Top 10 players at each position at the mid-way mark

[lebdafor norris]

This top-10 is for performance this season only. Track record may tell us something about whether a player's current play is sustainable however. Who would you suggest I should move out to make room for him in the top-10?

I am trying to avoid falling into just tossing together this list based on name-brand, but I will admit, the perception of goalie does indeed suffer more of a "what have you done for me lately?" position then any of the skating position though which can make ranking them a bit tough and certainly hurts Dubnyk here.

Actually I might put Howard over MAF at this point considering Howard faces 9.22 high danger shots per 60 compare to MAF who only faces 7.15 high danger shots per 60 and despite this, he is still putting a higher sv% compare to MAF (all strengths; shots/deflections from the crease area, shots from a rush opportunity and shots made 3 or less seconds from rebounds are all categorized as high danger shots).

 

[mphmiles]

Side note: this is something I've been thinking about for a while and this thread is just kind of an excuse to post it somewhere: I think if Mark Stone played for a better team he'd be almost universally considered a top 5 winger in the league. (And I'm not a Sens or even a Canadian hockey fan)

He is a +7 corsi and fenwick player for his career and is over a PPG player over his last 100 games. That is complete absurdity. There's guys that are a little better goal scorers, but think he's absolutely the best 2 way winger in the league right now.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Nick Backstrom needs to be there.

 

[wahsnairb]

Jones is better than Josi and Buff, but these lists are good.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Care to clarify why you believe that? Because just looking at their stats it doesn't seem to be the case.

Just watch them play. Tavares is better in literally every facet of the game.

 

[Duffalufagus]

Care to clarify why you believe that? Because just looking at their stats it doesn't seem to be the case.

He is just teeing up his argument that Monahan’s production is all Gaudreau.

Also, Barkov over Monahan is a joke.

 

[NoName]

Side note: this is something I've been thinking about for a while and this thread is just kind of an excuse to post it somewhere: I think if Mark Stone played for a better team he'd be almost universally considered a top 5 winger in the league. (And I'm not a Sens or even a Canadian hockey fan)

He is a +7 corsi and fenwick player for his career and is over a PPG player over his last 100 games. That is complete absurdity. There's guys that are a little better goal scorers, but think he's absolutely the best 2 way winger in the league right now.

He was the first guy to miss honorable mention status for me for wingers. If I had split wingers into LW and RW he would have gotten in the top-10 for RW this season, but for combining the two he misses out. I agree he gets underrated because he plays in Ottawa and his totals last season were depressed by injury. Top-5 for both wings this season seems to be stretching credibility a bit for me. Who ahead of Kucherov, Rantenen, Gaudreau, Ovechkin and Marner do you feel he has outperformed so far in the 18/19 season?

 

[NoName]

Nick Backstrom needs to be there.

Who should get moved out of the top-10 to make room for him and what would the justification be?

 

[DearDiary]

Larkin deserved an honorable mention. What he's doing night and night out with nothing surrounding him is Incredible. I hate being that Homer fan but the kid is ruining our tank.

Which one of Tkachuck, Landeskog, Huberdeau or Kessel does he deserve a spot over and why?

 

[mphmiles]

He was the first guy to miss honorable mention status for me for wingers. If I had split wingers into LW and RW he would have gotten in the top-10 for RW this season, but for combining the two he misses out. I agree he gets underrated because he plays in Ottawa and his totals last season were depressed by injury. Top-5 for both wings this season seems to be stretching credibility a bit for me. Who ahead of Kucherov, Rantenen, Gaudreau, Ovechkin and Marner do you feel he has outperformed so far in the 18/19 season?

Yeah, that's tough when you put it that way. I'll amend my statement to top 10 from top 5.

 

[Backhandbeauty]

Which one of Tkachuck, Landeskog, Huberdeau or Kessel does he deserve a spot over and why?

Lol figure out what position he plays,genius.

 

[mphmiles]

Which one of Tkachuck, Landeskog, Huberdeau or Kessel does he deserve a spot over and why?

You know Larkin isn't a winger, right?

 

[mphmiles]

Fun fact on Stone: He has 70 takeaways in 42 games this season.

Next closest player is Barkov with 58.

 

[NoName]

Yeah, that's tough when you put it that way. I'll amend my statement to top 10 from top 5.

You have a fair point.

It is funny, because if I look at any of these guys individually, I think yeah, they are clearly top-10... but then when putting an actual list together it ends up some very good guys miss out. Admittedly I come with my own views and biases (and I only watch a fraction of NHL games on TV, mainly Jets and Leafs) so I could be wrong with any of my picks.

Fun fact on Stone: He has 70 takeaways in 42 games this season.

Next closest player is Barkov with 58.

That is a pretty neat stat and does help reinforce the previous point of him being a good two-way winger. Thanks for posting it.

 

[jbeck5]

Mark stone producing at similar paces to most wingers mentioned while being beast defensively and takeaway king...

 

[mphmiles]

You have a fair point.

It is funny, because if I look at any of these guys individually, I think yeah, they are clearly top-10... but then when putting an actual list together it ends up some very good guys miss out. Admittedly I come with my own views and biases (and I only watch a fraction of NHL games on TV, mainly Jets and Leafs) so I could be wrong with any of my picks.

You did a very good/fair job imo. Most of the disagreements thus far are basically nitpicking.

 

[NoName]

You did a very good/fair job imo. Most of the disagreements thus far are basically nitpicking.

Stone and Fluery do seem to be the two guys that are getting the most argument for them from multiple sources (and there are some solid arguments for them) so I may indeed have to change how I rank them. After everyone has had their say, I will tweak my rankings based on the new facts people have pointed out to me.

 

[NoName]

Larkin deserved an honorable mention. What he's doing night and night out with nothing surrounding him is Incredible. I hate being that Homer fan but the kid is ruining our tank.

I tried to limit it to 4 HMs per position (and even that feels like a bit of a co-out on my behalf), so some very good players miss out on even that. Who do you think Larkin should replace on that list among Monahan, Stamkos, Duchene and Lindholm?

 

[Duffalufagus]

I tried to limit it to 4 HMs per position (and even that feels like a bit of a co-out on my behalf), so some very good players miss out on even that. Who do you think Larkin should replace on that list among Monahan, Stamkos, Duchene and Lindholm?

What is your argument tht Barkov has been better thn Monahan in the first half of the year?

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Who should get moved out of the top-10 to make room for him and what would the justification be?

All the guys in the top 10 are deserving but if I would replace Nick with one it would be Barkov. Nick has slightly better stats than him and his team is doing better. If not in the top 10 he should definitely get an HM callout.

 

[BigGulpsEh]

Lol figure out what position he plays,genius.

Sassy

 

[PatrikBerglund]

No love for Backstrom?

Washington's best player. Yes, better than Ovy.

 

[NoName]

No love for Backstrom?

Washington's best player. Yes, better than Ovy.

Part of it is that centre is so deep a position in terms of high-end talent so that hurts Backstrom. OV being on pace for 60 goals again is pretty special as well.

 

[kuch]

IMO McDonagh has been better than Hedman on Defense

 

[TheWayToRefJose]

Homer vote, but pavelski is on pace for 48 goals this year.