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Favorite players - Central Division

July 19, 2018, 2:17 PM ET [56 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Next up I have my favorite players for each team in the Central Division

Chicago – Chris Kunitz

I liked watching him on a line with Teemu Selanne and Andrew MacDonald way back in the day and was pretty pumped when the Penguins were able to trade away Ryan Whitney to acquire his services. I knew he’d be a good fit and he was. Chris Kunitz was a perfect blend of tenacity and skill while meshing with Sidney Crosby for many years. He certainly benefited from playing with Crosby, but he was not a completely propped up by him. Kunitz was a good player in his own right. My favorite thing that Kunitz was able to do was maintain his physicality while placing pucks in places for his teammates to skate into. This created a lot of havoc for the defending teams and a lot of times it was Sidney Crosby going full steam ahead because of it.

Here's an example of placing a puck in a spot for a teammate to skate right through. It was a pretty big goal I guess



If Patrick Kane wasn’t such a terrible person he would be a shoe in because of his on-ice brilliance, but he is a terrible person and cannot be supported by me.

Colorado – Nathan MacKinnon

He finally had his much anticipated coming out party last year when he finished as the runner up for the Hart Trophy. MacKinnon is ridiculously talented and fun to watch. His issue for a while was playing on some bad Colorado teams and got lost in the shuffle. While playing for Team North America in the World Cup you got to see how good he was with other talented players. Colorado is slowly improving and he should have more opportunities to flash his skill. The only thing he needs to do better is find a better agent. He is grossly underpaid.



Dallas – Tyler Seguin

Seguin is like the older version of Nathan MacKinnon. He gets bonus points from me for being part of one of Peter Chiarelli’s god awful trades. When the Bruins won the Stanley Cup Seguin had a goal scoring problem because of his abysmal shooting percentage. Chiarelli doesn’t understand those kinds of things and manufactured some character reasons for Seguin being traded. All he’s done since going to Dallas is put up 384 points in 387 games. He has a lovely release on his shot which catches goalie by surprise and he’s able to place those shots right under the bar. He’s a bonafide #1 center and after this year he will finally be paid like one.



Minnesota – Eric Staal

The Wild have a pretty blah lineup as far as skilled players go. Eric Staal has been a star player in the league for a long time. He tailed off at the end of his Carolina tenure, but has been rejuvenated since joining the Minnesota Wild. In the past two seasons he’s had 70 goals which is eleventh best in the league only one behind Connor McDavid. He was worthy of the Conn Smythe consideration when he led the league in playoff scoring in 2005-06. He consistently has shown the ability to drive play during his entire career despite getting the tougher matchups. His offensive totals are impressive considering the lack of help he had for many of those seasons in Carolina.



Nashville – PK Subban

Another example of a player who was egregiously undervalued and traded for character issues. Part of those character issues were giving 10M(!) to a local Montreal children’s hospital. He’s electric on the ice and one of the very few players in the league that is personable and likeable in front of a camera. He will have a nice career as an analyst if he wants to once his playing career is done. The league needs more PK Subbans and not less. He is currently the anchor of one of, if not the best defense groupings in the entire NHL.



St. Louis – Vladimir Tarasenko

There are very few players that are able to score goals on a regular basis in the NHL and Vladimir Tarasenko is one of them. He’s a true sniper with the ability to beat goaltenders with his great shot placement from medium range. He reminds me a lot of Marian Hossa offensively, but with a better shot. He is able to use his frame and mind to give his hands time and space to do some impressive things. He’s 26 years old so hopefully we have many more years of watching Tarasenko torching NHL goaltenders.



Winnipeg – Mark Scheifele

He’s the star that nobody knew about because he was hidden in Winnipeg. He’s so tremendously smart and talented. You’ll notice a theme with the players I pick and that is a lot of them will be from Team North America. He was able to play on a line with Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews and not be overshadowed. That’s how good he is. He is entering the prime years of his career and has one of the best team contracts in the league. The Winnipeg Jets are one of the best teams in hockey and he’s a big part of the reason. The Jets should be able to remain contenders for a number of years with Scheifele as the centerpiece.



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