You are officially in charge of NHL's top 50 player list going into next season - who do you have #2, assuming McDavid is #1?

[JackSlater]

MacKinnon, but I could easily understand Kucherov, Draisaitl, or Makar being in that spot.

 

[Regal]

How is Mackinnon winning the poll???

It's pretty clearly Makar and frankly I don't even know how it's even debatable.

MacKinnon has been the better player the past two regular seasons, significantly so this year. Makar had a better playoffs this year, but neither were good in the second round anyway

 

[Rafafouille]

Makar, no contest.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

No argument against Draisaitl imo

 

[Buck Naked]

I am genuinely surprised Makar is not the clear #2 so far.

Outside of 21/22 he's never been the second best player in the league. Still a top 5 player, but #2 is a stretch since the other 4 in the top 5 are all (probably) recent Hart Trophy and Lindsay winners.

 

[Jared Dunn]

Outside of 21/22 he's never been the second best player in the league. Still a top 5 player, but #2 is a stretch since the other 4 in the top 5 are all (probably) recent Hart Trophy and Lindsay winners.

I disagree. I think people get hooked on point totals and D get forgotten about a little bit. I don't think anyone impacts the game more than him but McJesus on a consistent basis

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

Playoff performer Draisaitl.

 

[ponder719]

McDavid
MacKinnon
Kucherov
Draisaitl
Makar
Matthews

tbh, apart from McDavid, there isn't really a wrong answer here, they're all fairly close, and who you prefer comes down to what skill set you prioritize, more than anything else. It's not like the question is "rank the best players on the Oilers," where after McDavid, any answer other than Draisaitl is either a troll job or idiocy.

 

[blundluntman]

When factoring in everything it's between Mackinnon, Draisaitl, Kucherov & Makar. I think I'd actually go with Makar if he returns back to his old self like he did in the playoffs next year. Playoffs have definitely removed Matthews from the 2nd tier afaic if we're ranking these guys not just for the regular season.

 

[frisco]

McDavid
Makar
Mackinnon
Kucherov
Draisaitl
Matthews
Barkov
Hughes
Tkachuk
Eichel

Which Hughes?

My Best-Carey

 

[Frank Drebin]

Are people adding Matthews/Barkov as a 6th to be polite?

There is clearly a tier of players at/just below McDavid and he's not in it.

Draisatl
Mackinnon
Makar
Kucherov


Then you have the group with

Tkachuk
Matthews
Barkov
etc.

 

[DowJones]

If you want to win playoff games it is Draisatl.

If you want to win regular season games its probably someone better.

 

[LokiDog]

If we’re talking about pure ability to impact games and nothing else, I’m actually taking Makar. Wish his health was a little less spotty because it’s tarnishing his perception, IMO. I love Mack, I like Drai a lot and I think Kuch is pretty nasty, but I actually think Makar is the second biggest difference maker and second most dynamic in the league. The way I look at it, even forgetting age, is that if the Avs traded Makar for Drai, Kuch, Matthews, etc. they are likely worse next year, where as I think all of those teams would be, at worst, just as good after the trade.

 

[Cats2TheCup]

Barkov being mentioned in this thread makes him the most overrated player in the league, he's not a top 15 player in the league and he's not even the best player on his own team

McDavid
Mack
Makar
Drai
Matthews
Kucherov
Pasta
Panarin

Are pretty clearly the top 8 and in that order imo

Are people adding Matthews/Barkov as a 6th to be polite?

There is clearly a tier of players at/just below McDavid and he's not in it.

Draisatl
Mackinnon
Makar
Kucherov


Then you have the group with

Tkachuk
Matthews
Barkov
etc.

In Stanley Cup Finals?

Drai and McDavid < Barkov.

 

[Frank Drebin]

In Stanley Cup Finals?

Drai and McDavid < Barkov.

1g 1a in 5 games

If you say so

 

[Cats2TheCup]

1g 1a in 5 games

If you say so

Only an absolute casual judges Barkov’s impact on the game by his points.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Only an absolute casual judges Barkov’s impact on the game by his points.

Sure bud whatever

 

[Buck Naked]

Only an absolute casual judges Barkov’s impact on the game by his points.

Only an absolute hipster judges Barkov's impact on the game.. You know where I'm going. In a short final series you need your first line center to score. That's it. Otherwise it looks like against the Knights.

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

I voted Makar and am posting about it now.

I am amused that at this moment, Makar has only 8 out of 107 votes, but is the first name on 6 of 13 replies. Seems Makar backers are disproportionately more vocal than Makar opposers.

That's generally how things go. When people know they are the majority they don't feel the need to explain their reasons, the minority does

 

[dirtydanglez]

top 5 seems pretty clear cut to me.

mcdavid
mackinnon
kucherov
makar
draisaitl

 

[PM88RU]

Some put him further than 5th, and that's 100a and 144 points guy we're talking about!
Just ridiculous, nothing more to say.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Not Matthews. Any other has an argument.

 

[Byron Bitz]

Draisaitl is obviously at another tier but I don't understand the flack Matthews gets for playoffs. Over a point per game the last 3 years and was playing very well before he got scurvy or whatever the hell was ailing him this year

Yeah Matthews playoff performances are getting pretty underrated here, he was the best player on the ice for either team in the Colombus series and both Tampa series.

 

[MichaelFarrell]

Nearly impossible list to do properly. But, here is my quick crack at a top 50.

1	Connor McDavid
2	Nathan MacKinnon
3	Cale Makar
4	Auston Matthews
5	Leon Draisaitl
6	Nikita Kucherov
7	Sidney Crosby (#1 in my heart)
8	Quinn Hughes
9	Sasha Barkov
10	Roman Josi
11	Victor Hedman
12	Artemi Panarin
13	David Pasternak
14	Miro Heiskanen
15	Jack Eichel
16	Jack Hughes
17	Adam Fox
18	Kirill Kaprizov
19	Mikko Rantanen
20	Charlie McAvoy
21	JT Miller
22	Matthew Tkachuk
23	William Nylander
24	Anze Kopitar
25	Rasmus Dahlin
26	Brayden Point
27	Sebastian Aho
28	Elias Pettersson
29	Kyle Connor
30	Mitch Marner
31	Josh Morrissey
32	Steven Stamkos
33	Jaccob Slavin
34	Dylan Larkin
35	Alex Pietrangelo
36	Filip Forsberg
37	Sam Reinhart
38	Nick Suzuki
39	Robert Thomas
40	Brady Tkachuk
41	Matthew Barzal
42	Evan Bouchard
43	Mika Zibanejad
44	Tim Stützle
45	Travis Konecny
46	Noah Dobson
47	Evgeni Malkin
48	Jesper Bratt
49	Jake Guentzel
50	Devon Toews

Probably a bad list with not enough defenseman.

 

[Regal]

How do we rank Mark Stone plus 1/2 a year of LTIR?