[https://theathletic.com/4863183/2023/09/18/nhl-best-players-list-2023-2024-season/](https://theathletic.com/4863183/2023/09/18/nhl-best-players-list-2023-2024-season/)
Pettersson at tier 2B, Hughes at 3B. Seems like lazy reporting re: Hughes’ rank, relying on two people around the league, one of whom admits “I don’t know how good he is, I really don’t” and another who says “he has not gotten better or worse for me in years, he’s just been the exact same dude, plugging along”.
by UraSnotball_
10 Comments
Dom’s incredibly thoughtful defence of Hughes’ ranking /s: https://twitter.com/domluszczyszyn/status/1703788811975626976?s=61
Paywall so I can’t see anything but Pettersson and Hughes are two of the best players in the league so 3B for Hughes seems like a slap in the face.
On hughes:
> Hughes — like other offensively gifted, defensively lacking blueliners — dropped a bit after we spoke to people around the league. “He’s good,” one scout said. “I don’t know how good he is. I really don’t.”
> We know he carries the offensive load for a mediocre team, which he does well. Ultimately, we slotted him behind veterans like Roman Josi and Erik Karlsson who, while not without their warts, are simply better at running the show. They’re transcendent talents with the puck. Hughes isn’t at that level, and his placement reflects it.
> All in all, he’s a talented player, but not yet a complete one — and his play without the puck is an issue for both analysts and scouts. “He has not gotten better or worse for me in years,” one analyst said. “He’s just been the exact same dude plugging along.”
> What to expect
This feels like a critical year for Hughes, who turns 24 in October, but a full season with Rick Tocchet as his coach and Carson Soucy as his partner are real reasons to expect improvement.
Soucy is going to improve his game? Tell me you’ve never seen this guy play without telling me you’ve never seen this guy play. The fact that he comes out the gate claiming he’s not defensively reliable just makes you shake your head.
> relying on two people around the league, one of whom admits “I don’t know how good he is, I really don’t” and another who says “he has not gotten better or worse for me in years, he’s just been the exact same dude, plugging along”.
I think it’s dishonest to say that the two quotes they printed were the ones they “relied on”.
How are you qualified to write this, if you haven’t even watched everyone play…
One good thing about the Athletic’s Tier list this year is that you can filter by team / player / position / age.
Dom has stated in one of his tweets that within sub-tiers, the players are listed alphabetically with forwards first and then defencemen.
So these are the defencemen listed ahead of Hughes:
1) Makar
2) Fox
3) McAvoy
4) Heiskenen
5) Josi
6) Dahlin
7) Hedman
8) Karlsson
9) Hampus Lindholm
10) Slavin
11) Devon Toews
I think Quinn should be ranked higher than a few of those guys…. But I don’t think you can say Quinn is top 5 in defence? (Don’t hate me for saying that!)
The disrespect Hughes gets outside of this market is insane. This guy drives play and does it so effortlessly he can play an insane amount of minutes. He’ll probably never win a Norris because of the bs narrative that he can’t play defense.
Using the filter on the Athletic Tier list, these are the centers listed ahead of Petey:
1). McDavid
2) Draisatl
3). MacKinnon
4) Matthews
5). Jack Hughes
6). Sidney Crosby
To be a Canucks completist should point out that JT Miller is on the list as a 4D tier. I want to point out that this year’s Athletic Tier list is ranking 125 players instead of previous years where it was only 100 players. (So I’m not sure Miller would have made the list if it was top 100). Last year there wasn’t a 4D tier (it stopped at 4C).
Bo Horvat made the list in the 4C tier, btw.
Some context for those without the Athletic
2B = Franchise player, top 32 skater in the league. There were 13 forwards ranked higher than 2B, and of them, only six were centers.
3B = Allstar, top 60 skater in the league. There were 11 defensemen ranked higher than 3B.