Who’s the best player in the NHL for 2015-16?
The Hockey News released its 2015-16 NHL Yearbook, which our own Sean Leahy carries around like a kid at seminary school clutching his Testaments.
Within its pages is the annual Top 50 player ranking, and SwissHabs has captured part of the list for 2015-16; we’re guessing it caught their eye because a certain Montreal Canadiens goaltender is ranked No. 1.
Carey Price is the best player in the NHL entering the 2015-16 season, according to The Hockey News. He was No. 25 (!) last season. Winning the Hart and Vezina trophies will do that for a guy.
Said THN:
“No team relies on one player more than the Canadiens do on Price. Duplicating his performance from last season will come down to whether he can handle that kind of pressure and workload. There’s nothing to suggest he won’t.”
So Carey Price is the NHL’s best player because the Canadiens suck without him? Because we thought that was just the Hart’s criteria …
Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks moves up from No. 3 to No. 2, while Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins drops from No. 1 to No. 4. New to the Top 20 are Victor Hedman (No. 45 last season), Erik Karlsson (No. 27, somehow, last season) and Pekka Rinne, who was unranked due to injury last season.
Here’s a scan of the top 20, via SwissHabs:
And for the graphically challenged, the list:
1. Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens
2. Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks
3. Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
4. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
5. Duncan Keith, Chicago Blackhawks
6. John Tavares, New York Islanders
7. Erik Karlsson, Ottawa Senators
8. Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings
9. Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning
10. Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
11. Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
(Ed. Note: THN notes that Kane has “replaced Pavel Datsyuk as the league’s preeminent dangler,” which is … descriptive.)
12. Jamie Benn, Dallas Stars
13. Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings
14. Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks
15. Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators
16. Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars
17. Shea Weber, Nashville Predators
18. Claude ‘Best Player In The World’ Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers
19. Corey Perry, Anaheim Ducks
20. Patrice ‘How In The [expletive] Is Patrice Bergeron Ranked That Low?’ Bergeron, Boston Bruins
We acknowledge and respect the restraint shown by THN in not putting Connor McDavid in the top 5 …
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