Team of the Decade: First Line Center

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

Zibanejad is a legitimate top line center. Stepan is a serviceable top line center. Thus Zibanejad is the better center of the decade.

How does Z having like half a great season as a #1 center make him the center of the decade? Weird. He should have 2020 and beyond if all goes well.

 

[Governor]

How does Z having like half a great season as a #1 center make him the center of the decade? Weird. He should have 2020 and beyond if all goes well.

If the Rangers had Crosby for a full year in this decade, you would take Stepan over Crosby?

When I think of teams of the decades, I think of teams with the best players on them.

Zibanejad is better than Stepan was. Zibanejad is the better skater, better on faceoffs, better offensively and is capable of playing both ends like Stepan did.

Not saying Stepan is a bad player, or was. He was great for those Rangers teams. I just believe Zibanejad is the better player.

 

[Edge]

If we look at the decade as a whole, I feel like it's Stepan because of the combination of longevity and production.

There are more talented guys with higher peaks, but because of timing/tenure, it's hard for me to give them that nod.

I mean Stepan will have played twice as many games, and scored twice as many points when we talk about this past decade.

I'm interpreting this question to be more about scope of work as it related to a long period of time. Not necessarily who had the best season, or who would be the fantasy draft selection if you were building a custom team.

That's a clear distinction for me.

I love what Zibanejad has done for the last 100 games and think he's the most talented center we've had in 20 years.

But it's still only 100 games, and that's hard to stake claim over a full decade.

 

[Edge]

I’m kinda shocked at the Stepan votes honestly. I didn’t even think and hit Zbad as a no brainer but what do I know?

I feel like this question is similar to debates about the greatest player. It really depends on how you break it down.

Who do I think is the greatest player to ever play for the Rangers? Wayne Gretzky. He's the greatest player.

Who I think had the greatest Rangers career of all-time? Brian Leetch.

Who do I think is the most important Rangers player of all-time? Mark Messier.

So I can argue three different answers depending on how I interpret the question. But I find that most people would interpret the question the second way, so the universal answer is Brian Leetch.

In this case, I'm looking at which center had the greatest Rangers career this decade. That's Stepan.

Who do I think is the better actual player? Zibanejad.

 

[TheDirtyH]

I'm just thinking about the best center within this decade. I'm a huge fan of Stepan's but Zibanejad didn't just have a better season than Stepan ever did, he had one of the single greatest seasons by a Rangers' center ever.

What was that streak of his matched by only Gilbert, having a point on nine consecutive goals by the team? And even before that season, he's put in some good numbers and built a good resume for being at least close to Stepan's level over three seasons.

Stepan makes sense for the cumulative assessment. And as an iconic player of the decade. But to me, Zibanejad is #1 center of the decade. His season last year was that good IMO.

 

[SA16]

It's easily Stepan just due to timing. Zibanejad has had exactly one big season in the decade. Stepan had a bunch of very good seasons. And Stepan's lockout shortened season was nearly as good as Zibanejad's was last year anyway though obviously it was a smaller sample.

 

[Fitzy]

This is close enough that I'm comfortable sliding the ultimate loser into the 2nd line spot without a vote.

 

[DanielBrassard]

Stepan and I don't think it can be any other choice. Keep in mind when Stepan was here he played in a lower-scoring environment than Zibanejad has excluding 16-17 obviously.

 

[Cassano]

The options in this poll is exactly why we haven't won a cup this decade.

 

[kovazub94]

If we look at the decade as a whole, I feel like it's Stepan because of the combination of longevity and production.

There are more talented guys with higher peaks, but because of timing/tenure, it's hard for me to give them that nod.

I mean Stepan will have played twice as many games, and scored twice as many points when we talk about this past decade.

I'm interpreting this question to be more about scope of work as it related to a long period of time. Not necessarily who had the best season, or who would be the fantasy draft selection if you were building a custom team.

That's a clear distinction for me.

I love what Zibanejad has done for the last 100 games and think he's the most talented center we've had in 20 years.

But it's still only 100 games, and that's hard to stake claim over a full decade.

There's definitely a balancing act in making these rankings but here specifically the difference in Stepan's body of work over Zibanejad's is much more significant than Zibanejad's single best season over Stepan's. Someone called Zibanejad's last season as one of the greatest in team's history and I just don't see it that way. It might not even make it as a top-10 in team's history.

 

[Edge]

There's definitely a balancing act in making these rankings but here specifically the difference in Stepan's body of work over Zibanejad's is much more significant than Zibanejad's single best season over Stepan's. Someone called Zibanejad's last season as one of the greatest in team's history and I just don't see it that way. It might not even make it as a top-10 in team's history.

The sad thing with someone like Zibanejad is that when we discuss "decade" type discussions he's someone who probably ends up falling between two decades, and not necessarily being clearly associated with either. He could have one foot in the 2010s and another in the 2020s. Whereas someone like Chytil could conceivably play most, if not all of the 2020s in his prime.

 

[nyr2k2]

This is close enough that I'm comfortable sliding the ultimate loser into the 2nd line spot without a vote.

