2006 NHL Draft Take Two: Second Overall Pick
Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.
Starting this week, we’re looking back at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft and asking how it would shake out knowing what we do now. Will the first round remain in much the same order, or will some late round picks jump to the top of the board?
On Monday we asked the PHR community to weigh in on who should have been selected first overall in 2006 and after more than 2,500 votes the decision is clear. Though he didn’t get quite the 88% that Sidney Crosby came away for the top honor in 2005, Jonathan Toews earned the majority of votes at nearly 57%. The Chicago Blackhawks legend was an easy choice for many readers, who noted his three Stanley Cups and decade of success in the NHL. Claude Giroux and Nicklas Backstrom both earned more than 10% of the vote, and are solid challengers for the second position.
In reality, the Pittsburgh Penguins held the second pick in 2006 and used it on a familiar NHL name. Jordan Staal, the younger brother of then-Carolina Hurricanes star Eric Staal ,was a big center for the Peterborough Petes and was in real contention for the top spot going into the draft. The older Staal had just cracked 100 points and led his team to the Stanley Cup, but it wasn’t just the family success that decided Pittsburgh’s selection. The NHL’s Central Scouting Service had Staal ranked only behind eventual first-overall pick Erik Johnson among North American skaters, and ahead of Toews who was already playing at the University of North Dakota. Staal already stood 6’4″ and well over 200-lbs, making him the prototypical first line center in the eyes of many.
Unfortunately perhaps for the Penguins, who passed on the chance to get Toews, Staal didn’t quite live up to the lofty expectations. He did find early success with Pittsburgh, slotting in behind Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to win the Stanley Cup in 2009, but was eventually moved out of town as he got too expensive. He reunited in Carolina with his brother for a short time, and has put up a fine if unremarkable career since. Staal has failed to win any major individual awards, and likely wouldn’t be Pittsburgh’s pick if they got another chance at it today. Who would they take if given the benefit of more than a decade of hindsight?
With the second pick of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, who should the Pittsburgh Penguins select? Cast your vote below!
2006 Redraft: Second Overall
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Claude Giroux 35% (754)
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Nicklas Backstrom 26% (571)
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Brad Marchand 19% (407)
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Phil Kessel 13% (280)
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Jordan Staal 2% (36)
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Milan Lucic 1% (27)
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Kyle Okposo 0% (9)
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Erik Johnson 0% (8)
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Patrik Berglund 0% (8)
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Artem Anisimov 0% (8)
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Trevor Lewis 0% (7)
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Nick Foligno 0% (6)
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Cal Clutterbuck 0% (6)
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Bryan Little 0% (5)
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Chris Stewart 0% (5)
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Derick Brassard 0% (3)
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Michael Neuvirth 0% (3)
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Steve Mason 0% (3)
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Jamie McGinn 0% (3)
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James Reimer 0% (3)
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Semyon Varlamov 0% (2)
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Miachael Grabner 0% (2)
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Jonathan Bernier 0% (1)
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Michael Frolik 0% (1)
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Nikolay Kulemin 0% (0)
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Shawn Matthias 0% (0)
Total votes: 2,158
[Mobile users click here to vote]
Poll: Who Are The Best Wingers In The NHL?
Over the last few weeks the NHL Network have released their lists of the Top 20 Centers and Top 20 Defensemen in the league, sparking huge debate across the hockey world. In a response to this we polled the readers in the PHR community and came up with our own lists, which varied greatly from the original. For our centers, Sidney Crosby came out just ahead of Connor McDavid for the best in the NHL, while John Tavares and Patrice Bergeron were given much more respect.
On the blue line, NHL Network had Victor Hedman as the best defenseman following his Norris Trophy season while several other respected names found themselves off the list entirely. After nearly 10,000 votes, PHR chose Erik Karlsson as the top dog despite his disappointing 2017-18 campaign. Karlsson just barely edged out Drew Doughty and Hedman at the top of our list, while there were some other interesting inclusions further down. Our PHR community-voted Top 20 Defenseman list currently looks like this:
- Erik Karlsson (867 votes)
- Drew Doughty (862 votes)
- Victor Hedman (857 votes)
- P.K. Subban (694 votes)
- Brent Burns (633 votes)
- Roman Josi (429 votes)
- Seth Jones (387 votes)
- Oliver Ekman-Larsson (378 votes)
- Alex Pietrangelo (373 votes)
- John Carlson (341 votes)
- Dustin Byfuglien (326 votes)
- Shea Weber (219 votes)
- Aaron Ekblad (215 votes)
- John Klingberg (203 votes)
- Ryan Suter (194 votes)
- Kris Letang (166 votes)
- Dougie Hamilton (165 votes)
- Duncan Keith (163 votes)
- Ryan Ellis (139 votes)
- Charlie McAvoy/Ivan Provorov (137 votes)
Today, the NHL Network released their next ranking, this time valuing the Top 20 Wingers in the league. Nikita Kucherov took down the top spot after once again proving he is an elite offensive talent for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Registering a career-high 100 points last season, Kucherov led the Lightning in scoring for the third consecutive season despite only just turning 25 and was rewarded with a huge eight-year $76MM contract extension this summer. He’ll be in Tampa Bay for quite a while putting up huge point totals and driving an offense that is among the best in the NHL.
