The best player in the AHL?

[Southern_Canuck]

Before the lockout ends and many future stars that are currently playing in the AHL are instead playing in the NHL I was wondering - who is the "best" player currently playing in the AHL?

Vancouver prospect Zack Kassian would be in that discussion, however is he even in the top 20?

Here is a list I put together:

Forwards:
Jordan Eberle (Edmonton) #22 in 2008
Jeff Skinner (Carolina) #7 in 2010
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (Edmonton) #1 in 2011
Taylor Hall (Edmonton) #1 in 2010
Brayden Schenn (Philadelphia) #5 in 2009
Cody Hodgson (Buffalo) #10 in 2008
Kyle Palmieri (Anaheim) #26 in 2009
Adam Henrique (New Jersey) #82 in 2008
Sean Coutourier (Philadelphia) #8 in 2011
Sven Baertschi (Calgary) #13 in 2011
Zack Kassian (Vancouver) #13 in 2009
Ryan Johansen (Columbus) #4 in 2010
Chris Krieder (NYR) #19 in 2009
Mikael Granlund (Minnesota) #9 in 2010
Charlie Coyle (Minnesota) #28 in 2010
Brett Connolly (Tampa Bay) #6 in 2010
Jacob Josefson (New Jersey) #20 in 2009
Marcus Foligno (Buffalo) #104 in 2009
Nino Niederreiter (NYI) #5 in 2010
Austin Watson (Nashville) #18 in 2010
Mika Zibanejad (Ottawa) #6 in 2011
Emerson Etem (Anaheim) #29 in 2010
Gustav Nyquist (Detroit) #121 in 2008
Vladislav Namestnikov (Tampa Bay) #27 in 2011
Tomas Tatar (Detroit) #60 in 2009
Andrei Loktionov (Los Angeles) #123 in 2008
Zach Boychuk (Carolina) #14 in 2008
Drew Shore (Florida) #44 in 2009
Jaden Schwartz (St. Louis) #14 in 2010
Drayson Bowman (Carolina) #72 in 2007
Defence
Justin Faulk (Carolina) #37 in 2010
Oliver Ekman-Larsson (Phoenix) #6 in 2009
Justin Schultz (Edmonton) #43 in 2008
Ryan Ellis (Nashville) #11 in 2009
Simon Despres (Pittsburgh) #30 in 2009
Brendan Smith (Detroit) #27 in 2007
Jake Gardiner (Toronto) #17 in 2008
Adam Larsson (New Jersey) #4 in 2011
Jared Cowen (Ottawa) #9 in 2009
Slava Voynov (Los Angeles) #32 in 2008
Tim Erixon (Columbus) #23 in 2009
Jarred Tinordi (Montreal) #22 in 2010
Jamie Oleksiak (Dallas) #14 in 2011
Goalie
Braden Holtby (Washington) #93 in 2008
Jacob Markstrom (Florida) #31 in 2008
Robin Lehner (Ottawa) #46 in 2009
Matt Hackett (Minnesota) #77 in 2009
Dustin Tokarski (Tampa Bay) #122 in 2008

You could probably add Eddie Lack to that list of goalies - but I don't think Schroeder or Tanev make it onto the skaters' lists.

Although everyone's idea of "best" is going to be different, I'd say best in the AHL would come down to Eberle, Skinner, Nugent-Hopkins, Faulk, Ekman-Larsson, or Schultz.

What do you think?

S_C

[Fred]

Well if scoring is a parameter I see Alexander Bolduc is ranked 4th in the AHL

http://www.hockeydb.com/scoreboard/

According to the AHL stats Schroeder and Kassian are ranked 104/105 respectively based on points scored

Schultz is ranked #1 ...pretty impressive for a D or in fact any rookie


http://theahl.com/stats/statdisplay.php ... sion_id=-1

[ukcanuck]

Before the lockout ends and many future stars that are currently playing in the AHL are instead playing in the NHL I was wondering - who is the "best" player currently playing in the AHL?

Vancouver prospect Zack Kassian would be in that discussion, however is he even in the top 20?

Here is a list I put together:

Interesting that Kassian and silent G are so close yet such completely different games ...still hoping we got the better end of that trade -_-

Wouldn't it be better to have a list if the best AHL players that were not full time NHLers last season and who wouldn't be there now if not for the lockout?

I mean it's not surprising that Eberle is gonna shine in the A...

What about the prospects that are playing against higher calibre players than they would have been? How are they doing?

[Fred]

If they can get Kassians consistency up to the Pro level like it should I'm thinking he may surpass Hodgson who I think will level out, we've seen what he has. Kassian we're still waiting. Here's Gillis assesment


http://teamradio.ca/news/mike-gillis-on ... hl-wolves/