Yeah I think there's a longevity thing and a "hasn't been great for more than a season" thing with Zibanejad, that wouldn't really be problematic in match ups against Brass, Hayes, or Richards. Same for Stepan--he gets dinged for "never being that good", but neither were the other three.

 

[kovazub94]

The sad thing with someone like Zibanejad is that when we discuss "decade" type discussions he's someone who probably ends up falling between two decades, and not necessarily being clearly associated with either. He could have one foot in the 2010s and another in the 2020s. Whereas someone like Chytil could conceivably play most, if not all of the 2020s in his prime.

Yup, happens sometimes. Hopefully, Chytil will make it a non-issue (in a good way) : )

 

[Edge]

There's a certain irony to remembering that the guy in second place was the subject of debates as to whether he should be moved to RW as recently as 18 months ago, which means this board wasn't even totally sold on him as a center until half-way through his still relatively short tenure with the club.

 

[nyr2k2]

There's a certain irony to remembering that the guy in second place was the subject of debates as to whether he should be moved to RW as recently as 18 months ago, which means this board wasn't even totally sold on him as a center until half-way through his still relatively short tenure with the club.

Yup, before last season Zibanejad was an underachiever. Last year, for all we know, could be a career year. I feel like we shouldn't vote All-Decade teams based on single seasons.

 

[Edge]

Yup, before last season Zibanejad was an underachiever. Last year, for all we know, could be a career year. I feel like we shouldn't vote All-Decade teams based on single seasons.

And that's where it gets subjective.

Are we talking about which player is more closely associated with the decade and had the better tenure? Or are we talking about which player you'd pick from anyone who played in the decade?

Zibanejad has taken his game to a whole new level the last year or so. But interestingly enough, even if we go simply by production, and throw everything else out the window, Zibanejad's .77 points per game isn't necessarily light years ahead of Stepan's .70 as a Ranger.

However, those numbers include the huge leap that Zibanejad took last season, which jumps his ppg tally up considerably because he's working with a sample size that is roughly half of the one used for Stepan.

 

[nyr2k2]

And that's where it gets subjective.

Are we talking about which player is more closely associated with the decade and had the better tenure? Or are we talking about which player you'd pick from anyone who played in the decade?

Zibanejad has taken his game to a whole new level the last year or so. But interestingly enough, even if we go simply by production, and throw everything else out the window, Zibanejad's .77 points per game isn't necessarily light years ahead of Stepan's .70 as a Ranger.

However, those numbers include the huge leap that Zibanejad took last season, which jumps his ppg tally up considerably because he's working with a sample size that is roughly half of the one used for Stepan.

Yeah, and Stepan's "best" season was 44 in 48, which is the equivalent of 75 in 82, or exactly what Zibanejad did last year. And then after that career year, Stepan went back to being his usual 50-55 point self. Not to suggest Zibanejad reverts to his unpredictable point outputs, but you never know. He looked great this year, but has looked great in small samples previously.

There's just not enough there for me to go Zibanejad, even though I'm reasonably comfortable in believing he's "better" than Stepan was.

 

[Chaels Arms]

I voted Stepan but it really does make me a sad panda that he is our team of the decade first line center.

 

[Edge]

Yeah, and Stepan's "best" season was 44 in 48, which is the equivalent of 75 in 82, or exactly what Zibanejad did last year. And then after that career year, Stepan went back to being his usual 50-55 point self. Not to suggest Zibanejad reverts to his unpredictable point outputs, but you never know. He looked great this year, but has looked great in small samples previously.

There's just not enough there for me to go Zibanejad, even though I'm reasonably comfortable in believing he's "better" than Stepan was.

I have no doubt that Zibanejad is the better player, or at least the more talented and dangerous player.

But because of timing and tenure, he's not my pick for center of the decade.

As of this post, he's fourth in points and games played out of the five options available. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he'll likely finish third.

 

[nyr2k2]

I voted Stepan but it really does make me a sad panda that he is our team of the decade first line center.

Eh, we had some really good teams with him as the 1C. Some better luck and we could have even won a Cup. Ideally you'd want someone better than Stepan as your 1C, but he performed ably and we enjoyed our best sustained success for decades.

We also have Tony DeAngelo because of him.

 

[nyr2k2]

I have no doubt that Zibanejad is the better player, or at least the more talented and dangerous player.

But because of timing and tenure, he's not my pick for center of the decade.

As of this post, he's fourth in points and games played out of the five options available. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he'll likely finish third.

When we're doing this in ten years, he may well be the #1 C for the team of that decade.

 

[Edge]

When we're doing this in ten years, he may well be the #1 C for the team of that decade.

He or Chytil would be the early potential candidates for that crown.

 

[eco's bones]

I'd have to go with Mika--Stepan would be second but to me Derek never made me think first line center.

 

[FIRE DRURY]

Went with Stepan, mostly because of his track record.

Feels like I'm cheating on Zbad though. . . .

 

[Crease]

I think it's pretty clearly Stepan even if Zibanejad is the more talented player. This is a "body of work" poll to me.