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NHL Network underrates Taylor Hall in winger rankings |
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Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell
The NHL Network recently ranked the top-10 goaltenders in the NHL and
Cory Schneider wasn't featured.
They have since ranked the top-20 wingers in the game and, while Taylor Hall cracked the list, the New Jersey Devils once again had one of their players underrated.
Hall is not coming off his best season so I'm not going to argue for him to be at or near the top of the list. In saying that, I would choose Hall over a handful of players if I was assembling a roster for a game right now.
Take T.J. Oshie, for example. He spent almost all of his time alongside Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, two of the best offensive players in the game, on the top line, shot 10%(!) above his career average, and put up 56 points in 68 games.
Hall posted fantastic underlying numbers, put up 53 points in 72 games while being centered mostly by Travis Zajac -- an underrated player but he doesn't hold a candle to the guys Oshie played with -- and playing for a team with far less power, both up front and on defense.
I really like Wayne Simmonds -- he may be the best net front player in the league -- but he put up just 20 points at 5v5 in 82 games despite a better supporting cast. Give me Hall all day.
The Phil Kessel ranking doesn't make much sense, either.
You could make a case Hall should be ahead of others as well but those are a few that really stand out for the wrong reasons.
What do you think of the list? Where would you rank Hall?
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