Top 30 NHL Players #12

[mynamejeff420]

You got #1 right but it's all downhill after that. Pettersson, Point and Stone #2-4? Lol. Point is the 3rd best player in Tampa, not the whole league.

Point, Stamkos, and Kucherov are all insanely talented offensive players. I don't think anyone could argue against that. I also don't think it's unfair to suggest Point is the 3rd best player offensively on Tampa, but all 3 of them are so close that it's all semantics anyways. Where Point pulls ahead is defensively. Both Stamkos and Kucherov are very weak defensively, while Point is actually pretty solid in his own zone. That's how I got Point > Stamkos > Kucherov.

As for Pettersson, he's carried a weak Canucks team way farther than they ever could or should have gone. He's good everywhere, on offense, on defense, on the powerplay. That's why I have him at #2, because he's done so much with so little.

Finally, as for Stone, he may not post the gaudy offensive totals of some of the other guys around him, but he's no slouch offensively either. Like Pettersson, he's had to do a lot with so little. Ottawa was a tire fire and he still managed to really solid offensive totals there, and then continued to play incredibly well in Vegas. But not only was he terrific offensively, but he's also a monster in the defensive zone. One of the best in the league defensively. So whatever gap there is between him and the other guys offensively (which is probably a lot smaller than people think), Stone more than makes up for it in the defensive zone.

 

[mynamejeff420]

Giroux has 53 points this season. Kane has 84 points. Malkin has 74 points in 14 less games.

Kucherov scored more points a season ago than any player in around 25 years (ps - he was named Mario Lemieux). But his teammate Steve Stamkos is better than him. So is Mark Stone of course, who he outscored by 55 points last year, and EP, who he outscored by 60+ points. Got it.

Out of curiosity what team are you a fan of? Because I'm sure I can come up with some super appealing trade offers for you...

Sure Malkin and Kane are outscoring Giroux, but there's more to hockey than just point totals. It would be tough to argue that Giroux is more talented offensively than Kane or Malkin, because he isn't. Kane and Malkin are definitely better offensively. The thing is though, despite what the point totals say, the gap is probably a little lower than you'd expect, because points are kind of a shitty metric for evaluating offense, and there's better metrics to measure that.

But the biggest reason for having Giroux above Kane and Malkin is because of defensive play. Kane is one of, if not the worst, defensive players in the league. While Malkin isn't quite on that level, his defense is also terrible. Giroux, on the other hand, is actually pretty good defensively. Good enough to more than bridge the gap between him and Malkin/Kane points wise.

Same thing with Kucherov and Pettersson/Stone. 1st, Kucherov is in a much more favorable situation offensively, so his point totals probably are a little inflated compared to his actual offensive contributions (not to say that he isn't one of the best offensive players in the league). Meanwhile, Pettersson's and Stone's situations are not really conducive to putting up massive point totals, so their points are probably low compared to their actual offensive contributions. But even though Kucherov is better than both of them offensively, he's way worse defensively. His defense is well below average, while Pettersson is comfortably above average, and Stone's is one of the best in the league. So basically, while Kucherov has them beat offensively, you gotta also consider the defensive aspect of the game, and Pettersson and Stone blow Kucherov out of the water defensively.

 

[JoVel]

Point, Stamkos, and Kucherov are all insanely talented offensive players. I don't think anyone could argue against that. I also don't think it's unfair to suggest Point is the 3rd best player offensively on Tampa, but all 3 of them are so close that it's all semantics anyways. Where Point pulls ahead is defensively. Both Stamkos and Kucherov are very weak defensively, while Point is actually pretty solid in his own zone. That's how I got Point > Stamkos > Kucherov.

Point's definitely better than Stamkos. Has been for 3 years now. It's between Hedman and Kucherov for the best player on the Lightning.

 

[Brian McDavid]

I think you can pretty much interchange Eichel/Matthews depending on the evening. I voted Eichel because of my dislike for the Leafs.

 

[TheKrebsCycle]

I think you can pretty much interchange Eichel/Matthews depending on the evening. I voted Eichel because of my dislike for the Leafs.

Not really. One has a better career ppg, vastly better goalscoring resume, on the draw, defensively all while being much larger and younger. Eichel is the better playmaker(and skater) , and awesome in his own right but based on merit Matthews edges it out imo. Just a slightly stronger report card.

 

[wetcoast]

Not really. One has a better career ppg, vastly better goalscoring resume, on the draw, defensively all while being much larger and younger. Eichel is the better playmaker(and skater) , and awesome in his own right but based on merit Matthews edges it out imo. Just a slightly stronger report card.

I can buy this argument as legit even though I voted Eichel.