Top 6 centers- how many are in the league? | HFBoards - NHL Message Board and Forum for National Hockey League
Toggle sidebar

Top 6 centers- how many are in the league?

Gregor Samsa

Gregor Samsa

Registered User
Sep 5, 2020
4,358
6,689
With many teams looking for either a 1C or 2C, it feels like there is a shortage of them in the league. I’m looking for bonafide top 6 centers, not middle 6 centers where if you squint you can see a 2C

1C?
1A/1B types?
2C?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Roasted Nuts
If you use the criteria below:

2C = 52 to 82 points
1C = > 82 points (or better than PPG).

Using 2023 - 2025 seasons, those metrics indicate there are approximately 20C's in the league that are considered 1C and approximately 32 C's that are 2C.

Therefore, approximately 52 C's in the league that are 1C or 2C from a point production standpoint.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LokiDog
Junohockeyfan said:
If you use the criteria below:

2C = 52 to 82 points
1C = > 82 points (or better than PPG).

Using 2023 - 2025 seasons, those metrics indicate there are approximately 20C's in the league that are considered 1C and approximately 32 C's that are 2C.

Therefore, approximately 52 C's in the league that are 1C or 2C from a point production standpoint.
Click to expand...
List is a little misleading. There are players called out as Centers that don't actually play center.

Necas is listed as a center, but only has 690 faceoffs in the last 3 seasons combined.

Guentzel has 423 in the last 3 seasons.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LokiDog
So I went to NHL.com and sorted by centers and points. Tried to eliminate the guys who were obvious wingers:
  1. Mackinnon
  2. Draisaitl
  3. McDavid
  4. Eichel
  5. Crosby
  6. Suzuki
  7. Scheifele
  8. Duchene
  9. Point
  10. Strome
  11. Thomas
  12. Stutzle
  13. Matthews
  14. Tavares
  15. Aho
  16. Barkov
  17. Thompson
  18. Johnston
  19. Miller
  20. Larkin
  21. Hughes
  22. Hischier
  23. Kopitar
  24. Kadri
  25. Hintz
  26. Beard (edit: Bedard) LOL
  27. Granlund
  28. Cooley
  29. Schmaltz
  30. Celebrini
  31. Zibanejad
  32. Hertl
  33. Rossi
  34. Trochek
  35. Cirelli
  36. Monahan
  37. Horvat
  38. Nelson
  39. Fantilli
  40. ROR
  41. McLeod
  42. McTavish
  43. Stephenson
  44. Bennett
  45. Malkin
  46. Schenn
  47. RNH
  48. Lindholm
  49. Zacha
  50. Cozens
  51. Suter
  52. Hayton
  53. Couturier
  54. Pettersson
  55. Lundell
  56. Carlsson
  57. Danault
  58. Beniers
  59. Pageau
  60. Strome
  61. Mittlestatd
  62. Roslovic
  63. Namestnikov

Guys who i wasnt sure if they're primarily C or W:
Protas?
Geekie?
McMichael?
Johnson?
Stamkos?
Perfetti?
Smith?
Wright?
Howden?

I feel like at around 49 the line starts to blur between 2nd and 3rd liners, besides some obvious exceptions. And obviously missing a few guys like Norris who didnt play a whole season.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Pieck, CupfortheSharks and jfhabs
There are 64 top6 lines in the NHL, so there are 64. I don't care about other criteria. The criteria is how many openings there are at a position at any given time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: waitin425
Definitionally, the best 64 centers in the league are top-six centers.

They are not evenly distributed across teams. You can further classify them however you want (e.g. elite centers, contending calibre 2Cs, whatever).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pieck, westc2 and waitin425
The problem with this topic is if you want to make it literal or want to look at it like "if you're a contender, who would you legitimately feel confident if this player was a top six center on your team or would you be wanting an upgrade"?

Taking it literally simply means taking the number of teams, multiply it by two per team. But I don't think that's a good way to look at it within the context of building a contender.
 
bossram said:
Definitionally, the best 64 centers in the league are top-six centers.

They are not evenly distributed across teams. You can further classify them however you want (e.g. elite centers, contending calibre 2Cs, whatever).
Click to expand...
Always thought that was meaningless.

Players should be ranked on tiers. There's not 32 1c, 1d, or 1g caliber player's in the league.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LiseL and LokiDog
QJL said:
There are 64 top6 lines in the NHL, so there are 64. I don't care about other criteria. The criteria is how many openings there are at a position at any given time.
Click to expand...

By that definition there are no openings. If you have no good scoring line C you don't just send out two wingers and play a man down. And sending out a scrub on that line doesn't magically make him a 1C.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LiseL and LokiDog
boredmale said:
This is such a stupid concept. Was Malkin a 2nd line center just because he played behind Crosby?
Click to expand...
Yes. To expand, that's like saying it's a stupid concept to say Celebrini was a rookie just because it was his first year in the league. Terms mean things. If 1st line center or 2nd line center is not what you want to discuss when referring to 1C or 2C, pick different terms.
 
Last edited:
boredmale said:
This is such a stupid concept. Was Malkin a 2nd line center just because he played behind Crosby?
Click to expand...
No this is not stupid. You missed the whole point. Malkin was a 1st line centre. Some teams have two 1st line centres. Some don't have any. The Habs didn't when Desharnais was our #1. There are 32 #1s league wide and 32 #2s, 32 #3s, etc Not every team has one.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BruinLVGA and Jaska
waitin425 said:
No this is not stupid. You missed the whole point. Malkin was a 1st line centre. Some teams have two 1st line centres. Some don't have any. The Habs didn't when Desharnais was our #1. There are 32 #1s league wide and 32 #2s, 32 #3s, etc Not every team has one.
Click to expand...

If not every team has one then its a stupid classification. It's a set of skills and characteristics, not a ranking. If you had 40 Crosbys in the league, there'd be 60 1Cs. You wouldn't just arbitrarily cut the tier off.

Anywhere from #20-#40 for centers is a huge question mark that no one can agree on either.
 
DJJones said:
If not every team has one then its a stupid classification. It's a set of skills and characteristics, not a ranking. If you had 40 Crosbys in the league, there'd be 60 1Cs. You wouldn't just arbitrarily cut the tier off.

Anywhere from #20-#40 for centers is a huge question mark that no one can agree on either.
Click to expand...

There aren't 40 Crosbys in the league and if there was, the top 32 Crosbys would be #1s.

I agree with your last point. As I look at it, 20th best to 44th best can fluctuate at any given time into that #1C ranking.

But ultimately there can only be 32 #1s at any given time. For me its the top 32 centres in that moment.

Same applies for all other positions. 32 #1 goalies even though one team may have 2 of those 32.
 
waitin425 said:
There aren't 40 Crosbys in the league and if there was, the top 32 Crosbys would be #1s.

I agree with your last point. As I look at it, 20th best to 44th best can fluctuate at any given time into that #1C ranking.

But ultimately there can only be 32 #1s at any given time. For me its the top 32 centres in that moment.

Same applies for all other positions. 32 #1 goalies even though one team may have 2 of those 32.
Click to expand...

So 20th to 40th are effectively the same quality player but you want to arbitrarily want to cut that in half and only 12 of them are 1Cs?

And what happens if there was 40 Crosbys. Again, you'd just say 10 of them are not quite at that level? We've likely never seen 32 quality 1Cs in the league at the same time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LokiDog
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 3 (members: 1, guests: 2)

Latest posts

Ad

Ad

Top Bottom