Top 6 centers- how many are in the league?

[waitin425]

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?

If there were 40 Crosby's would there even be a Crosby? Lol!!

Yes....ranking your players as you see fit. I was simply answering the OP. There are 32 #1C and 32 #2C. 64 total. Some outside the 64 could fluctuate. No matter what ranking or whatbstandard you hold, player rankings move around all the time.

 

[A1LeafNation]

Based on body of work the last couple years, 25 #1C and 25 #2C

McDavid
Mackinnon
Draisaitl
Matthews
Hughes
Crosby
Point
Eichel
Barkov
Miller
Pettersson
Thomas
Stutzle
Aho
Thompson
Scheifele
Hischier
Larkin
Suzuki
Bedard
Celebrini
Tavares
Hintz
D.Strome
Kopitar
-----
Johnston
Zibanejad
Duchene
Malkin
Nelson
Trochek
Horvat
Kadri
Hertl
ErikssonEk
Granlund
Stephenson
O'Reilly
Karlsson
Zacha
Cozens
Schenn
Lindholm
Mittelstadt
Bennett
McTavish
Cirelli
Beniers
Carlsson
Rossi

 

[QJL]

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.

Someone has to play center on each of the 64 lines across 32 NHL top 6 groups…

If your team doesn’t have two top 6 quality centers, another team has more than two. The Panthers have three (Barkov, Bennett, Lundell). The Sharks have one (Celebrini).

The math still adds up to 64 and always will.

 

[maddskkilz]

Semantics.

There are 64 players that may be considered top 6 centers [(1C + 2C)x32] but the true ask is to determine which centers would qualify as a 1C and 2C respectfully on a true Stanley Cup contender.

Rangers have Zibanejad, Miller, and Trocheck. Not sure any of them are at the level of a 1C on a Stanley Cup contending team but all 3 of them may be solid 2Cs.

 

[bossram]

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.

They are tiered. The top 32 are 1Cs. The next 32 are 2Cs. And so on. It's the least arbitrary way to tier players.

You can obviously debate the rank order of the players within each tier however you want. You can make sub-tiers. But I think it's better than saying, "these guys 14 guys are 1Cs because of my made up and arbitrary criteria".

Definitionally, there are 32 "first line centers". They are not distributed evenly across teams. Obviously the 32nd guy on that list wouldn't really cut it as the 1C on a contender, but he is still a "first line center".

 

[TheBeard]

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
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.

I’m honored to be 26, but I’m a winger.

 

[BillDineen]

I think the tiers should be

1- Cup-calibre star 1Cs
2- Tweeners that are 1Cs on a pretender, but would be ideal as a 2Cs on a contender with a star 1C already
3- Cup-calibre 2Cs

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

There are 64 top 6 centres in the league.

32 1st liners
32 2nd liners

It's that damn simple.

Yeah but It's really not that damn simple.

How many are there because they are legitimate 1st and 2nd liners

VS How many are there because their team has no choice?

Tyler Bozak played 1st line center for the Leafs for years.

Tyler was NEVER a REAL 1st line center

 

[wunderpanda]

27 including tage & ep

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

27 including tage & ep

Isn't Tage a winger now?

 

[wunderpanda]

Isn't Tage a winger now?

yes but he passed as a top 6 center with certain linemates for a while

 

[dekelikekocur]

Can play 1C or 2C on a contender with no talks of upgrades

There's only 1 team in the league that you can't upgrade their 1c. Everyone else? There is an upgrade.

 

[JKG33]

I’m honored to be 26, but I’m a winger.

I dont even know what that autocorrected from lmfao

Edit: It was Bedard

 

[Hockey2Hockey]

I look at this another way with respect to #1 C, if they are your best forward will you win a cup?

If Suzuki, Zibby, RNH, Kadri were your best skaters (excluding D and goalies) your chances of winning a Cup aren't great. If Crosby, Draisaitl, Malkin, McDavid, MacKinnon are your #1 C, yes, you have a much better chance to win a cup.

It also depends too. Obviously Sundin was a #1 C. HHOF. But...we're you a serious cup contender if he was your best player? Idk....

In football there are 32 starting QB's. But not all starters are created equal. Your chances of winning a SB with Mahomes, Allen, Burrow, Jackson are greater vs having a starter like Prescott, Mayfield, Purdy etc. Or, going back some years, if your starting QB is Manning, Rodgers, Brady or Brees, you always have a chance. These are guys who can make others better and carry teams.

 

[Hockey2Hockey]

There's only 1 team in the league that you can't upgrade their 1c. Everyone else? There is an upgrade.

So essentially every team without McDavid could use an upgrade to..McDavid?

 

[Hockey2Hockey]

Yeah but It's really not that damn simple.

How many are there because they are legitimate 1st and 2nd liners

VS How many are there because their team has no choice?

Tyler Bozak played 1st line center for the Leafs for years.

Tyler was NEVER a REAL 1st line center

Was he even an ideal #2 C?

The fact Kessel did as well as he did with him is mind boggling.

 

[HockeyVirus]

This is where the league is heading with more and more teams. Half the league will not have properly filled out rosters. Missing top 6 centers, top dmen, and goalies is the norm going forward.

 

[Hockey2Hockey]

I think the tiers should be

1- Cup-calibre star 1Cs
2- Tweeners that are 1Cs on a pretender, but would be ideal as a 2Cs on a contender with a star 1C already
3- Cup-calibre 2Cs

Larkin immediately pops to mind.

 

[Drake1588]

I don't think it is too difficult to arrive at consensus for what a #1 is, but teams task their #2 in a variety of roles, based on GM/coach inclination and their players' strengths. Some teams want their #2 to serve as a 1b, tasked in a primarily point-production role. They want a #1 Light. If that's the narrow definition, then there's likely <60 of those types of players.