Behind Kucherov was the ageless Alex Ovechkin who recently took home his seventh Rocket Richard trophy as the league’s best goal scorer, and finally won the Stanley Cup after being ousted annually by nemesis Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ovechkin also broke the 600-goal threshold in 2017-18, and will likely end up among the very best goal scorers to ever play the game. Reigning Hart Trophy winner as the league MVP falls in just behind the top two, as Taylor Hall managed to hold off Patrick Kane and Brad Marchand for third in the ranking. The rest of the group is a mishmash of veteran stars like Blake Wheeler and Phil Kessel, and young talents like Brock Boeser and Mikko Rantanen.
Just like the debate over centers and defensemen, we will now as you at PHR to rank the top wingers in the NHL. The NHL Network did their own fan vote which ended up being somewhat hijacked by Jake Virtanen fans, but also included other names like Mitch Marner and Tom Wilson. Where do you think those players fall in? Since there are an incredible amount of talented wingers in the league, this time we’ll ask you to cast your vote by selecting 20 names. Make sure to leave a comment below on who you think deserves to be recognized, or your thoughts on how the center and defense polls ended. We’ve included many names that could be considered, but if you think we’ve missed someone important (which we undoubtedly have) make sure to leave his name down below.
Who are the best wingers in the NHL?
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Alex Ovechkin 7% (638)
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Taylor Hall 6% (535)
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Patrick Kane 6% (534)
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Nikita Kucherov 6% (528)
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Patrik Laine 5% (513)
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Vladimir Tarasenko 5% (482)
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Brad Marchand 5% (428)
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Artemi Panarin 4% (396)
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Claude Giroux 4% (374)
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Jamie Benn 4% (374)
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Johnny Gaudreau 4% (347)
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David Pastrnak 4% (331)
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Phil Kessel 3% (323)
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Blake Wheeler 3% (322)
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Filip Forsberg 3% (265)
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Mitch Marner 2% (197)
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Brock Boeser 2% (175)
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Logan Couture 2% (166)
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Jakub Voracek 2% (157)
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T.J. Oshie 1% (133)
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William Nylander 1% (130)
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Gabriel Landeskog 1% (127)
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Wayne Simmonds 1% (126)
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Jonathan Marchessault 1% (123)
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James van Riemsdyk 1% (119)
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Mark Stone 1% (118)
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Mikko Rantanen 1% (93)
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James Neal 1% (89)
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Max Pacioretty 1% (89)
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Jaden Schwartz 1% (86)
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Jonathan Huberdeau 1% (80)
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Nikolaj Ehlers 1% (75)
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Evander Kane 1% (72)
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Sebastian Aho 1% (72)
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Jeff Skinner 1% (62)
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Rickard Rakell 1% (58)
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Patric Hornqvist 1% (55)
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Anders Lee 0% (47)
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Alexander Radulov 0% (44)
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Corey Perry 0% (44)
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Viktor Arvidsson 0% (42)
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Jordan Eberle 0% (39)
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Clayton Keller 0% (38)
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Patrick Marleau 0% (37)
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Kyle Connor 0% (36)
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Jonathan Drouin 0% (35)
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Mikael Granlund 0% (31)
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Teuvo Teravainen 0% (30)
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Jason Zucker 0% (29)
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Travis Konecny 0% (25)
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Alex DeBrincat 0% (23)
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Anthony Mantha 0% (23)
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Reilly Smith 0% (22)
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Brendan Gallagher 0% (21)
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Mike Hoffman 0% (20)
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Josh Bailey 0% (19)
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David Perron 0% (19)
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Dustin Brown 0% (19)
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Evgeny Dadonov 0% (11)
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Yanni Gourde 0% (8)
Total votes: 9,454
[Mobile users click here to vote]
PHR Originals: 8/13/18 – 8/19/18
Here’s a rundown of some of the original content at PHR over the past seven days.
For the second straight year, the Oilers will be heading into the season without the services of veteran defender Andrej Sekera. Zach broke down what’s left of the free agent market as well as some possibilities to hit the waiver wire if Edmonton decides to try to fill his spot with a cheap veteran.
Our Salary Cap Deep Dive series continues. I took a look at the situations for the Penguins, Devils, and Flames while Holger assessed the Kings.
