hockeyman28 said:1.) Crosby
2.) Malkin
3.) Kovalchuk
4.) Ovechkin
5.) Nash
6.) Zherdev
7.) Lehtonen
8.) Kessel
9.) Parise
10.) Fleury
Those are the 10 players that will have the biggest effect on the NHL in the next 5-10 years. Parise may seem out of plce, but his rookie year with Albany with very impressive, especially considering his team.
To me, Crosby is the obvious #1. Has the best of almost every offensive facet of the game.
Malkin will be great. He will mature into his frame. Reminds me of Lemieux.
Zherdev is so high on the list because of his team. He will be playing with Nash for a while, and they will complement eachother well.
Kessel seems like he will be an offensive explosion, fastest player in the world at top speed IMO.
Lehtonen and Fleury will both be franchise goalies.
Nash and Kovalchuk have already proven themselves.
AO will be very good, but he will have a tough time in Washington.
BobMarleyNYR said:I think everyone is really underrating Crosby... it's not like he's gonna be a Nash or Kovalchuk, Wayne Gretzky himself compared the kid to Lemieux...
No center to pass the puck on the Russian national teams?freakazoid said:Agree, Ilya's passing is really underrated. He is seen by most as a selfish player who cares about scoring, but lets not forget he has no center to pass him the puck
To be able of executing good passes doesn't mean to be good at playmaking. Would Kovalchuk use more often his passing capabilities instead of going alone versus three defenders awaiting for him i guess we would have anything negative to say about his playmaking.Epsilon said:I don't see how one could say anything negative about Kovalchuk's playmaking. His passes are among the hardest and most accurate in the NHL.
We are waiting with anticipation.monster_bertuzzi said:I could think of 5 or 6 prospects that are better goalscorers than Crosby.
helicecopter said:To be able of executing good passes doesn't mean to be good at playmaking. Would Kovalchuk use more often his passing capabilities instead of going alone versus three defenders awaiting for him i guess we would have anything negative to say about his playmaking.
Not enough self confidence?Vlad The Impaler said:Seen him every time he has graced TSN with his presence. Which is why I hate doing lists like that but since you insisted it was mostly for fun, I jumped. My list should be taken with the obligatory grain of salt
Real superstars (Gretzky, Lemieux, Jagr, Forsberg, Bure..) don't take that much to develop. That said, of course the players you mentioned have a chance to become better than those original six, but imo that would probably mean that someone will be underachieving among them (among the original six).Vlad The Impaler said:Bouwmeester is still raw, Spezza has developed very slowly. I think the three could be absolute monsters or could really disappoint.
Ah well,as for the Mario comparisons i disagree too. He doesn't recall me of Mario and i am not expecting he will be as good as him either, despite the impressive progression rate it seems he is still riding. The 'special dominance' i guess(hope) was mentioned while referring to the WJC so i can't judge (could not see).Vlad The Impaler said:As far as Malkin is concerned, I have liked what I have seen of him pretty much every time I have seen him but I guess it wasn't as much as some of the comments I read here...
..I gotta tell you, I can't wait to see more Malkin and I hope he is as good as people make it sound here but I haven't seen it. By "it" I mean I haven't seen the special dominance people refer to sometimes, and some comments and names like "Mario" pop up that I have to disagree with.
Yeah, then that's quite strange..i mean, he looks to me like a no-ordinary passer (no ordinary vision and use of his linemates).. but again, after only three games of viewing i can't be completely sure of anything. I couldn't watch him in WJC, seeing him play in a big role would have helped i guess.Vlad The Impaler said:The funny thing is, I am a whore for hockey sense and stuff like that. I always favor those players with great mind and great vision, I usually have that bias for them. It is a bit strange that I don't favor Malkin all that much because that is predominantly what people seem to like most about him.
Agree.Vlad The Impaler said:As Epsilon said, he does send crisp passes. As well, he has a surprisingly nice vision when he gets down to it.
Me neither.Vlad The Impaler said:All of that does not make him a playmaker, nor does anyone in his right mind would want Kovy to be a playmaker.
To pass the puck when it's the best thing to do (and considering it's Kovachuk we are talking about that's less frequent than for common players) doesn't mean to neglect his natural gifts at all. On the contrary, if defenders are less sure that in some situations he won't pass the puck, they are going to play it fairer thus giving him a bit more space to take even more advantage of his natural gifts.Vlad The Impaler said:If your opinion is that Ilya should concentrate more on passing than he is doing right now and neglect his natural gifts, you are entitled to it. I disagree but hey, that's alright.
