HFBoards Top 31 NHL Centers - #22

[LT]

Rank	Player	Age	Team	Country	GP	G	A	P	%
#1	Connor McDavid	22			78	41	75	116	85.7%
#2	Sidney Crosby	32			79	35	65	100	71.8%
#3	Nathan MacKinnon	23			82	41	58	99	71.3%
#4	Aleksander Barkov	23			82	35	61	96	38.1%
#5	Patrice Bergeron	34			65	32	47	79	50.9%
#6	Evgeni Malkin	33			68	21	51	72	64.3%
#7	Auston Matthews	21			68	37	36	73	35.0%
#8	Mark Scheifele	26			82	38	46	84	28.9%, 53.7% (TB)
#9	John Tavares	28			82	47	41	88	28.2%,46.3%(TB)
#10	Steven Stamkos	29			82	45	53	98	23.6%
#11	Jack Eichel	22			77	28	54	82	22.7%
#12	Brayden Point	23			79	41	51	92	37.2%
#13	Nicklas Backstrom	31			80	22	52	74	18.9%, 45.8% (TB)
#14	Sean Couturier	26			80	33	43	76	18.1%, 54.3% (TB)
#15	Sebastian Aho	22			82	30	53	83	18.1%, 45.7% (TB)
#16	Ryan O'Reilly	28			82	28	49	77	33.3%
#17	Tyler Seguin	27			82	33	47	80	47.1%
#18	Anze Kopitar	31			81	22	38	60	34.2%
#19	Evgeny Kuznetsov	27			76	21	51	72	26.4%, 55.0%
#20	Elias Pettersson	20			71	28	38	66	26.4%, 45.0%
#21	Jonathan Toews	31			82	35	46	81	39.2%
#22
#23
#24
#25
#26
#27
#28
#29
#30
#31

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Rank hyperlinks direct to the corresponding voting thread.
Player hyperlinks direct to the corresponding player's hockey-reference.com page.

Suggested Additions:
Kevin Hayes
Paul Stastny
Eric Staal
Derek Stepan

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[NetflixandPhil]

I voted Couture but Larkin and Barzal are decent choices aswell.

Also why does HF appear to hate Monahan so much? I wouldn't pick him yet but I feel like he deserves to be considered as a ppg player.

 

[LarKing]

Larkin again. Couture is also a good choice but I don’t see the argument for a guy like Barzal yet.

 

[Regal]

I voted Couture but Larkin and Barzal are decent choices aswell.

Also why does HF appear to hate Monahan so much? I wouldn't pick him yet but I feel like he deserves to be considered as a ppg player.

Eh, he was PPG for the first time last season, and he doesn't contribute as much outside of production as a few others in this range who produce similarly. He'll probably go in the mid to later 20s

 

[kingblue]

Couture. Larkin not a bad choice either.

 

[Ace of Hades]

I voted Couture but Larkin and Barzal are decent choices aswell.

Also why does HF appear to hate Monahan so much? I wouldn't pick him yet but I feel like he deserves to be considered as a ppg player.

No one hates Monahan, he just isn't as good as the other players that people are voting for.

 

[amnesiac]

Couture, 70P + 20P playoffs.... the guy is surely better than Toews right now

add Eric Staal

 

[LT]

Larkin again. Couture is also a good choice but I don’t see the argument for a guy like Barzal yet.

How does Barzal not have an argument yet but Larkin does?

 

[LetsGoBLUES91]

Couture again.

 

[neverretirejoe]

Couture is a beast in the playoffs but he’s no slouch in the regular season. I’d definitely take him over the rest available.

 

[super6646]

Pettersson ahead of Monahan after one season...

Ok hf... ok.

 

[Ctrain2k]

Getzlaf .... again.

 

[LarKing]

How does Barzal not have an argument yet but Larkin does?

Barzal isn’t there yet defensively. He benefitted big time with Tavares facing the top guys. Larkin is a match-up machine. He normally comes out on top against pretty much any center listed in this poll, voted in yet or not.

 

[blinds]

Getzlaf .... again.

