NHL: Power Ranking Top Ten Eastern Conference Centers

Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

The NHL has a bunch of great centers. Who are the ten best in the Eastern Conference?

In the NHL, the Western Conference gets a lot of attention for being the best conference (and rightfully so). However, the one position where the Eastern Conference has a pretty clear advantage is at center. The West features such centers as Tyler Seguin, Ryan Getzlaf, Anze Kopitar and Joe Pavelski. The Eastern Conference is so deep at NHL center depth, it’s insane. 

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The Eastern Conference features ten of the best centers in the NHL. Each of its top ten centers is generally considered to be among the NHL’s elite centers. To compile this list, I’ll be looking at each of the Eastern Conference’s centers over the past three NHL seasons (including the playoffs in some cases). I will look primarily at the following stats, but will keep others in mind as well. NOTE: The ranks will not include O’Reilly (except for when I do O’Reilly himself) since he’s new to the Eastern Conference.

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• Points per 60 minutes (both at even strength and overall)
• Even strength CorsiFor%
• Even strength ScoringChancesFor%
• Even strength FenwickClose%

I’ll also consider what roles each NHL center plays, as well as what kind of competition they typically face. Before I begin my countdown, let’s look at some of the honorable mentions.

Next: Honorable Mentions