Kritty
Registered User
The pick 1 thread got me interested to see what everyone thinks the top 25 players under age 23 are. I'm expecting some homer picks here, but let's try to be honest. Shoot!
Top 25 players under the age of 23
- Thread starter Kritty
- Start date
- Status
Kritty said:
Kovalchuk, Heatley, Semin, Spezza, Lehtonen, Bouwmeester, Nash, Horton, Ovechkin (even if he hasn't played an NHL game, he's phenomenal), Staal, Zherdev, Michalek, Svatos, Gaborik, Paul Martin (if he's under 23, I forget, he may be 23 or 24), Hamhuis, Pitkanen, Erhoff, Weiss,
I dunno. I guarantee you I forgot a ton. This was just off the top of my head.
From FLA, at least Bouwmeester, Horton, and maybe Weiss.
Bare in mind all the players here have played in hte NHL a considerable amount aside from Ovechkin. He's just awesome though.
In no particular order here are some of my pics: (there might be more than 25)
Tuomo Ruutu, Chicago
Konstantinin Koltsov, Pittsburgh
Ryan Malone, Pittsburgh
Micheal Ryder, Montreal
Eric Staal, Carolina
Alexander Ovechkin, Washington
Dan Hamhius, Nashville
John-Micheal Liles, Colorado
Patrice Bergeron, Boston
Kari Lethonen, Atlanta
Chuck Kobasew, Calgary
Mathew Lombardi, Calgary
Nikolai Zherdev, Columbus
Rick Nash, Columbus
Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta
Dany Heatly, Atlanta
Marc-Andre Bergeron, Edmonton
Christian Backman, St.Louis
Lukas Krajicek, Florida
Trent Hunter, Islanders
Zbynek Michalek, Minneasota
Sidney Crosby, Rimouski
Peter Sejna, St. Louis
Jay Bouwmeester, Florida
Nathan Horton, Florida
Dion Phanuef, Calgary
M-A Fleury, Pittsburgh
Steve Emiger, Washington
and ofcourse, my boy,
Alexei Semenov, Edmonton
Im not sure if all these guys are under 23 im sure some of them arent but i was to lazy to check everyone. Almost all of them are rookies from last year..
Tuomo Ruutu, Chicago
Konstantinin Koltsov, Pittsburgh
Ryan Malone, Pittsburgh
Micheal Ryder, Montreal
Eric Staal, Carolina
Alexander Ovechkin, Washington
Dan Hamhius, Nashville
John-Micheal Liles, Colorado
Patrice Bergeron, Boston
Kari Lethonen, Atlanta
Chuck Kobasew, Calgary
Mathew Lombardi, Calgary
Nikolai Zherdev, Columbus
Rick Nash, Columbus
Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta
Dany Heatly, Atlanta
Marc-Andre Bergeron, Edmonton
Christian Backman, St.Louis
Lukas Krajicek, Florida
Trent Hunter, Islanders
Zbynek Michalek, Minneasota
Sidney Crosby, Rimouski
Peter Sejna, St. Louis
Jay Bouwmeester, Florida
Nathan Horton, Florida
Dion Phanuef, Calgary
M-A Fleury, Pittsburgh
Steve Emiger, Washington
and ofcourse, my boy,
Alexei Semenov, Edmonton
Im not sure if all these guys are under 23 im sure some of them arent but i was to lazy to check everyone. Almost all of them are rookies from last year..
danny said:
I'm curious to know if you have an affinity for Alberta players. As much as I like Lombardi, Kobasew and Bergeron, they are definitely not among the top 25 players under 23, neither is Semenov.
And Zbynek Michalek? Very, very interesting choice there. I think you might be alone in that one. Are you sure you didn't mean Milan Michalek?
