The NHL network's top 20 centers

[The List Of Jericho]

Do assists not count towards points anymore or should we just look at who scored the most goals to decide who's the best player?

And I'm the one cherry picking stats



His own coach was scared to use him in the defensive zone lmao

I'm going to laugh very hard when he hits PPG next season and he shuts you up for good. Not to mention he had more assists than your boy who played on a much more superior line all season.

What rookies do you know that took defensive zone faceoffs in their own end when guys like Bozak(who's one of the best faceoff men in the league are available to do so). Heck his faceoff percentage is better than McDavid's lol

 

[Bedards Dad]

Uh, maybe you should re-read what was said. I'm not claiming the fact that he was a rookie means he's can't be that good. Others are arguing that his success should hold more weight because he's a rookie, which would make sense if we're looking at potential but not if we're looking at who is currently the best.

You (and many others) may need to read the article. It literally says based on past performance with 16-17 holding more weight and taking next year's projection into account. 0

 

[Freedom]

Tavares, Stamkos and Seguin should be easily better in ranking than Matthews.

 

[Connor]

According to the NHL network:

1. Connor McDavid
2. Sidney Crosby
3. Evgeni Malkin
4. Austin Matthews
5. Nicklas Backstrom
6. John Tavares
7. Steven Stamkos
8. Tyler Seguin
9. Ryan Getzlaf
10. Mark Scheifele
11. Patrice Bergeron
12. Jonathan Toews
13. Anze Kopitar
14. Jack Eichel
15. Leon Draisaitl
16. Ryan Johansen
17. Aleksander Barkov
18. Jeff Carter
19. Evgeny Kuznetzov
20. Sean Monahan

https://public.tableau.com/shared/B7DRQCMBD?:display_count=no

 

[Regal]

You (and many others) may need to read the article. It literally says based on past performance with 16-17 holding more weight and taking next year's projection into account. 0

Sure, but the idea that he's going to improve because of his rookie season doesn't seem to be the argument being presented. It's that the fact he was that successful as a rookie holds some kind of weight in itself

 

[7even]

I don't think he bases his opinions on logic and fact. But the funny thing he posts Leafs related stuff more than the average Leafs fan.

I'm convinced he's actually a bot account that algorithmically arranges buzzwords into sentences.

 

[Alwalys]

If he can bounce back to 15-16 levels, sure, but he didn't look like it last year and he'll be 37 coming off a major knee injury

last season was a down season for him pointwise, but his possession game was pretty much as strong as ever. it's hard to rank him because of the game he plays, he just shapes the game to his mold the way few players can. the injury is a big question mark though, and it'll be interesting to see whether the injury or the extra rest hurts or helps, or if they cancel out or what.

the other question is whether pavelski counts as a center, if he does he has to make that list.

 

[Man Bear Pig]

Matthews has quickly become the most overrated player in hockey

Are we just going to ignore that he was 129th in assists last year?

Laine had even less assists. I mean, since you're cherry picking stats, I thought you should know. Also, did Laine get the pleasure of playing with black hole Hyman? He'd have finished with 5 assists if that were the case.

 

[Man Bear Pig]

Tavares, Stamkos and Seguin should be easily better in ranking than Matthews.

Easily? Well, if its so easy, explain it. Explain how the players you listed are so much better.

 

[julkki]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HujH2Y9Iryk

Here's the broadcast of the list. The list is ok for the most part but clearly Matthews place isn't YET in the top 5. Probably in the future he will.

North American broadcasting is very entertaining and flashy, and if one wouldn't know much of hockey one would buy commentators analysis with those fancy videos. But if one watches NHL regularly then you don't need to be Einstein to figure out that those "rankings" are just bulls*** wrapped in a candy paper.

 

[Peggy]

I'm going to laugh very hard when he hits PPG next season and he shuts you up for good. Not to mention he had more assists than your boy who played on a much more superior line all season.

What rookies do you know that took defensive zone faceoffs in their own end when guys like Bozak(who's one of the best faceoff men in the league are available to do so). Heck his faceoff percentage is better than McDavid's lol

He had one less assist

The issue is the disrespect to players like scheifele who worked hard to become a ppg player and he gets leap frogged by a player who plays one season and scores less

If you read my post I believe he is already the 4th best. This season will prove it

So he still hasnt proved it tho

Again
Potential is something that hasn't happened yet
And you're valuing that potential a little high scheifele scored 82 points in 79 games. But he still needs to prove himself...

The bias is real with Matthews fans

 

[Spartachat]

The NHL lists only Crosby and Toews as active centers in the NHL top 100 of all time. Therefore, shouldn't Crosby and Toews be 1 and 2, respectively.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

I heard them talking about this on talk radio yesterday. Lots of talking points. Wouldn't take this list too seriously. Crosby at #2 I don't agree with that. I am one of the biggest McDavid admirers here but IMO Crosby is still the best player in the world. Until he is not, you can't have him at #2. Matthews at #4? Makes me wonder if this is click bait?

