Top 100 Forwards in the NHL

[Sasso09]

Pettersson is a funny one. I having people telling me I ranked him way too high, and people telling me I ranked him way too low. This tells me a that the jury is still out on him, and that after his sample size, it's obvious he is extremely talented, but we need more data to accurately assess where he belongs.

I don't know how Rantanen is "way too high" after back to back seasons in the 80s. Yeah Mackinnon is the motor on the line, but Rantanen can hold his own.

Lindholm perhaps is a bit high based on only 1 good year, but I liked him even when he was struggling in Carolina, and I think he's a safe bet to hit 65-70 points again. I doubt he flirts with a point per game again, but he proved he is a good player.

Drouin, yeah I acknowledge earlier in the thread that he shouldn't be here. I've always liked him, but he hasn't shown enough yet.

I'll tell you why both Rant and Pettersson are too high, especially Petterrsson.

Back to back seasons in the 80's while being a complimentary piece on a dominant line was enough for you to put him above a guy with four top 5 point finishes and 2nd overall in points this decade who is coming off seasons of 102 and 85 points, all while being vastly superior defensively and more versatile with a much greater track record, being the main cog on his team.

Petterrsson was played 71 NHL Games and is shit defensively but was placed 10-15 spots ahead of a 1C that has had a higher PPG pace for 200 straight games now coming off back to back seasons of 30+ goals and 76 points while being one of the top two defensive forwards in the entire NHL for the last 5 years.

Zero chance Rantanen is above Giroux and Petterrsson above Couturier is even more laughable

 

[VoluntaryDom]

One thing you have to consider with these RAPM charts is it is quite simply easier to perform better on a weak team. I realize that these charts attempt to account for teammates quality and I think they do a decent job of it, but they are not perfect at doing so.

In my opinion, Kreider posting slightly period results in a tougher role on a much weaker team shows that he is significantly better than Gourde.

I think that you are probably correct that Gourde should be in the top-100, although I still have my reservations due to his playoff performances and small overall body of work. Real tough to judge young players like Gourde or Nikolaj Ehlers when they’ve played 4 or more rounds in the playoffs on strong teams and done absolutely nothing.

so im confused. you say it is easier to perform better on a weak team, then say that what kreider has done on a weak team is more impressive than what gourde has done on a strong team.

 

[JoeThorntonsRooster]

so im confused. you say it is easier to perform better on a weak team, then say that what kreider has done on a weak team is more impressive than what gourde has done on a strong team.

Oops. I meant to say it is harder to perform better on a weak team.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

Oops. I meant to say it is harder to perform better on a weak team.

i sorta disagree since being surrounded by trash can make individual impact (probably rightly) look a lot better

 

[Khelandros]

Giroux is cleanly better than 3 of those guys in the last 3 years. Try again.

 

[JoeThorntonsRooster]

i sorta disagree since being surrounded by trash can make individual impact (probably rightly) look a lot better

But in practice, it more often than not doesn’t.

Look at the “individual impact” metrics for players like Evander Kane, Ryan O’Reilly, and Erik Karlsson after leaving tire fires in Buffalo and Ottawa. These are just a few guys off the top of my head, but what I’ve generally seen is that players perform better once they join better teams - even by metrics which try to isolate the impact of teammates.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

But in practice, it more often than not doesn’t.

Look at the “individual impact” metrics for players like Evander Kane, Ryan O’Reilly, and Erik Karlsson after leaving tire fires in Buffalo and Ottawa. These are just a few guys off the top of my head, but what I’ve generally seen is that players perform better once they join better teams - even by metrics which try to isolate the impact of teammates.

ROR had pretty dang good isolated impact in buffalo as well. EK in ottawa too.

 

[JoeThorntonsRooster]

ROR had pretty dang good isolated impact in buffalo as well. EK in ottawa too.

O’Reilly’s xGPM/60 was higher this season than his xGPM/60 in his 3 Buffalo seasons added together.

Karlsson’s xGPM/60 was higher this season than his 3 best Ottawa seasons added together.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

O’Reilly’s xGPM/60 was higher this season than his xGPM/60 in his 3 Buffalo seasons added together.

Karlsson’s xGPM/60 was higher this season than his 3 best Ottawa seasons added together.

karlsson's case is weird as he dominated corsi but not necessarily xg in ottawa.

ror has been really good every year of his career besides his first year in buffalo.

 

[JoeThorntonsRooster]

karlsson's case is weird as he dominated corsi but not necessarily xg in ottawa.

ror has been really good every year of his career besides his first year in buffalo.