Meanwhile, the Red Wings currently find themselves over the salary cap. Zach went over their situation including possibilities for long-term injury reserve, players that could be snuck through waivers, as well as some potential trade candidates.
While the salary cap rightfully gets most of the attention, there is also a contract cap in the NHL. Gavin notes that the Coyotes are presently right up against the limit and even if their signed junior-aged players don’t make the team, it’s a situation they’re going to have to carefully navigate throughout the season.
Troy Brouwer was a late entrant into the free agent market after the Flames used a window after their salary arbitration cases to buy out the remainder of his contract. Zach reviewed his free agent case and what type of deal he may have to settle for this summer.
Topics in our latest mailbag included a look at what the Senators should do with their notable pending unrestricted free agents, projects the Metropolitan Division, reviews Henrik Zetterberg’s injury situation and Detroit, and discusses whether Boston needs to make a move for top-six help now or wait until later in the season.
Teams have been looking overseas for players more and more frequently and this offseason has been no exception. Zach provided a listing of all of the signings and looked at some of the players that are already projected to have an impact in the NHL next season. Some of those players came from some non-traditional hockey markets; another non-traditional place that is starting to produce some talent is Southern California as Zach detailed.
With several key defensemen already inking long-term extensions to stick with their current teams, Toronto’s Jake Gardiner is quickly becoming one of the more intriguing UFAs on the back end. Zach previewed his situation, noting that if Toronto wants to keep their top forward group intact, they may have some difficulties finding enough cap space to keep him in the fold as well.
Draft Pick Landscape: Breakdown By Team
The NHL trade market lives and dies in the movement of draft picks, a future promise of talent whose value perceived value is impossible to assess. A third-round pick today might be worth a second-round pick three years from now, but vary in value from conversation to conversation among the NHL’s executives. It’s difficult to see who won a trade that involves picks even years after the fact, given that the path a player goes down is immeasurably dependent on the team that drafts him and their development process.
Still, draft picks are the currency which teams use to improve in the short term while others try to stockpile for a rebuild that may never truly come. We’ve already seen quite a bit of movement among the picks for the 2019 draft, including several high selections changing hands this summer. Below is a list of where each team sits as we approach the season, and who has a few more coins in their pocket for any in-season trading.
2019 NHL Entry Draft Selections:
Anaheim Ducks – 1st (ANA), 2nd (ANA), 4th (ANA), 5th (ANA), 6th (ANA)
Arizona Coyotes – 1st (ARZ), 2nd (ARZ), 3rd (ARZ), 3rd (CHI), 4th (ARZ), 6th (ARZ), 6th (CBJ)*, 6th (PIT)
*The Coyotes will only acquire this pick if Ryan MacInnis plays 20 NHL games in 2018-19.
Boston Bruins – 1st (BOS), 2nd (BOS), 3rd (BOS), 5th (BOS), 6th (BOS)
Buffalo Sabres – 1st (BUF), 1st (SJS)*, 1st (STL)*, 3rd (BUF), 4th (SJS)*, 6th (BUF), 6th (TOR), 7th (BUF)
*Conditions on each of these picks could push them to 2020.
Calgary Flames – 1st (CGY), 3rd (CGY), 4th (NYI), 5th (CGY), 7th (CAR)
Carolina Hurricanes – 1st (CAR), 2nd (CAR), 2nd (BUF), 3rd (CAR), 4th (CAR), 5th (CAR), 6th (CAR), 6th (CGY), 7th (BOS)
Chicago Blackhawks – 1st (CHI), 2nd (CHI), 4th (CHI), 4th (BOS), 5th (ARZ), 6th (CHI), 7th (CHI), 7th (ANA)
Colorado Avalanche – 1st (COL), 1st (OTT), 2nd (COL), 3rd (COL), 3rd (OTT), 5th (COL), 6th (COL), 7th (COL)
Columbus Blue Jackets – 1st (CBJ), 3rd (CBJ), 4th (CBJ), 7th (CBJ)
Dallas Stars – 1st (DAL), 2nd (DAL), 3rd (DAL), 4th (DAL), 4th (PIT/MIN)*, 5th (DAL), 6th (DAL), 7th (DAL)
*The Stars will receive the earlier of the two picks
Detroit Red Wings – 1st (DET), 2nd (DET), 2nd (NYI), 3rd (DET), 4th (DET), 5th (DET), 5th (BUF), 5th (CBJ), 6th (DET), 7th (DET), 7th (ARZ)*
*The Red Wings will only acquire this pick if Robbie Russo plays 30 NHL games in 2018-19.
