I think Aho is the lifeblood of Carolina, and currently is the most important, but I agree with you Shannon, that to take the next step for winning a cup Svechnikov HAS to take that next step. Carolina has to have him be dominant as a goal scorer to realistically win the Cup
While aho is probably the best cane slavin is for sure the most important, our blue line without slavin is bad we’d have a 2nd paring and two 3rd parings, losing aho would hurt but especially if staal plays like last year we could still win games without slavin the canes aren’t a playoff team
Take Aho away from Canes, and the whole bottom falls away. He is the most IMPORTANT piece (let's remember what the video is about - the most important player of the team), no doubt. Svech is probably the guy who has most untapped potential, his 2019-2020 campaign was great. P.S. not a bash, just a friendly argument. I understand the logic, but hockey is more fun when it's not a monologue :)
I agree but I do think if we are discussing who is the most important to the next step in winning a Cup I think it is Svech. If Aho stays the same level Carolina will be good maybe great but not elite, for that next level Svechnikov needs to step up. So I think maybe that could be a different video or discussion but I get both sides for that.
From the perspective... what would happen if Carolina lost Aho, Svetchnikov, Slavin or someone else... I would say, in my mind, it's quite obviously Aho. And Aho seems to get even better each year...
I'd say Aho for Canes for sure, altho Svech is great. For Tampa I'd say Vasy 100%. Vasy is so insanely good and there is nothing really behind him, in terms of depth and we've seen that.
I agree. Vasy could get a team of AHL players into the playoffs. If he ever gets seriously hurt, Tampa's season is over. Hedman is obviously fantastic but for me Vasy is the king.
I agree with you a 100%. Vasy looks like the big dog on that squad. I as montreal fan in the final he was the one who was most scary to me. Sure hedman, kucherov, point are all insanely good players. But Vasy Looks out of this world
I think slavin is the most important Carolina has a good enough offense that they could make up for one of their top forwards being out but without slavin the blue line is doo doo
For Tampa Bay i'd go with Vasy. Hedman was the most important until this season, he played with torn meniscus and he wasn't the same guy, but lucky for Lightning McDonagh stepped up and was the best d-man in playoffs. Without Vasy they are done. No one can replace him.
For me as a neutral McDonagh was tied with Vasilevskiy for the playoff MVP. He absolutely owned the Canes and outplayed the Isles D. Everyone gets fixated on goalies. It's easy to not notice the defenders.
@@tomchamberlain4329 as a fellow neutral ill agree. Mcdonagh quietly had guys tearing their damn hair out all playoffs. Like he was giving Barzal fits in what i saw of the isles-Lightning series, Suzuki wanted to avoid him like the plague in the montreal tampa series, Aho and company just looked....lost dealing with him on many occasions. He really came to the fore quietly as this ...defensive fortification that just...you could shake the walls. You could crack the stonework. But you couldnt knock it down. You couldnt punch a proper breach thro it. And Mcdonagh seemed to be the foundation stone of that as it were. He quietly seemed to be, defensively anyway, in charge of that d-core. And by example he showed em what to do and they executed. I loved his game all thro the playoffs in case it isnt clear. The blue-liners whom focus the defensive side of the game never get enough love. I agree with shannon they need their own award, the norris is all about offense. But Mcdonagh was quietly fantastic for this cup run, and tho i generally dont like repeats, was nice to see such a stalwart guy play that key a role and get another ring out of it.
I kinda still think Panarin is the rangers’ most valuable player, it really makes a difference when he’s in the lineup, but I get where you’re coming from with fox.
Hughes might be the most important player next year, but to date Hischier has shown that his leadership and ability to lead by example is important to the team. They don't play nearly as well without him. It's going to be a village of leaders in that locker room in a few years and you can't have too many of those.
Chychrun over Keller Tkachuk over Gaudreau Aho over Svech Werenski over Elvis Panarin over Fox Couturier over Hart O'Reilly over Binnington Stone over Lehner I would argue Vasilevskiy for Tampa but I'll still accept Hedman
Agree. Hedman is great but Bolts' blueline is stacked with or without him. Bolts played Cernak in Hedman's role on special teams here and then in the playoffs and till the end of the season. And he didn't fail. But Bolts were Vassy's injury away from being swept in 1st round ;).
Yeah for sure it’s Vasy, those games where McElhinney was in net were brutal. They lost 8 games out of 12 when Vasy was out...became a bottom team instead of the best team in the league (Canucks fan)
Bergeron is Boston’s key player for me. Yes they can still play without him on the lineup for short periods, but how would they fare without him around the team? His leadership and passion for the team is huge to the Bruins.
That is my *exact* thought - if Bergeron gets injured for any length of time, the Bruins are royally and completely screwed! Boston was lucky in past years as they had a very capable second-line center in David Krejci who could fill in for Patrice Bergeron if he was injured or sick. This year, their 2C looks like it should be Charlie Coyle and, as much as I like him as a player, I don't think he's in Krejci's league.
Was thinking it's Coyle, he really needs to step up his game and gel with Hall and Smith, he doesn't need to match Krejci levels but he has to have a better season, also the goalies with no Rask. Many questions have to be answered this season in Boston even with the good bottom 6 additions.
Honestly for the Avs, after last season, it's almost starting to look like MacKinnon and Makar are 1A and 1B as far as MVP of the team. Makar is (arguably) the best defenseman in the NHL (if not best, easily top 3 or 5), which is a comparable ranking for MacK for forwards. Those two drives our team from the offense and defense and if either one isn't in it's extremely noticeable. Goddamn the Avs are lucky as hell.
1A Mack 1B Makar 1C Rantanen. We gotta remember Rantanen produces no matter who he plays with. He is a bit overshadowed by Mack (though he prefers it that way), but he is fantastic and produces extremely consistently.
