On Monday, the NHL Network continued its annual top-50 players list. It appears that they'll be releasing a list of ten players every Monday leading up to the 2021-22 season and today it's players ranked 40-31, so let's dive right in and take a look.
40. Kyle Connor (2020-21 rank: 35).
"The hardest thing to do in the NHL is to score goals and
Kyle Connor has a great gift of it," NHL Network analyst Mike Johnson said. "We talk about his goal scoring, you don't score as much as he does without being able to score in every different kind of way. He has all the kinds of shots, whether it's in tight, from distance, wrist shot, backhand, snap shot, dekes, whatever it might be, he can do it all."
39. Mika Zibanejad (2020-21 rank: 22).
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"I think what we saw at the beginning of last year was the aberration," Johnson said. "What we saw at the end is something closer to what he is, which is a point per game player, or more, a half a goal per game player, or more. He is really blossoming into one of the best offensive centermen in the League in New York."
38. Elias Pettersson (2020-21 rank: 38).
"He is so slick with the puck and not many players can beat guys 1-on-1 with stick-handling and undress goaltenders to the degree that Pettersson can," Johnson said. "He's got that unique skill. He is not a big, heavy player (6-foot-2, 176 pounds). I was wondering if he was going to be able to score from distance, when you average 32 [goals] every 80 games that tells me yes, you can absolutely shoot the puck past goalies. Wrister, snap shot, one-timer, he can score from 35, 40 feet out. When you can open up your offensive zone that much with those kind of opportunities, when you're a threat from that far away, it makes his other skills that much better."
37. Marc-Andre Fleury (2020-21 rank: NR).
"You don't get better at any position in the NHL in your mid-30s, and for
Marc-Andre Fleury, he has," Johnson said. "He's a great athlete, keeps himself in great shape. I think part of the reason why he's so effective later into his 30s is that he is an athletic goalie who has not lost his athleticism."
36. John Carlson (2020-21 rank: 14).
"He's just got a great offensive mind," Johnson said. "He understands time and space, where to attack it, where guys want the puck, where the opposition might be vulnerable. You watch him play, he makes so many good decisions, and you combine that with the excellent skill he has with the puck to go along with it."
35. Kirill Kaprizov (2020-21 rank: NR).
"He didn't just jump in with other high-end players, he was the high-end player and was dynamic," Johnson said. "Well worth the wait to get over to Minnesota and he was fantastic when he finally got there."
34. Dougie Hamilton (2020-21 rank: 37).
"To really appreciate the value of
Dougie Hamilton you've got to look beyond just the traditional stats of goals and assists and points and plus/minus," Johnson said. "When he gets on the ice, the ice tilts in his team's favor. They get more shots, they get more chances, they get more goals. That's what you want for all your players, but specifically
Dougie Hamilton."
33. Evgeni Malkin (2020-21 rank: 18).
"In a difficult, injury-plagued season he was basically a point-per-game player," Johnson said. "That is great production. He has a chance to get healthy, a full summer of training. He's got great competitive spirit. So I would expect him to not love the result from last year, not playing all the games, not getting as many points as he would have liked, and he's going to bounce back and have a great year."
32. Miro Heiskanen (2020-21 rank: 45).
"He uses his skating ability both ways, both offensively and defensively," Johnson said. "What makes
Miro Heiskanen so interesting to me is that the numbers are great. He plays 25 minutes a night, 27 points last year, that's really, really good. But I think you look at the stuff he does, look at a lot of the underlining numbers he creates, and it is not yet reflected in traditional goals and assists how good he is. He has a lot more to give and to grow, because the foundational pieces of his game are there, a lot of the process stuff that he does on the ice is there."
31. Charlie McAvoy (2020-21 rank: 44).
"I don't think he gets enough attention for how good he is," Johnson said. "He is exactly what you want as a coach or as a teammate to be on the ice with because he's going to make good decisions, he's going to play good defense, and the best part of good defense is then he has the skill to transition it to good offense. He might not always pick up points in that regard, but he's always on the ice when good things are happening for Boston."
Source: NHL NetworkADS
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