What classifies a player as a star in the NHL?

[El Travo]

Skill and marketability.

A skilled player who nobody cares about is a good player.
A skilled player who people care about is a star.
A really skilled player who lots of people care about is a superstar.
A really skilled player who has people acting like he's not cared enough about is Alexander Barkov.

 

[jetsforever]

Draisaitl and Mackinnon aren’t superstars? And Malkin is?

Yikes.

Well I was saying they all are or aren't, but yeah basically
The question isn't "who are the best 5 players in the league", which often changes year to year
You need some name recognition to be a superstar, and Malkin is an all-time great.

 

[jetsforever]

Skill and marketability.

A skilled player who nobody cares about is a good player.
A skilled player who people care about is a star.
A really skilled player who lots of people care about is a superstar.
A really skilled player who has people acting like he's not cared enough about is Alexander Barkov.

Basically all NHLers fall into one of the 4 categories good/star/superstar/Barkov

 

[The Moose is Loose]

Well I was saying they all are or aren't, but yeah basically
The question isn't "who are the best 5 players in the league", which often changes year to year
You need some name recognition to be a superstar, and Malkin is an all-time great.

Draisaitl is the reigning Art Ross, Lindsay, and Hart winner- there is no way he isn't considered a superstar, especially with 3 running seasons of being 2nd in production to McDavid

 

[Kojo]

A player who goes out of his way to promote his own brand.

 

[jetsforever]

Draisaitl is the reigning Art Ross, Lindsay, and Hart winner- there is no way he isn't considered a superstar, especially with 3 running seasons of being 2nd in production to McDavid

Sure, but then also include Kuch, Malkin, etc.

 

[Huokaus]

According to Finnish yellow press, anyone that has played in the NHL in any capacity is an "NHL star". Sean Bergenheim was an NHL star. Yegor Sharangovich is an NHL star.

 

[darrylsittler27]

Hockey has always been a team game and no player, not even Wayne Gretzky, has ever won a Cup by himself. This isn't the NBA.

Mario Lemieux.

 

[darrylsittler27]

Mario Lemieux.

Patrick Roy

 

[nowhereman]

Mario Lemieux.

Didn't happen. In fact, you're literally proving my point. Lemieux couldn't get his team into the playoffs in the 80s and needed a stacked roster to finally win some team hardware.

Patrick Roy

This one didn't happen either. Go look at those Canadians rosters again and tell me that Roy did it all by himself. He didn't. Not with names like Robinson, Chelios, Carbonneau, Muller, Naslund, Smith, Lemieux, Damphousse, Gainey and Muller.

 

[The Moose is Loose]

Sure, but then also include Kuch, Malkin, etc.

Why are you so insistent on Malkin? He hasn’t been a top 5-10 player in years?

 

[Notsince67]

The categorization is personal but the question is as useful as "how many holes are in a straw."
I'll bite though.
Superstars are everyone with the name McDavid, Crosby and Ovechkin.
Next tier is subject to the sample group of observers.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Simple answer: when a large portion of the non hockey world recognizes your name

 

[Eisen]

I don't think there is a difference between star and superstar. It's an empty superlative of a superlative.

 

[Seanaconda]

Why are you so insistent on Malkin? He hasn’t been a top 5-10 player in years?

He was like a year or two ago for the first half of the season then got hurt like always

 

[Bones Malone]

Be an astronomical object consisting of a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its own gravity.

 

[SouthWest]

Superstars are major trophy winners or consistent PPG+ players (top 10-15 players in the league) (Kucherov, Draisaitl, Hedman, Mackinnon, etc)

Stars are some of the top players on their respective teams (top 10-15 for their position in the league) (Scheifele, Barkov, Aho, Carlson, etc)

Then you have the Crosby, Ovechkin, McDavid types on another level.

 

[Zach716]

Who cares

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