It’s time, time to move onto the centres. This could be argued that it is the deepest crop, by position and nationality, on the planet. Our list of top ten Team Canada centres is sure to bring the heat, and maybe a surprise or two as well. Thus far, we have done similar articles on Team Canada defence and wingers. Now, we look at some of best hockey players from Canada, who just happen to play centre.
Top Ten Team Canada Centres
As a disclaimer, we tried our best to go with moneypuck’s alignment of wingers and centres. However, since we already completed wingers, if we missed anyone in consideration, we tried to pick them up here. A couple of these players listed below do spend some of their time on the wing. Additionally, when it comes to best-on-best squads, lots of countries overload on centres. Therefore, some who naturally play centre with their NHL clubs, end up getting shifted to the wing. This means that in building the final Team Canada roster, there will be proportionately more centres selected than wingers. So now, without further ado, we give to you, our list.
Connor McDavid and the Best of the Current Team Canada Players at Centre
There’s no debating number one, because he is the best hockey player on the planet. Connor McDavid nearly single-handedly won the Edmonton Oilers the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup Championship after the team fell down 3-0 in the final series. He came to life in the third period of Game 3, scoring 10 points over the next seven periods. However, in the end, a Stanley Cup ring in 2024 was not meant to be for McDavid and his Oilers teammates. But McDavid sure showed us all his abilities as a clutch player. In 645 career regular season games, McDavid ranks third all-time with a points-per-game of 1.52. In 2022-23, McDavid took home the Art Ross Trophy with 153 points, which was the fourth highest a unique individual has ever recorded. There’s nothing he can’t do, and McDavid surely deserves his number one seeding atop our list.
MacKinnon is as great of a ‘number two’ as there could be to McDavid. Watching MacKinnon play can be awe-inspiring. He is an explosive skater, and has lightning quick hands with the puck. In 2023-24, he had 51 goals and 89 assists, good for 140 points. He took home the Hart Memorial and Lester B. Pearson Trophies for his work. His career points-per-game puts him seventh among active skaters. Oh yeah, and he’s a Stanley Cup Champion, capturing the crown with his Colorado Avalanche team in 2022. There’s nothing really he can’t do, just like McDavid. Have that as a one-two punch, means that even the deepest lineups will invariably have matchup problems facing off against Team Canada.
This standing is by no means a legacy nod. Even at the age of 37, nobody wants to square off against ‘Sid the Kid’ in the playoffs. It truly is amazing to think, he is still considered one of the top, all-around players in the world. Crosby has three Stanley Cup rings and currently ranks tenth all-time on the NHL’s point list with 1596. As a note, if he remains healthy, he should pass Joe Sakic at 1641 for ninth on the list sometime in 2024-25. In contrast, besides all the career accolades, Crosby is still producing incredibly. His 94 points last year had him tied for 12th in the league and was the third most from players on this top ten list. Furthermore, he still plays over 20 minutes a night and had an amazing 58.2% win rate on the faceoff dot.
Some may be surprised to see the two-time Stanley Cup champ this high on the list. However, when you consider his body of work, in particular what he’s done recently, the 28-year-old is a star. The past two seasons, he’s had point totals of 95 in 2022-23 and 90 in 2023-24. This includes eclipsing the 50-goal mark with 51 in 2022-23. Moreover, he had 92 points in 2018-19, which had been the last season prior to 2022-23, that he played in more than 66 games.
‘Pointer’ as his teammates affectionately calls him, plays in all the big situations. Most of the time with, he plays with superstar Nikita Kucherov on his flank. Despite the high pressure situations, he barely takes penalties. Again from the past two seasons, he’s had totals of seven and 14 penalty minutes. Two additional times in his career he only recorded 11 minutes in penalties. He’s been third and fourth, respectively, in the past two seasons’ Lady Byng Trophy voting. Point is a gamer, pure and simple. He’s plays against and with the top players for either team, barely takes penalties, and scores at a very high rate.
Now we get to a point where there a number of players at a very similar level. In picking a specific Team Canada roster, a lot of the remaining pieces could be interchangeable, and no one would really bat an eye at the decision. First up, taking spot number five, is the number one centre from the geographical centre of Canada, Mark Scheifele of the Winnipeg Jets. Mark Scheifele has been incredibly consistent throughout his NHL career. For instance, since the 2015-16, as a 22-year-old, Scheifele has never been below each of 21 goals and 26 assists in a season.
