The Unfortunate Diehards - Top 10

THE TOP 10 RIGHT-WINGERS IN THE WORLD...ACCORDING TO SUFI

SUFYAN JAWED

AUGUST 23rd, 2022

The Top 10 at each position, going into the 2022-2023 season...in my opinion.

This series of articles will rank the top 10 players at each position in the NHL. My process will consist of my personal view of the player, their production, and their skill level based on both the eye test and analytics. Based on a mix of their last few seasons and how I think they’ll play next year. This is only one man's opinion, and it is inevitable that disagreements will happen. But I’ll do my best to explain why I have players where I do. I’ll also put my favorite play from each player from this past year.

10, Clayton Keller - Arizona Coyotes - Age:24

2021/2022 - Regular Season Stats:

Clayton Keller is a highly skilled player and really brought it all together this season. Being stuck on an unimproving Coyotes likely hurts his recognition quite a bit, but he is a menace in the offensive zone and creates high danger chances both in zone and off the rush with his above average puck skills and passing. On top of that he has an incredibly accurate shot and is not afraid to pull the trigger which is shown after posting the highest goal total of his career and he would have likely ended up around 35 goals if he didn’t miss 15 games. For a player in Arizona to post near point per game totals as well as 30+ goals and strong analytics, I am thoroughly impressed and that's why it was not a difficult decision to have him on this list. If Arizona ever gets him some help, or at least a goal scorer to play with, he’s got 95+ point potential.

9. William Nylander - Toronto Maple Leafs - Age: 26

2021/2022 - Regular Season Stats:

Here we have the league's most frustrating player. On one hand, Nylander is an all-world talent who is 5th among right-wingers in points since 2019-2020, as well as 4th in goals, and 5th in EVP in that same time span. But on the other hand he disappears for weeks at a time and has inconsistent effort level as well as the occasional inability to go in to engage in corner battles. But more times than not, the good outweighs the bad and his skill tends to overshadow the inconsistencies. He has a terrorizing shot, that he uses to shoot from anywhere and everywhere. He has evolved to be more involved in the slot after being a perimeter player in the early part of his career.

8. Timo Meier - San Jose Sharks - Age: 25

2021/2022 - Regular Season Stats:

Timo Meier is one of the league’s most underrated players, let alone wingers. He really came into form this season after providing the Sharks with a strong two-way game from the winger position while being a chance creating machine. He has a massive wrist shot that seems to have the same weight behind it as a slapshot, but then on top of that his slap shot is also lethal. He possesses the great ability to use his size to his advantage and isn’t afraid to get to areas of the ice that some skill players shy away from (see player number 9). The Sharks are one of the bigger messes in the NHL, but having a player like Meier can go a long way in turning that around.

7. Mark Stone - Vegas Golden Knights - Age: 30

2021/2022 - Regular Season Stats:

Though he was a good player in Ottawa, Stone has taken a leap into stardom in Vegas. Though he is solid offensively, Stone’s greatness comes from his defensive impact. Since 2018-2019, he has been 2nd in Selke voting 4 times, as well as 3rd and 5th one time each. Which is unheard of for a winger. A good portion of his offensive game comes off his defensive plays where he gets the other team to turn the puck over and then turns back up the ice to create a scoring chance. Offensively he is an extremely good passer in the zone and greats a boatload of high danger scoring chances with his passing. One of my hopes for this season is that we get to see a fully healthy Stone, cause his celebrations are some of the best.

6. Patrick Kane - Chicago Blackhawks - Age: 33

2021/2022 - Regular Season Stats:

Patrick Kane is one of the greatest players of the post-lockout era. Since 2010-2011, among ALL skaters, he ranks 1st in points, 1st in assists, 1st in EVP, 2nd in EVG, 4th in goals, and 2nd in shots. He also has a Conn Smythe, 3 Cups, and is quite possibly one of the greatest playoff players ever, with 132 points in 136 games and 11 GWGs in the playoffs including an overtime cup-winner. In recent years, his elite puck skills and offensive awareness allow him to still produce well above a point per game, though he has gotten some flack from the analytics community who undervalue him because of his play-driving or lack thereof. The bottom line is that he is still an elite player and I really hope he gets the heck out of Chicago as soon as possible.