@@joshgallegos6580 His backhander is vicious, it has surprised a lot of goalies. He also always finishes plays and plays with heart. Will be interesting to see what the season will bring, I was extremely disappointed in the playoffs, felt like the true hunger wasn't there.
The Avs are the main reason I really wish my team (SJ) would commit the next few years to a proper rebuild, there are a lot of teams they'd struggle against but the chance of getting by the Avs anytime soon is about 0% IMO.
Caps didn't let him walk. I'm so sick of this lie. Trotz had 2 years left on his contract and was refusing to show up for camp! He was demanding they tear up his contract and give him a new one to make him one of the highest paid coaches in League history. Washington offered him a raise even though he had 2 years left and he was still holding out. On top of that, Washington blocked Reirden the previous off-season from interviewing for Head Coach jobs like Jersey and promised him they would either promote him or let him interview. So if Washington gave Trotz a new deal, Reirden just off a cup win -walks. On top of all of that, Trotz almost got fired during a losing streak months earlier and Carlson who was a pending UFA publicly praised how much he and other players liked playing for Reirden. But it all comes back to Trotz refusing to honor his existing signed contract and Washington ownership deciding they couldn't go into camp with no head coach and no associate coach. You can't run an organization of every time someone is unhappy they rip up their existing contract and demand a new one. What about scouts and trainers and other coaches? What if everyone wants to renegotiate?? Ownership didn't have a choice.
15:30 i’d say it’s Hill… while Jones was left out to dry many times by atrocious defense, if Hill can show he can keep a GAA under 3 i think it would do wonders for the Sharks’ team orale and have a ripple effect
Fox - not a bad choice for the Rangers. Panarin should also be considered. But I feel the most important player is Shesterkin. I really believe that he could become the best goaltender in the NHL. If that happens this year, it will be the Avalanche vs the Rangers in June 2022.
As a CBJ fan, I think it's Laine. I don't want to pile on pressure, but they made moves to try to support him and if he doesn't play up to the potential and have a big scoring year, it will be a mess in Columbus. All eyes are on the offense to try to get something going.
As good as the top line is for the Bruins. I might argue that Charlie McAvoy is their most important player. If he goes down that D core takes a HUGE hit. But any one of those four could be their most important guy.
Sorry, but it's gotta be *Patrice* *Bergeron* ! Without him, the Bruins are royally and utterly screwed! Honestly ... Who do the Bruins have that can replace Bergeron for any length of time? Coyle? I _like_ Charlie Coyle, but on any of the projected top-ten teams for the upcoming season, he'd be (at best) the third-line center.
As a Carolina fan, I feel like Jaccob Slavin is the most valuable player a lot of the time. I feel like depending on how he's doing will guide the team each game even tho he doesn't produce offensively. Team just doesn't seem like themselves if he's not playing. I doubt many people will agree with this tho lol
Great vid as always. For me the most important player for the habs this year will be Suzuki. He will have once again to run the first line at such a young age. Price and Allen can stop a lots of pucks but if there are no goals scored, they can't win. Cheers and keep up the good work!
A huge part of it is that the team in front of Binnington has been riddled with injuries. Coming off of Covid during the Bubble playoffs, and just non-stop during the 20-21 season. If the team can stay healthy, his numbers will look better without AHL defensemen in front of him.
For Edmonton, I disagree. I think the key is absolutely going to be Mike Smith. McDavid is automatic, the success or failure of the team relies on the Oilers ability to keep the puck out of the net.
@@Peksisarvinen I hope you're right and the Oil can outscore any deficiencies in net. The goaltending is clearly a big question mark for the Oil this year. Well them and Keith.
McDavid is automatic, and everyone knows Smith is suspect. So using that logic I pick Nurse, good D helps out poor goalies and Nurse gets paid a ton now
I was torn between Hishier, J. Hughes & Backwood.. I have to go with Blackwood.. I would love it if Jack & Nico became goal scoring beast but I think becoming a playoff team is all on Makenzie.. Go Devils!
Haven't watched the video yet. Shannon should be saying Adam Pelech for the Islanders. If he doesn't hes wrong. Edit: Shannon continues his streak as the most knowlegable hockey personality on RUclips.
I think he’s right in putting them both there. Pulock and pelech are not the best dmen in the league, but put together they are a top tier tandem (I’m an isles fan, but I can’t think of a better tandem). It’s the pairing that makes them great
i know its an opinion piece, but i think tb's most important player is vassy. especially in the playoffs. i think back to a couple years ago, when people were cracking jokes, and vassy was not amused- when they got to the 2020 playoffs, he had that "thats not gonna happen this time" aura, and while he didnt win the conn smythe that year- they wouldnt have won the cup with anybody else in net. and he carried that into this years finals, and did win the conn smythe
Merzlikins is just more popular among the fans than Korpisalo, because he is Elvis Presley's namesake and because he smiles at the interviews. It seems that nobody is interested in Finnish players except Finnish fans. Too few Finns on this list, too. There should be e.g. Aho or Saros, but Finns are considered as superstars only in Finland.
