Top 10 players at each position at the end of the season

[NoName]

I previously ranked the top 10 players in the NHL at the midway mark of the season in an article here: Top 10 players at each position at the mid-way mark

Now given that game 82 was played last night and the playoffs are still a few days away, it looks like the perfect time to re-rank all the players based on this season's body of work.

So it is the top 10 centres, wingers defencemen and goalies with 4 honourable mentions (and no more)

NOTE: this is going by their "listed positions" on NHL.com, not necessarily where they play the bulk of their ice-time.

Centre
1) McDavid
2) Crosby
3) MacKinnon
4) Barkov
5) Draisaitl
6) Bergeron
7) Stamkos
8) Tavares
9) Point
10) Matthews

HM: Eichel, Scheifele, Monahan, Giroux

Winger
1) Kucherov
2) P. Kane
3) Marchand
4) Gaudreau
5) Ovechkin
6) Pastrnak
7) Marner
8) Rantanen
9) Huberdeau
10) Panarin

HM: Wheeler, Landeskog, Kessel, Radulov

Defense
1) Giordano
2) Burns
3) Rielly
4) Letang
5) Josi
6) Carlson
7) Hedman
8) E. Karlsson
9) Chabot
10) Krug

HM: Suter, Doughty, Yandle, Jones

Goaltending
1) Vaslivskiy
2) Bishop
3) Lehner
4) Kuemper
5) Andersen
6) Price
7) Rinne
8) Greiss
9) Murray
10) Fleury

HM: Bobrovski, Binnnington, Dubnyk, Gibson

NOTE: Goalie seems especially subjective given the need to strike a balance when weighing being a work-horse vs raw sv% and GAA over a more limited amount of games started (and thus a fresher, more rested goalie).


Rookies
1) Petterson
2) Dahlin
3) B. Tkachuck
4) Heiskanen

NOTE: for the top-4 rookies I just looked at teenagers. Rookies in their 20s are much more physically developed so comparing them is apples to oranges.

So what do you guys think? What are your own 2018-2019 season top-10 lists? If someone raises a convincing argument, I am totally willing to modify my lists; I admit, I don't regularly watch all 31 teams, so I might have missed something here having just relied on the paper stats for a bunch of these guys. Just remember, if you want to move someone up into the top-10, you also have to say who you would move out to make room for him.

NOTE: After feedback, I will make any changes in an edit and highlight how those changes affected the overall rankings of all guys in the top-10 (+ or - from original position).

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[Dominance]

I know you explained your reasoning, but I really disagree with Draisaitl being rated among the centres. Put him sixth among wingers, put Scheifele at 9, and slide the other centres up.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

I'm surprised to see Krug at top 10. I haven't followed him too well but I didn't anticipate him to be anywhere close to top 10.

 

[57special]

Spurgeon was better than Suter this year, who has lost a step due to his serious ankle injury late last season. If you gave me a choice between Krug and Spurgeon, I know who I'd take.

 

[NoName]

I'm surprised to see Krug at top 10. I haven't followed him too well but I didn't anticipate him to be anywhere close to top 10.

He is definitely more of an "all offense" type defenceman and that hurts his standing in the top 10 (kind of like Carlson is 6th on the list despite eclipsing 70 points), but he is such a great spark-plug for springing that uber-deadly Boston top-6 that I thought he warranted that 10th spot. For me it came down between him and Suter and Suter looks like he kind of got run into the ground in the latter part of the year (again) by Minnesota. I admit it could be down to me being so familiar with seeing Boston as compared to Minnesota. Will take note of the comment.

 

[2Pair]

I'm surprised to see Krug at top 10. I haven't followed him too well but I didn't anticipate him to be anywhere close to top 10.

He isn't

 

[2Pair]

Spurgeon was better than Suter this year, who has lost a step due to his serious ankle injury late last season. If you gave me a choice between Krug and Spurgeon, I know who I'd take.

No, he wasn't

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

I know you explained your reasoning, but I really disagree with Draisaitl being rated among the centres. Put him sixth among wingers, put Scheifele at 9, and slide the other centres up.

