Who’ll be the best? Take your chance!

[monster_bertuzzi]

Kovalchuk
Nash
Crosby
Ovechkin
Lehtonen

 

[Twist and Shout]

1-Kovalchuk
2-Malkin
3-Ovechkin
4-Lehtonen
5-Crosby
6-Nash

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

1.) Crosby
2.) Malkin
3.) Kovalchuk
4.) Ovechkin
5.) Nash
6.) Zherdev
7.) Lehtonen
8.) Kessel
9.) Parise
10.) Fleury

Those are the 10 players that will have the biggest effect on the NHL in the next 5-10 years. Parise may seem out of plce, but his rookie year with Albany with very impressive, especially considering his team.
To me, Crosby is the obvious #1. Has the best of almost every offensive facet of the game.
Malkin will be great. He will mature into his frame. Reminds me of Lemieux.
Zherdev is so high on the list because of his team. He will be playing with Nash for a while, and they will complement eachother well.
Kessel seems like he will be an offensive explosion, fastest player in the world at top speed IMO.
Lehtonen and Fleury will both be franchise goalies.
Nash and Kovalchuk have already proven themselves.
AO will be very good, but he will have a tough time in Washington.

 

[monster_bertuzzi]

1.) Crosby
2.) Malkin
3.) Kovalchuk
4.) Ovechkin
5.) Nash
6.) Zherdev
7.) Lehtonen
8.) Kessel
9.) Parise
10.) Fleury

Those are the 10 players that will have the biggest effect on the NHL in the next 5-10 years. Parise may seem out of plce, but his rookie year with Albany with very impressive, especially considering his team.
To me, Crosby is the obvious #1. Has the best of almost every offensive facet of the game.
Malkin will be great. He will mature into his frame. Reminds me of Lemieux.
Zherdev is so high on the list because of his team. He will be playing with Nash for a while, and they will complement eachother well.
Kessel seems like he will be an offensive explosion, fastest player in the world at top speed IMO.
Lehtonen and Fleury will both be franchise goalies.
Nash and Kovalchuk have already proven themselves.
AO will be very good, but he will have a tough time in Washington.

I could think of 5 or 6 prospects that are better goalscorers than Crosby.

 

[Vlad The Impaler]

I think everyone is really underrating Crosby... it's not like he's gonna be a Nash or Kovalchuk, Wayne Gretzky himself compared the kid to Lemieux...

Wayne Gretzky says a lot of things. Half of which don't come true. Seals of approval by superstars don't mean much. Mario is a poor comparison to Crosby, IMO. Sydney doesn't play that way, he has a different tool set.

 

[helicecopter]

Agree, Ilya's passing is really underrated. He is seen by most as a selfish player who cares about scoring, but lets not forget he has no center to pass him the puck

No center to pass the puck on the Russian national teams?

 

[FacelessButcher]

1. Nash- Potential to be the best PF ever. Still needs to work on his defensive game, should come with age.
2. Ovechkin- Better version of Jarome Iginla with a bigger mean streak.
3. Lehtonen- As good as Luongo if not better.
4. Crosby- Defintely don't think he's the next one more of the Yzerman/Sakic level
5. Kovalchuk- Most offensively talented player on the list but bad defensive game and unlike Nash I don't believe he has the will or desire to improve it. Needs to be paired with a good coach to get the most out of him, doesn't appear as much of a team player.
6. Malkin- Russian equivalent of Spezza doesn't belong with the rest, don't believe he has HOF potential.

 

[helicecopter]

I don't see how one could say anything negative about Kovalchuk's playmaking. His passes are among the hardest and most accurate in the NHL.

To be able of executing good passes doesn't mean to be good at playmaking. Would Kovalchuk use more often his passing capabilities instead of going alone versus three defenders awaiting for him i guess we would have anything negative to say about his playmaking.

 

[pei fan]

I could think of 5 or 6 prospects that are better goalscorers than Crosby.

We are waiting with anticipation.

 

[Vlad The Impaler]

To be able of executing good passes doesn't mean to be good at playmaking. Would Kovalchuk use more often his passing capabilities instead of going alone versus three defenders awaiting for him i guess we would have anything negative to say about his playmaking.