Anaheim: Trevor Zegras (need a jumpstart to their offense) Arizona: Jakob Chychrun Boston: Jeremy Swayman Buffalo: Rasmus Dahlin Calgary: Johnny Gaudreau Carolina: Jaccob Slavin Chicago: Kevin Lankinen Colorado: Nathan MacKinnon Columbus: Elvis Merzlikins Dallas: Tyler Seguin Detroit: Dylan Larkin Edmonton: Connor McDavid Florida: Aleksander Barkov Los Angeles: Drew Doughty Minnesota: Kirill Kaprizov Montreal: Carey Price Nashville: Filip Forsberg New Jersey: Jack Hughes NY Islanders: Mathew Barzal (improvement of offense crucial to deep run) NY Rangers: Igor Shesterkin Ottawa: Brady Tkachuk Philadelphia: Carter Hart Pittsburgh: Sidney Crosby San Jose: Timo Meier Seattle: Philipp Grubauer St. Louis: Vladimir Tarasenko Tampa Bay: Nikita Kucherov Toronto: Jack Campbell Vancouver: Elias Pettersson Vegas: Mark Stone Washington: Alexander Ovechkin Winnipeg: Connor Hellebuyck
The Knights most important player, 29, got traded. So now, I'd say it's Stone, due to his leadership, production, and that fired up attitude that shows in them celly's.
Logan Couture is important. He was on a strong run last year until he was hit by Carter. The Evander Kane saga is also a key situtaion. Will Kane be there or not? Does he disrupt the other players and team cohesiveness?
All I could think about when you mentioned someone laughing at the fact someone would ask them to replace Hedman was J. Jonah Jameson laughing and then going "you serious 🤨" 😂😂😂
@@todddavis5433 can’t come faster ! i grew up in Barrie Ontario watching svechnicov play for the colts. I want to and expect to see him rip up the league this year. Whole team underrated
"Most important players" My mind: so the best player on each team.... that's an easy list Also my mind: so how is THG going to give an answer I'm not expecting....
Victor Hedman is important to Tampa Bay no doubt, but they don't win one Cup, let alone two without Vasilevskiy in net. He's easily the most important player on that squad IMO.
David Pastrnak is my countryman and best player in Czech republic right now, but i still vote for Brad Marchand as most important player for Boston...other than that, i believe Panarin for NYR and Aho for Carolina are my personal choices
I have a feeling this season for Arizona will be a write off but the 2 seasons following this will be epic bounce back . also expecting a big jump up for the sens this season.
The Cliff Ronning jersey is awesome. My 2nd favourite Canuck ever to Stan Smyl. Burnaby, B.C. produces excellent NHL players including Cliff, Joe Sakic and Glenn Anderson.
clayton keller to me = nugent hopkins where the high high ceiling was just never really obtained. the marner anger is purely from his contract negotiations where people believe he is over paid or should have taken a hometown discount.
Being a Blues fan I don't think Binner was a bad choice. But there is someone on our team that I think CAN be huge if he play with his all and that is Robert Thomas. I feel like he can be a big diffrence in the Blues success or defeat.
Impressive, without google I can't complete this list. Pasternak, Toews, Kane, Jacob Slaven, Mackinnon, Josi, Crosby,Hedman, Demko, Ovi and Matthews, Marner some of my fav players, "made the list"
Couldn't agree more with the take on Tampa with Hedman. If in the position of replacing Hedman long term you would have to completely change how the defense runs
Brady * Tkachuk for Sens Buffalo * Eichel is still most important, because his return, whatever it is, will determine the direction here Canucks * Demko Overall, regarding obvious star players being most important, this is true. However, with a McDavid, you know, barring injury, he will be among the league leaders, thus, it's the sleepers, support players, that surprise, who can determine team success
Funny story... The other day was at work we were all sitting around the lunch table talking about hockey... One of the lady's that doesn't watch hockey speaks up and says oh yah my dad said that my first cousin plays for the islanders. We all kind of chuckle ask who thinking it was nobody. She than replied with.. Ryan Pulock... We lost it haha. As if she didn't know how big of a deal that guy is.
I like the Larkin pick for Detroit. I think he's better than he played the last season or two. Last year i would've said it's Bertuzzi, but i like the support cast a little more this year.
For the Jet's I gave it a healthy bit of thought and decided that their most important player is (now that Sami has been traded) ....Ehlers. Was that a perfect season last year until Ehlers was hurt? Pretty much. The 7 or whatever game losing streak corresponded with Ehlers injury and I don't think it was a coincidence.
As a caps fan I may be saying something a bit controversial here (very much sarcasm bcz I know people will hate this) but I’d say that Ovi isn’t actually the caps most important player. When he’s out of the lineup the PP takes a major hit but the other players can really benefit from it. When he’s out there, there’s times where it seems like whoever he’s with will just only stare him down no matter what. Without him there, it truly lets the other players shine and show their true talent. For this reason, I’d go with Backstrom as my pick. When he’s not there, the caps generate drastically lower offensive numbers. He is the playmaker that the caps desperately need in the lineup at all times. I love Ovi of course, but last year with him out a decent bit of games it really showed me how the team can be. The few games without Backy, dead offense… even from Ovi. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
I think the Tkachuk contract will be an absolute fulcrum in terms of Ottawa's playoff viability this season. If he's given the Chabot treatment and takes 8x8 and the C, I think his leadership on the ice and the sheer amount of involvement in every single game last season will help the young team take it up a notch. Give Brown and Chabot the A's and have Murray (please god) give us a consistent season in the net and I think they have a shot at 4th seed in the Atlantic. I'm not holding my breath though, it's easily the toughest division
IMO The Islanders most important player is Adam Pelech. While Pulock is fantastic, without Pelech our entire D corps falls apart. And if the D corps falls apart, the team falls apart. What do you think about this for a video? Pick 1 player per team that you think will Progress the most this season, and 1 player who will regress the most. Love the channel, keep up the great work.
I kinda agree with most of the picks, however, with Toronto, my pick would be John Tavares. Matthews finally proved his place last season. I mean winning the Rocket Richard, but, how does JT come back from his injury? He’s definitely important for the Leafs on the second line. So as far as important players go he would be my pick for the Leafs. Thanks for listening. Great show as always, thank you 👍👍👍
The problem with McDavid so far has been his below average defence, and that has been backfired already a couple of times on playoffs when the game gets more tight. Therefore it has been debatable if McDavid is better than (old) Crosby and it's surely premature to tell McDavid is the best player since Gretzky even if we forget the guy named Lemieux. I'd say prime Crosby was better than prime McDavid is now, even while McDavid is faster and better offensively.
