Ranking the Top Three Players in the NHL: Pt. 3 of a Six-Part Series

They are currently one, two, and three in the NHL scoring race.

Between the three of them they won the last two MVP awards, as well as the last two scoring titles.

There is absolutely no question as to who the three best hockey players in the world are.

Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, and Evgeni Malkin are the current triumvirate that rules the hockey world.

Most sports have a struggle amidst two players that are striving to be recognized as the best. In the NHL there are three players that are widely regarded as being that much better than everyone else.

In the spirit of this series I will still attempt to identify which player should gain recognition as the third-best in the sport.

Instead of analyzing a second tier of player in the NHL, I will instead analyze these top three players, since they are so widely regarded as the three best, and we are attempting to find the third best.

We will start with the human highlight reel, the best goal scorer in the NHL today, and the defending NHL MVP.

Alexander Ovechkin: LW, Washington Capitals (77 points: 43 goals, 34 assists)

Alexander Ovechkin is the best goal scorer in the league today. When it comes to putting the puck in the net, he is the best in the world, hands down.

He mixes a ferocious shot with a tenacious physical style of play that makes him very hard to defend. He is not afraid to put body on body and go after a puck deep in the offensive zone.

Ovechkin has also shown the uncanny ability to score with a wicked wrist-shot, a scintillating slap-shot, sliding on his butt across the crease, shooting from his back behind his head, from the circle, from the blue line, between a defender’s legs, and a variety of other ways that other players could only dream of.

Alexander Ovechkin is the reigning Art Ross Trophy winner (scoring leader), Hart Memorial Trophy winner (MVP), Lester B. Pearson Trophy winner (most outstanding player), and Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy winner (goals scored).  

He is a former Calder Memorial Trophy winner (rookie of the year). He has also won the Kharlamov Trophy the past three years (best NHL Russian player).

Ovechkin currently leads the league with 43 goals. He is well on his way to another 60 goal season and Maurice Richard Trophy.

The Capitals currently sit second in the Eastern Conference with 81 points. They also have the third-ranked power play in the NHL at 24.1 percent—first in the Eastern Conference.

Washington has scored the second-most goals in the NHL (201) behind only Detroit of the Western Conference (228). Ovechkin accounts for 21.4 percent of Washington’s goals scored.

Ovechkin has factored in on 38.3 percent of Washington’s goals; he has 77 points on the season.

Ovechkin also holds seven Washington Capitals records, as well as eight NHL records. He is a three time All-Star and has established himself as the most-dangerous goal scorer in the league.

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