That's harsh. I think Kovy has good playmaking. As Epsilon said, he does send crisp passes. As well, he has a surprisingly nice vision when he gets down to it.

All of that does not make him a playmaker, nor does anyone in his right mind would want Kovy to be a playmaker. Kovalchuk is developing into the top goalscoring threat in this league. The last two seasons he rose to the point where, from any angle, I think the only player I find as dangerous is Mario (another wizard who finds weird openings but unfortunately too often injured to dominate game after game).

Considering that:

A: Kovy has a GOLDEN scoring touch
B: That Thrashers lineup is subpar

I was honestly surprised that he ended up with more assists (46) than goals (41) last year.

If your opinion is that Ilya should concentrate more on passing than he is doing right now and neglect his natural gifts, you are entitled to it. I disagree but hey, that's alright.

But if you are trying to tell people that this guy doesn't know how to make plays, I think this is either a lie or gross ignorance. Don't know which would be better.

He was 15th overall in assists last year. And I see him all the time and he can feed people well (although some of the attempts are high risk) and quickly. He does show a preference to score and I must say I am very happy about that right now. Especially in a league where you can't buy a damn goal at times.

As long as Ilya is a dominant player, he will never, ever be a playmaker. But he can pass the puck very well, thankyouverymuch.

 

[Wisent]

Malkin
Lehtonen
Ovechkin
Nash
Kovalchuk
Crosby

 

[helicecopter]

Seen him every time he has graced TSN with his presence. Which is why I hate doing lists like that but since you insisted it was mostly for fun, I jumped. My list should be taken with the obligatory grain of salt

Not enough self confidence?
Just joking , the grain of salt approach applies to everyone's list considering how difficult is the task, even more watching the players less than we would need.

Bouwmeester is still raw, Spezza has developed very slowly. I think the three could be absolute monsters or could really disappoint.

Real superstars (Gretzky, Lemieux, Jagr, Forsberg, Bure..) don't take that much to develop. That said, of course the players you mentioned have a chance to become better than those original six, but imo that would probably mean that someone will be underachieving among them (among the original six).

As far as Malkin is concerned, I have liked what I have seen of him pretty much every time I have seen him but I guess it wasn't as much as some of the comments I read here...
..I gotta tell you, I can't wait to see more Malkin and I hope he is as good as people make it sound here but I haven't seen it. By "it" I mean I haven't seen the special dominance people refer to sometimes, and some comments and names like "Mario" pop up that I have to disagree with.

Ah well,as for the Mario comparisons i disagree too. He doesn't recall me of Mario and i am not expecting he will be as good as him either, despite the impressive progression rate it seems he is still riding. The 'special dominance' i guess(hope) was mentioned while referring to the WJC so i can't judge (could not see).

The funny thing is, I am a whore for hockey sense and stuff like that. I always favor those players with great mind and great vision, I usually have that bias for them. It is a bit strange that I don't favor Malkin all that much because that is predominantly what people seem to like most about him.

Yeah, then that's quite strange..i mean, he looks to me like a no-ordinary passer (no ordinary vision and use of his linemates).. but again, after only three games of viewing i can't be completely sure of anything. I couldn't watch him in WJC, seeing him play in a big role would have helped i guess.

 

[helicecopter]

As Epsilon said, he does send crisp passes. As well, he has a surprisingly nice vision when he gets down to it.

Agree.

All of that does not make him a playmaker, nor does anyone in his right mind would want Kovy to be a playmaker.

Me neither.

If your opinion is that Ilya should concentrate more on passing than he is doing right now and neglect his natural gifts, you are entitled to it. I disagree but hey, that's alright.

To pass the puck when it's the best thing to do (and considering it's Kovachuk we are talking about that's less frequent than for common players) doesn't mean to neglect his natural gifts at all. On the contrary, if defenders are less sure that in some situations he won't pass the puck, they are going to play it fairer thus giving him a bit more space to take even more advantage of his natural gifts.