Edmonton Oilers – 1st (EDM), 2nd (EDM), 3rd (EDM), 3rd (NYI), 4th (EDM), 6th (EDM), 7th (EDM)
Florida Panthers – 1st (FLA), 4th (FLA), 5th (FLA), 6th (FLA), 7th (FLA)
Los Angeles Kings – 1st (LAK), 2nd (LAK), 3rd (LAK), 4th (LAK), 5th (LAK), 6th (LAK), 7th (LAK)
Minnesota Wild – 1st (MIN), 2nd (MIN), 3rd (MIN), 5th (MIN), 5th (WSH), 6th (MIN), 7th (MIN)
Montreal Canadiens – 1st (MTL), 2nd (MTL), 3rd (MTL), 4th (MTL), 4th (CGY) 5th (CHI), 5th (EDM), 6th (MTL), 7th (WPG)
Nashville Predators – 1st (NSH), 2nd (NSH), 3rd (FLA), 4th (NSH), 4th (COL), 5th (NSH), 6th (NSH), 7th (NSH)
New Jersey Devils – 1st (NJD), 2nd (NJD), 3rd (ANA), 4th (NJD), 5th (NJD), 6th (NJD), 7th (NJD)
New York Islanders – 1st (NYI), 2nd (CGY), 5th (NYI), 6th (NYI), 7th (NYI)
New York Rangers – 1st (NYR), 2nd (NYR), 2nd (TBL)*, 3rd (NYR), 4th (NYR), 5th (NYR), 6th (NYR), 7th (NYR)
*This pick will become a 1st if Tampa Bay wins the Stanley cup in 2018-19
Ottawa Senators – 2nd (OTT), 3rd (PIT), 4th (OTT), 5th (OTT), 6th (OTT), 7th (OTT), 7th (CGY)
Philadelphia Flyers – 1st (PHI), 2nd (PHI), 3rd (PHI), 3rd (NJD), 4th (PHI), 5th (PHI), 6th (PHI), 7th (PHI), 7th (MTL)
Pittsburgh Penguins – 1st (PIT), 2nd (PIT), 4th (PIT), 4th (BUF)*, 5th (PIT), 7th (PIT), 7th (VGK)
*If Conor Sheary scores 20 goals or 40 points in 2018-19 or Matt Hunwick is traded before the 2019 draft, this pick becomes a 3rd.
San Jose Sharks – 2nd (SJS), 2nd (FLA), 3rd (SJS), 5th (SJS), 6th (SJS), 7th (SJS)
St. Louis Blues – 2nd (STL), 3rd (STL), 5th (STL), 6th (STL), 7th (STL)
Tampa Bay Lightning – 1st (TBL), 3rd (TBL), 4th (TBL), 5th (TBL), 6th (TBL), 7th (TBL)
Toronto Maple Leafs – 1st (TOR), 2nd (TOR), 3rd (TOR), 4th (TOR), 4th (STL), 5th (TOR), 7th (TOR)
Vancouver Canucks – 1st (VAN), 2nd (VAN), 3rd (VAN), 4th (VAN), 5th (VAN), 6th (VAN), 6th (WSH), 7th (VAN)
Vegas Golden Knights – 1st (VGK), 2nd (VGK), 2nd (CBJ), 3rd (VGK), 3rd (NSH), 3rd (WPG), 4th (VGK), 5th (VGK), 5th (MTL) 6th (VGK)
Washington Capitals – 1st (WSH), 2nd (WSH), 3rd (WSH), 4th (WSH), 7th (WSH)
Winnipeg Jets – 1st (WPG), 2nd (WPG), 4th (WPG), 5th (WPG), 6th (WPG)
2006 NHL Draft Take Two: First Overall Pick
Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.
In the fall of 2016, PHR ran a series where fans were able to choose the order in which draft picks should have been selected during the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. While Sidney Crosby was still the obvious choice for first overall, there was huge turnover for the rest of the first round. Even looking back less than two years later some voters may change their mind, given Carey Price‘s (voted second overall) recent struggles.
This time around we’ll be looking at the infamous 2006 draft, in which Erik Johnson was picked first overall ahead of star forwards like Jonathan Toews, Phil Kessel and Nicklas Backstrom. Three players from the 2006 first round would never suit up for a single NHL game, while seven others would last fewer than 100 games. The 2006 draft was loaded with talent at the top, but where would these stars go if selected today with the benefit of hindsight?
Over the next month as we wait for training camp to begin, we’ll be going through the entire 2006 NHL Entry Draft and have the PHR community select who they would have picked knowing the result of the player’s career. We’ll include a list of players to vote for, and update the first round as it progresses. While 2005 was a clear cut answer at first overall, there might be a little more debate on who is the first off the board this time around.