Price is the most important player of Habs but it will soon be Suzuki as Price will play less and less during the season, to keep him fresh for the playoff if there in. Could possibly play between 45-50 games and Allen 30-35.
Horvat is clearly the best player on the Canucks..... he's just miss used by management (junk linemates and never touches the puck on the PP despite being on the 1st unit.)
The set up guy is a relic that's a detriment to a line not a boon. If a player can't score goals he makes it harder for the rest of his line to score. They are easy to defend because every team just cuts off the cross ice pass and it kills the whole line.
In my opinion Arizona’s most important player is EASILY Chychrun
I hope he scores 20 goals next year.
I think thgs reasoning is that they’ll allow lots of goals cause of that awful goaltending so they better score goals
Get real. THG lost me at 1:10 when he named anyone other than Loui Eriksson.
You mean Loui Eriksson
he's so damn good, it always surprised me how much hate he got so early in his career.
I think Aho is the lifeblood of Carolina, and currently is the most important, but I agree with you Shannon, that to take the next step for winning a cup Svechnikov HAS to take that next step. Carolina has to have him be dominant as a goal scorer to realistically win the Cup
While aho is probably the best cane slavin is for sure the most important, our blue line without slavin is bad we’d have a 2nd paring and two 3rd parings, losing aho would hurt but especially if staal plays like last year we could still win games without slavin the canes aren’t a playoff team
Take Aho away from Canes, and the whole bottom falls away. He is the most IMPORTANT piece (let's remember what the video is about - the most important player of the team), no doubt. Svech is probably the guy who has most untapped potential, his 2019-2020 campaign was great. P.S. not a bash, just a friendly argument. I understand the logic, but hockey is more fun when it's not a monologue :)
Aho is definitely very important, but i think the most important player is Jaccob Slavin. Dude shuts down every team, any line
@@spoiledshorts69 He's like a 21rst century Rod Langway.
I agree but I do think if we are discussing who is the most important to the next step in winning a Cup I think it is Svech. If Aho stays the same level Carolina will be good maybe great but not elite, for that next level Svechnikov needs to step up. So I think maybe that could be a different video or discussion but I get both sides for that.
Slavin
From the perspective... what would happen if Carolina lost Aho, Svetchnikov, Slavin or someone else... I would say, in my mind, it's quite obviously Aho. And Aho seems to get even better each year...
I'd say Aho for Canes for sure, altho Svech is great. For Tampa I'd say Vasy 100%. Vasy is so insanely good and there is nothing really behind him, in terms of depth and we've seen that.
I agree. Vasy could get a team of AHL players into the playoffs. If he ever gets seriously hurt, Tampa's season is over. Hedman is obviously fantastic but for me Vasy is the king.
I agree with you a 100%. Vasy looks like the big dog on that squad. I as montreal fan in the final he was the one who was most scary to me. Sure hedman, kucherov, point are all insanely good players. But Vasy Looks out of this world
I think slavin is the most important Carolina has a good enough offense that they could make up for one of their top forwards being out but without slavin the blue line is doo doo
For Tampa Bay i'd go with Vasy. Hedman was the most important until this season, he played with torn meniscus and he wasn't the same guy, but lucky for Lightning McDonagh stepped up and was the best d-man in playoffs. Without Vasy they are done. No one can replace him.
For me as a neutral McDonagh was tied with Vasilevskiy for the playoff MVP. He absolutely owned the Canes and outplayed the Isles D. Everyone gets fixated on goalies. It's easy to not notice the defenders.
@@tomchamberlain4329 as a fellow neutral ill agree. Mcdonagh quietly had guys tearing their damn hair out all playoffs. Like he was giving Barzal fits in what i saw of the isles-Lightning series, Suzuki wanted to avoid him like the plague in the montreal tampa series, Aho and company just looked....lost dealing with him on many occasions. He really came to the fore quietly as this ...defensive fortification that just...you could shake the walls. You could crack the stonework. But you couldnt knock it down. You couldnt punch a proper breach thro it. And Mcdonagh seemed to be the foundation stone of that as it were. He quietly seemed to be, defensively anyway, in charge of that d-core. And by example he showed em what to do and they executed.
I loved his game all thro the playoffs in case it isnt clear. The blue-liners whom focus the defensive side of the game never get enough love. I agree with shannon they need their own award, the norris is all about offense.
But Mcdonagh was quietly fantastic for this cup run, and tho i generally dont like repeats, was nice to see such a stalwart guy play that key a role and get another ring out of it.
I think Rangers and Bolts fans might be starting up a HOF case for McDonagh in 6-7 years. (Or at least a HGHOF one)
These past 2 seasons mcdonagh looked like the guy who played in ny before injuries. He was amazing.
Agree, Vassey is best goalie.
I kinda still think Panarin is the rangers’ most valuable player, it really makes a difference when he’s in the lineup, but I get where you’re coming from with fox.
I agree
It's Panarin for sure.
Valuable player isn't necessarily the most important player
Panarin had to put up at least 100 points this season if the Rangers have any chance. He needs to not piss off Putin anymore.
IMO it’s either Panarin or Zibanjed those guys are absolute huge assets and can get the rangers to the next level
Chychrun for AZ. If hes still there..
I haven't checked their trades in 3 minutes so....
I hear they just traded the whole roster and plan to forfeit every game so they the entire 2022 first round to themselves.
Yikes have fun when you look at the team now lol
No kidding
Hughes might be the most important player next year, but to date Hischier has shown that his leadership and ability to lead by example is important to the team. They don't play nearly as well without him. It's going to be a village of leaders in that locker room in a few years and you can't have too many of those.
