The Best Player in the League:

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

Stastny knows how to light the lamp, no question, but I don't think that's enough to warrant calling him the best player in the league right now. He's a newcomer and it shows in his all-around game. That, of course, is to be expected from any offensively-gifted young guy, and in three or four seasons, after he has refined his play away from the other team's net, he should be a real force to be reckoned with.

But at the moment, Hank is the real deal, a bona fide elite NHLer. The big difference between him and Stastny is that he's not only scoring like a madman, but also doing all the other "little" things right (e.g. backchecking, setting up plays, working as hard in his own zone as he does in the offensive zone). That kind of stuff doesn't get you as much press and hype and fanfare as a hat trick does, but as Stevie Y demonstrated, it elevates you from being a great offenseman to a great player, period.

Barring injury (knock on wood), he should vie for the scoring title and the Selke this season. Can't say that about many players.

Relax, it wasn't a campaign ad for the kid.....just a recognition that he's doing great. Hard to argue that. I would agree that he isn't the best player in the league, but he's playing well beyond his experience level. Besides, as HS said, when you eliminate half the league the way the thread starter did, it doesn't quite leave that many options.

Sidenote: I was following the thread starters rules, thus I didn't just name Hank even though you should've noticed that I put him first.

Edited October 22, 2007 by Never Forget Mac #25

[Yzerfan1999 81]

Why ask us who the best player is if you make us abide by all these rules? F. That.

The best player thus far is Zetterberg.

In 6 months it will be Crosby.

[wingslogo19 281]

I've watched pretty much all of the Pens game thus far. Sid makes it look easy to stick handle around a whole team, they can't knock him off the puck..

but lots of mention to our man Zetts, keep up the great work

[YoungGuns1340 1]

Dude who in the hell do you think you are to tell us that we can't vote for Sidney Crosby? Oh, wow you watched two games of him so you must be some expert right? Well I think you are a moron, he is clearly the best and you clearly have no idea about hockey or life.

...yeah, because berating somebody for saying Crosby isnt the best player so far THIS season, and then going on to cite awards won LAST season is CLEARLY the key to life and justification to call somebody else a moron.

[Guest GordieSid&Ted]

...yeah, because berating somebody for saying Crosby isnt the best player so far THIS season, and then going on to cite awards won LAST season is CLEARLY the key to life and justification to call somebody else a moron.

I agree. I also agree with the person who said Z is the best player right now and Crosby will be the best in 6 months.

Oh, and who the hell said that "crosby will be great just not this year"? What, like we're still waiting for him to bust out or something? Sometimes I wonder what's going on in people's brains.

[up2here 41]

Aaron Downey.

[Hiei 192]

What in the world is gonna stop Chris Chelios from being the best NHL Player for eternity?

[esteef 2,679]

Aaron Downey.

You beat me to it!

Cheers!

esteef

[up2here 41]

You beat me to it!

Cheers!

esteef

I knew someone would post it. All kidding aside he is growing on me,as long as its just 4th line <10 mins ice time.

[daniel1 32]

For this season only, who has been the best player so far? Rules:

Goalies don't count, because obviously they would dominate the top 5 best, let alone the best.

If you say Zetterberg or Lidstrom, name another non-Wing for the sake of variety.

Please don't say Sidney Crosby- I have watched a couple of his games so far and he was good but not great.

If you say A Flame, Shark, Duck, or Predator, I will slap you.

Keep in mind, the BEST player can play well at both sides of the ice.

I'm going to quantify your criteria here a little bit in hopes of getting some responses which address your post.

1st let's stipulate it's a player other than a goalie as you have already indicated.

2nd let's agree that it should be someone who is just as good defensively as offensively so they should be on their team's PP and PK unit.

3rd just for fun let's score them on a scale of 1-5 in the following areas: playmaking, scoring, defense, leadership, miscellaneous for a total out of 25.

Here's my top 5

So... I will say Z is top dog right now. Gotta give him 5 for playmaking, 4 for scoring, 5 for defense, 4 for leadership and his faceoff and physical play get him another 4 in the miscellaneous section for a total of 22/25.

My non Red Wings pick might surprise a few people but I think the 2nd best overall player would be Brian Rolston from the Wild. 4 for playmaking, 4 for scoring, 5 for defense, 4 for leadership and 4 for his howitzer of a shot, faceoff skills and physical play in the miscellaneous section for 20/25. I think he's a huge reason the Wild are on top right now.

Third on the list at this point in the season would be Alfredsson, whose scores would look like 3, 4, 3.5, 3.5 and 4 for 18/25. I mark hard, but hey that's my job.