Draisaitl was 2nd in goals, 4th in points. Why would he be the 6th best winger this year?

 

[Dominance]

Draisaitl was 2nd in goals, 4th in points. Why would he be the 6th best winger this year?

Because he was not better than the other five. The McDavid factor.

 

[XXIV97]

Because he was not better than the other five. The McDavid factor.

Marchand played with Bergeron and Pastrnak.

Would he score 100 points without those players?

 

[NoName]

Draisaitl was 2nd in goals, 4th in points. Why would he be the 6th best winger this year?

Because he was not better than the other five. The McDavid factor.

This is indeed the big debate with Draisaitl. He does get the advantage of playing a lot of time on the wing of the best player on earth and he doesn't have to carry a top line like Crosby, Mackinnon or Barkov (which is why those guys are ranked above him), but on the other hand he did go and score those 50 goals and 105 points. He did that; it isn't like McDavid bounced them in off his face or something like that, and those are impressive totals that just can't be ignored.

I know you explained your reasoning, but I really disagree with Draisaitl being rated among the centres. Put him sixth among wingers, put Scheifele at 9, and slide the other centres up.

If I did that for him, I would have to do that for everyone and then we would all spend our time debating who is really more of a centre and who is more of a winger, which isn't really the point here. Just cleaner and easier to do listed positions.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I previously ranked the top 10 players in the NHL at the midway mark of the season in an article here: Top 10 players at each position at the mid-way mark

Now given that game 82 was played last night and the playoffs are still a few days away, it looks like the perfect time to re-rank all the players based on this season's body of work.

So it is the top 10 centres, wingers defencemen and goalies with 4 honourable mentions (and no more)

NOTE: this is going by their "listed positions" on NHL.com, not necessarily where they play the bulk of their ice-time.

Centre
1) McDavid
2) Crosby
3) MacKinnon
4) Barkov
5) Draisaitl
6) Bergeron
7) Stamkos
8) Tavares
9) Point
10) Matthews

HM: Eichel, Scheifele, Monahan, Giroux

Winger
1) Kucherov
2) P. Kane
3) Marchand
4) Gaudreau
5) Ovechkin
6) Pastrnak
7) Marner
8) Rantanen
9) Huberdeau
10) Panarin

HM: Wheeler, Landeskog, Kessel, Radulov

Defense
1) Giordano
2) Burns
3) Rielly
4) Letang
5) Josi
6) Carlson
7) Hedman
8) E. Karlsson
9) Chabot
10) Krug

HM: Suter, Doughty, Yandle, Jones

Goaltending
1) Vaslivskiy
2) Bishop
3) Lehner
4) Kuemper
5) Andersen
6) Price
7) Rinne
8) Greiss
9) Murray
10) Fleury

HM: Bobrovski, Binnnington, Dubnyk, Gibson

NOTE: Goalie seems especially subjective given the need to strike a balance when weighing being a work-horse vs raw sv% and GAA over a more limited amount of games started (and thus a fresher, more rested goalie).


Rookies
1) Petterson
2) Dahlin
3) B. Tkachuck
4) Heiskanen

NOTE: for the top-4 rookies I just looked at teenagers. Rookies in their 20s are much more physically developed so comparing them is apples to oranges.

So what do you guys think? What are your own 2018-2019 season top-10 lists? If someone raises a convincing argument, I am totally willing to modify my lists; I admit, I don't regularly watch all 31 teams, so I might have missed something here having just relied on the paper stats for a bunch of these guys. Just remember, if you want to move someone up into the top-10, you also have to say who you would move out to make room for him.

NOTE: After feedback, I will make any changes in an edit and highlight how those changes affected the overall rankings of all guys in the top-10 (+ or - from original position).

You list Kessel as an honorable mention for wingers, but not Guentzel. Anyone who has watched the two this season would tell you Guentzel's been much better. Kessel's just got the benefit of getting top PP minutes to pad his stats, but overall it's not even been close which of the two has been a better player this year.

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

Because he was not better than the other five. The McDavid factor.