Even if you exclude his first year and only use O’Reilly’s two best seasons in Buffalo, his combined xGPM/60 is STILL less than his single season in St. Louis.

There is no argument that the isolated impact metrics here were miles better for these players on good teams than bad teams. Like, seriously, no argument to be made. The argument is whether or not these players are just outliers or whether this is a consistent trend.

 

[McFlash97]

Just like many of you, by this time in the middle of the summer I start itching for anything hockey. I was bored and had some spare time so I decided to put together my list of the top 100 forwards in the league.

My Criteria:

This list is based on the top 100 forwards at this very moment. It has nothing to do with potential and nothing to do with contracts, it is simply based on who I believe are the best forwards in the NHL at the moment, entering the 2019/2020 season. While the 2018/2019 season is very influential in these rankings, I try to look at the prior 3 seasons (when applicable) rather than simply looking at last year. For this reason, some players who had monster years ( Brayden Point) may not be as high as some would like. I also don't like completely writing players off after one subpar year (J. Benn/Kopitar).

I will acknowledge that I am a huge Wings fan, so it is only natural that some Wings bias appears in my rankings, however I really did try to be as unbiased as possible, and tried hard not to overvalue any of the Red Wings on the list. I am also aware that many people will have completely different opinions, and I welcome the feedback. Rather than just telling me "my list sucks" tell me who I forgot, tell me who I have rated too high or too low. If you really do think it sucks, and you want to call my list bad, at least put forth an argument as to why it is bad.

Top 100 NHL Forwards- 2019/2020

1a. N. Gusev (97) - New Jersey
1b. C. McDavid - Edmonton
2. S. Crosby- Pittsburgh
3. N. Kucherov- Tampa Bay
4. A. Ovechkin- Washington
5. N. Mackinnon- Colorado
6. P. Kane- Chicago
7. B. Marchand- Boston
8. S. Stamkos- Tampa Bay
9. E. Malkin- Pittsburgh
10. A. Matthews- Toronto
11. L. Draisaitl- Edmonton
12. J. Tavares- Toronto
13. J. Gaudreau- Calgary
14. A. Barkov- Florida
15. P. Bergeron- Boston
16. A. Panarin- N.Y. Rangers
17. T. Hall- New Jersey
18. D. Pastrnak- Boston
19. M. Marner- Toronto
20. M. Scheifele- Winnipeg
21. M. Rantanen- Colorado
22. J. Eichel- Buffalo
23. C. Giroux- Philadelphia
24. V. Tarasenko- St. Louis
25. B. Point- Tampa Bay
26. T. Seguin- Dallas
27. B. Wheeler- Winnipeg
28. S. Aho- Carolina
29. N. Backstrom- Washington
30. R. O’Reilly- St. Louis
31. A. Kopitar- Los Angeles
32. E. Kuznetsov- Washington
33. E. Pettersson- Vancouver
34. D. Larkin- Detroit
35. M. Stone- Vegas
36. J. Toews- Chicago
37. J. Benn- Dallas
38. F. Forsberg- Nashville
39. P. Kessel- Arizona
40. M. Barzal- N.Y. Islanders
41. M. Duchene- Nashville
42. L. Couture- San Jose
43. S. Couturier- Philadelphia
44. S. Monahan- Calgary
45. J. Voracek- Philadelphia
46. B. Boeser- Vancouver
47. J. Huberdeau- Florida
48. P. Laine- Winnipeg
49. A. Radulov- Dallas
50. G. Landeskog- Colorado
51. T. Teravainen- Carolina
52. T. Hertl- San Jose
53. A. DeBrincat- Chicago
54. R. Getzlaf- Anaheim
55. M. Tkachuk- Calgary
56. J. Pavelski- Dallas
57. V. Arvidsson- Nashville
58. E. Lindholm- Calgary
59. J. Marchessault- Vegas
60. T. Meier- San Jose
61. M. Zibanejad- N.Y. Rangers
62. C. Atkinson- Columbus
63. M. Domi- Montreal
64. P. Dubois- Columbus
65. J. Skinner- Buffalo
66. J. Guentzel- Pittsburgh
67. K. Connor- Winnipeg
68. M. Hoffman- Florida
69. R. Johansen- Nashville
70. N. Hischier- New Jersey
71. A. Mantha- Detroit
72. W. Nylander- Toronto
73. S. Reinhart- Buffalo
74. B. Schenn- St. Louis
75. W. Karlsson- Vegas
76. R. N-Hopkins- Edmonton
77. E. Staal- Minnesota
78. E. Dadonov- Florida
79. M. Zuccarello- Minnesota
80. J. Schwartz- St. Louis
81. P. Stastny- Vegas
82. Z. Parise- Minnesota
83. N. Kadri- Colorado
84. B. Horvat- Vancouver
85. N. Ehlers- Winnipeg
86. C. Keller- Arizona
87. M. Pacioretty- Vegas
88. J. Bailey- N.Y. Islanders
89. M. Granlund- Nashville
90. R. Rakell- Anaheim
91. A. Lee- N.Y. Islanders
92. D. Krejci- Boston
93. Y. Gourde- Tampa Bay
94. A. Athanasiou- Detroit
95. B. Tkachuk- Ottawa
96. D. Strome- Chicago
97. T. Tatar- Montreal
98. T. Oshie- Washington
99. J. Drouin- Monteal
100. D. Perron- St. Louis

