My top 3 right now would be Lankinen, Smith and Kaprizov. Kap will challenge and maybe overtake Lankinen eventually, but this is how I see it right now.

Some people have been questioning the absence of Tim Stutzle on your list and while I really like his potential, he is one of the worst defensive players in the entire league right now (his -14 rating aside). If he continues on this trajectory for this season, he'll put up points and get some down-ballot votes, but I can't see him cracking the top-3 with how raw his game still is.

And this is pure bias on my part, so take it with a grain of salt, but look out for Pius Suter. People forget that Kubalik didn't take off until the 2nd half of 19-20 and I think Suter could take a similar path as he continues to adjust to the North American game and he plays with a little more consistency. Either way, I love seeing him here, he's been better than expected.

Never said it was sustainable. This list is as of right now. Suter/Kurashev have the same number of points as Norris/Stutzle in a harder division. Stutzle is the worst of the 4 right now because he can't play defense at all and the other 3 can.

My top 3 right now would be Lankinen, Smith and Kaprizov. Kap will challenge and maybe overtake Lankinen eventually, but this is how I see it right now.

Some people have been questioning the absence of Tim Stutzle on your list and while I really like his potential, he is one of the worst defensive players in the entire league right now (his -14 rating aside). If he continues on this trajectory for this season, he'll put up points and get some down-ballot votes, but I can't see him cracking the top-3 with how raw his game still is.

And this is pure bias on my part, so take it with a grain of salt, but look out for Pius Suter. People forget that Kubalik didn't take off until the 2nd half of 19-20 and I think Suter could take a similar path as he continues to adjust to the North American game and he plays with a little more consistency. Either way, I love seeing him here, he's been better than expected.

Yes I agree, Chytil was playing really well before the injury. I was looking at the stats & Lafreniere was getting destroyed when the coach put him with a Zibanejad, he just wasn’t ready to face such heavy competition. He definitely won’t achieve anything with bad centers such as Howden or rooney either. It’s a bad situation for him.

What is your opinion on Lafreniere’s struggles this season? Perhaps he’s not good enough for the NHL?

To me it’s Ty Smith and it’s not all that close. 8 points in only 11 games makes him the best per-game scorer and that’s as a defenseman. Second-best +/-, top 10 TOI, strong possession numbers, and playing a top PP role for NJ.

He’s coming straight from the Q to the NHL, struggles are to be expected. Big transition

What is your opinion on Lafreniere’s struggles this season? Perhaps he’s not good enough for the NHL?

Probably a combination of his teammates underperforming and him just having to adjust to the NHL. I have no doubt he will turn into an elite player, but now it seems like an adjustment phase for him. I haven't watched a lot of Rangers games, so I can't give specifics lol, but he has some solid play driving analytics, so there is some promise that he could improve this year. He's also played on soooooo many different lines and it doesn't seem like he's had enough time to develop chemistry with anyone in particular.

Regardless, there's no shame in it. Think it will just take him a little longer