fastest skater competition a few years back!

 

[lokomotiv15]

a quick google search and you can see a video of Mcdavid beating Tyson Barrie in race with Barrie skating forward and McDavid skating backwards. So let's not pretend that McDavid all of sudden forgets how to skate if he has to turn around.

I'd embed the video myself but for some reason this site isn't allowing me to embed videos.

I do feel like I’ve seen that somewhere, tbh.

Tyson Barrie is also my age, and not a massive burner. The race is also started forward and with a transition to backwards skating at the blue when McDavid was already a step ahead.

Unless you mean another vid?

 

[Felidae]

See, now I'm really thinking about this. MacKinnon probably has the best shot in full stride that I've ever seen. He doesn't need to come out of a sprint at all, he just shoots, and gets a lot on it. That's skating ability, but it's also shooting ability.

Like I said, those four are probably the best skaters anyway, but as you come down the list it's really something to think about.

Ryan Poheling is faster than almost everyone on that list. Julien Gauthier is a better skater than most of the list. Neither of them, for lack of other skills, can really do anything at a high speed.

At what point do you separate pure skating ability from the ability to do things while skating?

Where do the grinders go? Where would a player like Carl Hagelin place in this list? He couldn't do anything except move fast but a prime Carl Hagelin was never not a top 5 pure skater.

Well, the thread is best overall skater. So I guess take both things into account as well as any other skating skill. But Honestly not too sure if we should strictly talk about skating skills or also skating while handling the puck which probably impedes most players skating ability. I'll leave that up to the user I suppose.

 

[Martin Skoula]

See, now I'm really thinking about this. MacKinnon probably has the best shot in full stride that I've ever seen. He doesn't need to come out of a sprint at all, he just shoots, and gets a lot on it. That's skating ability, but it's also shooting ability.

Like I said, those four are probably the best skaters anyway, but as you come down the list it's really something to think about.

Ryan Poheling is faster than almost everyone on that list. Julien Gauthier is a better skater than most of the list. Neither of them, for lack of other skills, can really do anything at a high speed.

At what point do you separate pure skating ability from the ability to do things while skating?

Where do the grinders go? Where would a player like Carl Hagelin place in this list? He couldn't do anything except move fast but a prime Carl Hagelin was never not a top 5 pure skater.

Grabner, Mikheyev, Helm, Wood, Kilger too. Maybe not so much on the 4way mobility and edges but for straight line speed I’ve seen them beat guys like McD and MacK stride for stride. In Kilgers case it was less top-5 speed and more top-15 speed moving a 235 pound body like a homing missile towards some poor defenseman retrieving a dump-in.

 

[Sergei Shirokov]

Voting McDavid. Then Makar/Q Hughes.

After that Jack & Mackinnon