Didn't think you were aware of this legendary Russian with McDavid's number and Kucherov's record in sight.

Come October....the Goose will be loose.

 

[Bougieman]

Damn, Pettersson can't even crack the top 30, huh? Well, we'll see, I guess. We will see.

 

[Phrazer]

I'll tell you why both Rant and Pettersson are too high, especially Petterrsson.

Back to back seasons in the 80's while being a complimentary piece on a dominant line was enough for you to put him above a guy with four top 5 point finishes and 2nd overall in points this decade who is coming off seasons of 102 and 85 points, all while being vastly superior defensively and more versatile with a much greater track record, being the main cog on his team.

Petterrsson was played 71 NHL Games and is **** defensively but was placed 10-15 spots ahead of a 1C that has had a higher PPG pace for 200 straight games now coming off back to back seasons of 30+ goals and 76 points while being one of the top two defensive forwards in the entire NHL for the last 5 years.

Zero chance Rantanen is above Giroux and Petterrsson above Couturier is even more laughable

I didn't watch a lot of Canucks games last year but from what I saw I though Pettersson was great defensively. What specifically makes you think he is a liability?

 

[Bougieman]

I didn't watch a lot of Canucks games last year but from what I saw I though Pettersson was great defensively. What specifically makes you think he is a liability?

He must not watch Elias play, and is just basing it on the fact that he's as skinny as a twig. But being huge and laying out massive hits is not the only way to be defensive, because Pettersson is a freakin' takeaway machine. Constantly stealing the puck off opposing players sticks.

 

[Yackiberg8]

He must not watch Elias play, and is just basing it on the fact that he's as skinny as a twig. But being huge and laying out massive hits is not the only way to be defensive, because Pettersson is a freakin' takeaway machine. Constantly stealing the puck off opposing players sticks.

Takeaway machine eh, he was 145th in the league with a whopping 41 takeaways.

121st amongst forwards.

 

[TheMule93]

Mantha and Athanasiou should be nowhere near this list

 

[The Macho King]

I coughed when I saw Stamkos at 8.

 

[traffic cone]

Saw Matthews ahead Barkov and stopped reading.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

Even if you exclude his first year and only use O’Reilly’s two best seasons in Buffalo, his combined xGPM/60 is STILL less than his single season in St. Louis.

There is no argument that the isolated impact metrics here were miles better for these players on good teams than bad teams. Like, seriously, no argument to be made. The argument is whether or not these players are just outliers or whether this is a consistent trend.

ror i think might be an outlier. EK i think is legit

 

[Theodore450]

Gallagher is so underrated

 

[HockeySniper]

Not a bad list. I’d switch Crosby and Mac tho and then Kane and the Rat. Stamkos and Mathews too high and didn’t really look much past that. It gets really tough after top 20. Even top 10 is hard. I think they’re are some guys that are probably better rn but they don’t have the big name on the back so they probably won’t get the love they deserve but I like your list not bad.

 

[RedWingzz]

Mantha and Athanasiou should be nowhere near this list

I disagree. Looking back, Mantha is definitely high on this list which I already acknowledged earlier in the thread. I still think they are both deserving of being on the list though. Looking at points/game among all NHL forwards last year, Mantha was tied at 82nd and AA came in at 88. So strictly by looking at points/game they are at least in the conversation. I'm personally expecting a monster year for Mantha offensively, in the 30-35 goal range, with 65+ points. AA I think will have a good year by becoming a more complete player.

 

[Master P]

I coughed when I saw Stamkos at 8.

I can't believe they have him so low either.

 

[SG1990]

If anyone is underrated and should be higher than a lot of guys in front of him it’s Brayden Point. 32 goals in his second season and 41 in his third season, 92 points last year for 12th in points and 8th in goals while being an elite 2-way centre. He just turned 23. Great list overall though!

 

[Windy River]

Great list, overall.