Over the course of the last month, the NHL has been releasing lists of the top players in the game. They broke it down into four position groups and ranked the best players in each; 20 at center, wing, and defense and 10 goalies. (See each list below)
The Golden Knights were represented in three lists by five players including Robin Lehner (G8), Mark Stone (W10), Max Pacioretty (W15), Shea Theodore (D14), and newcomer Alex Pietrangelo (D4).
Vegas was also the only team in the NHL to have multiple players listed at more than one position with a pair of wings and defensemen.
To take a look at exactly how the Golden Knights stacked up against the rest of the league, I created the “Star-Power Rankings” using the NHL’s lists. The best player in each position group earned 20 points, 2nd place got 19, and so on. Goalies only had 10 players listed so they were scored 20, 18, 16, etc.
Here are the rankings.
| G | D | C | W | TOTAL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOS | 18 | 12 | 14 | 19+15 | 78 |
| TBL | 20 | 20 | 12+4 | 18 | 74 |
| WPG | 16 | 9 | 7+9+10 | 51 | |
| VGK | 6 | 17+7 | 11+6 | 47 | |
| COL | 15 | 19 | 13 | 47 | |
| PIT | 13 | 17+13 | 1 | 44 | |
| EDM | 20+18 | 38 | |||
| TOR | 1 | 16+7 | 14 | 38 | |
| WSH | 18 | 17 | 35 | ||
| NYR | 11 | 20 | 31 | ||
| CHI | 14 | 16 | 30 | ||
| DAL | 14+2 | 11 | 27 | ||
| CBJ | 16+9 | 25 | |||
| FLA | 10 | 12 | 22 | ||
| NSH | 19+2 | 21 | |||
| STL | 12 | 6 | 2 | 20 | |
| VAN | 10 | 5 | 4 | 19 | |
| CGY | 4 | 8+5 | 17 | ||
| BUF | 15 | 15 | |||
| MTL | 10 | 5 | 15 | ||
| CAR | 4 | 8 | 12 | ||
| SJS | 8+3 | 11 | |||
| ARI | 8 | 8 | |||
| LAK | 6 | 1 | 7 | ||
| PHI | 3 | 3 | 6 | ||
| NYI | 2 | 2 | |||
| ANA | 0 | ||||
| DET | 0 | ||||
| MIN | 0 | ||||
| NJD | 0 | ||||
| OTT | 0 |
Boston and Tampa Bay dominated the rankings as the only teams with a player in every category. Those two, along with Winnipeg join Vegas as the only teams with five different players listed.
The Pacific Division is fairly sad on the list coming in with total rankings of 47 (VGK), 38 (EDM), 19 (VAN), 17 (CGY), 11 (SJS), 8 (ARI), 7 (LAK), and 0 (ANA). Thus, Vegas has more Star-Power than Anaheim, Arizona, LA, San Jose, and Vancouver combined!
All in all, the front office in Vegas has made a conscious effort to acquire superstars since the Expansion Draft. In three offseasons, they’ve succeeded in a big way adding four that rank in the top 20 in their position.
The wait is over! Here are our Top 10 Goalies Right Now. #NHLTopPlayers pic.twitter.com/mFk9HkTaFb
— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) November 23, 2020
https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1323318000666234880
Here are the Top 20 Centers Right Now! #NHLTopPlayers pic.twitter.com/EGxlmhoddf
— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) November 16, 2020
https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1325816698088337409
Hague_for_Norris
Drew Doughty, Seth Jones, Brent Burns, EK65 in the top 20 is a YIKES also Ovi and Kane aren’t top 20 wingers, and Stone should be top 3.
Nick
Ovi and Kane aren’t top 20 wingers?!?! I want whatever you’re smoking!!!
Seamus Byrne
well if you want I’m smoking its analytics! both of their xGA/60 are among the worse on their team. (xGA is expected goals) I still believe Kane is an elite playmaker but what drops him down is his defensive play he is invisible when the puck comes into his zone. Ovi is still a great goal scorer for how much he shoots the puck but his GF/60 which takes into account PLAYMAKING not just scoring goals isn’t very good. What drops Ovi and Kane is both of their horrific play defensively. they pass the eye test but when you take a closer look they aren’t as elite as they seem.
CLove
Goaltenders??????. Rask, went home. Bishop is injured. Binnington was a dog in the playoffs. What about Hart? Elvis in Columbus. Come on.
Brent
Rask and Bishop were and are some of the best goalies in the league. Rask went home to his family after having one of the best seasons of his career and Bishop still had a solid regular season before getting injured. There is no question they are in the top.