The NHL Network revealed its top 20 centers in the league right now on Sunday night, which is always sure to stir up controversy and generate debates around the hockey world during the quiet days of the offseason.
While their general top 20 centers list didn’t produce anything too jarring, one specific analyst’s top 10 had Leon Draisaitl shockingly low.
Not only did E.J. Hradek not have the Edmonton Oilers superstar in his top five at the center position, he had Draisaitl all the way down at number seven, with the obvious two, Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon, as well as the likes of Macklin Celebrini, Jack Eichel, Nick Suzuki, and Aleksander Barkov all ahead of him.
Fellow analyst Mike Rupp had Draisaitl at number three, much more in line with where you would expect him to be.
The 30-year-old is coming off another massive season in which he racked up 97 points (35 goals, 62 assists) in just 65 games played. He was well on pace to surpass the 100-point mark for the fifth consecutive campaign and for the seventh time in eight years.
While you can’t argue against McDavid and MacKinnon ranking better than Draisaitl, the other four are somewhat head-scratching.
Draisaitl has the fourth-most points of anyone in the NHL over the last five seasons, and none of Celebrini, Eichel, Suzuki, or Barkov are even remotely close to that type of production over the same span. Celebrini, of course, has only been in the league for two years, so there is an argument for projecting that he takes another step forward from his already superstar level in 2026-27.
No matter the reasoning, it’s odd to see Draisaitl so low on such a list, especially when it’s only among centermen. He doesn’t need such a snub to give him any extra motivation, but if he does see it, perhaps it could add a tiny bit of extra fuel to the fire heading into an extremely pivotal season in Edmonton.
