I could see some people picking Nurse because he's brought a lot of what we need, but he's only played 2 games so far.
At the same time I can see some people not voting for Hall and Hopkins.
Hall started off rough as he proved he and McDavid were not an instant match, but nobody has accused Hall of taking a shift off and his production has gone back to what we're used to since he was put back onto a line with Hopkins.
As for Hopkins, I think he's been a beast. He gets a lot of hard match-ups and his stick work has improved.
I picked Nurse. I'm basing it on "per game basis." Nurse has had two VERY good games. I chose Hall, but I should have picked RNH instead.
McDavid
Yakupov
Talbot
RNH
Nurse
This is my list of best players so far.
McDavid
RNH
Hall
Yak
Talbot
No order other than McDavid #1. Been mildly underwhelmed to various degrees at times with RNH and Hall. But there's no questioning that they've been 2 of the teams top 5 players, and it would be ignorant to ignore that they've spent the start of the year with a rotating group of 4th liners on their right wing.
Left out Nurse who has been really good. But it's been two games. Will need to re-evaluate again in a month or so.
McD
Yak
Hall
Talbot
And a shout out to the only decent MacT decision, Benoit Pouliot. He's running a 5 game scoring streak and really ties the line together.
Also, shout out to Hendricks and Korpikoski, our best bottom 6ers.
No shoutouts to the d core. They all got outplayed by Nurse in two games.
A bit of time with Slepyshev too I believe.I think it's easy for a lot of people to ignore that fact.
Who have they had? Remind me if I leave one out.
Drai, Paka, Purcell, Hendricks, Miller and Klinkhammer.
I think I got them all. That's 6 guys and Hall/Hopkins haven't even been together for 11 games, correct?
(No Eberle. Eberle/Hopkins was playing with Pouliot the whole time, right?)
Both goaltenders get my vote. Upfront, Mcdavid, Hall and Yak. No one on D has impressed me enough to give them a vote. Too small of a sample to judge Nurse but he's looking good.
A bit of time with Slepyshev too I believe.
Funny how Pouliot looked perfect with Hoppkins and Eberle last year. Then once Eberle got hurt he didn't really work for the Hopkins line and now he's against putting up the best offensive numbers of his career again playing with McDavid and Yakupov.
Seems like a really coachable player. Skates well for a big guy and goes to the net every time you want him to.
I think adaptable is a good word for Pouliot. He knows he's the #3 guy on the line, so he just does whatever will help the other 2
I think that we can say that Sekera, Schultz and Klefbom have played well in some areas, but have disappointed some of us fans on other areas to some degree that has them further down the chart here.