Top NHL player in the 21st Century so far? #1(Inspired by ESPN ranking)

[wetcoast]

ESPN recently had their top NHL player in the 21st century so far so I thought I would do a series of polls on it here.

Ranking the top 25 NHL players of the 21st century

From Crosby to Thornton, Ovechkin to Chara, here are hockey's best from the past 25 years.

www.espn.com

When Selecting players please use only their play in the NHL in the 21st century, nothing pre 2000-2001 or international.

I will list the top 10 (in the order they are ranked) according to the ESPN poll and suggest players to add for each round every 2 or 3 days.

Player to add from 11-25 as per ESPN poll or name another

11. Zdeno Chara
12. Steven Stamkos
13. Leon Draisaitl
14. Joe Thornton
15. Auston Matthews
16. Erik Karlsson
17. Nikita Kucherov
18. Marc-Andre Fleury
19. Andrei Vasilevskiy
20. Jarome Iginla
21. Anze Kopitar
22. Pavel Datsyuk
23. Duncan Keith
24. Victor Hedman
25. Jonathan Quick

Click to read more...

 

[Sasha Orlov]

McDavid, add Kucherov

 

[DitchMarner]

Are we voting based on peak or general level of play or ranking careers or doing a combination of the two?

 

[amnesiac]

top as in "greatest"?

I think McDavid's just above Crosby now

add Kuch

 

[wetcoast]

Are we voting based on peak or general level of play or ranking careers or doing a combination of the two?

I think the way to rate them is how we rank players all time so peak, prime, career, playoffs, peaks and valleys ect.

Like how people rank players all time in the HOH section of these boards.

Or to put it more simply look at all of these players and how they would rank on all time lists taken their play from 2000-2001 season to today in a hypothetical world so a guy like Lidstrom don't use pre 2000-2001 in the calculation..

 

[DitchMarner]

For best seasons:

1. McDavid
2. Ovechkin
3. Crosby

For best stretch of play over a sustained period:

1. McDavid
2. Crosby/Ovechkin

For best career:

1. Crosby
2. Ovechkin
3. McDavid

That's my cursory opinion. May go more in-depth.

 

[Video Nasty]

McDavid and it won’t be close when he hangs them up.

 

[jigglysquishy]

Crosby
Ovechkin
McDavid

But I expect McDavid to be first soon

 

[Three On Zero]

Crosby - best since Lemieux
Ovechkin - greatest goal scorer we’ve had
McDavid - still in the prime of his career

 

[wetcoast]

I'm looking forward to round 2 where 2 guys will make compelling arguments.

 

[Albatros]

Crosby, there's no serious argument for anyone else. Chára and Thornton should be options. Kopitar probably as well.

 

[Bouboumaster]

1, 2 and 3 should be rather easy

 

[Xspyrit]

ESPN ranked them based on careers so far obviously. Is it the same thing here? Not much point to do it again IF

 

[bobholly39]

You really need to add Kucherov in the next poll. He won't make top 3, but has an argument for 4. ESPN's ranking is idiotic.

Voted Crosby. For full career, it's him.

 

[Bouboumaster]

Carey Price ain't going to be voted in the top 10 but he should be an option after that

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Crosby - best since Lemieux
Ovechkin - greatest goal scorer we’ve had
McDavid - still in the prime of his career

Closest I’ve ever seen you come to saying something positive about McDavid lmfao

 

[Three On Zero]

Closest I’ve ever seen you come to saying something positive about McDavid lmfao

He’s only 27 years old , I don’t necessarily agree with his constant embellishing but sadly its getting more and more common for players to take advantage of the speed the game is played at and incompetence of the refs to manage the game. Still a really fun player to watch, especially in person.

 

[GoldenKnight]

Please add Price.

 

[Ezpz]

Crosby easily. People are too dumb in ignoring goalie equipment changes and expansion diluting talent pool and comparing raw numbers. Crosby prime would put up just as many points as Mcdavid, MacKinnon or kucherov while being better defensively in this era.

It's actually annoying because Crosby was head and shoulders the best when healthy and Mcdavid has two other guys putting up the exact same or better numbers. If that's not indicating we are in a high scoring era I don't know what to say.

 

[blundluntman]

If it's peak/on ice play, it's definitely McDavid. If it's career, probably Crosby. I'll wait for the OP to clarify

 

[Foppberg]

Crosby. Too many kiddos on here didn’t experience prime Sid and only see fancy Connor.

 

[ESH]

ESPN ranked them based on careers so far obviously. Is it the same thing here? Not much point to do it again IF

It’s not like ESPN has the final say. I’m sure the list will look different here. Malkin was criminally low on that list

 

[Mirka the Turka]

I say Crosby over McDavid right now because of the achievements and being the far better defensive player.

If McDavid wins some cups (maybe even just 1) that will change.

 

[Hisch13r]

Sid obviously

 

[Video Nasty]

Crosby easily. People are too dumb in ignoring goalie equipment changes and expansion diluting talent pool and comparing raw numbers. Crosby prime would put up just as many points as Mcdavid, MacKinnon or kucherov while being better defensively in this era.

It's actually annoying because Crosby was head and shoulders the best when healthy and Mcdavid has two other guys putting up the exact same or better numbers. If that's not indicating we are in a high scoring era I don't know what to say.

People are usually talking about how McDavid is dusting him in the individual hardware department, which has nothing to do with raw point totals. Placement finishes are also brought to the table, which are again not talking about how many points were scored.

Crosby had some of the weakest top end competition in league history and frankly, he still didn’t dominate to the degree he should have. If he wasn’t injured, then Malkin was. Ovechkin lost his powers in 2010 and was never a real threat. Fun fact, the three best of that generation interfered very little with each other. There was just a lone season where they finished 1-2-3 in scoring.

If Crosby could finish behind Benn and Tavares in scoring races, there’s zero doubt in my mind that Kucherov wipes the floor with him. Kucherov is a better player than Kane ever was, who tore age 28 Crosby apart in the scoring race (where he also finished behind Benn AGAIN).

In terms of raw numbers, I will comment on you saying his peers are putting up better numbers. Last I checked, McDavid is the only active player with 153 points and a 42 point playoff run to his name.

McDavid is displaying deeper dominance against better talent than Crosby ever displayed, or even dealt with, based on how events in the real world unfolded.