FanHouse's Top 50 NHL Players

Posted Jul 18, 2009 10:30AM By Adam Gretz (RSS feed)

Filed Under: NHL Fans

We're at the most painfully slow, seemingly endless portion of the NHL offseason. The draft is over, the biggest free agents have signed, and training camp isn't yet in sight. What better time to start arguments about the best players in the NHL?

I'm profiling two players per day, starting with No. 50 and working all the way to the top. This is my subjective list of the league's top players.

What's the criteria used? Simple.

It's simply about the best players right now. Well, it's my opinion of the best players right now. Age isn't a factor and, most importantly, contracts don't matter. This isn't about the best values, or the best contracts, or the players with the best long-term upside, it's just about the best players.

The List (click player name for full analysis)

No. 50 -- Shane Doan, Phoenix Coyotes
No. 49 -- Brenden Morrow, Dallas Stars
No. 48 -- Paul Stastny, Colorado Avalanche
No. 47 -- Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
No. 46 -- Dan Boyle, San Jose Sharks
No. 45 -- Brian Rafalski, Detroit Red Wings
No. 44 -- Shea Weber, Nashville Predators
No. 43 -- Tomas Kaberle,Toronto Maple Leafs
No. 42 -- Andrei Markov, Montreal Canadiens
No. 41 -- Scott Niedermayer, Anaheim Ducks
No. 40 -- Kimmo Timonen, Philadelphia Flyers
No. 39 -- Johan Franzen, Detroit Red Wings
No. 38 -- Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings
No. 37 -- Jay Bouwmeester, Calgary Flames
No. 36 -- Jeff Carter, Philadelphia Flyers
No. 35 -- Dion Phaneuf, Calgary Flames
No. 34 -- Jason Spezza, Ottawa Senators
No. 33 -- Marian Gaborik, New York Rangers
No. 32 -- Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa Senators
No. 31 -- Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose Sharks
No. 30 -- Thomas Vanek, Buffalo Sabres
No. 29 -- Sergei Gonchar, Pittsburgh Penguins
No. 28 -- Alexander Semin, Washington Capitals
No. 27 -- Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning
No. 26 -- Mike Green, Washington Capitals
No. 25 -- Niklas Backstrom, Minnesota Wild
No. 24 -- Marc Savard, Boston Bruins
No. 23 -- Mike Richards, Philadelphia Flyers
No. 22 -- Zach Parise, New Jersey Devils
No. 21 -- The Sedin Twins, Vancouver Canucks
No. 20 -- Rick Nash, Columbus Blue Jackets
No. 19 -- Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks
No. 18 -- Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes
No. 17 -- Chris Pronger, Philadelphia Flyers
No. 16 -- Dany Heatley, Ottawa Senators
No. 15 -- Marian Hossa, Chicago Blackhawks
No. 14 -- Vincent Lecavalier, Tampa Bay Lightning
No. 13 -- Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta Thrashers
No. 12 -- Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins
No. 11 -- Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils
No. 10 -- Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers
No. 9 -- Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks
No. 8 -- Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings
No. 7 -- Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings
No. 6 -- Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks
No. 5 -- Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames
No. 4 -- Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings
No. 3 -- Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
No. 2 -- Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
No. 1 -- Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)

7-18-2009 @ 6:23PM

startsinginalong said...

Starting when?

7-18-2009 @ 7:17PM

adamfanhouse said...

Tomorrow morning.

7-19-2009 @ 9:54AM

jahb0b said...

Top Three Easy
1)Crosby
2)Malkin
3)Ovech.

8-16-2009 @ 11:59PM

Danny said...

Top Four:
4) Crosby
3) Malkin
2) Datsyuk
1) Ovetchkin

7-21-2009 @ 1:02PM

cgoalie27 said...

How could anyone honestly not think ovechkin is probably the best hockey player we've ever seen???

Crosby & Malkin, Gretzky & Messier, Lemieux & Jagr, Brodeur & Lamoriello's dynamite defense system, Ovechkin & Ovechkin.

I don't expect the Crosby crew to understand that, so I'll say a supporting cast surely helps rack them points up...but a guy who does it all himself???? His name is Alex Ovechkin.

9-29-2009 @ 12:34PM

kerleyfries2 said...

he doesnt do it all himself at all, those rookie days are long gone dude, washingtons legit..semins one of the top players in the league now and green (as much as i hate him) is replacing nik lidstrom as the top offensive defenceman

7-21-2009 @ 1:04PM

Ovechkin is Lindros in his prime with Bure's legs(minus the beat ACL ::knock on wood::).

8-02-2009 @ 8:11PM

Mike C said...

another stupid comment. why cant people just give respect whether or not you personally like someone.

7-21-2009 @ 6:51PM

alaskandevil81 said...

cgoalie27, Ovechkin plays with Backstrom who is one of the top young centers in the NHL. Crosby does not play with Malkin unless it's a powerplay, otherwise he is racking up points with guys like Miro Satan and Pascal Dupuis on his wing until recently. Let's not forget the supporting cast he had during his rookie season where had over 100 points.

8-13-2009 @ 12:10PM

foreverfarrah772 said...

