Legit first liners are the elite ones who are consistently putting up 70-80 points. after that there are a bunch of players who sometimes have 1st line caliber numbers other times fall short to have 2nd line numbers. these players usually hover around high 40s, 50s, and 60 point seasons and imo are more 2nd/1st line tweeners than legit first line players.
I think Norris is gonna fall into the 2nd/3rd line caliber.
I don’t think you can take the absolute top players in the league, like the top 20 forwards like you’re doing, and say that only they are legit top line players, when there are 93 legit top line positions. By that logic there has never been, and never will be enough legit top line players in the world to meet that standard.
It just doesn’t really work that way. They are the very best top line players perhaps, but there are closer to 100 players in the league that fit a realistic definition of top line player.
I get what you mean in spirit I guess, but your point criteria is more a way to define which players are the superstars of the league, not which players should be considered top line players. Consider that most teams, including the cup champs, only have one player that meets that criteria, yet no one would argue that only have one top line player.
As far as our boy Norris is concerned, we’ll see how he ends up, but he’s doing about as good a job as possible in the league he’s playing in to show that he can excel at the sport at the pro level. He’s the best (arguably one of) rookie in the league.