Sidney Crosby Named #1 on TSN Hockey’s Top 50 Players Ranking For Fifth Year in a Row

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TORONTO (October 2, 2014) – For the fifth consecutive year, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby has been ranked the NHL’s #1 player, as announced earlier tonight on TSN HOCKEY’S TOP 50 PLAYERS. The league’s reigning MVP and leading scorer has topped TSN’s signature hockey ranking list every year of the poll.

For the second year in a row, TSN’s Top 50 ranking was determined by a selection of NHL coaches, GMs, and TSN experts.

This season, TSN HOCKEY’S TOP 50 PLAYERS features nine new players, five goalies, 10 defencemen, and 26 Canadians. The Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins each have five players on the list – tied for the most of any NHL team. Just missing the Top 50 was St. Louis Blues captain David Backes, who was ranked #51.

See below for the complete TSN HOCKEY’S TOP 50 PLAYERS list, and an additional breakdown of notable omissions, biggest risers and fallers, and players by country and position. The hockey world can have their say on the Top 50 ranking by using the hashtag #TSNTop50. 

TSN HOCKEY’S TOP 50 PLAYERS

Rank
1. Sidney Crosby
2. Jonathan Toews
3. Steven Stamkos
4. Ryan Getzlaf
5. Anze Kopitar
6. Evgeni Malkin
7. Drew Doughty
8. John Tavares
9. Shea Weber
10. Patrick Kane

11. Claude Giroux
12. Alexander Ovechkin
13. Patrice Bergeron
14. Corey Perry
15. Jamie Benn
16. Henrik Lundqvist
17. Pavel Datsyuk
18. Duncan Keith
19. P.K. Subban
20. Jonathan Quick

21. Ryan Suter
22. Erik Karlsson
23. Zdeno Chara
24. Carey Price
25. Tyler Seguin
26. Matt Duchene
27. Henrik Zetterberg
28. Zach Parise
29. Alex Pietrangelo

30. Tuukka Rask
31. Ryan McDonagh
32. Taylor Hall
33. David Krejci
34. Nathan MacKinnon 
35. Marian Hossa
36. Joe Pavelski
37. Logan Couture        
38. Phil Kessel
39. Nicklas Backstrom

40. Ryan Johansen
41. Joe Thornton
42. Gabriel Landeskog
43. Jeff Carter
44. Patrick Sharp
45. Eric Staal
46. Alexander Steen
47. Oliver Ekman-Larsson
48. Milan Lucic
49. Semyon Varlamov
50. Kyle Okposo 

                                                                                                  
Who’s Missing?

David Backes: Ranked #51

The Ex-Men: four-time Top 50 members Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Martin St. Louis, and Rick Nash

Patrick Marleau: 16^th in 2013-14 NHL scoring

Teams With the Most Players on Top 50

Chicago: 5 (Toews, Kane, Keith, Hossa, Sharp)

Boston: 5 (Bergeron, Chara, Rask, Krejci, Lucic)

Los Angeles: 4 (Kopitar, Doughty, Quick, Carter)

Colorado: 4 (Duchene, MacKinnon, Landeskog, Varlamov)

Nine New Members of Top 50

30. Tuukka Rask
31. Ryan McDonagh
34. Nathan MacKinnon
36. Joe Pavelski
40. Ryan Johansen            
42. Gabriel Landeskog
46. Alexander Steen
49. Semyon Varlamov
50. Kyle Okposo

Dropped Out From 2013-14 Top 50
21. Henrik Sedin
25. Daniel Sedin
26. Martin St. Louis
29. Rick Nash
33. Kris Letang
34. James Neal
38. Jason Spezza
41. Pekka Rinne
45. Sergei Bobrovsky
48. Dustin Brown
49. Thomas Vanek
50. Mikko Koivu

Rising from 2013-14 to 2014-15                         
Jamie Benn: 39 to 15

Anze Kopitar: 18 to 5

David Krejci: 46 to 33

Drew Doughty: 19 to 7

Ryan Getzlaf: 15 to 4

Corey Perry: 24 to 14                                                

Matt Duchene: 36 to 26

Falling from 2013-14 to 2014-15

Zdeno Chara: 6 to 23

Eric Staal: 28 to 45

Henrik Zetterberg: 12 to 27

Pavel Datsyuk: 5 to 17

Erik Karlsson: 11 to 22

Players By Country

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