Welcome to the 3rd edition of the Big 50. A new name graces the top spot and some old faces are welcomed back to the board.
Once again, we take in to account position, past performance and expected future stats. I know no one ever agrees on these things so feel free to rip me a new one in the comments!
A couple of notes:
-Long term injuries are excluded from the board and will be listed in “The Injury Brigade”.
-The “What Have You Done For Me Lately?” category is littered with guys you would normally expect to see in the top 50 but have not been performing for an extended period of time.
-The “Honourable Mention” section is for guys who couldn’t quite crack the top 50 this time around.
-Statistics and comments are current as of games played on January 19th.
| Rank | Player | Comment | Prev |
| 1 | Evgeni Malkin |
Either Malkin or Sedin are a fine choice at number one – the numbers are almost identical |
3 |
| 2 | Daniel Sedin |
Sedin drops to #2 on the strength of Malkin’s 24 goals
|
1 |
| 3 | Steven Stamkos |
League leading 31 snipes
|
2 |
| 4 | Pavel Datsyuk |
Turned a corner on November 17th – 41 points in 30 games
|
15 |
| 5 | Henrik Sedin |
League leading 41 apples
|
4 |
| 6 | Jimmy Howard |
Peripherals are a touch worse than Quick but leads him by 8 wins at 28
|
7 |
| 7 | Jonathan Quick |
Leads the league with six shutouts
|
14 |
| 8 | Henrik Lundqvist |
Hard to give too much credit to Lundqvist when Biron is putting up almost identical numbers
|
11 |
| 9 | Claude Giroux |
Concussion scare was hopefully just a one time occurrence
|
INJ |
| 10 | Marian Hossa |
Top 10 in assists, points and +/-
|
18 |
| 11 | Jonathan Toews |
Trails only Stamkos with 26 goals
|
12 |
| 12 | James Neal |
4th in goals, 1st in shots
|
20 |
| 13 | Tim Thomas |
The timeshare with Rask drags him down |
10 |
| 14 | Corey Perry |
On pace for another 40 goal season despite the fact that Getzlaf has fallen off the face of the earth
|
8 |
| 15 | Erik Karlsson |
We’ve all seen how fast young defenceman can go in the tank (Green, Doughty), but I remain cautiously optomistic
|
29 |
| 16 | Johan Franzen |
Was limping after taking a shot off the ankle Thursday night, but appears to be ok
|
19 |
| 17 | Tyler Seguin |
May not have a gnarly scar like his rival Taylor Hall, but does lead the NHL at +35
|
17 |
| 18 | Thomas Vanek |
Has been in a tailspin with 2 points in his last 10
|
6 |
| 19 | Pekka Rinne |
Heavy workload has led to 25 wins
|
9 |
| 20 | Alex Ovechkin |
Cooled back off after a streak of 11 points in 7 games
|
16 |
| 21 | Phil Kessel |
I don’t think he’ll be the last man picked at the All-Star Game this year
|
28 |
| 22 | Teemu Selanne |
On pace for 50 assists for the first time since 05-06
|
22 |
| 23 | John Tavares |
On fire with 19 points in his last 11 games
|
NR |
| 24 | Martin St. Louis |
Still just under a point per game despite scary injury
|
INJ |
| 25 | Kris Letang |
The Pens are happy to have him back – 1 point and +2 in his return from injury
|
INJ |
| 26 | Zdeno Chara |
Typical Chara season – excellent +/-, decent number of points and a healthy dose of PIMS
|
21 |
| 27 | Antti Niemi |
Two shutouts is well below his usual pace
|
34 |
| 28 | Marc-Andre Fleury |
Streaky much? Last 13 starts include two four-game winning streaks and a five-game losing streak
|
23 |
| 29 | Jason Spezza |
Putting up the same numbers as ever, with the exception being he is actually on the ice every game
|
39 |
| 30 | Roberto Luongo |
I don’t think he needs to feel threatened by Schneider anymore
|
36 |
| 31 | Patrick Kane |
Last multi-point game was December 5th
|
13 |
| 32 | Joffrey Lupul |
Not showing signs of slowing down
|
45 |
| 33 | Anze Kopitar |
Only 4 goals since November 22 but the assists are there
|
46 |
| 34 | Shea Weber |
Impending RFA having another excellent season
|
25 |
| 35 | Marian Gaborik |
Leads the first place Rangers with 37 points
|
32 |
| 36 | Ilya Kovalchuk |
Returns to the board after a very long absence
|
NR |
| 37 | Scott Hartnell |
On pace to demolish his career high of 60 points, but the shooting percentage is a tad worrisome
|
47 |
| 38 | Patrice Bergeron |
+28 rating is second only to Seguin
|
NR |
| 39 | Ryan Kesler |
Only 3 points in January
|
41 |
| 40 | Patrick Elias |
Vaulted onto the board with 25 points since the start of December
|
NR |
| 41 | David Backes |
Another one of those players who doesn’t have the best point total, but makes up for it with a ton of PIMS
|
NR |
| 42 | Mike Smith |
3 shootout losses since returning from injury
|
40 |
| 43 | Patrick Marleau |
In a mini-slump like most of the other Sharks forwards
|
33 |
| 44 | Jarome Iginla |
On pace for 28+ goals for the 13th straight
|
43 |
| 45 | Nicklas Lidstrom |
Bouncing back after last seasons -2 rating
|
31 |
| 46 | Max Pacioretty |
4 goals in his last 6 after a bit of a dry spell
|
44 |
| 47 | Tuukka Rask |
Has started 5 of Boston’s last 12 games and has only allowed more than 2 goals once in his last 10 starts
|
NR |
| 48 | Jaroslav Halak |
3 shutouts in last 4 starts
|
NR |
| 49 | Jeff Skinner |
Here on potential, not on performance
|
INJ |
| 50 | Brian Elliott |
Has only started 2 of last 8 games in St. Louis
|
48 |
Dropped off: Nicklas Backstrom (INJ), Jamie Benn (INJ), Ilya Bryzgalov, Dustin Byfuglien (INJ), Tomas Fleischmann, Dany Heatley, Joe Pavelski, Carey Price, Patrick Sharp (INJ), Joe Thornton, Kris Versteeg, Stephen Weiss, Henrik Zetterberg
The Injury Brigade: Nicklas Backstrom, Jamie Benn, Dustin Byfuglien, Ryane Clowe, Sidney Crosby, Jordan Eberle, Curtis Glencross, Mike Green, Taylor Hall, Mikko Koivu, Andrei Markov, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Chris Pronger, Mike Ribeiro, Patrick Sharp, Jordan Staal, Alex Steen
What Have You Done For Me Lately?: Martin Brodeur, Jeff Carter, Ryan Getzlaf, Jonas Hiller, Ryan Miller, Rick Nash, Bobby Ryan
Honourable Mention: Niklas Backstrom, Danny Briere, Dustin Brown, Alex Burrows, Ryan Callahan, Brian Campbell, Erik Cole, Logan Couture, Alex Edler, Loui Eriksson, Valtteri Filppula, Milan Hejduk, Jaromir Jagr, Olli Jokinen, Evander Kane, Miikka Kiprusoff, Chris Kunitz, Vincent Lecavalier, Kari Lehtonen, Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand, Milan Michalek, Matt Moulson, Zach PArise, Ondrej Pavelec, Dion Phaneuf, Tomas Plekanec, Jason Pominville, Brad Richards, Eric Staal, Ryan Suter, Jose Theodore, Tomas Vokoun, Radim Vrbata, Ray Whitney, Keith Yandle
| Dany Heatley |