 

[cotopaxi]

Tavares, Stamkos and Seguin should be easily better in ranking than Matthews.

Add at least Scheifele and Getzlaf to that list.

 

[Peggy]

I heard them talking about this on talk radio yesterday. Lots of talking points. Wouldn't take this list too seriously. Crosby at #2 I don't agree with that. I am one of the biggest McDavid admirers here but IMO Crosby is still the best player in the world. Until he is not, you can't have him at #2. Matthews at #4? Makes me wonder if this is click bait?

Journalism is so shady I wouldn't put past them just to get them talking about it

Crosby is still better than McDavid

And there are 9 other centres better than matthews

 

[Sypher04]

Add at least Scheifele and Getzlaf to that list.

Yeah, no.

 

[cotopaxi]

Yeah, no.

Yeah, yeah.

Scoring 40 goals is very impressive but one season doesn't prove anything, and there's much more to being a center. Scheifele and Getzlaf are both better all-around players than Matthews at this moment, only a homer wouldn't agree with that.

 

[Cotton]

Yeah, yeah.

Scoring 40 goals is very impressive but one season doesn't prove anything, and there's much more to being a center. Scheifele and Getzlaf are both better all-around players than Matthews at this moment, only a homer wouldn't agree with that.

Spoken like someone with no idea.

Maybe look at their numbers first. Getzlaf with about 4min more ice-time per game put up 9 more points, that and being a bit better on the draw are the only areas he led.

FYI, Selke voting: Scheifele 30th, Matthews 38th, Getzlaf 48th. And for the All-Star team: Scheifele 4th, Matthews 5th, Getzlaf 8th.

 

[Old Guy]

Just slightly surprised that Alex Wennberg didn't get a sniff.

 

[Sypher04]

Posted this in another thread earlier, but it's applicable here too:

Scheifele gets credit for producing the 13 extra points, but that doesn't inherently make him better than Matthews was.

Matthews points per 60 = 2.86
Scheifele points per 60 = 3.03

So, right off the bat. If you even out their icetime, Scheifele still has 82 points, but Matthews gets 77

Scheifele played 69%+ of this season with only:
Laine - 64 in 73 (72 point pace) * Rookie
Wheeler - 74 in 82 (74 point pace)
Ehlers - 64 in 82 (64 point pace)
Perrault - 45 in 65 (57 point pace)

Matthews played 80%+ of this season with only:
Nylander - 61 in 81 (62 point pace) * Rookie
Brown - 36 in 82 (36 point pace) * Rookie
Hyman - 28 in 82 (28 point pace) * Rookie
****virtually 100% of his 5 on 5 time with Hyman

Matthews finished the season with 40 goals, 20 primary assists, and 9 secondaries
Scheifele finiished the season with 32 goals, 26 primary assists, and 24 secondaries

Their point differential is entirely in secondary assists, as Matthews actually had more primary points than Scheifele did. And it's not at all unreasonable to think they guy who plays more, with better players, gets more secondary assists.

Nevermind that Matthews is 5 year younger, better on faceoffs already, blocks more shots, and creates more scoring chances.

 

[Canucks1096]

Spoken like someone with no idea.

Maybe look at their numbers first. Getzlaf with about 4min more ice-time per game put up 9 more points, that and being a bit better on the draw are the only areas he led.

FYI, Selke voting: Scheifele 30th, Matthews 38th, Getzlaf 48th. And for the All-Star team: Scheifele 4th, Matthews 5th, Getzlaf 8th.

Yeah 1.40 second of that was on PK. Matthews average 0.01 second on the pk. Also Getzlaf has 47% offensive zone starts. Matthews 63%. Just because someone has more ice time doesn't mean there put in a position to score more. Getzlaf is a number 1 center but he starts defensive zone more. You need to look at the numbers with a little more context.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Yeah, yeah.

Scoring 40 goals is very impressive but one season doesn't prove anything, and there's much more to being a center. Scheifele and Getzlaf are both better all-around players than Matthews at this moment, only a homer wouldn't agree with that.

He proved he's capable of scoring 40 goals and being the best ES goal scorer over a given season.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Backstrom and Bergeron should be 4 and 5. Matthews out of the top 10, the list is a bit better.

 

[GellMann]

Laine had even less assists. I mean, since you're cherry picking stats, I thought you should know. Also, did Laine get the pleasure of playing with black hole Hyman? He'd have finished with 5 assists if that were the case.

Was Laine on this list of centers?

Lmfao leafs fans

 

[bert]

Matthews #4? I'm triggered.

All the lists thus far have been catored to the biggest markets. While no doubt in my mind Matthews will be a top 5 centerman there is no way he gives your team a better chance to win than Ryan Getzlaf at this point. The list seems to be all based on scoring, Mcdavid is not better than Sid... Yet etc.