Ranking the NHL's Top 100 players for 2020: Nos. 100-76

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With the NHL getting ready to go back to work with training camps across the league set to start on July 10, what better time to discuss the Top 100 players in the NHL right now?

Certainly, we took the shortened regular season into account along with the player’s body of work prior to this year, and with a little projection as to how much room they have to grow in the future. Put it all together and you’ve got a mix of two-way centers, high-scoring wings, hard-hitting defensemen and red-hot goaltenders who combine to get the best 100 players in the league.

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Here’s the first 25 of those players as we count down from 100 all the way to 1 with apologies to familiar players like Phil Kessel, P.K. Subban and Henrik Lundqvist who fell out of the Top 100 with tough seasons this past year.

100. Evander Kane, LW, San Jose Sharks

After highs and lows during his time in both Winnipeg/Atlanta and Buffalo at the beginning of his career, the 28-year-old left winger has found a home with the San Jose Sharks over the last three seasons. Kane scored 30 goals in his first full season in San Jose last year, was on his way to score 30 goals again this season and he’s led the NHL in penalty minutes in each of the last two seasons as one of the most physical power forwards in the league.

If he were a more consistent player and more interested when it comes to defense, he’d probably be even higher on this list. He’s also never scored more than the 57 points he reached in his third NHL season at 20 years old, so it feels like there’s greater potential for his game that’s never quite been tapped into as of yet. The fact that the Sharks are truly bad right now doesn’t exactly help the glitz factor when it comes to Kane’s overall ranking, but he’s one of the best players on a San Jose hockey club that’s quickly getting old and slow.  

99. Elias Lindholm, C, Calgary Flames

The Swedish center has really broken through in the last couple of seasons for the Calgary Flames after getting moved by Carolina. He put up career highs with 27 goals, 51 assists and 78 points with the Flames and was on track to put up similar numbers with 29 goals and 54 points when the regular season went on pause this year. Lindholm even earned Selke Trophy and Lady Byng votes last year and might this season as well, though he’s a minus-8 this year as opposed to being a plus-30 last year.

Considering he’s been a minus player in every season aside from last year in Calgary, that’s something Lindholm needs to keep a close watch on as he matures at the NHL level. At 25 years old, Lindholm is just hitting the top potential of his NHL career and should be a really strong player for the Flames for a long time to come.

98. Hampus Lindholm, D, Anaheim Ducks

The 26-year-old Anaheim defenseman has garnered some All-Star and Norris Trophy votes in his career and certainly hasn’t been helped by the struggles of the Ducks over the last few seasons. But he’s still a 6-foot-3, 211-pound defenseman who's scored double-digit goals a couple of times and has averaged over 22 minutes of ice time in his career.

While Anaheim has moved on from other defensemen like Shea Theodore and seen inconsistency from Cam Fowler, the sense is that Lindholm could still develop even further into a premium No. 1 defenseman at a position where late bloomers sometimes take until their late twenties to truly find their stride. Lindholm has all the potential in the world.

97. Chris Kreider, LW, New York Rangers

The player that everybody was fantasizing about heading into this year’s trade deadline ended up sticking around with a Rangers team that values what they have in the Massachusetts kid. Kreider has scored 20 goals in five of the last six seasons and was at 24 goals and 45 points this season when things went on pause. The 29-year-old has never hit 30 goals in his career, but he’s a left winger who brings 6-foot-3, 211-pound size and blazing skating speed while being willing to mix it up physically as well.

Kreider has never been a guy who garners much discussion when it comes to postseason awards and his numbers are strong, but not spectacular. But he’s also a player who's a major factor for the Blueshirts and that’s backed up by the $45 million contract extension he signed with New York around the trade deadline a few months ago.

96. David Perron, LW, St. Louis Blues

The 31-year-old Perron’s third go-round with the Blues has been fantastic with the hard-to-play-against winger putting together some of his best NHL seasons and really stepping up this year with Vladimir Tarasenko injured and out of the lineup. The 31-year-old has 25 goals and 60 points in 71 games this season, arguably the best in his NHL career, and is coming off a strong postseason where he put up 16 points in 26 games on the way to the Blues winning the Stanley Cup.

