Sidney Crosby checked in at seventh for the top-20 listing of centers by the NHL Network.
NHL Network's Jamison Coyle, E.J. Hradek and Mike Rupp counted down the best centers based on player performance over the past several seasons, with an emphasis on the 2025-2026 regular season and 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, while also considering future upside. The Top 20 Centers Right Now list collectively features 50 All-Star Game appearances, 11 Ted Lindsay Awards, 10 Stanley Cups, nine All-Rookie Team honors, nine Art Ross Trophies, eight Hart Trophies, eight Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophies, seven Olympic gold medals, four Frank J. Selke Trophies, three Calder Trophies, three Conn Smythe Trophies, two Lady Byng Memorial Trophies, one King Clancy Memorial Trophy and one Mark Messier Leadership Award.
On Crosby's ranking on the countdown, Rupp said, "It doesn't matter where the team is at. If it's supposed to be a good team, a not-so-good team, a middle-of-the-road team, Sidney Crosby is just Sidney Crosby, and he's great. The consistency of getting that point in game for 21 straight seasons, that's remarkable, and his impact on the game, we continually talk about."
Hradek added, "You're talking about the greatest of the great ever… I don't know if I've covered anyone who I think loves hockey more than Sidney Crosby. He absolutely loves it, spends all his time focused on it… Sidney Crosby still competes at the very highest level; he has been a special player, and it's been an honor and a pleasure to have covered and helped document his entire career. He's one of a kind."
It's tough to argue with the first handful of players, though Aleksander Barkov at five coming off a knee injury is a choice. Jack Eichel has put up back-to-back 90+ point seasons with a heralded defensive game so it's not like he doesn't deserve recognition either.
Macklin Celebrini's ascension to 'all-world' type of player is in full gear after producing 45 goals and 115 points last season, he's certainly next in-line and making his case to be recognized as the next great individual player but the 'older' heads like Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon aren't going away.
It's funny to see Leo Carlsson at 14, makes sense for where he's at right now but given his $18 million cap hit the Ducks are going to need him to rise up the rankings quite a bit in the coming years to get as much possible out of that big number.
Overall it's interesting that the Metropolitan Division doesn't have that many high-end centers. Joining Crosby on the list is Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier and Sebastian Aho and that's it. Not terrible in numbers but considering Hughes has missed some time and Hischier/Aho aren't exactly Art Ross threats it's a far cry from a decade ago when players like Evgeni Malkin, Nicklas Backstrom, John Tavares and Evgeni Kuznetsov would have joined Crosby on a league's best list for the position or even a little before that with Eric Staal, Claude Giroux and Mika Zibanejad would be out there.