Hedman is the best defenseman in the NHL but Tampa has a stacked blueline so I believe Vasy is definitely more important in my opinion
Chychrun over Keller
Tkachuk over Gaudreau
Aho over Svech
Werenski over Elvis
Panarin over Fox
Couturier over Hart
O'Reilly over Binnington
Stone over Lehner
I would argue Vasilevskiy for Tampa but I'll still accept Hedman
In Columbus Werenski needs to prove he's every bit as valuable as Jones. I hope both players kick ass this year and silence the haters.
Shannon, you smash out content, smash out in depth review, and generate in depth opinions and discussion. Keep up the great work!
"I can't put anybody but Crosby or I'd have to shut the video off and go to bed." that killed me 😂
Not a Vancouver fan, but damn I love those old jerseys. So nostalgic for me!
Canucks should wear them more often, dope colour scheme/jersey
I also like Canucks jersey's.
I always associate those jerseys with Pavel Bure, the most electrifying player of the 1990's!
Not a Vancouver fan wth
Vasilevskiy is more important than Hedman imo.
agreed, when vas was out of the net they’d lose even with 5 goals. although you couldn’t be wrong with either kuch hedman or vasy as your choice
Agree. Hedman is great but Bolts' blueline is stacked with or without him. Bolts played Cernak in Hedman's role on special teams here and then in the playoffs and till the end of the season. And he didn't fail. But Bolts were Vassy's injury away from being swept in 1st round ;).
Yeah for sure it’s Vasy, those games where McElhinney was in net were brutal. They lost 8 games out of 12 when Vasy was out...became a bottom team instead of the best team in the league (Canucks fan)
Bergeron is Boston’s key player for me. Yes they can still play without him on the lineup for short periods, but how would they fare without him around the team? His leadership and passion for the team is huge to the Bruins.
That is my *exact* thought - if Bergeron gets injured for any length of time, the Bruins are royally and completely screwed! Boston was lucky in past years as they had a very capable second-line center in David Krejci who could fill in for Patrice Bergeron if he was injured or sick. This year, their 2C looks like it should be Charlie Coyle and, as much as I like him as a player, I don't think he's in Krejci's league.
Was thinking it's Coyle, he really needs to step up his game and gel with Hall and Smith, he doesn't need to match Krejci levels but he has to have a better season, also the goalies with no Rask. Many questions have to be answered this season in Boston even with the good bottom 6 additions.
Honestly for the Avs, after last season, it's almost starting to look like MacKinnon and Makar are 1A and 1B as far as MVP of the team. Makar is (arguably) the best defenseman in the NHL (if not best, easily top 3 or 5), which is a comparable ranking for MacK for forwards. Those two drives our team from the offense and defense and if either one isn't in it's extremely noticeable. Goddamn the Avs are lucky as hell.
1A Mack 1B Makar 1C Rantanen. We gotta remember Rantanen produces no matter who he plays with. He is a bit overshadowed by Mack (though he prefers it that way), but he is fantastic and produces extremely consistently.
Mikko has the best back hand wrister in the league! But yea it’s Mack then makar then mikko. They better get tough for the postseason!
@@joshgallegos6580 His backhander is vicious, it has surprised a lot of goalies. He also always finishes plays and plays with heart. Will be interesting to see what the season will bring, I was extremely disappointed in the playoffs, felt like the true hunger wasn't there.
@@joshgallegos6580 as a Wild fan, I'll say his backhand is easily top 5 but no one has a better backhand shot than Crosby
The Avs are the main reason I really wish my team (SJ) would commit the next few years to a proper rebuild, there are a lot of teams they'd struggle against but the chance of getting by the Avs anytime soon is about 0% IMO.
Dahlin...really did start to come into his own under Granato last season, he was walking right into on goaltenders every game
Is Barry Trotz behind the bench a more important piece to the Isles? Caps fan still kinda dumbfounded mgmt let him walk
yea! Really brilliant move by the Caps who've zero success since. Eclipsed by......The Isles.
Trotz is the best part of that team. Not many big name players but they are coached very well
Islanders is good team with any coach.. stop overreacting
Caps didn't let him walk. I'm so sick of this lie. Trotz had 2 years left on his contract and was refusing to show up for camp! He was demanding they tear up his contract and give him a new one to make him one of the highest paid coaches in League history. Washington offered him a raise even though he had 2 years left and he was still holding out. On top of that, Washington blocked Reirden the previous off-season from interviewing for Head Coach jobs like Jersey and promised him they would either promote him or let him interview. So if Washington gave Trotz a new deal, Reirden just off a cup win -walks. On top of all of that, Trotz almost got fired during a losing streak months earlier and Carlson who was a pending UFA publicly praised how much he and other players liked playing for Reirden. But it all comes back to Trotz refusing to honor his existing signed contract and Washington ownership deciding they couldn't go into camp with no head coach and no associate coach. You can't run an organization of every time someone is unhappy they rip up their existing contract and demand a new one. What about scouts and trainers and other coaches? What if everyone wants to renegotiate?? Ownership didn't have a choice.
15:30 i’d say it’s Hill… while Jones was left out to dry many times by atrocious defense, if Hill can show he can keep a GAA under 3 i think it would do wonders for the Sharks’ team orale and have a ripple effect
For Montreal it appears to be:
Regular season: Allen
Playoffs: Price
100%
👉 Right on
“Columbus”… “Right?”
I laughed out loud
Gritty is obviously Philly's MVP
True
22:43 I feel like Ovi has always been there, regardless of the whole team's performance. I think it's up to everyone else to follow his example.
