The NHL is in an unprecedented era of skill and speed. The best players are so much better than they've ever been and have forced the game to evolve to their high standards. It's making for a more entertaining product.
Let's take a look at some of those skills central to playing in the modern NHL. And evaluating the top players' games, consulting with scouts and looking into the numbers, we named the best in every skill area.
Some are pretty obvious; you've seen Connor McDavid skate, right? But others might not be, and there's bound to be a host of other players who deserve recognition. The fun thing about the NHL right now? Lists like these will change every year as younger generations continue to push the envelope and our expectations. But for now, here are the best of the best at 18 individual skills.
Best skater: Connor McDavid, C, Edmonton Oilers
Few players make skating look easier or better than McDavid. His exceptional speed is trumped only by the ease with which he moves around the ice. He's as unstoppable as any other player because of his ability to weave in and out of defenders without losing pace. No one skates as well north and south as they do east and west quite like McDavid.
That has a lot to do with McDavid's superior edgework, which is the elite of the elite among all players. It has allowed McDavid to become one of the best NHL players at entering the zone. According to data compiled by game analyst Corey Sznajder, McDavid leads the NHL by a wide margin in gaining the offensive zone with control: Nearly 80% of his zone entries come with control as opposed to dumping the puck in. Sometimes he looks as if he's playing a different sport than everyone else.
Runners-up: Mathew Barzal, Nathan MacKinnon
Most explosive skater: Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
The first three steps are viewed as integral to one's speed, and no one gets off the line better than MacKinnon. While McDavid's glide is graceful, MacKinnon's has an almost violent power behind his stride. He can go from a standstill to top speed in just a few steps, which is a quality unique to MacKinnon. He can beat players wide, but then he also has the physical strength to power through defenders who try to slow him down -- which also has led to the most penalties drawn in the league over the past two seasons by a significant margin.
Runners-up: Connor McDavid, Dylan Larkin
Best hands: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
This is a bit of a catch-all category because how a player handles the puck is not just how he "dangles" or carries the puck around. There's also a high level of importance in how a player receives a pass or strips an opposing player. And I think this is one of the areas that puts Crosby among the game's greatest players. All of his puck touches are so pure, allowing him to do pretty much whatever he wants without ever looking as if he's trying. Crosby isn't a dangler, but his ability to corral pucks and have an immediate idea with what his next move is makes him so difficult to defend.
Others of note: Aleksander Barkov, Artemi Panarin
Shiftiest stick handler: Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary Flames
The players who can make defenders miss have such a high value because it's difficult to make space for yourself in the NHL. I think Gaudreau is the closest thing in today's NHL to Pavel Datsyuk in terms of the magic in his hands. He shows so much creativity and ability to make plays in tight spaces with little moves here and there that it negates the fact Gaudreau is so slight. It also helps him draw a lot of penalties. Gaudreau is fifth in the league in penalties drawn over the past two seasons.
Runners-up: Patrick Kane, Artemi Panarin
Best wrist shot: Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
Matthews is one of the most unique shooters in the game because of the variety of ways he can get shots off. His wrist shot is his greatest weapon because he has a variety of release points that deceive goaltenders. While he has perfected the toe-drag into a wired shot around a defender, there are so many other times Matthews has beaten goalies clean just because they can't track the puck off his stick the way they do other players. Since entering the league, Matthews has scored 96 of his 130 goals on a wrist or snap shot, per the NHL's shot data. And Matthews' 17.1% shooting percentage on his wrist shot is also highest among the league's top scorers.
Runners-up: Elias Pettersson, Connor McDavid
Best one-timer: Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
He's the greatest goal scorer of his generation. And Ovechkin's shot is a weapon unlike any we've seen before in the league. Where he really excels, however, is shooting off the pass. We see it constantly in his power-play goals from the left faceoff circle, where everyone knows what's coming and still can't stop it. His net sense and accuracy, combined with the shot coming off his stick with a level of violence, prove overwhelming for opposing goaltenders and make his one-timer far and away the league's best.
Runners-up: Steven Stamkos, P.K. Subban
Best backhander: Brad Marchand, Boston Bruins
Crosby has one of the best backhanders on the planet, and if we're looking at backhand release, the edge goes to Crosby. But backhand effectiveness goes to Marchand. No player in the NHL has scored as many goals off the backhand over the past five seasons as Marchand. The quality of the Boston winger's hands often gets overlooked because of some of his other on-ice activities, but he is super skilled. He has 34 goals off the backhand since 2015-16. The next closest player, Barkov, has 25, and Crosby has 23.
Runners-up: Sidney Crosby, Aleksander Barkov
Most powerful shot: Shea Weber, Montreal Canadiens
It's what he's known for, and with good reason. Weber's shots are ferocious in nature, and he has tallied over 200 goals, with three seasons of 20 or more. How anyone ever willingly steps in front of one of those cannon blasts is beyond me. Weber is 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds, and when he leans into it, the puck has no choice but to scream off his stick. In fact, he clocked 108.5 mph in 2015 in the NHL's fastest shot competition, an event Weber won three years in a row.