Aside from the offence, he has been a solid, two-way player, playing on very stingy, strong defensive clubs. For example, goaltender Connor Hellebuyck has twice won the Vezina Trophy during Scheifele’s career. Moreover, when Scheifele gets offensive opportunities, he has shown to be extremely efficient. His career shooting percentage at a wonderful 16.7% speaks to that fact. Scheifele’s 5v5 play has always been excellent and his chemistry with Kyle Connor is a great reason as to why. It also shows that Scheifele can excel with high-end talent.
6. Nick Suzuki
Suzuki, perhaps along with a couple other members of the top ten list, represent the changing of the old guard. At 25 years old, the Montreal Canadiens as an organization, are confident that Suzuki is ready to assume the role as number-one centre, on a playoff contending team in the NHL. His stat line from 2023-24 certainly seems to be trending in the right direction.
Suzuki is coming off a very impressive NHL campaign. He had 33 goals, 44 assists, 77 points, 21:16 average ice time, 52.6 FOW%, and a 13.6 CF% Rel, all of which were career-highs. If Montreal’s other key offensive contributors, like Cole Caufield or Kirby Dach, can stay healthy and produce big numbers, Suzuki would be a huge benefactor. In any case, Suzuki’s two-way game already has him among elite NHL centre-icemen. Combine this with the potential for a breakout offensive season coming, on top of already great production, Suzuki firmly finds himself where he does on this elitist group.
The Tampa Bay Lightning legend has slowed down from the 60-goal scorer he was way back in 2012, but his shot hasn’t slowed down all that much. Over that past three NHL campaigns, the former two-time Cup champ has totaled 116 goals. Furthermore, Stamkos has always been a smart player, responsibility defensively, and tough to matchup against. He may slow down as we head into 2024-25. In contrast, for now and supported by recent performance, and plus the possibility of rejuvenation with a new opportunity with the Nashville Predators ahead of him, Stamkos is still a top-flight NHLer.
8. Connor Bedard and the Next One in Terms of Elite Team Canada Centres
We kind of hinted at it with Suzuki, but the new crop of NHLers are coming. This contingent is led by this man, Connor Bedard. Talent alone puts Bedard into consideration for such a list. Moreover, the attributes he has showcased as an 18-year-old professional hockey player, reaffirms the talent in the form of his on ice abilities. He was successful offensively with 22 goals and 39 assists for 61 points in 68 games. This was despite not being surrounding by high-end, offensive talent. Along with the offence, Bedard has shown his toughness. He returned from a broken jaw, and didn’t seem to miss a beat. Bedard will be poised for a breakout campaign in 2024-25. Furthermore, that is already coming from a more-than-respectable points-per-game of 0.90 in his freshman NHL campaign.
Fans outside of the Show Me State might have to do a double take. However, at 25 years old, the St. Louis Blues up-and-comer is a workhorse and has developed into an excellent, complete player. He’s a strong, powerful skater, and from 2023-24, really emerged as an unstoppable, offensive force. He scored 26 goals and added an impressive 60 assists for 86 points in 82 games last season. Along with the offence, he plays in all situations, including both specialty teams. When the Blues centre Thomas gets going, he is tough to stop. Fans outside of St. Louis need to recognize, hence, his spot at nine on this very prestigious list of the best potential Team Canada centres.
10. Wyatt Johnston
Next is the Dallas Stars forward who really had his coming out party during the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. His regular season was decent with 32 goals and 33 assists for 65 points in 82 games played. Great numbers for a 21-year-old, playing on a top-flight NHL team. However, once the playoffs rolled around, Johnston seems to elevate to another level. He was one of, if not the best, of Stars forwards in the playoffs. He ended up with ten goals and 16 points in 19 games. The scary thing is, he’s only just scratching the surface. He seems to play best, with the games are on the line. Lookout for Johnston to be apart of these types of lists for years to come.
The Honourable Mentions for the Best Team Canada Centres
As we referenced, the list does represent somewhat of a changing of the guard. This kind of synchs up with the Toronto Maple Leafs reportedly naming Auston Matthews captain, replacing John Tavares. Tavares definitely finds himself in the honourable mention category for our list here, but his play has negatively regressed over the past few years. That is not to say he hasn’t been productive in his time with Toronto. Through his six seasons with the Leafs, his PPG is 0.95, with a FOW% 57.3, and the club has not missed the post-season. Another player who is close, but not quite at the level we were searching for was Ryan O’Reilly. As for the other end of the spectrum, a Mason MacTavish may one day find himself in this conversation, but needs more consistent, high-end performances before his time has arrived.
Main photo: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
