Who has been the best since 2000?

[Varan]

This is for fun. Categories:

Best playmaker
Best goalscorer
Best Hitter
Best Defensive forward
Best Defensive defenseman and offensive defenseman
Best skater
Best Faceoff taker
Best hands
Best goalie who could handle the puck

Click to read more...

 

[Thordic]

This is for fun. Categories:

Best playmaker
Best goalscorer
Best Hitter
Best Defensive forward
Best Defensive defenseman and offensive defenseman
Best skater
Best Faceoff taker
Best hands
Best goalie who could handle the puck

Why so specific?

 

[wgknestrick]

This IS fun

 

[Gardner McKay]

Why so specific?

Because it eliminates one of the top answers: Henrik Lundqvist

 

[PensBandwagonerNo272*]

Best playmaker: Crosby
Best goalscorer: Ovechkin
Best Hitter: Kronwall
Best Defensive forward: Bergeron
Best Defensive defenseman: Lidstrom
Offensive defenseman: Karlsson
Best skater: Bouwmeester
Best Faceoff taker: Malhotra
Best hands: Kane
Best goalie who could handle the puck: Price

 

[Trap Jesus]

Best playmaker - Thornton
Best goalscorer - Ovechkin
Best Hitter - Kronwall? Don't have a great answer for this one, seems a bit too late for Stevens or Kasparaitis
Best Defensive forward - Bergeron
Best Defensive defenseman and offensive defenseman - Lidstrom and Karlsson
Best skater - McDavid
Best Faceoff taker - Perreault; not as many faceoffs taken as many, but you can't argue with his ridiculous results. He never dipped below 61.28% in a season after 1998.

Minimum 6,000 faceoffs taken

Best hands - Datsyuk
Best goalie who could handle the puck - Dipietro; I took this to mean best puckhandling goalie. If it's actually supposed to be best goalie who could handle the puck at an elite level, I'd go with Brodeur.

 

[The Nuge]

Best playmaker - Thornton
Best goalscorer - Ovi
Best Hitter - Stevens or Kasparaitis
Best Defensive forward - Datsyuk
Best Defensive defenseman - Pronger
offensive defenseman - Karlsson
Best skater - McDavid
Best Faceoff taker - Gordon
Best hands - McDavid
Best goalie who could handle the puck - Smith

 

[Skobel24]

Best Faceoff taker - Perreault; not as many faceoffs taken as many, but you can't argue with his ridiculous results. He never dipped below 61.28% in a season after 1998.

Perreault was a faceoff god.

Best playmaker: Thornton
Best goalscorer: Ovechkin
Best Hitter: Regehr
Best Defensive forward: Datsyuk
Best Defensive defenseman: Pronger
Best offensive defenseman: Karlsson
Best skater: Sakic
Best Faceoff taker: Perreault or Yelle
Best hands: Sakic
Best goalie who could handle the puck: Not sure

 

[authentic]

This is for fun. Categories:

Best playmaker
Best goalscorer
Best Hitter
Best Defensive forward
Best Defensive defenseman and offensive defenseman
Best skater
Best Faceoff taker
Best hands
Best goalie who could handle the puck

Best playmaker- Crosby
Best goalscorer- Ovechkin
Best Hitter- Stevens
Best Defensive forward- Bergeron
Best Defensive defenseman and offensive defenseman- Pronger and Karlsson
Best skater- McDavid
Best Faceoff taker- Perreault
Best hands- Datsyuk
Best goalie who could handle the puck- Brodeur

 

[authentic]

Perreault was a faceoff god.

Best playmaker: Thornton
Best goalscorer: Ovechkin
Best Hitter: Regehr
Best Defensive forward: Datsyuk
Best Defensive defenseman: Pronger
Best offensive defenseman: Karlsson
Best skater: Sakic
Best Faceoff taker: Perreault or Yelle
Best hands: Sakic
Best goalie who could handle the puck: Not sure

Sakic was definitely not even in the conversation for best of either of those things, even though he was elite in both categories. To each his own though.

 

[AvroArrow]

This is for fun. Categories:

Best playmaker
Best goalscorer
Best Hitter
Best Defensive forward
Best Defensive defenseman and offensive defenseman
Best skater
Best Faceoff taker
Best hands
Best goalie who could handle the puck

Playmaker = Thornton
Goalscorer = Ovechkin
Hitter = Stevens
Defensive forward = Federov
Defensive D man = Pronger
Offensive D man = Karlsson
Skater = McDavid
Faceoff man = Yanic Perrault
Best hands = tie between Datsyuk/Kane
Puck Handling goalie = Brodeur

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Best playmaker : Joe Thornton
Best goalscorer : Alex Ovechkin
Best Hitter : Niklas Kronwall
Best Defensive forward : Pavel Datsyuk
Best Defensive defenseman and offensive defenseman : Nicklas Lidstrom and Erik Karlsson
Best skater : Connor McDavid
Best Faceoff taker : Patrice Bergeron
Best hands : Patrick Kane
Best goalie who could handle the puck : Martin Brodeur

Just my humble opinion

 

[eli4spetterss0n]

Best playmaker: Thornton
Best goalscorer: Ovechkin
Best Hitter: Really not sure, Kronwall I guess.
Best Defensive forward: Bergeron
Best Defensive defenseman and offensive defenseman: Lidstrom and Karlsson
Best skater: Mcdavid
Best Faceoff taker: Perreault
Best hands: Datsyuk/Kane Leaning towards Datsyuk because he was more smooth whereas Kane has quicker hands
Best goalie who could handle the puck: Brodeur

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

Best playmaker: Thornton
Best goalscorer: Ovechkin
Best Hitter: Ovechkin
Best Defensive forward: Datsyuk
Best Defensive defenseman and offensive defenseman: Lidstrom, Karlsson
Best skater: McDavid
Best Faceoff taker: Malhotra
Best hands: Datsyuk
Best goalie who could handle the puck: Brodeur

 

[ShonSaunders]

Since people are posting retired players, I take this to be an GOAT poll. I'll proceed to date myself with my answers.

