Hockey, as a winter sport, requires a lot of specific conditions to be played. These conditions include low temperature, cold climate, a lot of special equipment, and particular funds and logistics for maintaining the ice rinks. That is why the best hockey players today come from countries like the USA, Canada, or Russia. These are the areas where the winters are long and severe, the evolution of hockey has reached the highest level, the matches are followed by the mass media and the amount of money invested in hockey is significant when compared to other countries. Here are the best hockey players on today’s NHL charts.
Connor Mc David
This 22-year-old Canadian plays as the center and the captain of ‘Edmonton Oilers’. He won the Hart Trophy as MVP for the 2016-17 season. He also won the Ted Lindsay award three times as the most outstanding player. In each of the past three seasons, he brought 100 points to his team. With the Canadian national ice hockey team, he brought one gold medal from the World Championship to his country.
People like to describe him as a dominant player, a human ‘highlight speed’, thanks to his performance and the speed of motion.
Nikita Kucherov
Nikita Kucherov is a Russian player from ‘Tampa Bay Lightning’, performing as a right wing. He also played for his national team at the World Championship and won a bronze medal in 2017. He led NHL with 128 for some time, and won various awards for the season 2018-19: the Hart Memorial Trophy as MVP, the prestigious Art Ross Trophy award as the league’s top scorer, and the Ted Lindsay Award for being the best player. This 28-year-old is known as the most offensive hockey player today.
Sidney Crosby
He is 32 years old and comes from Canada. He started his career in ‘Rimouski Oceanic’ and now he plays as the center and the captain of ‘Pittsburgh Penguins’. People like to call him by his nicknames ‘Sid the Kid’ and ‘The Next One’ (meaning the one with the high potential). Crosby tied five seasons with scoring at least 84 points in each. There is an interesting fact that he has been leading the NHL with 551 points since season 2013-14. As far as trophies are concerned, Crosby won the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP in 2016 and 2017.
Nathan MacKinnon
MacKinnon is another Canadian beating the list and he performs both as the centre and the right wing, as well as the alternate captain of ‘Colorado Avalanche’. He is famous for his nickname ‘Nate the Great’. In the season 2017-18, he scored 97 points and was close to winning the Hart Trophy. For the past four seasons, he has been improving his game by constantly increasing the number of points scored in each season respectively. He also competed with the Canadian national hockey team at the World Championship in 2015, winning the gold medal.
Patrick Kane
Cane is an American hockey player, the right wing, and the alternate captain of ‘Chicago Blackhawks’. He won three Stanley Cups as a ‘hawk’ and the Conn Smythe Trophy as an MVP in 2013. He was the first American to win the Art Ross Trophy, as well as the first American-born player to win the Hart Trophy. The teammates describe him as a ‘guy with a vision, the shooting and passing’ and the one who adapts the pace of the game to his own.