Fox - not a bad choice for the Rangers. Panarin should also be considered. But I feel the most important player is Shesterkin. I really believe that he could become the best goaltender in the NHL. If that happens this year, it will be the Avalanche vs the Rangers in June 2022.
As a CBJ fan, I think it's Laine. I don't want to pile on pressure, but they made moves to try to support him and if he doesn't play up to the potential and have a big scoring year, it will be a mess in Columbus. All eyes are on the offense to try to get something going.
As good as the top line is for the Bruins. I might argue that Charlie McAvoy is their most important player. If he goes down that D core takes a HUGE hit. But any one of those four could be their most important guy.
Easily Marchand
Ya McAvoy or Marchand, there really is no elite level Pastrnak without Marchand, I’m worried what will happen to pastrnak when Marchand retires
See last year's playoffs. Everyone wants to throw Rask under the bus but when the defense got hurt the wheels fell off
Sorry, but it's gotta be *Patrice* *Bergeron* ! Without him, the Bruins are royally and utterly screwed! Honestly ... Who do the Bruins have that can replace Bergeron for any length of time? Coyle? I _like_ Charlie Coyle, but on any of the projected top-ten teams for the upcoming season, he'd be (at best) the third-line center.
@@blackenedmagic888 true without kreji we need Bergeron
I can't speak for all Arizona Coyotes fans but Jakob Chychrun is our MVP and the heart of the team. I'd deal Clayton Keller without hesitation.
Spot on. Rare miss here.
As a Carolina fan, I feel like Jaccob Slavin is the most valuable player a lot of the time. I feel like depending on how he's doing will guide the team each game even tho he doesn't produce offensively. Team just doesn't seem like themselves if he's not playing. I doubt many people will agree with this tho lol
Slavins great but i would have chosen for anderson. Who knows how he will play. I think hell bounce back.
As soon as Shannon wrote an 'S' I presumed it was Slavin.
Great vid as always. For me the most important player for the habs this year will be Suzuki. He will have once again to run the first line at such a young age. Price and Allen can stop a lots of pucks but if there are no goals scored, they can't win. Cheers and keep up the good work!
Anaheim: 0:37
Arizona: 1:02
Boston: 1:30
Buffalo: 2:14
Calgary: 2:48
Carolina: 3:22
Chicago: 4:16
Colorado: 4:38
Columbus: 5:08
Dallas: 5:38
Detroit: 6:19
Edmonton: 6:54
Florida: 7:28
Los Angeles: 8:14
Minnesota: 9:03
Montreal: 9:46
Nashville: 10:28
New Jersey: 11:01
New York Islanders: 11:52
New York Rangers: 12:52
Ottawa: 13:27
Philadelphia: 14:09
Pittsburg: 14:47
San Jose: 15:22
Seattle: 16:16
St-Louis: 17:08
Tampa Bay: 18:00
Toronto: 18:54
Vancouver: 20:10
Vegas: 21:02
Washington: 22:10
Winnipeg: 22:46
I agree on Binnington! Hopefully he can redisover the magic
A huge part of it is that the team in front of Binnington has been riddled with injuries. Coming off of Covid during the Bubble playoffs, and just non-stop during the 20-21 season. If the team can stay healthy, his numbers will look better without AHL defensemen in front of him.
For Edmonton, I disagree. I think the key is absolutely going to be Mike Smith. McDavid is automatic, the success or failure of the team relies on the Oilers ability to keep the puck out of the net.
With that logic you should just put the starting goalie for every team. Mcdavid is the team. We are barely a playoff team without him even now.
Nah. If McDavid tanks for whatever reason, Oilers are done. If Smith tanks but McDavid succeeds, the Oilers are still in the playoffs.
@@Peksisarvinen I hope you're right and the Oil can outscore any deficiencies in net. The goaltending is clearly a big question mark for the Oil this year. Well them and Keith.
McDavid is automatic, and everyone knows Smith is suspect. So using that logic I pick Nurse, good D helps out poor goalies and Nurse gets paid a ton now
@@jasonfire3434 I don't disagree, but actually, Nurse's big contract starts next season. Nurse will need to be huge again this year for sure.
In the Series, Carey Price just had Matthews number it was insane the saves he made on him
I was torn between Hishier, J. Hughes & Backwood.. I have to go with Blackwood.. I would love it if Jack & Nico became goal scoring beast but I think becoming a playoff team is all on Makenzie.. Go Devils!
Haven't watched the video yet. Shannon should be saying Adam Pelech for the Islanders. If he doesn't hes wrong.
Edit: Shannon continues his streak as the most knowlegable hockey personality on RUclips.
I think he’s right in putting them both there. Pulock and pelech are not the best dmen in the league, but put together they are a top tier tandem (I’m an isles fan, but I can’t think of a better tandem). It’s the pairing that makes them great
Wow definitely would have thought Shannon was going to put Couturier down for Philly
i know its an opinion piece, but i think tb's most important player is vassy. especially in the playoffs. i think back to a couple years ago, when people were cracking jokes, and vassy was not amused- when they got to the 2020 playoffs, he had that "thats not gonna happen this time" aura, and while he didnt win the conn smythe that year- they wouldnt have won the cup with anybody else in net. and he carried that into this years finals, and did win the conn smythe
Man it hurts to see Elvis on there over Korpisalo, Joonas is such a good goaltender but they play so bad in front of him
Merzlikins is just more popular among the fans than Korpisalo, because he is Elvis Presley's namesake and because he smiles at the interviews. It seems that nobody is interested in Finnish players except Finnish fans. Too few Finns on this list, too. There should be e.g. Aho or Saros, but Finns are considered as superstars only in Finland.
Pelech/pulock is great d-pair and fun in names when combined
I was thinking Panarin or Mika for the Rangers. Not really disappointed when you wrote Fox down.
