ESPN Overlooks Penguins in Top Players List
A couple of Pittsburgh Penguins were misjudged in ESPN's most recent player rankings.
With a new season here, there are plenty of top player rankings to go around, but this one from ESPN didn’t shine a great light on the Pittsburgh Penguins.
According to ESPN’s most recent top 100 NHL players list, multiple Penguins are being misjudged.
Of the full 100-player long list, forward Evgeni Malkin is nowhere to be found; not even under the honorable mentions.
Has Malkin regressed a little over the years? Sure, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t one of the top players in the league right now.
After the first week of the season, Malkin is tied for the league lead in points with six (2G-4A) in just three games played.
Malkin is 37 and on the last years of his career, but he is still one of the best around, especially since he’s off to a stellar start to 2023-24.
The other Penguins forward that has been misjudged by ESPN is captain Sidney Crosby who was ranked 23rd.
NHL Network placed Crosby firmly in their top 10 and that is exactly where he should sit.
ESPN stated that his ranking last season was 13; that’s a drop of 10 positions despite still being a point-per-game player and one of the most dominant skaters in the NHL.
People continuously say ESPN doesn’t know how to handle or scout the NHL, but they also continue to prove those people right with takes like this.
The poll was put together by 50 ESPN broadcasters, analysts, reporters, and editors; one of their main voices in hockey, John Buccigross, was apparently not asked for input.
Newcomer Erik Karlsson found himself at 41 on the list after being absent last year and Jake Guentzel took a massive drop going from 56 to 71.
Kris Letang was given all kinds of credit as he improved from 92 to 56.
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