The St. Louis Blues had the first selection over a decade ago, and went with a big physical defenseman from the US National Team Development Program in Johnson. After a year at the University of Minnesota, Johnson stepped right into a full-time role with the Blues and hasn’t looked back. With 637 career games under his belt and still an important part of the Colorado Avalanche blue line, Johnson can’t be considered a bust. Was he the right selection though at the very top of the draft?
With the first pick of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, who should the St. Louis Blues select? Cast your vote below!
2006 Redraft: First Overall
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Jonathan Toews 57% (1,521)
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Claude Giroux 14% (362)
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Nicklas Backstrom 12% (316)
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Brad Marchand 7% (197)
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Phil Kessel 6% (170)
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Erik Johnson 1% (23)
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Jordan Staal 0% (13)
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Milan Lucic 0% (11)
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Cal Clutterbuck 0% (8)
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Trevor Lewis 0% (7)
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Patrik Berglund 0% (6)
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Kyle Okposo 0% (4)
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Shawn Matthias 0% (4)
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Semyon Varlamov 0% (4)
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Chris Stewart 0% (2)
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Michael Grabner 0% (2)
-
Jonathan Bernier 0% (2)
-
Nick Foligno 0% (1)
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Bryan Little 0% (1)
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Derick Brassard 0% (1)
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Nikolay Kulemin 0% (1)
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Artem Anisimov 0% (1)
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Jamie McGinn 0% (1)
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James Riemer 0% (1)
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Michal Neuvirth 0% (1)
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Michael Frolik 0% (0)
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Steve Mason 0% (0)
Total votes: 2,660
[Mobile users click here to vote!]
Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag
Training camps are just a month away and the NHL season isn’t far behind. While the offseason has slowed considerably since the frenzy of unrestricted free agency, there are still plenty of unanswered questions around the league. Where will Erik Karlsson be playing at the start of 2018-19? What kind of impact will Rasmus Dahlin have for the the Buffalo Sabres? Will the Edmonton Oilers bounce back and contend for the Stanley Cup?
Our team at PHR is here to answer any question you have about the upcoming season, and this is your chance to get a more detailed response than during our Thursday evening Live Chat. Just submit your question using #PHRMailbag on Twitter or by leaving a comment down below. We’ll run the mailbag this weekend and try to get to everyone’s question.
Don’t forget to check out our last mailbag where Brian La Rose notes how well the Nashville Predators did by inking UFA Dan Hamhuis and RFA Juuse Saros to below-market deals to strengthen their team even further. Brian also dives into the Toronto cap situation, and a potential 2020 work stoppage among several other lengthy answers. If you want to get some similar insight, submit your question now!
Poll: Who Will Be The Top Free Agent Available In 2019?
The 2019 Superclass is losing some of its power. At this point a few months ago, hockey fans across North America were drooling with anticipation while thinking about the group of players scheduled to become unrestricted free agents in the summer of 2019. There were some incredible defensemen set to hit the open market, and real questions about whether their current teams would be able to hammer out an extension in time. Now, just six weeks into that extension period and we’ve already seen several names crossed off the list.
On July 1st alone, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Drew Doughty, Ryan McDonagh and Niklas Hjalmarsson were all removed from a possible free agent frenzy by inking huge contract extensions with their respective teams. Ekman-Larsson and Doughty would re-up for eight years each, while McDonagh would receive seven and Hjalmarsson an extra two. It took a few more weeks but Ryan Ellis would join them with an eight-year extension of his own, taking another elite defenseman off the market well before anyone could even prepare a sales pitch.
It wasn’t just defensemen. Logan Couture received an eight-year $64MM extension from the San Jose Sharks as soon as they could give it out, and Adam Henrique was given five more years from their state rival Anaheim Ducks. Marc-Andre Fleury was rewarded for his playoff performance with a three-year deal that makes him one of the highest-paid goaltenders in the league, despite only playing 46 regular season games for the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017-18.
A ton of talent has already been locked up, but it wasn’t dubbed a Superclass because of just a few players. The 2019 market still has a long list of talent scheduled, including superstar forwards like Tyler Seguin and Artemi Panarin. Erik Karlsson hasn’t signed an extension with the Ottawa Senators and may still be traded before the season, while Sergei Bobrovsky and Pekka Rinne provide some elite goaltending options if they aren’t re-signed.
So who will be the best free agent to make it all the way to market? After John Tavares showed that a superstar can indeed change teams in the prime of their career, who will be next to follow the money (or the home cooking) to a new club? Cast your vote below not for the player who you think is currently the best, but the best player you think will actually become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st, 2019. Explain your thoughts in the comment section below.
Who will be the top UFA in 2019?
