It is almost automatic these days when we talk about who the best player in the world is to go right to the usual suspects...
Sid has done it all and then some. McDavid can score and play hockey at speeds never before seen. Matthews is a monster and still improving. Malkin is under recognized for sure. MacKinnon plays with the heart of Sid and 90% of the speed of McDavid...
And then there is Mikko Rantanen. Yes Mikko Rantanen. He simply keeps getting better and better and while no one was watching is starting to do things that are lifting him way beyond the norms of star hockey players.
Rantanen leads the NHL with 58 points in 35 games. To put that into perspective the NHL Network noted last night that he is the first non-Penguin in the last 20 years to do that. Sids best start through 35 games...58 points as well. Malkin's? 59 points... Jagr in 1999-00 had 59 points in 35 games...in 2002-03 Mario had 63. That' s Mario Lemieux kids...
If you love math...as I do, Mikko Rantanen is on pace for a 135 point season...Its one thing to do the math when a player has a hot start...but we have past the 1/3rd mark here by almost 10 games...we are heading to the midway point...
Now I am sure some of you will point out that Mikko's linemate Nathan MacKinnon has 55 points in 35 games, and due to our North American-centric views we are likely to talk of how Mackinnon has made Mikko Rantanen into this player...But might that be the other way around? Last I checked MacKinnon wasn't always scoring at this pace...And last week I heard a stat that stated the percentage of Nathan's goals that were assisted on by Mikko...and it was 100%. MacKinnon didn't have a single goal that wasn't somehow set up by Mikko Rantanen.
So who is making who the better player exactly?
Ok, so maybe this is a sum of the parts kind of thing...which it is for sure...And Connor McDavid wouldn't be 9 points behind Mikko Rantanen were they on the same line...which is true...but aren't we just making points for Mikko by saying that?
This is only Mikko's 3rd year... (4th if you count the 9 games he played in 15-16) but in those three fun years he has gone from 35 points to 84 points to a projected 135? He is 22 years old!
It's a fun argument for sure...And it won't go away.. If nothing else can we at least admit this is the best Fin since Teemu and belongs in the conversation of top 3 with Selanne and Kurri?
Your challenge: Rank the top 5 players in the world today. I will post mine in my next article..
The Preds next Test for Carter Hart... Against the Red Wings on Tuesday Carter Hart got his first NHL win. It was an NHL game for sure, but as a 20 year old Hart was facing many other young players as well. The Wings are much better than people think..that much is true...
But they aren't the Nashville Predators. Tonight Hart will get a real test and this experiment will start to come into focus for sure...Nashville is stumbling in to Philly right now...injured and slumping a bit...the kind of slump most teams would kill for...
The Flyers played slightly better on Tuesday...tonight, they will have to be MUCH better or Hart could be heading back on RT 309 to Lehigh Valley...
What say you?