The answer is unquestionably McDavid...but we don't have him so why dwell? If Matthews can become a Stamkos-Tavares-Seguin level player, that's also good for us.
Marner-Matthews-JVR
Kapanen-Nylander-Komarov
Holland-Kadri-Leivo
(4th line)
Or if we get Stamkos (I think we won't but less and less so every day)...
Marner-Stamkos-JVR
Kapanen-Matthews-Nylander
Holland-Kadri-Komarov
(4th line)
And of course guys like Brown, Timashov, Lindberg, Gauthier, Dzerkals, Leipsic and Johnson, in addition to the picks (11?) we have this year. Looks like a forward group with a great mix of size and skill - I daresay that (IF - these guys reach or come close to reaching their true potential) it could even be a Stanley Cup contending caliber group of forwards.
By comparison, Edmonton...
Eberle - McDavid - Pouliot
Hall - RNH - Yakupov
(3rd line with Draisatl)
(4th line)
McDavid is God.
Eberle is highly skilled, but small, soft and easy to play against.
Pouliot is a surprise but he's a 2nd-3rd liner not a top liner.
You can already see Hall's past injuries slowing him down.
RNH...like Eberle but a little more complete but injury prone.
Yakupov is a bust, he looks like the worst 1st overall since Patrik Stefan.
Others, like Draisatl look great...but the rest of them are terrible. And don't even start me on that defense - even after trading our best defenseman, we still have two guys better than anything they have and better prospects.
The NHL isn't the NBA - one superstar doesn't make you into a championship contender.
And for the love of god...let's let McDavid play a few full seasons before we say he's better than Wayne Gretzky (the most prolific player ever) or Mario Lemieux (the most dominant forward ever)!