The NHL Network lit up the hockey world recently when they revealed their list of the Top 20 Centers in the league, ranking Connor McDavid as the best in the league ahead of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. The number four slot was occupied by Auston Matthews, which ruffled some feathers, while the reigning Stanley Cup champions Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom were down at 13 and 14 respectively.
The Penguins (Croby, Malkin), Maple Leafs (Matthews, John Tavares), Capitals (Kuznetsov, Backstrom) and Oilers (McDavid, Draisaitl) all had two names on the list, while other potential options like Eric Staal, Vincent Trocheck, Jonathan Toews, Brayden Schenn, Brayden Point, Ryan O’Reilly, Sean Monahan and Dylan Larkin were all absent.
Since the NHL Network’s fan vote was so different—Jay Beagle ranked 20th on the list—we thought we’d do our own tally here at PHR. In the poll below we’ve listed many options and are asking you to vote for your top group by selecting 10 names. Does Matthews stay in the top five? Can defensive wizards like Anze Kopitar and Patrice Bergeron climb up the rankings? Does the PHR community believe in William Karlsson? Cast your vote for the top 10 centers in the league and make sure to leave a comment explaining your choices.
[Mobile users click here to vote]
*Though Claude Giroux has played center for much of his career, his absence from the NHL Network list means he was likely left off the ballot. We’ve similarly left him out of the poll, along with other part-time centers like Joe Pavelski, Blake Wheeler and Logan Couture. If you feel as though any of them should be included in this group, make sure to leave a comment down below.
Ryan O’Reilly is listed twice on the ballot
Darn, not sure how that happened. My apologies to Ryan and those who had voted for him. He lost a couple.
I’m shocked anyone voted for Stepan. You can’t vote for him without also voting for Bergeron and Kopitar, and probably O’Rielly, and at that point you’ve left some top tier guys off the list. They’re all great 2-way centers, but Stepan is really the 4th best out of that group.
Well my top 10 match the top 10 in the polling as of today, so I guess my biggest surprise is Scheifle at 11 as of this moment – a great player, but I had a number of other guys on the bubble before him.
I do find it funny that kadri is on the list considering he is a 3rd line centre. He’d probably be on the list for top 3 3rd line centres in the league though