Jack Eichel Makes Top 50’s, Pacific Division Woefully Under-Represented

With the regular season right around the corner, it’s the time of year when major hockey news outlets like to publish lists of the best players in the NHL. TSN, Sportsnet, The Hockey News, and NHL Network have all released their Top 50 players in the league, and it is tough sledding for the Pacific Division.

For Vegas, they have exactly one representative on each of the four lists. Jack Eichel cracked the Top 50 on every one, but his ranking ranged wildly. NHL Network is the most bullish on Eichel placing him at #17, ahead of Roman Josi, Miro Heiskanen, and Jack Hughes, while The Hockey News has him all the way down at #40 behind Jason Robertson and Matt Barzal.

Eichel Ranks By Outlet
NHL Network – #17
Sportsnet – #26
TSN – #32
The Hockey News – #40

The most well-represented team in the Pacific Division, and one of the best in the league, is the Edmonton Oilers. Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard, and Zach Hyman all cracked the top 50 on each of the four lists. McDavid, of course, is #1 for everyone, and Draisaitl is right behind in the Top 5 as well.

The only other Pacific Division team to have a player listed is the Vancouver Canucks, and they have three. Quin Hughes is in the Top 10 across the board while Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller each made the cut by all four outlets.

Not a single player from any of the Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks, or Seattle Kraken was listed among any of the four lists.

That’s right, five of the eight teams in the division do not boast a single player among the Top 50 in the NHL. The lists have between 10-13 teams without representation, meaning the Pacific accounts for 36%-50% of those teams.

The division is slowly getting better, but yet again, it’ll likely be the weakest of the four, and probably by a decent margin.