Our own Pavel Datsyuk would get the nod for fourth, he gets 5 and 4 in the offensive catagories and manages a respectable 3.5 and 3 for his defense and leadership. I give him only 2 on the miscellaneous as he isn't very physical or fantastic in the faceoff circle either. 17.5/25 for Pavs

Last in my top 5 list so far this season would be Mats Sundin, as much as I HATE the Leafs he has been everything that team could ask for so far this season. He's not the playmaker that Datsyuk is though and his defensive skills aren't quite as good as the others on my list. I would assess him as 3.5, 4, 3, 3.5 and 3 for a total of 17/25

There's a TON of players like Ovechkin, Heatlley, Sezza, Thornton, etc who would definitely get 5/5 for scoring or playmaking but they would all pretty much flund the defense and PK aspect of it. Guys like Ovechkin and Thornton wouldn't score well in leadership either so that's why they don't make my top 5.

[Guest jaytan]

Maybe Thornton wasn't a great captain in Boston, but I think he's a pretty good leader now. Better than Datsyuk, for christ's sake.

[TimeBinder 28]

The Drake.

[Echolalia 2,961]

seriously, crosby? What has he done this year, again?

[Yemack 1]

non Wings? Joe Thorton

you don't contain Big Joe and IMO he is 50% of Sharks

edit:

er.. nvm didnt read original post

Edited October 23, 2007 by Yemack

[Earthhuman 8]

seriously, crosby? What has he done this year, again?

He has been good, like I said, but I don't think he deserves to be talked about just yet.

[wingslogo19 281]

seriously, crosby? What has he done this year, again?

Watch the Pens game, he is hard to control and hard to knock off the puck. He's starting to light it up

[Louisville 112]

So you want an honest answer about who we think is best, except we can't pick players from 4 teams, we can't pick one of the absolute best players in the league, we can't pick goalies, and if we pick someone on our team, we also have to pick someone else??

Under those conditions I respectfully abstain.

It's better than the usual "pick the best player" threads, and I don't think he was particularly serious about denying anyone to pick from those four teams.

[daniel1 32]

Maybe Thornton wasn't a great captain in Boston, but I think he's a pretty good leader now. Better than Datsyuk, for christ's sake.

I'll admit he has matured since his days in Boston. When they start using on the PK or late in the game for defensive purposes then I would start to consider him a "complete" player. He has been good on faceoffs this year though, I will give you that. If he ever wins or is even considered for a Selke then I'll have a side of crow to eat.

[Grittzkey 1]

Lindstrom..

without him we are nothing.

[Earthhuman 8]

Lindstrom..

without him we are nothing.

Lidstrom*

And I somewhat agree.

It's better than the usual "pick the best player" threads, and I don't think he was particularly serious about denying anyone to pick from those four teams.

You're my new best friend.

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

Crosby for sure, but 8 games into the season, Zetterberg and Biron.

Edited October 23, 2007 by Detroit # 1 Fan

[BeeRYCE 2]

Lidstrom can bring out a good argument.

The way I see it, it comes in terms of value... Without Zetterberg, we would be a good team, probably not as good, but still contenders.

Crosby on the other hand, the Pens really need him, he's the player that makes or breaks them and probably the most valuable to any team maybe aside from Luongo and Brodeur. That's where Lids comes in, because his presence is EXTREMELY valuable.

[omnipotent_hudler 0]

Crosby is the best player in the league, but he still needs to work on his defensive play. Too many times it takes it easy in his own zone. Once he fixes that he will be scary(as if he wasn't already).

That being said, Zetterbergs stock is certainly rising this year. He could end up as one of the top 10 by the end of this year at this rate. I like Zetterberg because he can play defense as well as a defensive specialist but can also score goals. That's a complete player.

[SFwingsfan 23]

Sidney Crosby

[toby91_ca 620]

Crosby is the best player in the league, but he still needs to work on his defensive play. Too many times it takes it easy in his own zone. Once he fixes that he will be scary(as if he wasn't already).

That being said, Zetterbergs stock is certainly rising this year. He could end up as one of the top 10 by the end of this year at this rate. I like Zetterberg because he can play defense as well as a defensive specialist but can also score goals. That's a complete player.

Actually, Crosby is already pretty good defensively and is improving all the time. He is a very hard worker, which is the first step.

I think a lot of people look to the fact that he doesn't play a lot on the PK and assume that he is not great defensively, but one of the key reasons he doesn't play a lot on the PK is risk. The last thing the Pens want is to have him block a shot and be out of the lineup because of it. He has already missed a few games because of that last year (actually, he played the end of last year on a broken foot). He took a puck off the foot again in preseason this year. I think that team is scared to death of losing him for anymore than a game or two.