ESPN’s Top 25 NHLers of the 21st Century

[CanadienShark]

I didn't expect much, and I'm still coming away disappointed. Awful ranking.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

Amazing avatar and username dude. I'm just finishing Toast of London, I think I have about 3 episodes left. Have you seen my Matt Berry Appreciation Thread?

I don't frequent the non hockey portion of this site. Good to see another Berry enjoyer here.

lol damn I always thought that was a pic of Mike Myers from So I Married An Axe Murderer

 

[Golden_Jet]

Datsyuk and Hedman should be much higher. No way in hell Karlsson should be ranked above Hedman.

Karlsson first team all star 5x to Hedman 1

Karlsson 3 Norris trophies to Hedman 1

Think it’s fine as is.

 

[AvroArrow]

Karlsson first team all star 5x to Hedman 1

Karlsson 3 Norris trophies to Hedman 1

Think it’s fine as is.

Hedmans ability to defend to Karlsson looking like a chicken with its head cut off in the defensive zone

Hedmans 2 cups and 1 Conn Smythe to Karlssons 0

Hedman being a physical monster while still being able to skate and produce offensively at an elite level

It isn't close, everyone knows Karlsson won his Norris' because of his offensive output, guys horrendous defensively

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Hedmans ability to defend to Karlsson looking like a chicken with its head cut off in the defensive zone

Hedmans 2 cups and 1 Conn Smythe to Karlssons 0

Hedman being a physical monster while still being able to skate and produce offensively at an elite level

It isn't close, everyone knows Karlsson won his Norris' because of his offensive output, guys horrendous defensively

Your argument appears to be "I know a lot more than the people voting for the awards".

 

[AvroArrow]

Your argument appears to be "I know a lot more than the people voting for the awards".

Poor assessment of my argument, my argument is Hedman won 2 cups and a playoff MVP and is significantly better defensively than Karlsson, while being slightly worse offensively.

It's not even close, straight up disrespectful to suggest Karlsson is better or was better.

Everyone knows the Norris was legit handed to him because he scored points, voters ignored how bad he was in his own end, literally just a handful of posters, mostly Sens fans that still try and debate that.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Poor assessment of my argument, my argument is Hedman won 2 cups and a playoff MVP and is significantly better defensively than Karlsson, while being slightly worse offensively.

It's not even close, straight up disrespectful to suggest Karlsson is better or was better.

Everyone knows the Norris was legit handed to him because he scored points, voters ignored how bad he was in his own end, literally just a handful of posters, mostly Sens fans that still try and debate that.

Your argument still appears to be "I know a lot more than the people voting for the awards", coupled with a bit of "other people can't understand my argument".

 

[Golden_Jet]

Hedmans ability to defend to Karlsson looking like a chicken with its head cut off in the defensive zone

Hedmans 2 cups and 1 Conn Smythe to Karlssons 0

Hedman being a physical monster while still being able to skate and produce offensively at an elite level

It isn't close, everyone knows Karlsson won his Norris' because of his offensive output, guys horrendous defensively

Still 5x first team all star to Hedmans 1.
Hedman couldn’t get the second spot on the first team all star.?

 

[John Mandalorian]

At least it’s only ESPN. And since almost everyone understands that, there won’t be a lot of complaining or arguing about it.

 

[AvroArrow]

Still 5x first team all star to Hedmans 1.
Hedman couldn’t get the second spot on the first team all star.?

I'll take 2 cups a conn smythe and elite 2 way D-man over Karlsson every single day of the week. His defensive flaws are way too big to ignore, if he was average defensively sure I could understand it. But the guy was literally Jake Gardiner bad defensively, we can't pretend like that isn't a thing.

 

[Golden_Jet]

. But the guy was literally Jake Gardiner bad defensively, we can't pretend like that isn't a thing.

So Morgan Reilly bad then, I don’t think he’s as bad as him.

 

[AvroArrow]

So Morgan Reilly bad then, I don’t think he’s as bad as him.

Even worse defensively, literally Jake Gardiner esque in his own end. Always lost and out of position, extremely soft

 

[killa3312]

Kucherov is laughably low on this list. The amount of disrespect this guy gets from the national media is criminal. How do you justify putting him 17th? He has two Art Ross Trophies in an era where he’s battling it out with MacKinnon and McDavid, among others, every season.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I'll take 2 cups a conn smythe and elite 2 way D-man over Karlsson every single day of the week. His defensive flaws are way too big to ignore, if he was average defensively sure I could understand it. But the guy was literally Jake Gardiner bad defensively, we can't pretend like that isn't a thing.

I think that 2017 run for Ottawa, Karlsson was just as impactful, if not more so, than Hedman's performance in either Cup win. He almost took a Cinderella Sens team that had no business being out of the first all the way to the Cup finals (thank you, Kunitz!).

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Lundqvist at 8 and Price outside the top 25 is side splittingly funny

How is Vasy not higher than both

 

[Bradely]

Insane to have Bergeron at 10

insane thinking otherwise

 

[Gardner McKay]

As bad as ESPN is, this is a decent list. Obviously there are some places that I would switch... but not terrible.

 

[Golden_Jet]

I think that 2017 run for Ottawa, Karlsson was just as impactful, if not more so, than Hedman's performance in either Cup win. He almost took a Cinderella Sens team that had no business being out of the first all the way to the Cup finals (thank you, Kunitz!).

Agree, if not for Kunitz, likely would also win the cup and becomes hands down winner for Conn Smythe, he even had votes losing in double OT.
Did that on one leg and cortisone shots in the ankle.

 

[The Hockey Tonk Man]

Seems like a fairly decent list when you look at the 21st century as a whole
Can swap some guys around, but whatever

Pretty good for espn

 

[Maliks PlusMinus]

WTF, MAF????

 

[nowhereman]

There's a lot of huge misses here but MAF on this list might just be the most egregious. The guy was wildly inconsistent and most likely cost the Penguins a few more Cups. That 2012 series had some of the worst goaltending I've ever seen in the playoffs.

 

[Voight]

How the hell is Kucherov so low?

 

[Golden_Jet]

Replace MAF with Hossa

 

[I am not exposed]

MAF being on the list is laughable. He shouldn't even be in the top 100, never mind top 25. Talk about a player who lucked out on playing for good teams to improve his reputation dramatically.

 

[nowhereman]

I'll take 2 cups a conn smythe and elite 2 way D-man over Karlsson every single day of the week. His defensive flaws are way too big to ignore, if he was average defensively sure I could understand it. But the guy was literally Jake Gardiner bad defensively, we can't pretend like that isn't a thing.

I understand your argument regarding Hedman's two-way ability but peak Karlsson was an absolute force. You could argue that he titled the ice even more than guys like Makar and Hughes currently do. Would Tampa still win their two Cups if you had 2017 Karlsson on the team, supported by their stacked d-core? I'd say almost certainly, as he dragged a significantly worse team to the Conference Finals himself.