I want to put Getzlaf for his past performance, but guy is 34 years old and just put up a season at a sub-6o point pace and hasn't put up 80+ points since 13-14. He hasn't even scored 20 goals since 14-15. He's a little too past his prime.

I like Couture here. Good point producer, scores plenty of goals, good all around and great in the playoffs.

 

[Regal]

I want to put Getzlaf for his past performance, but guy is 34 years old and just put up a season at a sub-6o point pace and hasn't put up 80+ points since 13-14. He hasn't even scored 20 goals since 14-15. He's a little too past his prime.

I like Couture here. Good point producer, scores plenty of goals, good all around and great in the playoffs.

Yea, but before last year, a lot of that is missed time. In 17-18, he led the league in assists per game and was 12th in points per game, and in 16-17, he was 9th in points per game. And overall, the 3 years before last year, he was 14th in combined points per game. He also had a pretty great playoffs in 2017.

He is 34 this year though as you said, and wasn't nearly as productive last season, so this might be the end of the line for him as an elite center, but the whole team fell apart last year so it wouldn't surprise me to see a bounce back either.

 

[NotLeddy]

I'd probably pick five-six remaining centers here over Couture, his relative stats on the best possession team in the league are pretty underwhelming (despite getting loads of help from Burns/Karlsson/Meier etc) and most of his points in this year's playoffs were not at 5v5.

Larkin/Barzal
Monahan
Zibanejad
Hertl
Duchene
Couture

 

[CanadienShark]

Giving my vote to Couture, but Hertl is the #1C in SJ. He's our best forward. Two of my favourite players though. Couture is awesome in the playoffs.

 

[wetcoast]

Couture. Larkin not a bad choice either.

This is how I see it as well.

 

[Ace of Hades]

I'd probably pick five-six remaining centers here over Couture, his relative stats on the best possession team in the league are pretty underwhelming (despite getting loads of help from Burns/Karlsson/Meier etc) and most of his points in this year's playoffs were not at 5v5.

Larkin/Barzal
Monahan
Zibanejad
Hertl
Duchene
Couture

I would certainly add Horvat to that branch of players.

 

[NotLeddy]

I would certainly add Horvat to that branch of players.

Yeah he's probably interchangeable with Couture, I see them on a similar tier

 

[ookhaab]

Larkin should be gone already...

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

I'd probably pick five-six remaining centers here over Couture, his relative stats on the best possession team in the league are pretty underwhelming (despite getting loads of help from Burns/Karlsson/Meier etc) and most of his points in this year's playoffs were not at 5v5.

Larkin/Barzal
Monahan
Zibanejad
Hertl
Duchene
Couture

As somebody who watched every game that Couture played this year, his ranking on NHL Network’s rankings and in these polls have really helped show me what kind of factors people over and under emphasize in these types of discussions.

I don’t think people understand just how much Timo Meier did for Couture this season. Had you put Meier with Hertl and Kane with Couture, I think Hertl tops 80 points and Couture scores 65 at most.

I feel pretty confident in saying he is not a better player than Hertl.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Pettersson ahead of Monahan after one season...

Ok hf... ok.

Honestly I think Pettersson will be a top 5 C, not sure about next season but he’s unbelievable.

Larkin is the right answer here but I voted Monahan just to give him some love.

 

[NotLeddy]

Barzal isn’t there yet defensively. He benefitted big time with Tavares facing the top guys. Larkin is a match-up machine. He normally comes out on top against pretty much any center listed in this poll, voted in yet or not.

He also still doesn't face the same amount of top competition Larkin does, Trotz split a lot of his matchups with Nelson last season (similar situation with Aho and Brind'Amour mainly using Staal for top lines, but he's already voted in, so whatever). But he's not as bad defensively as you think, he has good positioning when the opposing team has the puck, and is good at getting the puck out of the zone.

I think Larkin should've been voted in before a few here, but Barzal should've as well. I think they're relatively equal, Larkin is better at creating offense off the rush, driving play and defensively with the puck, but Barzal is right now a bit better offensively and is better defensively without the puck. Neither have played with elite wingers or defensemen for the past two seasons.

 

[Aladyyn]

Larkin should be gone already...

He's had one good season...