Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Is There A 'Best Player In The NHL'?

02/18/2015 at 8:35am EST

from Joe Starkey of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,

Patric Hornqvist wanted no part of the question. Mike Johnston wanted less. Alex Ovechkin was torn.

Who's the best hockey player in the world?

It seemed like a timely question Tuesday, what with Ovechkin — long before he nearly chopped off Kris Letang's foot off — set to share ice with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Nicklas Backstrom.

I've been asking the question a lot lately. A sampling of answers:

• “Best player in the world? I've always said Sid, all-around player. But if you're looking for other things, we have a pretty darned good one in Ovie. Not only his sniping. He's been physical — kind of that power forward that everybody remembers.” — Capitals defenseman Matt Niskanen

• “I don't think there's one guy head and shoulders above everyone. There's a guy down in Tampa playing pretty well (Steven Stamkos). On any given night, Sid can be it. Ovechkin can be. Rick Nash can be. The parity is so great.” — NBC analyst Pierre McGuire.

continued

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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