Anaheim: Trevor Zegras (need a jumpstart to their offense)
Arizona: Jakob Chychrun
Boston: Jeremy Swayman
Buffalo: Rasmus Dahlin
Calgary: Johnny Gaudreau
Carolina: Jaccob Slavin
Chicago: Kevin Lankinen
Colorado: Nathan MacKinnon
Columbus: Elvis Merzlikins
Dallas: Tyler Seguin
Detroit: Dylan Larkin
Edmonton: Connor McDavid
Florida: Aleksander Barkov
Los Angeles: Drew Doughty
Minnesota: Kirill Kaprizov
Montreal: Carey Price
Nashville: Filip Forsberg
New Jersey: Jack Hughes
NY Islanders: Mathew Barzal (improvement of offense crucial to deep run)
NY Rangers: Igor Shesterkin
Ottawa: Brady Tkachuk
Philadelphia: Carter Hart
Pittsburgh: Sidney Crosby
San Jose: Timo Meier
Seattle: Philipp Grubauer
St. Louis: Vladimir Tarasenko
Tampa Bay: Nikita Kucherov
Toronto: Jack Campbell
Vancouver: Elias Pettersson
Vegas: Mark Stone
Washington: Alexander Ovechkin
Winnipeg: Connor Hellebuyck
The Knights most important player, 29, got traded. So now, I'd say it's Stone, due to his leadership, production, and that fired up attitude that shows in them celly's.
the guy who makes $10 million and disappears in the playoffs? lmao
@@gimmick7389 I'd figure that coming from a Sharks fan. U probably chose Kane, so u could cover ur o/u.
I would go with something very similiar, perhaps different players for Ari, Car, NYR, Phi, St.L and TB but it's looks about right.
Logan Couture is important. He was on a strong run last year until he was hit by Carter. The Evander Kane saga is also a key situtaion. Will Kane be there or not? Does he disrupt the other players and team cohesiveness?
19:23 "...Marner is the guy who passes the puck."
....Into the bleachers to a phantom Leaf. 😄
He’s just giving pucks to the fans, the problem is that he does it during play.
All I could think about when you mentioned someone laughing at the fact someone would ask them to replace Hedman was J. Jonah Jameson laughing and then going "you serious 🤨" 😂😂😂
I see you fought the urge to talk about Gustav Lindstrom
Put KK on the first line with Aho and Turbo and Svech with Necas and Trochek and you might have two 40 goal scorers with Aho and Svech
Carolina gonna be so much fun to watch this year
@@Nimajneb42069 can't wait until the season starts
@@todddavis5433 can’t come faster ! i grew up in Barrie Ontario watching svechnicov play for the colts. I want to and expect to see him rip up the league this year. Whole team underrated
Ooooh I like how you frazed this, I haven't started but Im guessing this is different then best player
Interesting you'd pick Pelech and Pulock. I was debating between them and Barzy
I love Svechnikov, but I would honestly have Slavin as our most important player. We’re in a much harder situation musing Slavin than missing Svech.
"Most important players"
My mind: so the best player on each team.... that's an easy list
Also my mind: so how is THG going to give an answer I'm not expecting....
Writing notes for my fantasy pool, thanks Shannon
Bolts fan here and undoubtedly Vasy is the most important. ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️🏆🏆🏆
Victor Hedman is important to Tampa Bay no doubt, but they don't win one Cup, let alone two without Vasilevskiy in net. He's easily the most important player on that squad IMO.
David Pastrnak is my countryman and best player in Czech republic right now, but i still vote for Brad Marchand as most important player for Boston...other than that, i believe Panarin for NYR and Aho for Carolina are my personal choices
I have a feeling this season for Arizona will be a write off but the 2 seasons following this will be epic bounce back . also expecting a big jump up for the sens this season.
For Ottawa Chabot makes sense for the week he was out in the past season, the blue line just seemed super lost without him
While I dislike the play of both of them, I think the Tkachuk brothers are both most important to their teams
Surprisingly,no mention of either.
Vasilevskiy seems irreplaceable to Tampa and I don't think they would've beaten New York without his MVP caliber performances.
Yeah the Isles have been good enough to win a Cup for two years now. By far the toughest opponent of the past two playoffs.
Bruins stayed afloat when Bergeron was injured previously but that’s when they had Krejci in the two slot. They will sink or swim with Bergy
I agree that for the Blues, Binner is the most important piece. He plays like 2018-19 and 2019-20 before the lockdown, the Blues can be dangerous
The Cliff Ronning jersey is awesome. My 2nd favourite Canuck ever to Stan Smyl. Burnaby, B.C. produces excellent NHL players including Cliff, Joe Sakic and Glenn Anderson.
Jack Hughes is awesome. His underlying advance stats were awesome and this season i am seeing ppg can only wish the Avs got him
Flyers is Couturier. They have limped into the Stanley Cup finals in 2010 with okay at best goal tending. Without Couturier this team is DOA.
Thoughts on Hischier for NJ?
bust
clayton keller to me = nugent hopkins where the high high ceiling was just never really obtained. the marner anger is purely from his contract negotiations where people believe he is over paid or should have taken a hometown discount.
I agree just aho and Barzal for barzal it’s because he’s the only player with that offensive skill and speed
Being a Blues fan I don't think Binner was a bad choice. But there is someone on our team that I think CAN be huge if he play with his all and that is Robert Thomas. I feel like he can be a big diffrence in the Blues success or defeat.
Impressive, without google I can't complete this list. Pasternak, Toews, Kane, Jacob Slaven, Mackinnon, Josi, Crosby,Hedman, Demko, Ovi and Matthews, Marner some of my fav players, "made the list"
Couldn't agree more with the take on Tampa with Hedman. If in the position of replacing Hedman long term you would have to completely change how the defense runs
Chabot is super underrated. Only a matter of time before people recognize his talent.
