Standings, rivalries, etc.
Another weekday, another summer edition of the Morning Skate!
I’m operating on an imaginary every-other-day schedule this week, where I pretend no one will notice that it’s actually been a two-Skate week.
Thanks to all who continue to visit these parts during the summer doldrums, helping us discuss things like the NHL’s latest silly hire and the offer sheet chaos engulfing the Edmonton Oilers.
(As someone noted in the comments section on The Athletic, offer sheet chaos is pretty entertaining when it doesn’t involve your team…it might not be as funny if you’re an Oilers fan, though.)
We’ve reached that point in the summer where the NHL Network releases their annual Top 20/Top 10 lists, all of which are designed to get people mad and cause arguments on the Internet.
After all, it’s a great time of year for that, considering we have very little else to do.
The rest of the lists will roll out over the course of the month, but I got an email Wednesday about the Top 20 Wings Right Now, and two Bruins made the list: David Pastrnak at #4 and Brad Marchand at #18.
The wings ranked ahead of Pastrnak were Nikita Kucherov, Matthew Tkachuk, and Mikko Rantanen; Pastrnak was placed just ahead of Artemi Panarin, Jason Robertson, Kirill Kaprizov, and William Nylander.
I’m not sure you can argue too much about the guys ahead of Pastrnak, as each of those three is about as elite as elite gets these days.
The full rankings are as follows:
- Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
- Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers
- Mikko Rantanen, Colorado Avalanche
- David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins
- Artemi Panarin, New York Rangers
- Jason Robertson, Dallas Stars
- Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota Wild
- William Nylander, Toronto Maple Leafs
- Sam Reinhart, Florida Panthers
- Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs
- Zach Hyman, Edmonton Oilers
- Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators
- Steven Stamkos, Nashville Predators
- Filip Forsberg, Nashville Predators
- Kyle Connor, Winnipeg Jets
- Jake Guentzel, Tampa Bay Lightning
- Clayton Keller, Utah Hockey Club
- Brad Marchand, Boston Bruins
- Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
- Travis Konecny, Philadelphia Flyers
You could probably get into a bit of an argument about Marchand, though it’s fair to point out that he did have a relatively down year offensively and is on the back-9 of his career.
And to be fair, some of the guys I initially scratched my head at (Clayton Keller, for example) have been more prolific producers than I had realized, so…yeah. Maybe don’t listen to me.
Anyways, the floor is yours!
Discuss offer sheets, argue about imaginary rankings (ours aren’t imaginary, those are very scientific and legitimate), fret over the Jeremy Swayman contract…the choice is yours and yours alone.
What else is on tap for today?