NHL Network’s Top-25 players born in the 21st century: no Habs player in the top-10

Dose
Crédit: Lane Hutson of Montreal Canadiens skates during a game against Detroit Red Wings.

The Montreal Canadiens boast one of the best groups of young players in the National Hockey League. There’s no doubt that the Habs have some excellent young talent who will carry the team for years to come. In short, the Canadiens have a very bright future ahead of them.

So it’s only natural that when the NHL’s official website, NHL Network, compiles a ranking of the best players born in the 21st century, it includes Canadiens players. In fact, in the top-25, there are three representatives of the Habs, except that none of them feature in the top-10.

[content-ads] By players born in the 21st century, we’re obviously referring to players born since 2000, which therefore directly excludes the Habs’ best player, captain Nick Suzuki, who was born on August 10, 1999.

Despite this, the Habs still have several good options for inclusion in the top-25, and here are the three selected by NHL Network

  • Noah Dobson – 22nd
  • Lane Hutson – 14th
  • Cole Caufield – 12th

These are three fairly logical choices, considering that NHL Network selected players who have already proven themselves in the NHL, and who are established there, which explains why we don’t find Ivan Demidov.Don’t be alarmed, however, as the latter will find his way into this ranking very soon.

The only surprise is the absence of Juraj Slafkovsky, who has done quite well since joining the NHL, but when you consider all the names on this list, including Matthew Knies at number 25, it’s easy to see why Slaf was overlooked.

What hurts, however, is seeing the name of Logan Cooley, drafted 3rd, two spots after Slafkovsky in 2022, at 14th on this top-25 list.

[content-ads] Anyway, now back to the Habs players in this ranking, I think they were the logical choices, except that I’m surprised that none of them cracked the top-10. In the case of Dobson, it makes sense, but in the case of Caufield and especially Hutson, I find it hard to understand.

The Habs forward would clearly have a case for himself to be ahead of Matt Boldy (10th) and Adam Fantilli (9th), in my opinion, and as for Hutson, after a perfect rookie season that earned him the Calder Trophy for best rookie of the season, I’m very surprised not to see him in the top-10, especially considering that Macklin Celebrini, who finished behind Hutson in the Calder balloting, is 5th in this ranking.

Of course, I’m not taking anything away from Celebrini, who is an outstanding player and clearly a franchise center, but then again, I think Hutson would have deserved to be closer to the latter than 14th place. What’s perhaps even harder to swallow about this list is that the Ottawa Senators have two players in the top-5 of this ranking, with Jake Sanderson (4th) and Tim Stützle (3rd). These are excellent players, but are they that much better than Hutson and Caufield? I doubt it. Anyway, I’m relaying the link to this complete list topped by Jack Hughes (2nd) and Rasmus Dahlin (1st) right here[spacer title=’En Rafale’] – What do you think?

– Please note that the new designated player, Ivan Jaime, should be introduced to the crowd tonight.

– Of note.