[Fire of the Phoenix]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Wrong. Gaudreau is an elite LW. Over the past 5 years and of the LW playing, he's 4th in points, 3rd in P/G, 3rd in EVP/G. He's the only LW in the same conversation as Marchand, Panarin, and Ovechkin over that period, nobody else is remotely close. Monahan, on the other end, is a good 1c (and if you wanted to call him a 2c, he would be "elite").



Montour is good, but given the expansion draft, we'd likely lose him or a better defenceman.



Is Eichel elite? Nothing has shown that he's there yet but sure, things point in that direction. McDavid is elite, MacKinnon is elite. Crosby is elite. Are Barkov or Schiefele elite? Eichel is a step below them, maybe just barely.



If Eichel is an elite center, Gaudreau is certainly an elite winger. There's no debate.

Elite C >>> Elite LW

You need an elite C to win, you dont need an elite LW