Perron has never won any NHL awards, but he’s starting to post some solid career numbers with 223 goals and 550 career points in 850 games over a 13-year career.

95. Jakub Voracek, RW, Philadelphia Flyers

This season hasn’t been Voracek’s best by a longshot, but the 30-year-old still had 56 points in 69 career games along with a plus-14 rating for a Flyers team destined for the playoffs. Voracek has become a steady veteran influence for a young Flyers group where the 6-foot-2, 214-pound winger stands out with his playmaking, size, strength and savvy with the puck.

He wasn’t going to score 20 goals this season (Voracek had just 12 with a month left to go in the season) for just the second time in the last eight years with the Flyers, but Voracek has 695 career points in 915 career NHL games with the vast majority of them coming with Philadelphia.

94. Quinn Hughes, D, Vancouver Canucks

The 20-year-old Hughes obviously has his entire career in front of him, but he was a revelation with the Canucks this year as a smooth-skating, smart playmaker on the back end. Hughes will garner plenty of Calder Trophy votes this year after posting eight goals and 53 points in 68 games.

Many would not have guessed that Hughes would have enjoyed more of an impactful season than younger brother Jack Hughes after he was the No. 1 overall pick for the New Jersey Devils, but that’s exactly what happened with the kid in Vancouver. The 5-foot-10, 175-pound Hughes still has some work to do on the defensive end as attested by the minus-10 rating this year, but he’s got the goods offensively.

93. Elvis Merzlikins, G, Columbus Blue Jackets

One of the biggest revelations of the season was the performance of 26-year-old rookie goaltender Elvis Merzlikins for the Columbus Blue Jackets, who stepped up this year after they lost Sergei Bobrovsky in free agency last summer. Merzlikins has an impressive five shutouts in 33 games this year and posted a 13-9-8 record for a Blue Jackets team that wriggled their way into the playoffs and finished with an impressive 2.35 goals against average and .923 save percentage.

One of the reasons that Columbus might be a problem in the qualifying round of the playoffs is because of the way that Merzlikins has played this year for the Blue Jackets. Will the magic still be there when the NHL resumes play?

92. Charlie McAvoy, D, Boston Bruins

Clearly it hasn’t been the breakout season that many predicted for the 21-year-old when they had him as a preseason candidate for the Norris Trophy, but McAvoy did manage to get his game on track by the time the regular season was put on pause. McAvoy was on pace to set career highs in goals and points and had already posted a career-best with 27 assists while leading the Bruins with 23:10 of ice time per game.

It’s actually a pretty amazing turnaround considering he didn’t score his first goal of the year until Feb. 5 and had just three points in his first 14 games this season. McAvoy is still on track to be the franchise No. 1 defenseman for the Bruins for a long time, and the other areas of his game are improving as he learned to pick his spots offensively. Even more important, he stayed healthy this season. That’s a big one for him.

91. Colton Parayko, D, St. Louis Blues

The 6-foot-6, 230-pound Parayko is another top NHL defenseman who isn’t a slick puck-mover, but instead plays a shutdown role while chipping in some pretty decent offensive numbers. The 27-year-old Parayko had 10 goals and 28 points in 64 games this season and was on his way to posting career-best numbers this season prior to the regular season going on pause.

Interesting that Parayko has earned votes for the Lady Byng Trophy rather than the Norris Trophy during his NHL career, and somehow he’s been able to keep his PIM totals under 20 minutes each season despite playing a big, rugged game. Maybe he could be playing with even more of a mean streak than he does right now?

90. Aleksander Barkov, C, Florida Panthers

After a strong season where Barkov won the Lady Byng Trophy last year, he was merely okay this year for the Panthers while posting 20 goals and 62 points all while barely being a plus player. It means Barkov won’t have a top-5 finish in Selke voting this season. It also shows that perhaps the “Barkov is the new Patrice Bergeron” talk was a little premature and that he’s still got some growing to do in his game at 24 years old.

Certainly, this year was a half-step for a player with a ton of ability and potential. It will be interesting to see what he can do in the qualifying round after only once getting a crack at the Stanley Cup Playoffs all the way back in the 2015-16 season.

