NHL Network: Top 20 NHL Centres

[Gaudfather]

Originally Posted by Southside

Yardbarker
http://www.yardbarker.com/mobile/con..._7899_24591739

Would love to see Mony have a breakout year with 40 goals! His stock is still rising for sure.

[Weitz]

There is something to be said about consistency year to year and Monahan surely has that. I still think there is some room to grow his point totals. Am I mistaken in that I think he is very hot/cold when it comes to goals and points?

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Weitz

There is something to be said about consistency year to year and Monahan surely has that. I still think there is some room to grow his point totals. Am I mistaken in that I think he is very hot/cold when it comes to goals and points?

Less hot/cold and more that he's a slow starter. Seems to get most of his goals and points in the 2nd half of the season.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Resurrection

Sure, that's your opinion. But Scheifele finished with a high PPG than Matthews by quite a bit and is the 4th highest scoring centre in the NHL last year. Move goal posts and try and make impassioned pleas all you want.

The problem is that PPG is not the only measure of ability, especially for a center. At 19, Matthews had 8 more goals (7 more at even strength), a higher faceoff percentage (46 vs 43), a more sustainable shooting percentage (14 vs 20), played with lower quality teammates, and played 200 less minutes (including 44 less power play minutes) . I'd be interested to see their quality of competition stats, but I believe both players trended opposite directions as the season progressed. Matthews (aside from his big first game) started slow and picked up as the season wore on, while Schiefele started hot, and slowed down. Where you sit on what part of the season is more difficult to produce in is debatable.

The fact is, Matthews is already a more impressive producer offensively and responsible center at 19 than Schiefele is at 24. Schiefele's boon in assists directly correlated with Laine entering the league, one of the most highly touted pure goal scorers to be drafted since Ovechkin. If Schiefele was excelling in any other area over Matthews, sure, give him a higher spot. But sorry, having more assists doesn't make you the better center when every other stat is in favour of the other guy.