Best playmaker - Gretzky
Best goalscorer - Hull / Sakic / Bossy / Ovechkin (every generation has several great goal scorers)
Best Hitter - Stevens / Blake
Best Defensive forward - Federov
Best Defensive defenseman and offensive defenseman - Bourque / Orr
Best skater - Coffey
Best Faceoff taker - Forsberg (Peter)
Best hands - Datsyuk
Best goalie who could handle the puck - Turco

 

[Skobel24]

Sakic was definitely not even in the conversation for best of either of those things, even though he was elite in both categories. To each his own though.

I disagree.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

Since people are posting retired players, I take this to be an GOAT poll. I'll proceed to date myself with my answers.

Best playmaker - Gretzky
Best goalscorer - Hull / Sakic / Bossy / Ovechkin (every generation has several great goal scorers)
Best Hitter - Stevens / Blake
Best Defensive forward - Federov
Best Defensive defenseman and offensive defenseman - Bourque / Orr
Best skater - Coffey
Best Faceoff taker - Forsberg (Peter)
Best hands - Datsyuk
Best goalie who could handle the puck - Turco

"Since 2000"

 

[Sens Rule]

I did not read the thread before making my choices. I watched hockey since well before 2000.

Best playmaker - Joe Thornton
Best goalscorer - Alex Ovechkin
Best Hitter - Mike Peca
Best Defensive forward - Patrice Bergeron
Best Defensive defenseman and offensive defenseman - Lidstrom defensive Karlsson offensive
Best skater - Connor McDavid
Best Faceoff taker - Rod Brind'Amour
Best hands - Pavel Datsyuk
Best goalie who could handle the puck - Martin Brodeur

 

[Sens Rule]

I will add:

Best player: Crosby

Since I had him in no categories. Thornton is a better playmaker and Crosby is second likely. But Joe doesn't shoot enough and Crosby does.

 

[End of Line]

Best playmaker: Thornton
Best goalscorer: Ovechkin
Best Hitter: Kronwall
Best Defensive forward: Datsyuk
Best Defensive defenseman and offensive defenseman: Pronger/Karlsson
Best skater: Crosby
Best Faceoff taker: Bergeron
Best hands: Datsyuk
Best goalie who could handle the puck: Brodeur

Best Player Overall: Crosby

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

Best playmaker: Thornton
Best goalscorer: Ovechkin
Best Hitter: Kronwall
Best Defensive forward: Bergeron
Best Defensive defenseman and offensive defenseman: Lidstrom/Karlsson
Best skater: Karlsson
Best Faceoff taker: Malholtra
Best hands: Datsyuk
Best goalie who could handle the puck: Brodeur

Best player: Crosby, because I felt bad that he wasn't included in any of them.

 

[amnesiac]

Best playmaker: Crosby
Best goalscorer: Ovie
Best Hitter: Martin
Best Defensive forward: Datsyuk
Best Defensive defenseman and offensive defenseman: Chara, Karlsson
Best skater: McDavid
Best Faceoff taker: Yanic Perreault
Best hands: Datsyuk
Best goalie who could handle the puck: Brodeur

 

[authentic]

Since people are posting retired players, I take this to be an GOAT poll. I'll proceed to date myself with my answers.

Best playmaker - Gretzky
Best goalscorer - Hull / Sakic / Bossy / Ovechkin (every generation has several great goal scorers)
Best Hitter - Stevens / Blake
Best Defensive forward - Federov
Best Defensive defenseman and offensive defenseman - Bourque / Orr
Best skater - Coffey
Best Faceoff taker - Forsberg (Peter)
Best hands - Datsyuk
Best goalie who could handle the puck - Turco

Faceoffs were the weakest part of Forsberg's game. He was below 50% for his career.

 

[Hisch13r]

Best playmaker- Crosby
Best goalscorer- Ovi
Best Hitter- Kronwall
Best Defensive forward- Datsyuk
Best Defensive defenseman- Lidstrom
Best Offensive defenseman- Karlsson
Best Skater- Niedermayer
Best Faceoff taker- Brind'Amour
Best hands- Datsyuk
Best goalie who could handle the puck- Brodeur

 

[BenchBrawl]

Best playmaker - Thornton
Best goalscorer - Ovechkin
Best Hitter - No idea and too lazy to investigate
Best Defensive forward - Bergeron (then Datsyuk)
Best Defensive defenseman - Lidstrom
Best Offensive defenseman - Karlsson
Best Skater - No idea and too lazy to investigate
Best Faceoff taker - Brind'Amour maybe? Hard to say and too lazy to check
Best hands - Jagr, Kovalev, Kane, Datsyuk
Best goalie who could handle the puck - Brodeur, Price

More categories:

Best Powerforward/Pugilist - Lucic
Best Leader - Toews (then Lidstrom)
Best Physical Player - Chara
Best Slapshot - Weber
Best Goon/Fighter - Laraque
Best Team - Maybe 2009-2010 Chicago (H.M. Detroit 2008, Anaheim 2007)
Best Player Overall - Crosby or Lidstrom
Best Goalie - Lundqvist/Price
Best Defenseman - Lidstrom
Best Coach - Quenneville