89. J.T. Miller, C, Vancouver Canucks

After excelling in a secondary role for both the Rangers and the Lightning earlier in his NHL career, Miller really embraced a bigger role with a young Canucks group this year. He shattered his career highs with 27 goals and 72 points in 69 games and was one of their most consistent players while other heralded players like Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser get much of the hype.

At just 26 years old, Miller still has plenty of good years ahead of him and will be an experienced, gritty leader for a young Canucks team that will be getting their first taste of the postseason when the hockey season resumes.

88. Zdeno Chara, D, Boston Bruins

At 43 years old, Zdeno Chara is no longer a Norris Trophy candidate and he hasn’t been a mainstay on the power play for some time either with his 108.8 mph slap shot. But Chara is still the premier shutdown defenseman of his generation, the NHL’s most effective penalty killer and an experienced leader who works to bring together all corners of his dressing room.

The plus-26 mark this season along with the five goals and 14 points while still playing 21:01 of ice time per game is amazing for a player his age. He’s a surefire Hall of Famer once he retires and he continues writing chapters in his legacy with the Bruins.

87. Carey Price, G, Montreal Canadiens

The 32-year-old Price isn’t having a great season in Montreal and is no longer the best goaltender in the world. But he’s still a formidable goalie capable of greatness, which explains why a team like the Penguins will proceed carefully against him and an undermanned Habs group in the qualifying round of the postseason.

The 2.79 goals against average and .909 save percentage are much less than the high-water marks for Price and he’s no longer the guy who won both the Hart Trophy and the Vezina Trophy back in 2014-15. Injuries have taken their toll on Price and the guy he used to be, but he’s still capable of pockets of brilliance up in Montreal.

86. Brayden Schenn, C, St. Louis Blues

Another somewhat unheralded member of the St. Louis Blues, Schenn is a hard-hitting, versatile tone-setter for a St. Louis team that plays a physical, heavy brand of hockey. The 25 goals and 58 points in 71 games also speak to his overall effectiveness as a hard-working center who holds things together for the Blues.

It’s too bad the regular season was put on pause because Schenn would have had a chance to eclipse his career highs of 28 goals and 70 points that he posted a couple of years ago, but everybody will see how valuable he is now that the postseason is nearly here.

85. John Gibson, G, Anaheim Ducks

The 26-year-old Anaheim netminder got a bit worn out as the year went along, so the 3.00 goals against average and .904 save percentage weren’t all that impressive when the season went on pause. But the career marks of a .918 save percentage and 2.53 goals against average tell a different story, and Gibson certainly deserves credit for being a stalwart goalie for a number of Ducks teams that haven’t been all that good in recent seasons.

He’s only a few seasons removed from winning the Jennings Trophy and he’s got a long career still in front of him while he waits for the Ducks to improve the team around him.

84. Mark Giordano, D, Calgary Flames

Giordano took a step back for the Flames this season after winning the Norris Trophy last year with 17 goals, 74 points and a plus-39 rating. It looks like things are starting to fall back after hitting that pinnacle and Giordano was at five goals and 31 points in 60 games this season with just a plus-2 rating. Some of that was about a Flames team that played through a lot of difficulties this year.

He’s still playing big minutes at 23:53 of ice time this season, but his run of All-Star and Norris Trophy consideration is going to come to an end this year. One wonders if, at 36 years old, things are beginning to wind down for one of the great players to ever come into the NHL as an undrafted prospect.

83. Mark Stone, RW, Vegas Golden Knights

The 28-year-old Stone continues to be a strong, two-way forward who plays hard at both ends of the ice and sets a hard-working tone for the Golden Knights. Stone had 21 goals and 63 points in 65 games this season when things went on pause and was a plus-15 while finishing as a Selke Trophy finalist in each of the last three seasons.

At this point he’s only reached 30 goals and 70 points once in his career and has settled into something of the neighborhood of 20 goals and 60 points with excellent all-around play. He’s not a dominant force in the NHL, but he’s a very, very good player who's part of the season the Golden Knights are continually in the mix each and every season.

82. Ryan Suter, D, Minnesota Wild

At 35 years old, Suter is no longer the guy who's averaging 29 minutes of ice time per game while shouldering a heavy, heavy load for the Minnesota Wild after signing a big free agent deal with them. But Suter is still a player who garners Hart Trophy and Norris Trophy consideration every year and had eight goals and 48 points in 69 games this season when things went on pause.

