Top 100 NHL players: 20-1

Leading up to the start of the 2021-22 season, theScore is counting down the top 100 players in the game today, as voted on by our NHL editors. Injuries affecting players entering the season have been taken into consideration.

100-81 | 80-61 | 60-41 | 40-21 | 20-1

Editor's note: After Mitch Marner's disappearing act in the playoffs, and after what Tom Wilson did to Artemi Panarin, we erroneously left them off our top 100 list. We deeply regret the error, but this is Marner and Panarin's fault. And Wilson's, too, actually.

20. Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida Panthers Eliot J. Schechter / National Hockey League / Getty

There's no doubt Huberdeau is a wizard. The Panthers' all-time leading scorer potted 61 points last season to lead Florida for a second consecutive campaign. He was also the team's second-most utilized forward in 2020-21.

19. Sebastian Aho, Carolina Hurricanes

Aho can fill the net and make plays better than almost anyone his age. The 24-year-old franchise cornerstone buried 38 goals over 68 games in 2019-20. He followed it up with 24 goals across 56 contests last season, which translates to a 35-goal pace across 82 games.

18. Adam Fox, New York Rangers

A lot of people predicted Fox to have a great sophomore season after an impressive rookie campaign with the Rangers, but not many penciled him in to win the Norris Trophy. Fox possesses an incredible two-way game and can contribute at an elite level on both ends of the ice.

17. Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals

Ovechkin has been a top-10 lock on this list for his entire career, but his all-around impact has begun to diminish. That said, he's still as dangerous as ever in the o-zone, and some poor defensive metrics aren't going to prevent us from rating the greatest goal scorer of his generation among the league's best.

16. David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins

Pastrnak is coming off a bit of a down year by his standards. However, he remains one of the game's most lethal shooters and likely has another Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy coming his way in the future.

15. Roman Josi, Nashville Predators John Russell / National Hockey League / Getty

The 2020 Norris Trophy winner didn't match his 0.94 points-per-game average from the 2019-20 season, but he still led the Predators last campaign with 33 points over 48 contests. Josi also bared the brunt of the workload, topping Nashville with over 24 minutes of ice time per game.

14. Mikko Rantanen, Colorado Avalanche

The myth that Rantanen is merely a product of Nathan MacKinnon's prowess has long been debunked, but the Finnish winger ascended to new heights in 2021. Rantanen needed only 52 contests to reach the 30-goal plateau (a 47-goal pace over 82 games), and he ranked among the NHL's top five in both goals and points last season.

13. Brad Marchand, Bruins

Marchand's transformation into one of the league's most elite players has been incredible to watch. Since the beginning of the 2016-17 season, the Bruins star ranks third in the NHL in points (426) behind only Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. He's also one of the league's best penalty killers, he drives play at an incredible pace, and he can still get under his opponents' skin with ease.

12. Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks

Another year, another top-10 finish in league scoring for Kane. The Blackhawks' veteran star remains one of the NHL's most prolific producers, and it's hard to imagine him ever slowing down.

11. Brayden Point, Tampa Bay Lightning

Point proved the naysayers wrong this past season, producing a stellar campaign despite not having Nikita Kucherov on his wing. He's also shown in the postseason what a big-game player he is, potting 28 goals over his last 46 playoff contests.

10. Aleksander Barkov, Panthers Harry How / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Barkov cracks the top 10 on this list after winning the 2021 Selke Trophy as the top defensive forward. The 26-year-old led all Panthers forwards in average ice time last season. He also finished in the top 10 in the NHL in scoring for the first time with 26 goals. Barkov is the definition of a dual-threat.

9. Cale Makar, Avalanche

Makar was more deserving of the Norris Trophy, but he'll win the award in the future as he's nearly peerless at his position. The gifted Avalanche blue-liner led all qualified defensemen with exactly one point per game over 44 contests in 2021. He would've been the favorite for the Norris had he not missed 12 games due to injury.

8. Andrei Vasilevskiy, Lightning

Vasilevskiy is tracking to become one of the greatest goaltenders in NHL history. He just led the Lightning to back-to-back Stanley Cup victories, has been a Vezina Trophy finalist in each of the last four years, and has topped the league in wins for four straight seasons now. He's only 27 years old and should continue to rack up the accolades as he plays behind a stacked Tampa Bay team.

7. Victor Hedman, Lightning

Hedman posted some shoddy defensive underlying numbers last season, but his reputation as the league's most dominant defender speaks for itself. The Lightning stalwart has been a Norris Trophy finalist in each of the last five seasons, winning the award once. He's also captured a Conn Smythe, two Stanley Cups, and averaged 0.83 points per game across 346 regular-season contests over that time.

6. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins

Sid is no longer a kid - he's 34 - but he remains one of the game's elite players. There's a fair argument that the No. 6 spot on this list is too low for someone of his ilk. Crosby puts up points, but it's his intangibles and 200-foot game that still make him one of the best.

5. Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers Jonathan Kozub / National Hockey League / Getty

Draisaitl is one of the two main reasons the Art Ross and Hart Trophies have rarely traveled outside of Edmonton in recent years. The 25-year-old had the second-most points in the league last season with 84 over 56 games. He was also the NHL's third-most utilized forward, averaging over 22 minutes a game. He's unstoppable.

4. Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs

Matthews cemented himself as the NHL's pre-eminent scorer in 2021, capturing the "Rocket" Richard Trophy with 41 goals across 52 games after falling one goal short of the league leaders in 2019-20. Even more impressively, the Leafs sniper paced the league while playing most of last season with a wrist issue.

3. Nikita Kucherov, Lightning

After sitting out all of last season due to a hip injury, Kucherov returned for the playoffs and absolutely tore it up with 32 points over 23 games. His 1.36 points-per-game pace across the last three seasons is second to only McDavid, and he's one of the only players in the league who has a legitimate shot at challenging the Oilers superstar for the Art Ross Trophy.

2. Nathan MacKinnon, Avalanche

There aren't many hockey fans left who wouldn't consider MacKinnon as the league's second-best player. The Avalanche superstar has been an offensive force for four straight seasons, and it's only a matter of time until he starts adding some hardware to his resume.

1. Connor McDavid, Oilers

Is this really even a debate? McDavid posted an absurd 105 points over 56 games last season. That's 21 more points than the next player and 36 better than someone not on his team. The Oilers captain also made huge strides defensively last season. What will he do for an encore in 2021-22?

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