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Erik Karlsson 31% (454)
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Tyler Seguin 24% (347)
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Artemi Panarin 18% (263)
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Blake Wheeler 4% (52)
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Matt Duchene 3% (50)
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Sergei Bobrovsky 3% (39)
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Mark Stone 2% (34)
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Pekka Rinne 2% (34)
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Wayne Simmonds 2% (33)
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Max Pacioretty 2% (27)
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Jordan Eberle 1% (19)
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Joe Pavelski 1% (17)
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Jeff Skinner 1% (11)
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Tyler Myers 1% (9)
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Jake Gardiner 1% (9)
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Anders Lee 1% (9)
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Gustav Nyquist 1% (8)
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Nate Schmidt 0% (7)
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Kevin Hayes 0% (6)
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Eric Staal 0% (6)
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Mats Zuccarello 0% (5)
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Jakob Silfverberg 0% (5)
Total votes: 1,444
[Mobile users click here to vote!]
Poll: Who Are The Best Defensemen In The NHL?
Last week the hockey world exploded into debate when the NHL Network released their list of the Top 20 Centers in the league. They had Connor McDavid ahead of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin at the top of the list, while others like Jonathan Toews were left off completely. At PHR we did our own poll in which readers were asked to rank the ten best, and after more than 10,000 votes the list looked quite different. The PHR community-voted Top 20 Center list currently looks like this:
- Sidney Crosby (1,213 votes)
- Connor McDavid (1,127 votes)
- Evgeni Malkin (817 votes)
- John Tavares (797 votes)
- Patrice Bergeron (732 votes)
- Auston Matthews (696 votes)
- Nathan MacKinnon (689 votes)
- Steven Stamkos (596 votes)
- Anze Kopitar (591 votes)
- Mark Scheifele (435 votes)
- Tyler Seguin (401 votes)
- Evgeny Kuznetsov (335 votes)
- Jonathan Toews (307 votes)
- Nicklas Backstrom (301 votes)
- Jack Eichel (237 votes)
- Aleksander Barkov (160 votes)
- Ryan Getzlaf (156 votes)
- Ryan O’Reilly (100 votes)
- Sean Couturier (99 votes)
- Mathew Barzal (85 votes)
Today, the network released their ranking of the Top 20 Defensemen in the NHL right now. At the very top is Victor Hedman, who has established himself as not only one of the best two-way defensemen in recent history, but an absolute superstar for the Tampa Bay Lightning capable of taking home a Norris trophy in any season. Hedman took home the trophy for the 2017-18 season after averaging nearly 26 minutes a night and recording 63 points in 77 games. Behind him though will bring plenty of controversy, as the rest of the list contains some interesting decisions and leaves out several seemingly deserving candidates.
Drew Doughty, Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns and P.K. Subban, winners of four out of the five previous Norris trophies before Hedman took home this year’s award round out the top five. Duncan Keith, who won his second Norris in 2013-14, is nowhere to be found on the list after a down year with the Chicago Blackhawks. Taking up spots previously given to older players like Keith are a handful of youngsters, including Zach Werenski, Seth Jones, and Charlie McAvoy.
Just like the center debate, we’d like to ask you at PHR who you think deserves to be on the list. Can others like Ivan Provorov, Hampus Lindholm, Mattias Ekholm or Marc-Edouard Vlasic make it into the top group? Once again we’ll ask you to cast your vote by selecting 10 names. Makes sure to leave a comment below on who you think deserves to be recognized, or your thoughts on how the center poll ended. We’ve included many of the names that could be considered, but if you think we’ve missed someone important make to to leave his name down below.
Who are the best defensemen in the NHL?
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Erik Karlsson 9% (906)
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Drew Doughty 9% (888)
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Victor Hedman 9% (887)
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P.K. Subban 7% (719)
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Brent Burns 7% (660)
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Roman Josi 5% (442)
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Seth Jones 4% (397)
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Alex Pietrangelo 4% (384)
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Oliver Ekman-Larsson 4% (383)
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John Carlson 4% (349)
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Dustin Byfuglien 3% (335)
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Shea Weber 2% (232)
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Aaron Ekblad 2% (218)
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John Klingberg 2% (209)
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Ryan Suter 2% (196)
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Kris Letang 2% (178)
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Dougie Hamilton 2% (168)
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Duncan Keith 2% (165)
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Charlie McAvoy 1% (146)
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Ryan Ellis 1% (143)
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Ivan Provorov 1% (140)
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Zach Werenski 1% (137)
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Jaccob Slavin 1% (137)
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Zdeno Chara 1% (132)
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Marc-Edouard Vlasic 1% (120)
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Shayne Gostisbehere 1% (117)
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Mark Giordano 1% (101)
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Ryan McDonagh 1% (100)
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Colton Parayko 1% (96)
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Morgan Rielly 1% (88)
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Torey Krug 1% (66)
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Cam Fowler 1% (66)
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Jacob Trouba 1% (65)
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Hampus Lindholm 1% (60)
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Rasmus Ristolainen 1% (57)
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Mattias Ekholm 1% (55)
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Matt Dumba 0% (42)
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Nate Schmidt 0% (41)
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Matt Niskanen 0% (28)
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Brady Skjei 0% (26)
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Tyler Myers 0% (25)
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Keith Yandle 0% (25)
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Dmitry Orlov 0% (24)
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Jared Spurgeon 0% (21)
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Tyson Barrie 0% (16)
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Jonas Brodin 0% (12)
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Oscar Klefbom 0% (10)
Total votes: 9,812
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PHR Originals: 8/6/18 – 8/12/18
Here is a rundown of some of the original content here at PHR over the past seven days.
