The annual list from NHL Network ranking their top-50 players in the NHL has been fully released, with the Nashville Predators getting two players on it.
Roman Josi comes in at No.24, respectfully, while Juuse Saros falls back a bit to No.40 and behind several other goalies on the list.
Claiming the top spot to no one’s surprise is Connor McDavid, with Nathan MacKinnon claiming the second spot and Leon Draisaitl getting ranked third. The top three doesn’t change from their rankings in January of 2021.
Officially official: Presenting the Top 50 Players in the NHL right now!#NHLTopPlayers | @NHL pic.twitter.com/ac2EwwoDcl
— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) October 8, 2023
Still a lot of Respect for Josi heading into his 13th NHL Season
Josi has fallen back a bit on NHL Network‘s top-50 list after being ranked No.13 in 2021 following his Norris Trophy winning season. He does rank ahead of such defensemen as Charlie McAvoy, Rasmus Dahlin and Erik Karlsson.
You can say that Josi’s ranking is fair, and even maybe slightly generous. I’m a little surprised to see him still be ranked so high as he gets into the later stages of his career and did have a production drop off in 2022-23.
Is Josi still one of the best offensive defensemen in the NHL, even now at age 32? Yes, there’s no doubt about that. But seeing him get ranked all the way to No.24 has me a bit surprised, not going to lie.
Where’s the Love for Saros and the Other Great NHL Goalies?
However, my real qualm with this list falls with where they have Saros ranked. All the way at No.40 for a player that was the NHL’s leading goalie in terms of Goals Saved Above Expected. No other goalie kept their team more in games despite getting inconsistent goal support than what Saros did for the Nashville Predators.
Let’s just look first at the goalies that are ahead of Saros in these year’s rankings. Connor Hellebuyck comes in five spots ahead of Saros, and then you don’t see another goalie on this list until Ilya Sorokin at No.21.
So if anything, these rankings don’t put too much value into goalies. No goalies in the top-10 and only seven in the top-50.
NHL Network Goalie Rankings in Top-50
– Andrei Vasilevskiy (14th)
– Igor Shesterkin (18th)
– Ilya Sorokin (21st)
– Connor Hellebuyck (35th)
– Juuse Saros (40th)
– Linus Ullmark (46th)
– Jake Oettinger (47th
Saros should definitely be higher than the 40th best player in the NHL. The guy is still going into the prime of his career and likely the best is yet to come. I’d put him ahead of Hellebuyck without even a second thought.
Skaters that are ahead of Saros that I have disagreement with is Nico Hischier at No.38, Alex Pietrangelo at No.37, Roope Hintz at No.36 and Tage Thompson at No.27.
Once you get into the top-20, it’s hard to make a more sound argument at putting Saros ahead of those dynamic and elite players. It’s also hard to stack goalies up against skaters because it’s just difficult to compare, which is why it’s usually challenging for goalies to ever be considered for the Hart Trophy every year.
Nashville Predators: Where Kevin Lankinen Ranks Among Backup Goalies
Kevin Lankinen became a trustworthy backup to Juuse Saros in 2022-23, giving the Nashville Predators one of the top duos between the pipes.
After Josi and Saros, you can’t really make a realistic argument for any other current Predators player cracking the top-50. Filip Forsberg would be next closest, but he’s definitely not top-50.
Ryan O’Reilly is also a player that’s close to top-50 status, and for sure is top-100. Let’s see if O’Reilly and Forsberg can bring out the best in each other this season.
If you want to go far down the road to future top-50 lists, Thomas Novak and Luke Evangelista are two current players that I could see eventually making NHL Network’s annual ranking.
Novak is on an upward trend of becoming regular 50-plus point producer, and now that he’s in a new offense that pushes the pace, I can see him becoming a consistent 60 to 70-point producer.
Evangelista is just now heading into his official rookie season, so have to give it more time, but clearly the raw talent is there to eventually become one of the Predators’ top goal scorers behind Forsberg.