But if you are trying to tell people that this guy doesn't know how to make plays, I think this is either a lie or gross ignorance. Don't know which would be better.

I am just telling that, especially during transition plays, he often doesn't make the best play available...which unfortunately is (often but not always) not necessarily going for the shot himself independently from how defenders and linemmates are playing it.

He was 15th overall in assists last year. And I see him all the time and he can feed people well (although some of the attempts are high risk) and quickly.
As long as Ilya is a dominant player, he will never, ever be a playmaker. But he can pass the puck very well, thankyouverymuch.

I've seen him much more in international competitions than in NHL so far, he didn't dominate at all in those two worldchampionship, one world cup and at the Olympics. That's probably part of the reasons that i feel more the need for him to better polish his game.
Of course with that i am NOT saying he has not been awesome in the NHL so far.

 

[Vatican Roulette]

Kovalchuk
Ovechkin
Nash
Lehtonen
Crosby
Malkin


thats how i see them setting up. Not a huge difference between that group though.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Seen him every time he has graced TSN with his presence. Which is why I hate doing lists like that but since you insisted it was mostly for fun, I jumped. My list should be taken with the obligatory grain of salt

As far as Malkin is concerned, I have liked what I have seen of him pretty much every time I have seen him but I guess it wasn't as much as some of the comments I read here. The whole club 13 looks pretty good right now, although over time the distance between players will grow (and the rankings will be thrown out of whack).

The three groups I did indicate that among that group, I wouldn't cry at all if I picked a name out of a hat to choose from. I've listed them in order of preference. So really, give me Malkin or Staal if I need a center and I'll be just happy.

In the second group, I put three players whom I felt had enormous talent but this is a very risky group. Goalies are always difficult to assess, Bouwmeester is still raw, Spezza has developed very slowly. I think the three could be absolute monsters or could really disappoint.

Anyway, there's still not much that separates Malkin from the top group. And perhaps Erocaps is right, perhaps I should have put Lehtonen in the top group. Maybe I should have put Nash in his whole category on top because he's the player I am really most sure of.

I'm sure most will agree being in the low club 13 is pretty good anyway. Those are rocking players as far as I'm concerned

I gotta tell you, I can't wait to see more Malkin and I hope he is as good as people make it sound here but I haven't seen it. By "it" I mean I haven't seen the special dominance people refer to sometimes, and some comments and names like "Mario" pop up that I have to disagree with.

The funny thing is, I am a whore for hockey sense and stuff like that. I always favor those players with great mind and great vision, I usually have that bias for them. It is a bit strange that I don't favor Malkin all that much because that is predominantly what people seem to like most about him.

I of course hope that Malkin lives up to billing, but comparisons to Mario, or Gretzky, of any prospect are so beyond ridiculous it is almost awe inspiring. Those are certainly among, if not in a class by themselves, the greatest players ever to lace up skates. I saw Mario much more than Gretzky as he played for the Pens but the things he did night in and night out were highlight reel material jaw droppping amazing. Hell, he has slowed, but when out there can still do those things. I can not tell you how many goals he has scored from behind the net off of the goalie. How many times he has split three defenders, been hauled down and scored without looking while on his back. And on and on. I can not see comparing anyone to him, Gretzky or anyone in that group before they even have played one shift. I can say it right here, Malkin will not live up to Mario or Gretzky, neither will AO, neither will Crosby. I have about a 99% probability of being right I think.

 

[pei fan]

I have about a 99% probability of being right I think.

Well since there's a 100 % probability that you are wrong about the past history
of hockey my guess is there is a much greater than 1% chance that you will
be wrong about the future of hockey.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Well since there's a 100 % probability that you are wrong about the past history
of hockey my guess is there is a much greater than 1% chance that you will
be wrong about the future of hockey.

 

[Bouchard]

Crosby - Could be the next big thing I think, excels wherever he plays, don't see that changing
Nash - Overpowering, and is getting better and better, going to be something else.
Kovalchuk - Has some personality issues, but has exceptional skills.
Malkin - Toss up between him and Ovechkin, I think he will become the better player in the future.
Ovechkin - I see Ovechkin as a more defensive Kovalchuk, may not have as much flare as Kovalchuk but will still wow us with his finesse.
Lehtonen - Haven't seen much of this kid.

