An era is ending as Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar just became the franchise's all-time points leader in his final NHL season. That leads to a compelling question: who ranks the highest between Kopitar, Jonathan Toews, Aleksander Barkov or Patrice Bergeron?
There’s an era ending this year for the Los Angeles Kings, as star center and captain Anze Kopitar plays in his final NHL season. With that, Kopitar stepped up with a two-goal performance against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, pushing his season totals to 10 goals and 30 points in 51 games.
Thanks to that pair of goals on Saturday, Kopitar is now the Kings’ all-time leader in points with 1,308 points in his career, making him Los Angeles’ best player not named Wayne Gretzky.
But here’s an interesting question on the topic of Kopitar's latest milestone – where would he rank in a group featuring Boston Bruins icon Patrice Bergeron, Chicago Blackhawks legend Jonathan Toews and Florida Panthers superstar Aleksander Barkov?
A truly tough compare-and-contrast. Ranking three of these four players at the bottom of this list feels like an insult, but this is what makes this question so compelling.
When looking at all the accomplishments from these players, who all share a similar style in play to a certain degree, Toews is at the top of this list.
Three Stanley Cups in six years while delivering an elite two-way game. Gold medallist at the 2010 and 2014 Olympics, and a member of the Triple Gold Club. He's also the joint-youngest skater to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
You can’t say enough good things about Toews. And although he’s now finishing up his career as a member of his hometown Winnipeg Jets, Toews, at his peak, was almost like a Nicklas Lidstrom as a forward in that both were ruthlessly efficient.
Anze Kopitar and Jonathan Toews (Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images)At No. 2 on this list is Kopitar. Two Stanley Cups, two Selke Trophies, and three Lady Byng Trophies – yes, the Lady Byng does count for something.
Kopitar is in his 20th season, and in all but three of the full seasons he played in, he's been a 20-goal scorer. He may not get there this season, but Kopitar put up 450 goals and 858 assists by being consistently above-average year-in and year-out.
After that, we’re going with Barkov at the third spot, putting Bergeron fourth on the list.
Barkov has two Cups, three Selkes, and one Lady Byng to his credit. The Finn has 782 career points in 804 games, and although he’s missed the full season this year with a major injury, Barkov has a good deal of time left to rise on this list a few years from now. But we had to put him ahead of Bergeron because his totals were extremely close to Kopitar’s achievements.
But let’s take time to praise Bergeron. He’s clearly one of the greatest Bruins in franchise history. Not to mention, he’s won a stunning six Selke Trophies.
If this list were a ranking of the best defensive centers in NHL history, Bergeron would be at or near the top. But Bergeron has one less Stanley Cup than Kopitar and Barkov, and Bergeron’s individual numbers (613 assists, 1,040 points) don’t have quite as much shine to them as Kopitar’s and what Barkov’s on track to do.
You really couldn’t go wrong employing any one of these four players, but that’s what makes this question so intriguing.
You can probably make a case for any one of Kopitar, Toews, Barkov and Bergeron to be at the top of this list. But from this writer’s perspective, Toews’ impact at his best was about as well-balanced as you can ask a player to be.
He thrived in high-stakes situations a slew of times and came out a winner more often than virtually anyone.
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