B/R NHL Position Rankings for the 2023-24 Season: Top 10 Centers
Perhaps you can't specifically define what makes a great NHL center.
But you know it when you see it.
Traditionally, the role of a center on the ice is most similar to a point guard in basketball, with responsibilities to set up and run the offense, facilitate scoring opportunities with passes and generally be among the most creative players.
And the best ones? Well, they're the ones who can skate, pass, handle the puck, see the ice, win faceoffs and be innovative.
Ranking the league's best at the position isn't so simple as sorting by points. Also at play are intangibles and other subtleties. If a player is designated a center by NHL.com he's eligible for our list, which was ultimately whittled down to 10 alongside a handful of honorable mentions.
Drop a line in the comments to let us know how you think we did.
Also check out our goaltender, defensemen, and left wing rankings.
Honorable Mentions
1 of 7
Roope Hintz, Dallas Stars
If you're just a casual fan or you don't stray far beyond your own favorite team's boundary lines, there's an excellent chance you don't know Roope Hintz. But you should. The 26-year-old Finn is one of the reasons the Dallas Stars are a force in the Western Conference, as he's averaged better than a point per game for two of the last three seasons.
Nico Hischier, New Jersey Devils
It's fair to say the No. 1 overall pick from 2017 took awhile to grow into the hype surrounding his draft position, but he's certainly there now. He reached career bests in goals, assists and points during New Jersey's rise to Eastern prominence last season thanks to skills that make him a special teams ace and a reliable operator in the faceoff circle.
Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning
Want to suggest the Tampa Bay captain is on the far side of his prime? We won't argue. But if you contend that he's not still a force to be reckoned with, you'll have a fight on your hands. "Stammer" was a point-per-game player again last season for the Lightning and racked up a slew of milestones, including 500th goal, 500th assist and 1,000th game played.
Tage Thompson, Buffalo Sabres
If you're bullish these days on the Buffalo Sabres (here's a hint...you should be), it's more than likely got something to do with Thompson, the 26th overall pick from 2016 who was swiped from St. Louis in a deal for Ryan O'Reilly. He put up pedestrian numbers (18 goals, 17 assists) in his first 145 games but his last 156 have been a revelation (85 goals, 77 assists).
Mika Zibanejad, New York Rangers
He doesn't get the attention reserved for long-term teammate Artemi Panarin or short-term Rangers like Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko, but the 30-year-old Swede is the engine that drives the Rangers. His 39 goals in 2022-23 were tops on the team, as were his 20 goals on the power play. His per-night ice time of 19:58 paces all New York forwards, too.
Nos. 10-6
2 of 7
No. 10: Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks
It'd be hard to find a player who made more of a quantum leap from 2021-22 to 2022-23 than Pettersson, a No. 5 overall pick from 2017 who spiked from 68 points to 102 thanks to career highs in goals (39) and assists (63).
The 24-year-old Swede was the team's leader in plus-minus (plus-16) and tied for the league lead in both short-handed goals (five) and points (nine). His ice time average of 20:33 was nearly two minutes better than his previous high watermark, and he's typically matched up against high-end Pacific Division foes like Jack Eichel and Connor McDavid.
No. 9: Aleksander Barkov, Florida Panthers
He's not the scorer that Petterrson is, but there are few, if any, more consistent two-way players in the game than Barkov, who's been a top-five Selke Trophy vote-getter in four of the last six seasons, including a win in 2020-21.
Now 28 years old, the 6'3", 215-pound Finn was the No. 2 overall pick behind Nathan MacKinnon in 2013 and has scored at least 20 goals for eight straight seasons. He averaged better than 21 minutes of ice time per game in 2022-23, was nearly a 55 percent winner in the faceoff circle and has become Florida's all-time leader in goals and points.
No. 8: Jack Eichel, Vegas Golden Knights
Where Petterrson moved the needle based on his prolific scoring rate, Eichel has climbed the perception ladder thanks to a supernova performance in the 2023 playoffs that ended with a hoist of the Vegas franchise's first Stanley Cup.
Selected second behind Connor McDavid in 2015, Eichel has come all the way back from a major injury and subsequently ugly divorce with the Buffalo Sabres that led to his trade out west. He had 66 points in his first full season with the Golden Knights but turned it up come springtime with a postseason-high 26 points.
No. 7: Brayden Point, Tampa Bay Lightning
When it comes to "money players" in the modern generation, few can compete with the numbers posted by Point, who was somehow not snapped up until Tampa Bay made him the 79th overall selection (third round, 19th pick) in the 2014 draft.
Though he's sometimes obscured by higher-profile teammates, Point's 44 game-winning goals since 2016 are seventh in the league and his 40 playoff goals are second to only Colorado's MacKinnon. Two Stanley Cups look pretty good on a resume, and he added a quality bullet point with career highs in goals (51) and points (95) in 2022-23.
No. 6: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
Not every No. 1 overall pick lives up to the sort of billing with which Crosby arrived when the Penguins chose him first in 2005, but the affable Nova Scotian has managed it and more.