 

[HFNHL Canadiens]

I think you guys are completley underrating Tuomo Ruutu. If he played like he did in the second half in the first half he would have had 70 + points and he can very hard and he has that heart and grit that every team wants. He is only going to get better and better.


1. Kovalchuk - He is the most proven and scores goals like its nobodys business

2. Crosby - Led the QMJHL in scoring as a 16 year old. Enough said. Probably will surpass Kovy is points but until he does we will keep him at 2

3. Kari Lehtonen- This guy is the best goalie i have ever seen live. His reflexes and quckness is unbelievable. Will win Vezinas and possibly Harts


4. Ruutu - By far the most complete player and the most underated. The Finnish Forsberg

5.Malkin - A less complete more offensive Ovechkin

6. Ovechkin - A more complete less offensive version of Malkin.

7. Nash - Great power forward but way overated

 

[Diaboli]

I think you guys are completley underrating Tuomo Ruutu. If he played like he did in the second half in the first half he would have had 70 + points and he can very hard and he has that heart and grit that every team wants. He is only going to get better and better.

I would really hope for this to come true, but with his style of play and injury record, I think he won't make it longer than maybe 3 or 4 seasons in the NHL

 

[freakazoid]

I think you guys are completley underrating Tuomo Ruutu. If he played like he did in the second half in the first half he would have had 70 + points and he can very hard and he has that heart and grit that every team wants. He is only going to get better and better.


1. Kovalchuk - He is the most proven and scores goals like its nobodys business

2. Crosby - Led the QMJHL in scoring as a 16 year old. Enough said. Probably will surpass Kovy is points but until he does we will keep him at 2

3. Kari Lehtonen- This guy is the best goalie i have ever seen live. His reflexes and quckness is unbelievable. Will win Vezinas and possibly Harts


4. Ruutu - By far the most complete player and the most underated. The Finnish Forsberg

5.Malkin - A less complete more offensive Ovechkin

6. Ovechkin - A more complete less offensive version of Malkin.

7. Nash - Great power forward but way overated

Nash behind Ruutu? You say he WOULD have 70pts, Nash DID accomplish more by scoring his 41 goals, and at a younger age mind you.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

I think you guys are completley underrating Tuomo Ruutu. If he played like he did in the second half in the first half he would have had 70 + points and he can very hard and he has that heart and grit that every team wants. He is only going to get better and better.


1. Kovalchuk - He is the most proven and scores goals like its nobodys business

2. Crosby - Led the QMJHL in scoring as a 16 year old. Enough said. Probably will surpass Kovy is points but until he does we will keep him at 2

3. Kari Lehtonen- This guy is the best goalie i have ever seen live. His reflexes and quckness is unbelievable. Will win Vezinas and possibly Harts


4. Ruutu - By far the most complete player and the most underated. The Finnish Forsberg

5.Malkin - A less complete more offensive Ovechkin

6. Ovechkin - A more complete less offensive version of Malkin.

7. Nash - Great power forward but way overated

I think that you have these two reversed descriptive wise. . . though I like Malkin being ahead of AO

 

[x-bob]

Crosby
Kovalchuk
Lehtonen
Malkin
Ovechkin

 

[McSorley 33]

DUSTIN BROWN should get a mention. I wouldn't put him up their in the top 10, yet I wouldn't place a guy like Corry Perry ahead of him either. Although, the Kings could have drafted Perry in 2003, I'll stick with Brown. Some where in the 15-20 range. Solid!

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

Sidney Crosby - Will be the best player in the NHL in 5 years.
Rick Nash - Allready the best goal scorer in the league today.
Ilya Kovalchuk - Excellent player just below Nash.
Alexander Ovechkin - Won't be as dominant in the NHL as Kovalchuk.
Kari Lehtonen - Has the potential to be the best goaltender in the NHL once Brodeur leaves.
Malkin - Just don't think he will be as dominant as the others.