The Devils tend to be one of the more overlooked teams in the Metropolitan Division but Gavin examined how they are slowly putting the pieces together to get themselves into contention. Meanwhile, after a very quiet summer thus far, I looked at why that’s not going to be the case for them next offseason.
The next wave of college free agency is set to open up on the 16th (players’ rights remain with their draft teams through the 15th). Zach provided an overview of the players that are set to hit the open market and projects which ones will be able to land NHL contracts in the weeks to come.
Gavin reviewed Edmonton’s offseason activity so far. After the disappointing year they had in 2017-18, some were expecting them to make a bigger move but that hasn’t happened. They still have some work to do in the coming weeks as defenseman Darnell Nurse remains in need of a new contract. Unless they find a way to free up some cap space though, he’ll almost assuredly be looking at a bridge deal.
Larger rosters are the norm in international hockey and now the NCAA as well but in the NHL, just 18 skaters get to dress each night. Zach made the case for the NHL to follow the same path and allow one extra skater to suit up per game.
Our Salary Cap Deep Dive series continued with a long look at the Metropolitan Division. I went over the situations for the Flyers, Hurricanes, and Islanders while Holger did the same for the Rangers and Blue Jackets.
Some teams will be heading to training camp next month with most of the roster set. Gavin noted that this won’t be the case for Anaheim who will have quite a few players battling for the final spots as several of their prospects are nearly NHL ready.
While most teams are set between the pipes, there is still bound to be some activity on the goalie market in the weeks to come. I broke down the current state of the market including the top free agent options available, potential players that could be in play to be dealt, and which teams may still be interested in adding to their stable of netminders.
Montreal, Boston Find Themselves Atop Goaltending Salary Chart
The NHL is a tricky league when it comes to building a winning team under the salary cap. Often, clubs are encouraged to sign their homegrown talent to exorbitant long-term contracts before they hit free agency, almost regardless of what position they play. Many clubs will dole out dollars without question to their star forwards and defense, but there does seem to be some hesitation when it comes to goaltending. The obvious reason for that is that only one goaltender can be on the ice at any time, and teams generally carry just two on the roster.
Over the years we’ve seen teams continually move on from young netminding talents, trading them away to teams desperate for an upgrade. That’s only really possible if the team has solidified the position already, a confidence that can weaken extremely quickly. Several of the league’s starting goaltenders—including the likes of Frederik Andersen, Martin Jones and Cory Schneider—have been traded in recent years and are on their second or third teams. They’ve earned high salaries and long-term stability, but their prior availability begs a question. Is it necessary (or even recommended) to pay top dollar for goaltenders?
In Montreal we will see the answer to this question play out over the next few seasons. In 2018-19 Carey Price will begin his eight-year, $84MM extension that makes him the highest-paid goaltender in the league with a $15MM salary and $10.5MM cap hit. The front-loaded deal will pay him twice as much as Henrik Lundqvist, the next highest-paid goaltender in the league, and carries a cap hit of $2MM more. That puts Montreal right at the top of the list for spending on goaltenders, even with the paltry $950K they will be paying Antti Niemi in a backup role. Even in a healthy season for Price he’ll likely only start around 65 of Montreal’s 82 games, meaning Niemi will still be in more than 20% of their action for less than 10% of the cap hit.
You might not be surprised by the Buffalo Sabres appearance at the bottom of the spending list, with Carter Hutton and Linus Ullmark combining for just $3.5MM this season. The Sabres did after all finish dead last in the NHL during the 2017-18 season, and are probably still a few years away from really competing for the Stanley Cup. The bottom third of the list though has some other interesting entries.
The Pittsburgh Penguins, Tampa Bay Lightning and Anaheim Ducks all still consider themselves contenders, but will employ extremely inexpensive tandems this season. There is a common thread among those teams though, as they are all using young goaltenders on their second contracts. John Gibson was given a huge extension from Anaheim recently, and Andrei Vasilevskiy and Matt Murray will be paid in time. The question though is where does the threshold lie for goaltending salaries? Murray, for example, has an up-and-coming goaltender in Tristan Jarry right behind him, who could potentially put up at least league average numbers for a greatly reduced price. Is that more beneficial for roster construction, given that Murray will likely demand a contract in 2020 that would make him among the league’s highest-paid goaltenders?