Still a point-per-game player last season at age 35, Crosby has a resume without equal among current NHLers, including three Stanley Cups alongside two Conn Smythe trophies, two scoring titles and two MVP awards. He'll not only be a Hall of Famer upon his retirement, he'll also be worthy of inclusion on a very short list of the game's all-time greatest talents.
No. 5: Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
3 of 7
While some centers are filed as playmakers, Auston Matthews is at home with the snipers.
In fact, precisely zero NHL players have scored more goals than his 297 tallies since arriving to the Toronto Maple Leafs as the top pick in the 2016 draft, outpacing active scoring leader Alex Ovechkin by two goals over the same span.
The 6'3", 215-pound Californian has never scored fewer than 34 goals in any of his seven seasons and became just the 21st in league history to reach 60 when he netted a career high across 73 games in 2021-22.
And while his goal total dipped to "only" 40 in 2022-23, Matthews did post a career-best plus-31 rating while averaging better than 20 minutes of ice time per game. His first goal of the 2023-24 season will be the 300th of his career.
No. 4: Jack Hughes, New Jersey Devils
4 of 7
If you're looking for the leader of the pack of emerging young stars in the NHL, look no further than Newark, New Jersey, where the top pick in the 2019 draft, still just 22 years old, is the face of a resurgent Devils franchise.
Hughes put up a franchise record 99 points in 78 games for New Jersey in 2022-23, helping the team rise all the way to third overall after a 26th-place finish a year earlier. He had career highs in both goals (43) and assists (56) for the Devils and was the least-penalized player among the league's top-40 scorers.
Though hardly a giant at 5'11" and 175 pounds, Hughes is a master of the unexpected on the ice and carries himself with a confidence that both belies his youth and filters down to a roster full of similarly young and dynamic New Jersey players.
If the Devils are hoisting the franchise's fourth Cup anytime soon, there's an excellent chance Hughes will be at the center of the celebration.
No. 3: Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
5 of 7
You want a scorer? You want a playmaker? You want a physical presence? You want a leader? If you're interested in having all those things rolled in to one player, there's a good chance you want MacKinnon, who's fulfilled the promise of his No. 1 overall selection in 2013.
Now 28, MacKinnon took some time to develop his game before breaking into the point-per-game club in 2017-18 with a 97-point run across 78 games that coincided with the end of the Avalanche's three-season playoff drought.
It's been a steady climb since for the Nova Scotia-born workhorse, whose average 22:19 ice time was second only to Edmonton's McDavid among forwards in 2022-23. Colorado ended a 21-year Cup drought in 2021-22, beating the Oilers along the way in the Western Final.
MacKinnon established career highs in goals (42), assists (69) and points (111) for the Avalanche last season, and, at 28, seems poised to remain among the league's best for the foreseeable future.
No. 2: Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers
6 of 7
If not for, you know, that other guy, we'd be living in Leon Draisaitl's world.
The burly German was the third selection in the 2014 draft behind Aaron Ekblad and Sam Reinhart but has unquestionably established himself as the pick of that year's litter, thanks to three 50-goal seasons, four 100-point seasons, and both a scoring title and an MVP.
He was deemed the best passer by 25 percent of respondents in the NHLPA's 2022-23 player poll and has become its most reliable power-play sniper, too, having scored 56 of his 107 goals across the last two seasons while the Oilers had a man advantage.
"He is hockey sense personified," Edmonton coach Jay Woodcroft said. "The definition of what the modern-day power forward looks like, or should look like. When he's at his very best, his 200-foot game is so strong, because he's hard to contain in all three zones."
No. 1: Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
7 of 7
It's no stretch to suggest Edmonton Oilers fans have led a charmed life.
A generation after the northern Alberta city of champions played host to both Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier on the way to four Stanley Cups in the 1980s, those who bleed orange and blue these days are being treated to the same superlative one-two punch.
As if having Draisaitl as the league's No. 2 center, and arguably its second-best overall player, wasn't enough, the Oilers are also privileged to have the current claimant to the "best player on Earth" title in McDavid, who's won a career's worth of hardware before turning 27.
Picked first in 2015 after Edmonton won the draft lottery, McDavid has been a point-per-game player since the instant he hit NHL ice that fall. He began collecting scoring titles in his second and third seasons but has gone full-on video game in recent years, racking up 105 points in just 56 games (1.875 per game) in 2020-21 and eclipsing the 60-goal mark for the first time on the way to finishing with 153 points in 82 games (1.866 per game) last season.
The 1.875 clip was the league's best since Mario Lemieux in 1991-92 and his sweep of goals, assists and points races in 2022-23 made him just the fifth player to win all three in a season.
After five scoring titles and three MVPs, only a Stanley Cup is left to complete the resume.
"All those great guys have won before and it's certainly something that we're after in Edmonton," he said. "There has been no shortage of talk or coverage on that, but I certainly feel that the greats have all won and that's what you have to do."
.png?w=600 "Who Will Panthers Take at No. 9 ? 🤔")