Other teams task their #2 to put up a fair number of points (it's not like production is entirely unimportant), but the primary role they play is as a defensive shadow, regularly going up against and shutting down other teams' top lines, or at least ensuring parity. Defense with secondary offense. Using points as a baseline for a #2 center list is somewhat fraught. Some teams have #3++ centers rather than 1b players in that role. It works quite well for them, until the later rounds of the playoffs.

If you're looking to split hairs between the elite of the elite, by the third and fourth rounds, teams usually boast an excellent defensive center and two scoring centers. Then a solid checking/energy line center. Depth at the position is a differentiator. Teams with a glaring hole at the position are usually in trouble, or have to be so good otherwise at the position that a hole can be papered over.

 

[UED]

There are 64 top 6 centres in the league.

32 1st liners
32 2nd liners

It's that damn simple.

Assuming you think the same for wingers, goalies, dmen etc.
Statswise(because that's what the internet cares about so I'm not gonna start fighting to convince people that defensive players can be better than scorers) your team is roughly this:

Foegele- Zibanejad - Coronato
Olofsson - Carlsson - Raddysh
Jeannot - Laughton - Schwindt
Imama - Carrick - Taylor Ward

Skjei - Durzi
Siegenthaler - Crevier
Del Gaizo - Matinpalo

for goalies it's gonna be someone like Lindgren, Saros or Talbot. Should be fine there, I am after all of the belief that there are more than 32 starting goalies.

For defense I ended up ranking by TOI/G because I felt too dirty ranking defensemen by scoring. Like ranking forwards by points, this is very flawed, for example Crevier would have lower TOI on a better team. But the lineup ranked by points happens to be shockingly similar.

Does that sound like a complete team with no holes to you? To me these all-stars look like Gavin McKenna's future teammates. I think a team without any holes would win every cup. I don't think it's possible to build the perfect team anymore due to the salary cap. This cup finals has an entire lineup worth of holes between the two teams.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Was he even an ideal #2 C?

The fact Kessel did as well as he did with him is mind boggling.

He was the ideal #3 center.

Burke does deserve credit for finding him because he was a college free agent.

But he was a #3

Basically what Fraser Minten projects to be.

Which is why that trade never bothered me.

 

[dekelikekocur]

So essentially every team without McDavid could use an upgrade to..McDavid?

I mean if someone's logic is we don't need a better 1c because we have the best, there are 31 teams using that logic that would in fact be wrong, OR the logic of thinking the way the post I replied to isn't very realistic/valid.

 

[waitin425]

Assuming you think the same for wingers, goalies, dmen etc.
Statswise(because that's what the internet cares about so I'm not gonna start fighting to convince people that defensive players can be better than scorers) your team is roughly this:

Foegele- Zibanejad - Coronato
Olofsson - Carlsson - Raddysh
Jeannot - Laughton - Schwindt
Imama - Carrick - Taylor Ward

Skjei - Durzi
Siegenthaler - Crevier
Del Gaizo - Matinpalo

for goalies it's gonna be someone like Lindgren, Saros or Talbot. Should be fine there, I am after all of the belief that there are more than 32 starting goalies.

For defense I ended up ranking by TOI/G because I felt too dirty ranking defensemen by scoring. Like ranking forwards by points, this is very flawed, for example Crevier would have lower TOI on a better team. But the lineup ranked by points happens to be shockingly similar.

Does that sound like a complete team with no holes to you? To me these all-stars look like Gavin McKenna's future teammates. I think a team without any holes would win every cup. I don't think it's possible to build the perfect team anymore due to the salary cap. This cup finals has an entire lineup worth of holes between the two teams.

What is this and who are these guys?

Im totally confused by what you are trying to say here.

That team is garbage, byt I am not sure what your point is. Teams can be made up of numerous dynamics based on rankings.

As an example the below team is made up of their rankings in their position from 1-128, defencemen 1-96, goalies 1-64

15-35-26
34-45-45
70-64-110
90-85-112

10-32
30-55
75-85

12
32

Some teams are made completely different. They are balanced in many different ways. Take for example this team based on rankings.

10-1-28
49-2-75
98-100-112
123-126-119

35-11
45-71
90-96

30
60

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

They are tiered. The top 32 are 1Cs. The next 32 are 2Cs. And so on. It's the least arbitrary way to tier players.

You can obviously debate the rank order of the players within each tier however you want. You can make sub-tiers. But I think it's better than saying, "these guys 14 guys are 1Cs because of my made up and arbitrary criteria".

Definitionally, there are 32 "first line centers". They are not distributed evenly across teams. Obviously the 32nd guy on that list wouldn't really cut it as the 1C on a contender, but he is still a "first line center".

This seems as arbitrary as ranking centers based on certain criteria rather than "32 teams, therefore 32 #1C" is.

If in a hypothetical situation you have two guys who are almost identical (same production levels, same defensive ability) in what they do ranked as 32 and 33, why would one guy be a 1C because he had to be ranked 32nd while the guy who is almost identical to him as a player be a 2C because he's ranked 33rd even though they're practically interchangeable as players where if you swapped them you'd see zero impact?

 

[bossram]

This seems as arbitrary as ranking centers based on certain criteria rather than "32 teams, therefore 32 #1C" is.

If in a hypothetical situation you have two guys who are almost identical (same production levels, same defensive ability) in what they do ranked as 32 and 33, why would one guy be a 1C because he had to be ranked 32nd while the guy who is almost identical to him as a player be a 2C because he's ranked 33rd even though they're practically interchangeable as players where if you swapped them you'd see zero impact?

Yes.

One guy (the slightly better one) is in the "1C" of class of the top 32. The next guy isn't. You can still consider him really close. That's fine.