I am just telling that, especially during transition plays, he often doesn't make the best play available...which unfortunately is (often but not always) not necessarily going for the shot himself independently from how defenders and linemmates are playing it.Vlad The Impaler said:But if you are trying to tell people that this guy doesn't know how to make plays, I think this is either a lie or gross ignorance. Don't know which would be better.
I've seen him much more in international competitions than in NHL so far, he didn't dominate at all in those two worldchampionship, one world cup and at the Olympics. That's probably part of the reasons that i feel more the need for him to better polish his game.Vlad The Impaler said:He was 15th overall in assists last year. And I see him all the time and he can feed people well (although some of the attempts are high risk) and quickly.
As long as Ilya is a dominant player, he will never, ever be a playmaker. But he can pass the puck very well, thankyouverymuch.
Vlad The Impaler said:Seen him every time he has graced TSN with his presence. Which is why I hate doing lists like that but since you insisted it was mostly for fun, I jumped. My list should be taken with the obligatory grain of salt
As far as Malkin is concerned, I have liked what I have seen of him pretty much every time I have seen him but I guess it wasn't as much as some of the comments I read here. The whole club 13 looks pretty good right now, although over time the distance between players will grow (and the rankings will be thrown out of whack).
The three groups I did indicate that among that group, I wouldn't cry at all if I picked a name out of a hat to choose from. I've listed them in order of preference. So really, give me Malkin or Staal if I need a center and I'll be just happy.
In the second group, I put three players whom I felt had enormous talent but this is a very risky group. Goalies are always difficult to assess, Bouwmeester is still raw, Spezza has developed very slowly. I think the three could be absolute monsters or could really disappoint.
Anyway, there's still not much that separates Malkin from the top group. And perhaps Erocaps is right, perhaps I should have put Lehtonen in the top group. Maybe I should have put Nash in his whole category on top because he's the player I am really most sure of.
I'm sure most will agree being in the low club 13 is pretty good anyway. Those are rocking players as far as I'm concerned
I gotta tell you, I can't wait to see more Malkin and I hope he is as good as people make it sound here but I haven't seen it. By "it" I mean I haven't seen the special dominance people refer to sometimes, and some comments and names like "Mario" pop up that I have to disagree with.
The funny thing is, I am a whore for hockey sense and stuff like that. I always favor those players with great mind and great vision, I usually have that bias for them. It is a bit strange that I don't favor Malkin all that much because that is predominantly what people seem to like most about him.
Well since there's a 100 % probability that you are wrong about the past historyJaded-Fan said:I have about a 99% probability of being right I think.
pei fan said:Well since there's a 100 % probability that you are wrong about the past history
of hockey my guess is there is a much greater than 1% chance that you will
be wrong about the future of hockey.
golleafsgo_17 said:I think you guys are completley underrating Tuomo Ruutu. If he played like he did in the second half in the first half he would have had 70 + points and he can very hard and he has that heart and grit that every team wants. He is only going to get better and better.
golleafsgo_17 said:I think you guys are completley underrating Tuomo Ruutu. If he played like he did in the second half in the first half he would have had 70 + points and he can very hard and he has that heart and grit that every team wants. He is only going to get better and better.
1. Kovalchuk - He is the most proven and scores goals like its nobodys business
2. Crosby - Led the QMJHL in scoring as a 16 year old. Enough said. Probably will surpass Kovy is points but until he does we will keep him at 2
3. Kari Lehtonen- This guy is the best goalie i have ever seen live. His reflexes and quckness is unbelievable. Will win Vezinas and possibly Harts
4. Ruutu - By far the most complete player and the most underated. The Finnish Forsberg
5.Malkin - A less complete more offensive Ovechkin
6. Ovechkin - A more complete less offensive version of Malkin.
7. Nash - Great power forward but way overated
golleafsgo_17 said:I think you guys are completley underrating Tuomo Ruutu. If he played like he did in the second half in the first half he would have had 70 + points and he can very hard and he has that heart and grit that every team wants. He is only going to get better and better.
1. Kovalchuk - He is the most proven and scores goals like its nobodys business
2. Crosby - Led the QMJHL in scoring as a 16 year old. Enough said. Probably will surpass Kovy is points but until he does we will keep him at 2
3. Kari Lehtonen- This guy is the best goalie i have ever seen live. His reflexes and quckness is unbelievable. Will win Vezinas and possibly Harts
4. Ruutu - By far the most complete player and the most underated. The Finnish Forsberg
5.Malkin - A less complete more offensive Ovechkin
6. Ovechkin - A more complete less offensive version of Malkin.
7. Nash - Great power forward but way overated