Polls

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:

1. Sidney Crosby (1,213 votes)
2. Connor McDavid (1,127 votes)
3. Evgeni Malkin (817 votes)
4. John Tavares (797 votes)
5. Patrice Bergeron (732 votes)
6. Auston Matthews (696 votes)
7. Nathan MacKinnon (689 votes)
8. Steven Stamkos (596 votes)
9. Anze Kopitar (591 votes)
10. Mark Scheifele (435 votes)
11. Tyler Seguin (401 votes)
12. Evgeny Kuznetsov (335 votes)
13. Jonathan Toews (307 votes)
14. Nicklas Backstrom (301 votes)
15. Jack Eichel (237 votes)
16. Aleksander Barkov (160 votes)
17. Ryan Getzlaf (156 votes)
18. Ryan O’Reilly (100 votes)
19. Sean Couturier (99 votes)
20. 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.

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The free agent market is nearly completely dry—though there remains a few bargain additions who could provide some value on defense—and many teams have already blown their cap space for next season. The trade market has already seen most of its action, and though Erik Karlsson and Max Pacioretty are still expected to be moved there may not be many improvements left to be made for the majority of the league.

Yesterday we asked which team had improved the most through the first part of the offseason, and the answer was clear among our readers. More than 31% of the vote went to the St. Louis Blues, with the Toronto Maple Leafs coming in with 24% as well. No other team registered even 7%, while Nashville was the only team who didn’t receive a single vote. Today we ask the opposite: who has had the worst offseason so far?

The first reaction may be to look at where the Blues and Maple Leafs acquired their biggest additions. St. Louis signed David Perron and Tyler Bozak out of Vegas and Toronto respectively, but made the most significant change by trading for Ryan O’Reilly from the Buffalo Sabres. The Blues clearly improved for next season in the deal, but it’s hard to write off what the Sabres got in return. The two franchises are at very different stages in their competitive windows, and while Patrik Berglund and Vladimir Sobotka were overpaid, underperforming players for St. Louis, they are also substantial improvements to the bottom-six for the Sabres.

For Toronto, their only real big move has come at the hands of the New York Islanders. John Tavares left the only team he’s ever known to return to the place he grew up, and no franchise would be able to immediately fill the hole left by a franchise center. The Islanders though have tried to fill it with several players, inking a number of depth forwards in an attempt to spread out some of the load next season. Toronto themselves lost a lot in free agency, seeing Bozak and James van Riemsdyk head to new locales. They’ll be just fine with their summer thanks to the addition of Tavares, but it didn’t come without a cost.

There are plenty of teams who made almost no splash at all when free agency opened. The New Jersey Devils tried but failed to add to their forward group, while the San Jose Sharks didn’t add a single unrestricted free agent outside of Joe Thornton and Dylan DeMelo, both of whom are returning to the team they’ve played on for years. Then there are the teams who found themselves selling instead of buying. The Ottawa Senators have dealt with scandal after scandal the past few months, and ended up having to move out Mike Hoffman at a discount and now may move their franchise defenseman before the season begins. The Montreal Canadiens swapped out Alex Galchenyuk for Max Domi, but were also told that Paul Byron, Andrew Shaw and Shea Weber would all likely miss the start of the season—the latter in danger of missing much more.

Cast your vote below on who you believe has had the worst offseason so far, taking into account all that has happened since the Stanley Cup was awarded to the Washington Capitals. Make sure to explain your reasoning in the comment section below.

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The summer of 2018 has already seen quite a few huge changes across the NHL landscape. Though the free agent market was relatively thin, it included one of the best players to ever see the open market in John Tavares. The Toronto boy chose his hometown Maple Leafs, making up for some of the losses the rest of their roster experienced. The Islanders decided to go with a committee approach to replace Tavares, and could find themselves with a more balanced attack in 2018-19.

There were others who hit big in free agency, even if they missed out on the top name. The Philadelphia Flyers brought in a familiar face in James van Riemsdyk, giving their top-six another 30-goal scorer and powerplay specialist while the Vegas Golden Knights added some more center depth in Paul Stastny and an underrated defenseman in Nick Holden.

The St. Louis Blues and Calgary Flames were both busy in free agency, adding the likes of David Perron, Tyler Bozak, James Neal and Derek Ryan, but did their biggest damage on the trade market. The Blues brought in Ryan O’Reilly to solidify the center position, while the Flames flipped Dougie Hamilton and others for more young talent. Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin are expected to play large roles with Calgary next season, as they try to bounce back from their disappointing season.

What about a team like the Buffalo Sabres, who added some experience with players like Conor Sheary, Carter Hutton, Matt Hunwick, Vladimir Sobotka and Patrik Berglund, while also landing the top pick in the draft. Rasmus Dahlin is expected to make an impact for the Sabres right away, and could make the team a playoff contender immediately with some improved performances around him. The Detroit Red Wings also added a ton of talent through the draft, but likely won’t see it pay off for several seasons. They instead hope that Jonathan Bernier and others can help them stay competitive in the short term.

So who is the most improved for 2018-19? Which team will take the biggest step forward, and who can place the credit for that on their new additions? Cast your vote below, and make sure to explain your position in the comments.