Where exactly would you rate Turgeon among centers during his playing days?.....
I'd say during his career Turgeon was one of the top 16-18 forwards . I'd have him behind Gretzky, Jagr, Lemieux, Messier, Francis, Sakic, Forsberg, Hull for sure. I think he ranks with Sundin, Lafontaine, Modano, Recchi. Selanne, Oates, Gilmour, Robitaille, Shanahan, Fedorov, Andreychuk, Roenick, Nieuwendyk, Anderson, Kariya. Some of these guys don't completely overlap Turgeon perfectly but it is a rough gauge. All of these guys are HOFers sans Roenick and a great majority of them first ballot guys.
I know point shares has it detractors
but I don't think it over or under values Turgeon either way and gives a good ballpark type of ranking. Here's some contemporary forwards.
1. Wayne Gretzky* 1979-99 251.01
4. Jaromir Jagr 1990-18 216.48
21. Mario Lemieux* 1984-06 167.90
22. Joe Sakic* 1988-09 167.83
24. Steve Yzerman* 1983-06 166.66
27. Mark Messier* 1979-04 160.45
32. Brett Hull 154.36
36. Ron Francis* 1981-04 149.48
38. Brendan Shanahan* 1987-09 147.96
39. Mark Recchi* 1988-11 147.53
42. Mike Modano* 1989-11 144.88
44. Mats Sundin* 1990-09 144.41
54. Luc Robitaille* 1986-06 138.65
59. Pierre Turgeon 1987-07 134.34
61. Daniel Alfredsson 1995-14 133.64
72. Jeremy Roenick 1988-09 125.77
73. Sergei Fedorov* 1990-09 125.59
76. Keith Tkachuk 1991-10 125.13
78. Patrik Elias 1995-16 124.70
79. Dave Andreychuk* 1982-06 124.59
91. Joe Nieuwendyk* 1986-07 120.05
94. Doug Gilmour* 1983-03 118.71
99. Adam Oates* 1985-04 117.07
109. Dale Hawerchuk* 1981-97 112.11
112. Alexander Mogilny 1989-06 111.50
119. Theoren Fleury 1988-03 110.27
122. Paul Kariya* 1994-10 109.33
My Best-Carey