from Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal,

There may only be 10 true No. 1’s in the league.

There’s Doughty, Hedman, Karlsson, Oliver-Ekman Larsson in Arizona, Ryan Suter in Minnesota, Roman Josi and Subban in Nashville, Alex Pietrangleo in St. Louis and the fast-rising Seth Jones in Columbus.

There’s true No. 1’s to some but not others because they don’t check all the boxes (PP and PK, for instance), like Brent Burns in San Jose, Dustin Byfuglien in Winnipeg, John Klingberg in Dallas, John Carlson in Washington, Kris Letang in Pittsburgh.

Or others like Mark Giordano do both but don’t get universal love.

Most often, they’re drafted in the top 10, but not always.

All 31 NHL teams theoretically have one of those No. 1s, your best guy. Like Rasmus Ristolainen, the Sabres top defenceman on a perennially bad team.

much more, good read...