NHL Network ranks top-20 centers going into the 2022-23 season

Every year, the NHL Network ranks the top-20 players in each position leading into the coming season. On Sunday, they started off with taking a look at the center position and this list is surely to conjure up some controversy among fans of several teams around the league.

20. Robert Thomas - St. Louis Blues.
2021-22 stats: 72 GP - 20 G - 57 A - 77 PTS.

19. Elias Pettersson - Vancouver Canucks.
2021-22 stats: 80 GP - 32 G - 36 A - 68 PTS.

18. Evgeni Malkin - Pittsburgh Penguins.
2021-22 stats: 41 GP - 20 G - 22 A - 42 PTS.

17. Jack Hughes - New Jersey Devils.
2021-22 stats: 49 GP - 26 G - 30 A - 56 PTS.

16. Jack Eichel - Vegas Golden Knights.
2021-22 stats: 34 GP - 14 G - 11 A - 25 PTS.

15. Ryan O'Reilly - St. Louis Blues.
2021-22 stats: 78 GP - 21 G - 37 A - 58 PTS.

14. Nazem Kadri - Unrestricted Free Agent.
2021-22 stats: 71 GP - 28 G - 59 A - 87 PTS.

13. Elias Lindholm - Calgary Flames.
2021-22 stats: 82 GP - 42 G - 40 A - 82 PTS.

12. J.T. Miller - Vancouver Canucks.
2021-22 stats: 80 GP - 32 G - 67 A - 99 PTS.

11. Brayden Point - Tampa Bay Lightning.
2021-22 stats: 66 GP - 28 G - 30 A - 58 PTS.

10. Mika Zibanejad - New York Rangers.
2021-22 stats: 81 GP - 29 G - 52 A - 81 PTS.

9. Sebastian Aho - Carolina Hurricanes.
2021-22 stats: 79 GP - 37 G - 44 A - 81 PTS.

8. Patrice Bergeron - Boston Bruins.
2021-22 stats: 73 GP - 25 G - 40 A - 65 PTS.

7. Steven Stamkos - Tampa Bay Lightning.
2021-22 stats: 81 GP - 42 G - 64 A - 106 PTS.

6. Aleksander Barkov - Florida Panthers.
2021-22 stats: 67 GP - 39 G - 49 A - 88 PTS.

5. Sidney Crosby - Pittsburgh Penguins.
2021-22 stats: 69 GP - 31 G - 53 A - 84 PTS.

4. Leon Draisaitl - Edmonton Oilers.
2021-22 stats: 80 GP - 55 G - 55 A - 110 PTS.

3. Nathan MacKinnon - Colorado Avalanche.
2021-22 stats: 65 GP - 32 G - 56 A - 88 PTS.

2. Auston Matthews - Toronto Maple Leafs.
2021-22 stats: 73 GP - 60 G - 46 A - 106 PTS.

1. Connor McDavid - Edmonton Oilers.
2021-22 stats: 80 GP - 44 G - 79 A - 123 PTS.

While all 20 of these players absolutely deserve to be on this list, there are several centermen that could be argued for a position on here. Among those left off are Anze Kopitar, John Tavares, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nico Hischier, Sam Reinhart, Mark Scheifele, Nick Suzuki, among others.

Source: NHL.com.

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