Columbus.....right?
That's such a perfect reaction, I was trying to remember who the hell was left on that team.
Brady * Tkachuk for Sens
Buffalo * Eichel is still most important, because his return, whatever it is, will determine the direction here
Canucks * Demko
Overall, regarding obvious star players being most important, this is true. However, with a McDavid, you know, barring injury, he will be among the league leaders, thus, it's the sleepers, support players, that surprise, who can determine team success
Canes: Aho, Tampa: Vasilevskiy, Vegas: Theodore. Those would be my changes to your list Shannon.
Funny story...
The other day was at work we were all sitting around the lunch table talking about hockey...
One of the lady's that doesn't watch hockey speaks up and says oh yah my dad said that my first cousin plays for the islanders.
We all kind of chuckle ask who thinking it was nobody. She than replied with.. Ryan Pulock...
We lost it haha. As if she didn't know how big of a deal that guy is.
I like the Larkin pick for Detroit. I think he's better than he played the last season or two. Last year i would've said it's Bertuzzi, but i like the support cast a little more this year.
For the Jet's I gave it a healthy bit of thought and decided that their most important player is (now that Sami has been traded) ....Ehlers. Was that a perfect season last year until Ehlers was hurt? Pretty much. The 7 or whatever game losing streak corresponded with Ehlers injury and I don't think it was a coincidence.
As a caps fan I may be saying something a bit controversial here (very much sarcasm bcz I know people will hate this) but I’d say that Ovi isn’t actually the caps most important player. When he’s out of the lineup the PP takes a major hit but the other players can really benefit from it. When he’s out there, there’s times where it seems like whoever he’s with will just only stare him down no matter what. Without him there, it truly lets the other players shine and show their true talent. For this reason, I’d go with Backstrom as my pick. When he’s not there, the caps generate drastically lower offensive numbers. He is the playmaker that the caps desperately need in the lineup at all times. I love Ovi of course, but last year with him out a decent bit of games it really showed me how the team can be. The few games without Backy, dead offense… even from Ovi. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Couldn't be more wrong on Carolina , its clearly the 6.1 million dollar man , KK hahahaha
I think that for Edmonton it will be Nurse, or Koskinen actually having a year.
I don’t think they’re close to being as important to the Oilers as McDavid.
Without him, the Oilers would be a bottom half team in the league.
LISTS 🥵
I think the Tkachuk contract will be an absolute fulcrum in terms of Ottawa's playoff viability this season. If he's given the Chabot treatment and takes 8x8 and the C, I think his leadership on the ice and the sheer amount of involvement in every single game last season will help the young team take it up a notch. Give Brown and Chabot the A's and have Murray (please god) give us a consistent season in the net and I think they have a shot at 4th seed in the Atlantic. I'm not holding my breath though, it's easily the toughest division
IMO The Islanders most important player is Adam Pelech. While Pulock is fantastic, without Pelech our entire D corps falls apart. And if the D corps falls apart, the team falls apart.
What do you think about this for a video? Pick 1 player per team that you think will Progress the most this season, and 1 player who will regress the most. Love the channel, keep up the great work.
I kinda agree with most of the picks, however, with Toronto, my pick would be John Tavares. Matthews finally proved his place last season. I mean winning the Rocket Richard, but, how does JT come back from his injury? He’s definitely important for the Leafs on the second line. So as far as important players go he would be my pick for the Leafs. Thanks for listening. Great show as always, thank you 👍👍👍
7:20 how is McDavid the best player in the league debatable anymore? He's the best player since Gretzky
FORREAL
The problem with McDavid so far has been his below average defence, and that has been backfired already a couple of times on playoffs when the game gets more tight.
Therefore it has been debatable if McDavid is better than (old) Crosby and it's surely premature to tell McDavid is the best player since Gretzky even if we forget the guy named Lemieux. I'd say prime Crosby was better than prime McDavid is now, even while McDavid is faster and better offensively.
Price is the most important player of Habs but it will soon be Suzuki as Price will play less and less during the season, to keep him fresh for the playoff if there in. Could possibly play between 45-50 games and Allen 30-35.
Marchand is the Bruins most important player. Scoring, play making, defence, power play, penalty killing, leadership.
I'd have gone with Marchand.... he's the heart and soul of that team.... but your logic was sound.
Ultimately Boston needs all 3 guys of the perfection line to do their jobs
Great video, I'm impressed he was able to spell all the names on the first go lol.
Looking forward to an AEW Rampage review on TEG tonight or tomorrow! For the Canucks, it has to be Bo or Thatcher.
Horvat is clearly the best player on the Canucks..... he's just miss used by management (junk linemates and never touches the puck on the PP despite being on the 1st unit.)
Aho or Slavin for Canes easily over Svech anyday. Saros could be for Preds.
The set up guy is a relic that's a detriment to a line not a boon. If a player can't score goals he makes it harder for the rest of his line to score. They are easy to defend because every team just cuts off the cross ice pass and it kills the whole line.
Absolutely love your channel keep up the great work!
For Philly, it's Gritty! How could you not pick him?
Love the ole skate logo jersey repping ronning one of the most underrated players
Yup. So much nostalgia for me. EA NHL94 Ronning, Bure Always! lol... BOMB profile pic
@@kylestoddart bure my favourite player of all time
Who has a better chance of bouncing back:
- Viktor Arvidsson
- Carter Hart
- Matt Murray
- Vladimir Tarasenko
Marchand instead of Pasta. Chychrun for the yotes. Aho for canes. Kucherov for lighting. Shea theodore istead of lehner. And that's my corrections
I think Pelech and Pulock are basically just one entity at this point. One cannot exist without the other