He’s finished top-5 in the Norris three times in his NHL career and led the league with a plus-34 mark just three seasons ago, but Suter has been saddled with some middling Minny hockey teams in recent seasons. Even with all of that, Suter has been steady as a rock.

81. Torey Krug, D, Boston Bruins

Say what you want about Krug’s small size at 5-foot-8 or that he’s something of a specialty defenseman who does a lot of damage on the power play, but he’s worked his entire career to defy those critiques. Krug has turned himself into a top-4 defenseman capable of playing more than 20 minutes of ice time per game, and he’s scored more points on the back end than all but a handful of elite D-men over the last three seasons.

The 29-year-old Krug had nine goals and 49 points when the season went on pause, and was about to collect another double-digit goal, 50-point season as a D-man for the Black and Gold. He also stayed healthy last postseason and wound up as one of Boston’s best players throughout the playoffs, as he continues to improve as a player with unrestricted free agency right in front of him.

80. Ivan Provorov, D, Philadelphia Flyers

The 23-year-old Flyers defenseman has quickly turned himself into one of the best young blueliners in the league and had 13 goals and 36 points in 69 games when the regular season went on pause. Provorov was a plus-11 this season while adding a strong defensive showing for a Flyers team that plays a bit of run and gun and was averaging a stalwart 24:51 of ice time this year.

Provorov hasn’t garnered much NHL award consideration to this point in his career, but the upward trajectory of his game and his talent level say he’s going on to bigger and better things in the near future. Provorov is a big part of the Flyers' success story that has them as one of the top seeds headed into this year’s playoffs.

79. Sean Monahan, C, Calgary Flames

Like many of the Flames players, the 25-year-old Monahan has taken a bit of a step back this season after posting 34 goals and 82 points for Calgary a season ago. Instead he had 22 goals and 40 points in 70 games along with a minus-16 mark that was his worst since his rookie season in Cowtown.

Clearly the talent is still there and it seems like it’s just an “off” season for everybody in Calgary, but Monahan will need to bounce back from the subpar performance he’d been putting up this year after proving he was better than that. Back-to-back 30 goal seasons indicate he’s capable of much more at both ends of the ice.

78. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, C, Edmonton Oilers

The 27-year-old Nugent-Hopkins has settled into a pretty good niche with the Oilers after never quite living up to being the No. 1 overall pick in Edmonton. They’re kind of used to that there. RNH had 22 goals and 61 points in 65 games this season  and had career highs of 28 goals and 69 points last season for the Oilers while playing more wing than center.

It certainly seems like he’s a player who has settled into a role for Edmonton where he’s valued and productive, and that’s a good thing for both him and for his hockey club. In addition, Nugent-Hopkins was a plus-1 this year while both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were minus players, so clearly he’s doing a bit of a better job of playing at both ends.

77. Aaron Ekblad, D, Florida Panthers

The 23-year-old Ekblad appeared on the road to superstardom when he won the Calder Trophy as an 18-year-old defenseman for the Panthers with the size, strength and athletic gifts needed to be a franchise No. 1 D-man. And he’s been a pretty strong player at both ends while registering double-digit goals each season, averaging over 22 minutes of ice time per game and staying fairly healthy at a position where the physical toll is heavy.

But he also seemed to take a half-step back this year with five goals and 41 points in 67 games for a Panthers team that’s been languishing outside of the playoffs for years. Perhaps it’s a necessary transformation into a winning type of D-man under head coach Joel Quenneville, but it doesn’t feel like it was Ekblad’s best this season either.

76. Ryan O’Reilly, C, St. Louis Blues

O’Reilly jumped up in the rankings with his playoff performance last year when he captured the Conn Smythe after St. Louis won the Cup. O’Reilly outplayed Patrice Bergeron in the Stanley Cup Final and he fittingly won the Selke Trophy last season.

He wasn’t as offensively dominant this year with 12 goals and 61 points in 71 games along with a plus-11 rating, but he’s still playing his steady, smart two-way game all over the rink. The eight goals and 23 points in 26 playoff games last spring really show that O’Reilly has got it when it matters most, so the 29-year-old will continue rising up the rankings as long as he’s a playoff performer with solid regular season credentials.

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