The answer isn’t clear, as the Boston Bruins have found success in recent years even paying Tuukka Rask his high $7MM salary. They find themselves second on the list now that Jaroslav Halak has been added as Rask’s backup, but still are in fine shape financially thanks to some reasonably-priced stars in their lineup. The entire list is below, though it doesn’t include the years remaining on each contract. That is obviously a huge factor when determining goaltender worth going forward, but would be difficult to order.
2018-19 Goaltending Cap Hits
Montreal Canadiens – $11.45MM – Carey Price ($10.5MM), Antti Niemi ($950K)
Boston Bruins – $9.75MM – Tuukka Rask ($7.0MM), Jaroslav Halak ($2.75MM)
Colorado Avalanche – $9.23MM – Semyon Varlamov ($5.9MM), Philipp Grubauer ($3.33MM)
Florida Panthers – $9.23MM – Roberto Luongo ($4.53MM), James Reimer ($3.4MM), Michael Hutchinson ($1.3MM)*
New York Rangers – $9.15MM – Henrik Lundqvist ($8.5MM), Marek Mazanec ($650K)
Chicago Blackhawks – $9.0MM – Corey Crawford ($6.0MM), Cam Ward ($3.0MM)
Nashville Predators – $8.5MM – Pekka Rinne ($7.0MM), Juuse Saros ($1.5MM)
Columbus Blue Jackets – $8.33MM – Sergei Bobrovsky ($7.43MM), Joonas Korpisalo ($900K)
Detroit Red Wings – $8.29MM – Jimmy Howard ($5.29MM), Jonathan Bernier ($3.0MM)
San Jose Sharks – $7.65MM – Martin Jones ($5.75MM), Aaron Dell ($1.9MM)
Dallas Stars – $7.42MM – Ben Bishop ($4.92MM), Anton Khudobin ($2.5MM)
New Jersey Devils – $7.25MM – Cory Schneider ($6.0MM), Keith Kinkaid ($1.25MM)
Ottawa Senators – $7.15MM – Craig Anderson ($4.75MM), Mike Condon ($2.4MM)
Los Angeles Kings – $6.83MM – Jonathan Quick ($5.8MM), Peter Budaj ($1.03MM)
Winnipeg Jets – $6.82MM – Connor Hellebuyck ($6.17MM), Laurent Brossoit ($650K)
Washington Capitals – $6.75MM – Braden Holtby ($6.1MM), Pheonix Copley ($650K)
Edmonton Oilers – $6.67MM – Cam Talbot ($4.17MM), Mikko Koskinen ($2.5MM)
Vegas Golden Knights – $6.4MM – Marc-Andre Fleury ($5.75MM), Malcolm Subban ($650K)
Vancouver Canucks – $6.17MM – Jacob Markstrom ($3.67MM), Anders Nilsson ($2.5MM)
Arizona Coyotes – $6.1MM – Antti Raanta ($4.25MM), Darcy Kuemper ($1.85MM)
St. Louis Blues – $6.1MM – Jake Allen ($4.35MM), Chad Johnson ($1.75MM)
Toronto Maple Leafs – $5.85MM – Frederik Andersen ($5.0MM), Curtis McElhinney ($850K)
Carolina Hurricanes – $5.65MM – Scott Darling ($4.15MM), Petr Mrazek ($1.5MM)
Philadelphia Flyers – $5.25MM – Brian Elliott ($2.75MM), Michal Neuvirth ($2.5MM)
Calgary Flames – $5.05MM – Mike Smith ($4.25MM), David Rittich ($800K)
Minnesota Wild – $4.98MM – Devan Dubnyk ($4.33MM), Alex Stalock ($650K)
New York Islanders – $4.83MM – Thomas Greiss ($3.33MM), Robin Lehner ($1.5MM)
Tampa Bay Lightning – $4.65MM – Andrei Vasilevskiy ($3.5MM), Louis Domingue ($1.15MM)
Pittsburgh Penguins – $4.43MM – Matt Murray ($3.75MM), Tristan Jarry ($675K)
Anaheim Ducks – $4.3MM– John Gibson ($2.3MM), Ryan Miller ($2.0MM)
Buffalo Sabres – $3.5MM – Carter Hutton ($2.75MM), Linus Ullmark ($750K)
*The Panthers are unlikely to carry three goaltenders in the NHL the entire season, but Hutchinson’s one-way contract is still a substantial figure.