Controversial list of the top-5 NHL forwards creating a stir
With the 2023-24 NHL regular season set to kick off in just over one month, the various networks are doing their pre-season prep, ranking players and having a number of discussions surrounding the league's stars, the offseason moves made by teams and other hockey-related topics.
On Thursday, the NHL Network's Mike Kelly presented a list of what his model views as the top-5 players in the NHL. Kelly's top-5 consisted of Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews, Leon Draisaitl and Kirill Kaprizov, ranked in that order. Kelly revealed that he based his list purely on the numbers, taking into account a variety of skills, including shooting, playmaking, forechecking, defense, puck recovery and puck-moving, among other stats.
Obviously, there are a few things that stand out here, the first being that Kelly's model has Auston Matthews ahead of Leon Draisaitl. We've heard this debate for years about who is the better player. Oilers fans believe that Draisaitl is the superior player and Leafs fans believe that Matthews is the superior player. In this case, the numbers dictate that Matthews is the better player, largely due to his play without the puck, even though Draisaitl produces more points.
Another major concern fans have about this list is where Kaprizov is ranked. While the numbers seem to favour him in that 5th spot, a lot of fans disagree with his placement over players like David Pastrnak, Nikita Kucherov and even Mikko Rantanen. One fan did suggest, though, that Kaprizov might even deserve to be listed higher, suggesting that Matthews is too high.
Honestly, these lists are never received well, because you can't please everybody, no matter which players are listed and in whatever order you decide to list them. Obviously, the most likely player everyone is to agree on is Connor McDavid. Even then, you'll still find folks who disagree that he's the best overall player, defensive impacts considered.
Do you agree with how the list from NHL Network's Mike Kelly is constructed? Let us know in the poll below:
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 7 | 95 ANSWERS Controversial list of the top-5 NHL forwards creating a stir Do you agree with Mike Kelly's list of the top-5 forwards in the NHL?(McDavid, MacKinnon, Matthews, Draisaitl, Kaprizov) | ||
| Yes | 47 | 49.5 % |
| No | 16 | 16.8 % |
| It's close, but needs tweaking | 32 | 33.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