My shot, in no particular order:
Kovalchuk
Heatley
Nash
Zherdev
Lehtonen
Staal
Bouwmeester
Horton
Hamhuis
Spezza
Gaborik
Semin
Vanek
Michalek
Ovechkin
Pitkanen
Ruutu
Suter
Phaneuf
Fleury
Malkin
Frolov
Lupul
Hemsky
Hartnell
Kovalchuk
Heatley
Nash
Zherdev
Lehtonen
Staal
Bouwmeester
Horton
Hamhuis
Spezza
Gaborik
Semin
Vanek
Michalek
Ovechkin
Pitkanen
Ruutu
Suter
Phaneuf
Fleury
Malkin
Frolov
Lupul
Hemsky
Hartnell
Last edited:
Winston Wolf
Registered User
Kritty said:
Ummm i think youve never heard of Zbynek Michalek
http://www.nhl.com/lineups/player/8469760.html
Milan Michalek may even be his brother..both born in Czech in Early 80s. As for the other people who put Michalek on there lists which brother did u mean? Im presuming Milan becasue of his 6th overallness (is that even a word?)
danny said:
I think most everyone here has heard of him. It's just he's nowhere near belonging on a list like this. He's an average defense prospect who might make it as a decent NHL defender and might not. Exactly who on the list Kritty posted earlier would you rate Michalek ahead of?
danny said:
I know exactly who Zbynek Michalek is, that's why I'm wondering how you include him in the top 25 players under 23. I've never seen a likely 3rd pairing dman be ranked that highly.
TML said:
I don't see who I would take out to put Stajan in. He'll be a nice 2nd/3rd liner but I don't see him as one of the top 25 in the league.
I'll have a go, but this looks pretty tough.
1. Ilya Kovalchuk
2. Marian Gaborik
3. Rick Nash
4. Alexander Ovechkin
5. Jay Bouwmeester
6. Tuomo Ruutu
7. Kari Lehtonen
8. Jason Spezza
9. Joni Pitkanen
10. Evgeni Malkin
11. Alexander Frolov
12. Nathan Horton
13. Eric Staal
14. Marc-Andre Fleury
15. Nikolai Zherdev
16. Dan Hamhuis
17. Dion Phaneuf
18. Alexander Semin
19. Ryan Suter
20. Patrice Bergeron
21. Milan Michalek
22. Fedor Tyutin
23. Braydon Coburn
24. Thomas Vanek
25. Cam Barker
I kinda did it on who I'd like to have, since its pretty hard to compare the non-NHLers to the 3 year 'veterans' etc in terms of their level of play at this point in time.. I haven't put too much thought into the ranking or anything either, but feel free to call me out on it anyway.
1. Ilya Kovalchuk
2. Marian Gaborik
3. Rick Nash
4. Alexander Ovechkin
5. Jay Bouwmeester
6. Tuomo Ruutu
7. Kari Lehtonen
8. Jason Spezza
9. Joni Pitkanen
10. Evgeni Malkin
11. Alexander Frolov
12. Nathan Horton
13. Eric Staal
14. Marc-Andre Fleury
15. Nikolai Zherdev
16. Dan Hamhuis
17. Dion Phaneuf
18. Alexander Semin
19. Ryan Suter
20. Patrice Bergeron
21. Milan Michalek
22. Fedor Tyutin
23. Braydon Coburn
24. Thomas Vanek
25. Cam Barker
I kinda did it on who I'd like to have, since its pretty hard to compare the non-NHLers to the 3 year 'veterans' etc in terms of their level of play at this point in time.. I haven't put too much thought into the ranking or anything either, but feel free to call me out on it anyway.
I know.Kritty said:
Stajan is nowhere near the Gaborik's, Kovalchuk's, Nash's, etc... but when I see Zyblany Michalek, Backman, Koltsov, Semenov, and Kobasew ahead of Stajan, it irks me.
Kritty said:
To tell you the truth he is not one of the top 25 players (remember this is coming from a guy whose got Alexei Semenov on his list), but a great role player who could be the key to a stanley cup winning team some day. I completely forgot about Gaborik on my list...
danny said:
Then why are you including him on a list of the top 25 players under the age of 23? Makes no sense.
TML said:
haha those guys were all on my list. Notice that in the first post he said he is expecting Homer pics, so i added some homer pics.. and now that ive done that i have done that people are dont like it? In all seriousness, semenov, z.michalek, and bergeron among others dont belong on my list, but without those guys on it what would us guys be talking about? I completely forgot about Stajan as well (i knew i was missing people). Did anyone consider Kyle Wellwood?
Kritty said:
Hmmm... i thought you said you were EXPECTING homer pics and now it makes no sense to make one?
hmm... i guess you also said lets try to be honest.... nevertheless, making pics like i made has obviously made for some discussion. To explain my homer pics a little more , i was just thinking that I was picking a team for the under-23 world championship, and i threw in some guys who werent in the top 25.
- Status
