Best skaters on each team?

[Xirik]

Will be interesting to see how Luke slots in after NCAA season ends.

He might not be able to skate if he plays again for the U.S team during the WJC.

What? Hughes tendon is cut open? well he can play through it till the end of the game. -U.S Coach

 

[Alicat]

Best slowest skater award goes to Krejci.

Bergy's not far behind lol. In fairness, neither have ever been fast

 

[DFF]

I remember Lomberg on the Flames had awesome speed on the forecheck, but I don’t ever remember him carrying the puck

Yeah lol you can be fast be it’s useless if you can’t carry or receive the puck

Montreal IMO

1- Byron (although may have slowed down with recent injuries)
2- Caufield
3- Matheson
4- Drouin
5- Anderson
6- Pitlick
7- Hoffman
8- Suzuki (great technical skater)
9- Wideman
10- Dadonov
11- Monahan (looked pretty fast in pre-season)
12- Evans
13- Dach
14- Barron
15- Harris
16- Guhle
17- Pezzetta
18- Gallagher (has slowed down with age)
19- Dvorak
20- Armia
21- Edmundson
22- Slafkovsky
23- Savard
24- Xhekaj
25- Kovacevic

If Monahan is fast on your team, you have a big problem

 

[StorminSnvechnAho]

Necas is a good north-south skater, so he qualifies here if you like speed demons.

For power, Svechnikov is like a freight train running downhill. When you see him coming out of his own zone, it doesn't look like much to be afraid of. When he gets to the blue line, you routinely see defensemen have that "oh ****" moment where they realize he's still accelerating and can blow right past them on the outside. He's also very, very good dancing around in small spaces while also staying strong on his edges. Not a lot of bigger guys move the way he does.

If you love technical edgework, a low-key candidate is Slavin. It's nothing spectacular but if you watch him over the course of the game you really start to appreciate that he's never off balance, never loses his low center of gravity, just continuously smooth and pure with his footwork. It shows up maybe 1-2 times a month when someone tries to put a body on him and looks like they tried to hit a linebacker, not because he's huge but because he has such good balance.

Context is key here, The Canes have a lot of good skaters It's an RBA must have.... If it's speed then Necas is your guy as he's the fastest clocked skater in the NHL.

 

[Number 57]

Yeah lol you can be fast be it’s useless if you can’t carry or receive the puck


If Monahan is fast on your team, you have a big problem

He looked alright in pre-season, let's see how he does

 

[treple13]

Yeah lol you can be fast be it’s useless if you can’t carry or receive the puck


If Monahan is fast on your team, you have a big problem

Yeah that's pretty damning if the guy whose biggest weakness his entire career was his poor skating is above average on your team AFTER he's been cooked by injuries

 

[5 14 6 1]

Obviously McDavid

Next best two skaters would be McLeod and Holloway.

 

[Maitz]

Fastest player from MTL might be Byron when he is healthy

 

[kerrabria]

Good idea for a thread! To my eye...
Duclair is Florida's fastest and most evasive skater.
Barkov is noticeably fast as well, and he's probably Florida's most powerful skater.
Forsling is fast, and he's probably Florida's most fluid skater.
Verhaeghe, Montour, and Lomberg all have above-average speed as well.

Overall, skating is not the Panthers' strength, which is funny because that's what the commenters (especially our TV crew) kept emphasizing all year round. The team has never been about speed; they've just had a lot of talent, and it manifests in scoring off the rush.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

I wanted to make a thread just to get a feel of which players have the best skating ability around the league. Feel free to mention multiple players, and what specifically makes them a great skater (ie. speed, agility, edgework)

I'm gonna start by making a list of my best guesses for each team

ANA - Cam Fowler
ARZ - Jakob Chychrun?
BOS - Taylor Hall, Matt Grzelcyk
BUF - Jeff Skinner
CGY - Oliver Kylington
CAR - Martin Necas??? (I'm not too sure about this one)
CHI - Seth Jones?
COL - Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon (obviously)
CBJ - Eric Robinson??? (I know Gaudreau has elite skating in tight spaces, but he's not exactly the fastest guy in open ice)
DAL - Miro Heiskanen
DET - Dylan Larkin
EDM - Connor McDavid
FLA - Anthony Duclair???
LAK - Adrian Kempe, Andreas Athanasiou, Sean Walker???
MIN - Kirill Kaprizov, Jonas Brodin?
MTL - Jonathan Drouin?
NSH - Roman Josi
NJD - Jack Hughes
NYI - Mathew Barzal
NYR - Chris Kreider
OTT - Thomas Chabot?
PHI - Travis Konecny
PIT - Bryan Rust, Kasperi Kapanen??? Crosby/Letang??
SJS - Erik Karlsson
SEA - Andre Burakovsky???
STL - Jordan Kyrou, Nick Leddy
TBL - Victor Hedman, Brayden Point
TOR - Morgan Rielly, William Nylander, Mitch Marner
VAN - Quinn Hughes
VGK - Jack Eichel
WSH - Evgeny Kuznetsov
WPG - Nikolaj Ehlers, Kyle Connor

I'm looking forward to hear about your teams players

For PIT I’d say it’s probably Letang or Kapanen.

 

[Neil Racki]

Caps .... personally id say Nick Jensen as a D man. Can turn on the jets when needed and edge work is elite.

Nick Jensen with a Goal vs. Detroit Red Wings

Pretty goal last week, simple but pretty

 

[Rubi]

Now that Gaudreau has left I'm really not sure who's the best skater on the Flames. Nobody really stands out. Kylington might be the fastest but is fastest the best?

 

[Mack a doodle doo]

Obviously McDavid

Next best two skaters would be McLeod and Holloway.

Yeah McLeods skating is supper impressive to me, an oilers fan i'm not the biggest Nurse fan but he's objectively a very powerful skater.

 

[CorporateVrabs]

It has to be Boone Jenner for Columbus. I feel he don’t he enough credit.

 

[ScottyMascotty]

Overall, skating is not the Panthers' strength, which is funny because that's what the commenters (especially our TV crew) kept emphasizing all year round. The team has never been about speed; they've just had a lot of talent, and it manifests in scoring off the rush.

I think it can be interpreted as "speed of decision making" because team played last season with very fast-paced style.

 

[Panda Bear]

Best skater? What does that mean?
Fastest? Smoothest? Most agile?

Kreider is definitely the most powerful skater on the Rangers, but Fox or Jones are probably the most agile. Miller the smoothest.

Could it not mean all those things? If there's no clear answer, you may have to split skating into subcategories like you did here.

In other cases, your answer is a simple McDavid, Larkin, Barzal, Kariya, Bure, Karlsson, Niedermayer, Coffey.

 

[PDX Flyer]

Flyers.... I’d say Sanheim over TK

 

[Wateredgarden]

Habs must be between Caufield, Drouin and Matheson.

 

[teugen]

For Florida this is Barkov and its not even close. His way of using the blade is art.