Ranking the Best First Overall Picks of the 21st Century

[McKappa]

Tier 1: Generational players
Crosby
McDavid
Ovechkin

Tier 2: HOF Calibre players
Kane

Tier 3: Elite consistent All-Star players
Stamkos
Kovalchuk
Matthews
Tavares
Hall

Tier 4: Good Players
Ekblad
Mackinnon
Nash

Tier 5: Solid Players, disappointing 1OA picks
Johnson
Nugent-Hopkins
Fleury

Tier 6: Poor players
DiPietro

Tier 7: Bust Tier
Yakupov

Tiers are roughly ordered, lots of career projecting involved.

 

[East Coast Icestyle]

Tier 1: Generational players
Crosby
McDavid
Ovechkin

Tier 2: First Ballot HOF Calibre players
Kane

Tier 3: Elite consistent All-Star players, possibly HOF worthy
Stamkos
Kovalchuk
Matthews

Tier 4: All-Star
Tavares
Hall

Tier 5: Good Players
Ekblad
Mackinnon
Nash

Tier 6: Solid Players, disappointing 1OA picks
Johnson
Nugent-Hopkins
Fleury

Tier 7: Poor players
DiPietro

Tier 8: Bust Tier
Yakupov

Tiers are roughly ordered

If Matthews is possibly hof worthy at 19 then how is Nash two tiers below him?

Everyone's obsession with assuming Matthews will be one of the very best in the league right away is weird. What of the highest he gets is Toews numbers without the cup? Or levels off somewhere in there. HOF worthy are ppg for extended periods of time, top goal scorers in the game. Etc.

 

[McKappa]

If Matthews is possibly hof worthy at 19 then how is Nash two tiers below him?

Everyone's obsession with assuming Matthews will be one of the very best in the league right away is weird. What of the highest he gets is Toews numbers without the cup? Or levels off somewhere in there. HOF worthy are ppg for extended periods of time, top goal scorers in the game. Etc.

Merged tier 3 and 4

Everything I've seen from Matthews suggests to me that he'll be one of the best players in the league for a very long time, and I'm sure anyone who watched the WCOH or the Leafs regularly will agree with me on this. Matthews is not your typical first overall pick. I would be very disappointed if he puts up Toews like numbers, I would expect him to be a similar player to Kopitar, with possibly more overall production.

 

[East Coast Icestyle]

Merged tier 3 and 4

Everything I've seen from Matthews suggests to me that he'll be one of the best players in the league for a very long time, and I'm sure anyone who watched the WCOH or the Leafs regularly will agree with me on this. Matthews is not your typical first overall pick. I would be very disappointed if he puts up Toews like numbers, I would expect him to be a similar player to Kopitar, with possibly more overall production.

He's in his first season. He should either not be in any lists yet or be ranked conservatively.

You realize Kopitar and Toews only difference is their later seasons production, right?

 

[Cubs2024WSChamps]

Kane

Crosby

Everybody else.

Cups or nothing.

 

[Sam Spade]

Kane

Crosby

Everybody else.

Cups or nothing.

Fleury has two Cups.

 

[chunkylover53]

Fleury has two Cups.

Interesting is that only 3 players there have Cups...and 2 of them played on the same team (Crosby/Fluery on the Pens)

 

[McBaevid]

Kane

Crosby

Everybody else.

Cups or nothing.

Kane can't hold Crosbys jock, give your head a ****ing shake

 

[Eternal Leaf]

Doesn't make sense to rank the last 3-4 #1 overalls (Matthews, McDavid, Ekblad, and MacKinnon). It's too early.

From everyone else,

1) Crosby
2) Ovechkin
3) Kane
4) Stamkos
5) Tavares
6) Kovalchuk
7) Rick Nash
8) Taylor Hall
9) Johnson
10) Fleury
11) RNH
12) Dipietro
13) Yakupov