The National Hockey League 2022 Draft will be held on July 7 and 8 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. It will mark the 60th Draft selection in NHL history.
Montreal gets the first overall draft pick after ending the 2021/2022 regular season with 20-49-11, the worst in the league. According to the latest NHL draft prospect rankings, Shawn Wright, Logan Cooley, Matthew Savoie, Conor Geekie, and Pavel Mintyukov are the current top 5 draft prospects.
The NHL has been blessed with the best ice hockey players. As we await the results of this year’s draft, we decided to rank the top 5 players in the NHL right now:
Artemi Panarin
Number five on our list is the New York Rangers’ left-wing. Panarin entered the league in 2015 after signing an entry-level contract with the Chicago Blackhawks and has made his mark as arguably the best passer in the NHL.
His ability to take over games is almost unrivaled. He finished last season with 17 goals, 41 assists and the last year with 3.6 even-strength points per 60 seconds in the league.
The Russian is the most important skater on the Rangers roster. They went 5-9-0 when he was absent last year and eventually missed the playoffs, trailing the Islanders by 11 points.
Nikita Kucherov
The Russian international is widely regarded as the best player in the world right now.
The Tampa Bay Lightning went through the 2020/2021 regular season and finished third in the Central Division standings without Kucherov . But fans were quickly reminded of his heroics during the playoffs. He scored 32 points in 27 playoff games and recorded a jaw-dropping 4.56 points per 60 minutes played. His performance was enough to lead the Lightning to back-to-back Stanley Cups.
In the past three years, he has recorded a point average of 0.16 per 60 minutes, the second-best in the league in that span. He led the league scoring in 2019 and was named NHL MVP that same year.
Auston Matthews
If we’re keeping it 100, ranking the top 5 best NHL players isn’t the easiest of tasks. But considering the top two on our list, we have no choice but to throw the Bronze at Matthews.
The Toronto Maple Leafs’ center was the first overall pick in the 2016 draft and has fully lived up to the hype. His rookie year was historic; Matthews scored four goals in his first ever league game, becoming the first player to do so in modern NHL history. He ended the 2016/17 regular season with 40 goals, the most of any Maple Leafs’ rookie ever.
Matthews led the league in scoring during the 2020/21 season, registering 41 goals in just 52 games. His finishing ability is second to none in the NHL.
No other player recorded more than two goals per 60 during the 2021/22 regular season. Matthews finished the season with 58, the most of any Maple Leafs player in franchise history.
For a guy who’s only just 24 years of age, he’s got what it takes to be the best player in the league in the future, barring any serious injuries.
Nathan MacKinnon
Would this be the year of MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche? It appears that many betting experts have them as strong favorites on their Stanley Cup odds ladder. And guess who is leading the charge? Nathan MacKinnon!
MacKinnon and the Avalanche have clinched the top spot on the Western Division standings with 116 points and will be looking to finish the job during the postseason. The Canadian has now recorded 110 plus points in three of his last four league campaigns.
All that’s left is the elusive title, and we wouldn’t bet against him finally winning that silverware he so deserves.
Connor McDavid
A no-brainer here! It’s hard to put into writing what McDavid accomplished in 2021. He put up arguably one of the most historic performances in all of the sports last year.
Scoring 105 points in 56 games are mind-boggling. That’s a 156-point pace for an 82-game season and the fifth-best scoring season in modern NHL history.
Last season’s performance was more than enough to win him his third Ted Lindsay Award, Art Ross Trophy, and second Hart Memory Trophy.
McDavid is the current best hockey player on planet earth.