The NHL has tracked shot type since 2009-10. Of Weber's 165 goals since that season, 110 have come via the slap shot. That's the second most in the league over that span (Ovechkin).
Runners-up: Steven Stamkos, Alex Ovechkin
Best passer: Blake Wheeler, Winnipeg Jets
Wheeler is second only to McDavid in primary assists over the past three seasons and trails by only 13 primaries despite playing nearly 400 fewer minutes over that span. In fact, 106 of Wheeler's 156 assists since 2017-18 have been first assists. Like McDavid, Wheeler is good on the rush and can create in all three zones. Wheeler can also attract a lot of attention with his big frame and speed, which allows things to open up for his linemates.
Runners-up: Connor McDavid, John Carlson
Best offensive sense: Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
Kane has always been a bit of a marvel to me in his ability to read plays and anticipate pressure. He almost never gets solidly hit because of his awareness of what the opponent is doing and where he is going. On top of that, he sees the plays develop before they actually do. One doesn't necessarily need chemistry with Kane to click with him on the ice. He'll find you, and the puck might be on your tape before you realize you're open. Kane's sense of space in the offensive zone makes him a wizard when it comes to zone entries and helping establish sustained pressure. Then he has the vision and creativity to make plays as he forces things to open up with his puck poise and patience.
Runners-up: Sidney Crosby, Nikita Kucherov
Best vision: Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
One of the things that make McDavid special is his ability to process the game at an incredible speed. He executes at such a high level because of how well he sees the ice. He finds weak spots easily and always seems to have sense of where his outlets are. This vision has also allowed him to be one of the NHL's most generous assist machines. He has many other talents, but the vision might be McDavid's super power.
Runners-up: Nikita Kucherov, Patrick Kane
Best defensive sense: Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames
One of the best all-around defensemen in the NHL, Giordano deservedly earned his first Norris Trophy last season. In just about every key category, you'll find Giordano among the leaders, especially when it comes to possession. Meanwhile, he still does all of the things that you expect defensive defensemen to do, including block shots and deliver physical play. A lot of Giordano's success has to come from experience. The fact that his peak has been later than most players is no accident.
Runners-up: Jaccob Slavin, Niklas Hjalmarsson
Most physical: Tom Wilson, Washington Capitals
He's an enemy to the 30 other teams and has run afoul of the NHL Player Safety Department a few times, but that overshadows the fact that Wilson is an especially effective physical player. His speed at that 6-foot-4, 215-pound size makes him a weapon and allows him to land ferocious body checks. But he also has the strength to win wall battles, create havoc on the forecheck and disrupt opposing players in all zones.
Runners-up: Zdeno Chara, Nikita Zadorov
Most technical goalie: Carter Hart, Philadelphia Flyers
Carey Price for years would have been the obvious choice here, but Hart has really caught the attention of goalie scouts for his remarkable hockey sense and mechanics before, during and after he makes a save. One goaltending analyst told me, "His technical game is really good. It provides him the ability to maximize his size and utilize his hockey sense, which is excellent." While Hart is capable of making the super flashy saves, as we've seen a few times this season, he doesn't have to do it a lot because his technique is so good.
Runners-up: Carey Price, Connor Hellebuyck
Best skating goalie: Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning
The importance of skating and a goalie's footwork as it pertains to the position is off the charts. And one of my more trusted goaltending sources pointed to the Bolts' Vasilevskiy in that area. "His power and ability to beat plays on his feet -- the less a goalie slides the better skater he is. Vasilevskiy is the model of strength and power in his skating."
Runners-up: Braden Holtby, Carey Price
Most hockey sense, goalie: Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
There's a lot more to a goalie's hockey sense than reading the play in front of him. He also has to know what his teammates are going to do, where they're supposed to be and what to do when they're not there. Neither Hellebuyck nor Jordan Binnington make spectacular saves on the regular because of how well they read plays. Hellebuyck is among the best goalies in the NHL this season in terms of stats, and Binnington just won a Stanley Cup. Seems as if it's working out.
Runners-up: Jordan Binnington, Corey Crawford
Most athletic goalie: Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators
This is one of those tricky skills that you might get some hand-wringing from goalie experts about. So I asked our expert how he looks at athleticism. "Pekka makes a lot of very good saves, but he keeps his body under control, he reads situations well and he's able to improvise because of his athletic ability," he said. That ability to play in control is key, but Rinne is athletic enough to recover when he needs to.
Runners-up: John Gibson, Marc-Andre Fleury
Most competitive goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury, Vegas Golden Knights
This is one of the traits that I look for a lot when watching young goalies. And even when Fleury's in trouble, he's battling to make that save. His Stanley Cup-clinching save against Nicklas Lidstrom in 2009 is one of the more famous examples, but more recently his diving save of the year candidate against Toronto this season was pretty good, too.
Runners-up: Tuukka Rask, Jonathan Quick