Ovechkin put up 106 points his rookie year with a joke of a cast. It's pretty obvious Backstrom benefits more than Ovechkin does from playing with eachother.

7-23-2009 @ 5:56PM

qborder3 said...

Scott Neidermayer at #41?

What the hell are you guys smoking?

7-24-2009 @ 12:32AM

John said...

sorry jahb0b, but Crosby is NOT one of the 3 best players in the NHL, and so far from #1 it's not even funny. He will most likely be top 3 on this list due to who is compiling it. You had 2 of them, but you forgot a third Russian.

8-07-2009 @ 11:19AM

stephis352001 said...

Crosby and Malkin are #1 and #2. If Washington wins the cup then their guy can be considered.

7-24-2009 @ 12:56PM

Mark said...

it's the bad guy from Die Hard isn't it..

7-25-2009 @ 12:40PM

scott said...

Niedermayer @ #41 is crazy talk. I have access to Central Scoutings NHL rankings which also ranks the BEST players in the world (based on 22 attributes like skating, skill, play away from the puck, leadership, shooting accuracy etc). The formula was designed in the 70's by Sam Pollack to measure the impact of a player on a team.
It is the analysis of 30 NHL GMS, 26 NHL Assistant GMS, and 253 NHL scouts for a total of 309 evaluation professionals. This is the June list (it has 2000 players but I'll show the top 50). Also, notice some players are not updated for their teams (prior to July 1st) so Havlat is listed with Chicago....Pronger with Anaheim etc.

1. Sidney Crosby - Pittsburgh (26)
2. Jarome Iginla - Calgary (2)
3. Alexander Ovechkin - Washington (2)
4. Nicklas Lidstrom - Detroit
5. Evgeni Malkin - Pittsburgh
6. Martin Brodeur - New Jersey
7. Pavel Datsyuk - Detroit
8. Scott Niedermayer - New Jersey
9. Joseph Thornton - San Jose
10. Jaromir Jagr - Omsk Avangard (KHL)
11. Dany Heatley - Ottawa
12. Marian Gaborik - Minnesota
13. Ilya Kovalchuk - Atlanta
14. Zdeno Chara - Boston
15. Roberto Luongo - Vancouver
16. Marian Hossa - Detroit
17. Marc Savard - Boston
18. Alexander Semin - Washington
19. Vincent Lecavalier - Tampa Bay
20. Ryan Getzlaf - Anaheim
21. Christopher Pronger - Anaheim
22. Jason Spezza - Ottawa
23. Michael Richards - Philadelphia
24. Martin St. Louis - Tampa Bay
25. Michael Green - Washington
26. Henrik Zetterberg - Detroit
27. Richard Nash - Columbus
28. Zachary Parise - New Jersey
29. Alexei Kovalev - Montreal
30. Martin Havlat - Chicago
31. Daniel Sedin - Vancouver
32. Dion Phaneuf - Calgary
33. Henrik Sedin - Vancouver
34. Jeffrey Carter - Philadelphia
35. Corey Perry - Anaheim
36. Nicklas Backstrom - Washington
37. Eric Staal - Carolina
38. Paul Stastny - Colorado
39. Simon Gagne - Philadelphia
40. Patrik Elias - New Jersey
41. Andrei Markov - Montreal
42. Shane Doan - Phoenix
43. Daniel Alfredsson - Ottawa
44. Michael Ribeiro - Dallas
45. Henrik Lundqvist - NY Rangers
46. Paul Kariya - St. Louis
47. Jonathan Toews - Chicago
48. Alexander Frolov - Los Angeles
49. Patrick Marleau - San Jose
50. Ales Hemsky - Edmonton

GM rankings are in the parenthesis on the top 3.

Pretty hard to argue with 300+ of the top minds in the game....as I said, Niedermayer at #41 is carzy.

7-25-2009 @ 4:10PM

Josh said...

There is something wrong with the list you posted. It has Hossa on Detroit meaning it was probably made after last season but Niedermayer on New Jersey. He hasn't been a Devil in 4 seasons.

7-26-2009 @ 4:17PM

Bobbo said...

This list is so flawed that it is laughabull.

8-10-2009 @ 7:13PM

Neutral_Iceman said...

Scott,

It seems like you took the time to research a better player ranking list. But, instead through that attempt, you have effectively discredited yourself. Your list has Scott N. as a Devil. And we are supposed to take your list seriously?

cgoalie- looking at the list of the top 50 players tells me that CSS has Semin ranked 18th, Mike Green ranked 25th and Nik Backstrom ranked 36th. That on top of Ovechkin's #3 ranking and how do you figure he has nobody to play with?
People seem to think Washington is a one trick pony and Ovechkin carries the team......did they forget that Green was nominated for the Norris? That Semin has one of the better PPG averages over the last couple of years? That Backstrom is one of the best young players in the NHL and had 88 points in the reg. season and 15 points in the playoffs? That when Ovechkin is on the ice.......he is on with these players?

(BTW....the Pens have TWO who rank in the top 50...Malkin and Crosby.....who generally play together only on the PP).

7-25-2009 @ 9:38PM