The word “elite” is bandied about in professional sports all the time.
There’s no way to quantify what makes a player “elite,” but when analyzing the talent in the NHL there are really only a handful of “elite” forwards, defencemen and goalies if you’re honest and objective in your assessment.
Kevin Shattenkirk of the St. Louis Blues is one of the best young players in the NHL – second in points-per-game among defencemen behind only Erik Karlsson and an integral piece to one of the best teams in the NHL – however he isn’t a consensus choice for that “elite” label just yet.
That didn’t stop him from writing about who he feels fits into that category in a pair of posts for the Players’ Tribune.
His write-ups were inspired by something San Jose Sharks centre Logan Couture wrote about elite centres earlier this year.
Here are samples of what the burgeoning blueliner had to say about eight of his peers:
On Drew Doughty:
Drew plays with a confidence and almost an arrogance (I mean that in a good way) that allows him to try things on the ice that other defencemen wouldn’t…The way he can weave through defenders in the neutral zone while keeping his head up at the same time is something that’s hard to coach.
On Shea Weber:
One time Shea’s slapper hit me in the leg and it pretty much destroyed my shin guard. When I got back to the locker room at intermission it had a big crack in it. Thankfully, you don’t even have time to think about being afraid because the shot is on you so fast.
On Ryan Suter:
Suter is probably the player most similar to Nick Lidström that we have in the game today. To have the stamina to play 29 minutes a game in the NHL is ridiculous. If you think about it, that means he’s out there every other shift. Personally, my minutes have gone up this year from 20 to 22, and even that little difference is noticeable. I definitely feel it after games. Adding another seven minutes onto that is almost unthinkable.
On Duncan Keith:
For those that play the NHL 15 videogame, he’s like the guy mashing R1 and poke checking you at the perfect time. I can relate to him as a smaller defenseman. You know you’re not going to be able to overpower guys in the corner but if you’re able to get your stick on the puck, win possession and skate out of there clean, it’s just as effective.
On P.K. Subban:
P.K. gets a lot of heat for being a dislikable guy on the ice but it’s all by design. It fits his game to piss people off. He gets a lot of guys to take runs at him and distract them from their game, which is a smart thing to do. One thing you might not notice about P.K. is that he has unbelievable edgework to his skating. That helps him turn on a dime from forward to backward without losing any momentum.
On Erik Karlsson:
When you have the puck at the point these days, you look up and it’s a sea of legs in front of you. Karlsson has the unique ability to create a shooting lane for himself by “walking the blue line” and looking guys off with his eyes like an NBA point guard.
On Kris Letang:
He’ll not only be looking at what the guy defending him is doing, but also looking past him to see how the play is developing. His peripheral vision is incredible, and I’ve always admired how calm he is with the puck. It feels like he’s seeing everything so clearly.
On teammate Alex Pietrangelo:
If there’s one guy in the world I’d pick to come out clean with the puck and make a breakout pass up the ice, it’s Petro. Is there a fancy advanced stat for that yet? If not, we need to make one. Wins From Scrums. His WFS percentage would be like 80%.