5. Matthew Tkachuk - Florida Panthers - Age: 24

2021/2022 - Regular Season Stats:

Tkachuk had a special year, offensively he broke out in a big way after being a 65-80 point player for the majority of the start of his career. I do foresee some regression but I do think he will be a consistent 85-95 point player, and his way of goal scoring will always be reliable because he has insanely good hands in tight and he always manages to get in positions to score. But on top of that he has the playmaking ability that separates him from many of the other “tough” players in the league. But I do think people need to temper expectations, as there is no guarantee that he plays with Barkov and personally without game breaking linemates his point totals could take a hit.

4. David Pastrnak - Boston Bruins - Age: 26

2021/2022 - Regular Season Stats:

Pastrnak has been a menace since his breakout season in 2016-2017 at the age of 20. He is the sniper on the perfection line and one of the most feared shooters in the game. He’s also got one of the deepest bags of tricks among superstars because it seems like every season he has a handful of amazing highlight worthy plays, and he has been at an insanely good pace since the start of his career. Since the aforementioned breakout season in 2016-2017, among right-wingers, Pastrnak ranks 1st in goals, 1st in PPG, 4th in Points, 3rd in Points per game, and 4th in EVP. Pasta is also playing for a contract this season so maybe the best is yet to come. You would be hard-pressed to find a better finisher in the league with maybe only a couple of guys ahead of him, and mix that in with his underrated playmaking and puck skills and you have one of the most dangerous players in the league.

3. Mikko Rantanen - Colorado Avalanche - Age: 25

2021/2022 - Regular Season Stats:

The “Moose” as they call him starts in the top 3 with what is quite possibly the most accurate nickname in the NHL. Rantanen was blessed with a unique and unfair skill set where he possesses some of the best puck skills in the league while also being the size of a tree. Though he doesn’t use his size to be a guy that runs around and throws a ton of hits, I’d still classify him as a physical player because he uses his size and his amazing skill set to be a menacing character on the half-wall and down-low, making him one of the hardest players to take the puck from which is shown in the takeaway to giveaway ratio he possesses over his career. Right now that sits at a phenomenal 248 takeaways to only 179 giveaways. Since the 2017-2018 season Rantanen ranks 3rd in points per game, 3rd in goals, 5th in points, 1st in PPP and 2nd in PPG among right wingers.

2. Mitch Marner - Toronto Maple Leafs - Age: 25

2021/2022 - Regular Season Stats:

Ever since his London Knights days it was apparent that Marner would be an offensive superstar in the NHL. He has not been a let down in that regard by any stretch, this is proven by his ranks among right-wingers since his breakout season in his 3rd year in the league in 2018/2019. Since that season, among right-wingers Marner ranks 2nd in points and points per game, 2nd in assists, 7th in goals and 2nd in ATOI. With that being said however, I feel that his offensive game is well documented and people already know that side of his game is among the best in the league due to him showing up on highlight reels on a regular basis. His defensive game is where he has evolved the most, which most did not see coming and a lot of people still don’t know or acknowledge that part of his game. In the last few years Marner has become arguably the leafs most important penalty killer by way of his ability to get into shooting and passing lanes while also being a constant threat to score on the penalty kill as well. He has become a bit of an underrated commodity due to lack of playoff success, and that may also be the only reason he isn’t number 1 on this list.

Nikita Kucherov - Tampa Bay Lightning- Age: 29

2021/2022 - Regular Season Stats:

I can’t stress this enough, Nikita Kucherov is one the most special talents the NHL has right now. His 1.33 points per game since 2016-2017 are the highest of any right-winger in the time span. The major difference between Kucherov from not only right-wingers but forward in general is that he does not see his production decrease in the playoffs when teams become tighter defensively. In his last 73 playoff games Kucherov has 93 points which puts him at 1.27 points per game. Part of his greatness is his elusiveness, he gets “lost” in the play a lot and the majority of his best plays come out of nothing plays when everyone seems to be asleep.

With regards to the different aspects of his game, let's look at how he excels in every way possible. Let’s start with his wrist shot and most importantly his release:

He holds the trigger just long enough and is accurate enough to shoot it through however many bodies he needs to. NExt, let's look at his one timer, which is up there among the best in the league:

With that lethal of a shot it hard to believe that he’s also one of the best passers in the league as well and has been for a few years now

Talk about eyes in the back of his head.

Kucherov will always be among the league leaders in regular season scoring and so long as Tampa stays in the playoffs for the next few seasons he will start breaking records in terms of playoff scoring as he becomes an elevated version of himself when it becomes tough for teams to score.