Everyone on that the top wingers list have their stats improved by playing with other elite players. Draisaitl was the 3rd best winger this year behind Kucherov and Kane (and you can debate him and Kane). There's no debate to him being lower than 3. Stop with the McDavid factor bs. He's an elite players in his own right!

 

[Emerz]

Marchand played with Bergeron and Pastrnak.

Would he score 100 points without those players?

Marchand also missed both of them for different stretches of 16+ games. Marchand creates offense on his own, I firmly believe he would have scored 100 without them, yes. He turned Riley Nash in to a PPG+ center for a stretch of around 20 games last year lol

 

[TheGuiminator]

People don’t realize how bad Kessel was this season (can’t blame you if you didn’t watch him play regularly).

Forget about his stats, he’s HORRIBLE.

He’s the worst point per game player I’ve ever seen in my life. He brings absolutely nothing to the table and it’s frustrating how he picks up points so effortlessly.

He shouldn’t even sniff an honorable mention on this list

 

[NoName]

Everyone on that the top wingers list have their stats improved by playing with other elite players. Draisaitl was the 3rd best winger this year behind Kucherov and Kane (and you can debate him and Kane). There's no debate to him being lower than 3. Stop with the McDavid factor bs. He's an elite players in his own right!

As much as I hate his guts I don't think I could justify pushing down Marchand. He is the dirtiest player in the NHL, but boy does he produce when he is in the line-up and the sand-paper and sheer ability to get under opposing players skin is a big plus as well.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

I know he only played 35-40 games this year but Hall is certainly a top-10 winger

He was PPG when he went down so its not like he fell off

 

[pown]

Not even a HM for Stone? Id easily have him at #9 and Panarin at #10

 

[zar]

Marchand also missed both of them for different stretches of 16+ games. Marchand creates offense on his own, I firmly believe he would have scored 100 without them, yes. He turned Riley Nash in to a PPG+ center for a stretch of around 20 games last year lol

Your claim... post Marchand's stats playing without both Bergeron and Pastrnak.

 

[NoName]

Not even a HM for Stone? Id easily have him at #9 and Panarin at #10

Who would you argue should be moved out for Stone in the top-10?

 

[Regal]

Everyone on that the top wingers list have their stats improved by playing with other elite players. Draisaitl was the 3rd best winger this year behind Kucherov and Kane (and you can debate him and Kane). There's no debate to him being lower than 3. Stop with the McDavid factor bs. He's an elite players in his own right!

All of them still benefitted less from their linemates though. A couple fewer points while being the primary offensive option or having a defensive impact like Marchand is enough for a debate. He belongs among the 3 but is not clearly above them, and putting him after those 3 doesn't mean he isn't an elite player.

 

[pown]

Who would you argue should be moved out for Stone in the top-10?

Huberdeau

He has a career .77 PPG vs Stones .84 PPG while not being close to Stones denfensive game and Hubby +/- is -11 while stone is +59. This season doesn't make him a better player, Stones defensive game outweighs Huberdeau's offensive numbers for me, also considering Stone playing with 2 rookies most of the season, his near ppg clip is even more impressive

 

[Dominance]

Marchand played with Bergeron and Pastrnak.

Would he score 100 points without those players?

Both were injured for long stretches.

 

[Krewe]

You've got Hedman way too low, and I think id give Mcdonagh a HM, but otherwise seems reasonable

 

[NoName]

Huberdeau

He has a career .77 PPG vs Stones .84 PPG while not being close to Stones denfensive game and Hubby +/- is -11 while stone is +59. This season doesn't make him a better player, Stones defensive game outweighs Huberdeau's offensive numbers for me, also considering Stone playing with 2 rookies most of the season, his near ppg clip is even more impressive

This isn't about comparing careers (that list would look very different), this is about comparing performance this season. I agree with you that Stone has had the better career so far though, but for this season his production (33 goals and 73 points in 77 games) just doesn't line up with Huberdeau (30 goals and 92 points in 82 games). Stone's reputation for defense does help close the gap somewhat (he was a HM on my original list mid-season).