The Hockey News recently published its annual NHL yearbook and as usual one of the notable features is its Top Fifty NHL Players listing for the upcoming season.

Although I’m now a free-lance contributor to THN.com that won’t prevent me from critiquing this list, and no, this isn’t a free plug for The Hockey News on my part as I reviewed their rankings last summer prior to contributing to their site.

Anyway, here’s how THN ranked their top fifty players for the upcoming season:

1.       Sidney Crosby
2. Alex Ovechkin
3. Henrik Zetterburg
4. Pavel Datsyuk
5. Vincent Lecavalier
6. Niklas Lidstrom
7. Roberto Luongo
8. Jarome Iginla
9. Evgeni Malkin
10. Dany Heatley
11. Chris Pronger
12. Daniel Alfredsson
13. Marian Gaborik
14. Henrik Lundqvist
15. Brendan Morrow
16. Evgeni Nabokov
17. Marian Hossa
18. Ilya Kovalchuk
19. Eric Staal
20. Zdeno Chara
21. Joe Thornton
22. Dion Phaneuf
23. Martin Brodeur
24. J-S Giguere
25. Martin St-Louis
26. Scott Niedermayer
27. Brian Rafalski
28. Sergei Gonchar
29. Marty Turco
30. Ryan Getzlaf
31. Andrei Markov
32. Zach Parise
33. Ales Hemsky
34. Jason Spezza
35. Vesa Toskola
36. Rick Nash
37. Joe Sakic
38. Scott Gomez
39. Ryan Miller
40. Jonathan Toews
41. Daniel Sedin
42. Daniel Briere
43. Anze Kopitar
44. Miika Kiprusoff
45. Paul Statsny
46. Shane Doan
47. Derek Roy
48. Mark Savard
49. Mike Richards
50. Patrick Kane

If we’re going by last season’s performance I’d rank Ovechkin over Crosby but they’re definitely 1-2 in my estimation and the case can be made for either to be ranked as the league’s top player.

Lidstrom should’ve been ranked higher, perhaps 3rd or 4th, but he’s definitely the league’s best defenseman.  

As for Luongo, he’s a great goaltender and perhaps will justify that higher ranking this season but I’d swap Brodeur for Luongo if we’re basing this on last season’s performance. I know Brodeur’s getting older and he’s fast approaching his best before date but until he does in my opinion he’s still the league’s best goaltender.  Nabokov, Luongo and Lundqvist are nipping at his heels though.

I would also rank Malkin higher than Iglinla and Lecavalier, ranking him no lower than 6th.

Pronger’s ranking will likely draw some criticism given his penchant for dirty play but he’s still among the game’s elite defensemen and every team (yes, even the Oilers) would love to have him on their roster.

Morrow deserves to be on this list but I wouldn’t rank him above Kovalchuk, Staal, Thornton, Brodeur and Nash and consider him ranked far too high.

Speaking of Kovalchuk, it’s good to see him finally getting his due from THN as his ranking last season (48th) was in my opinion an insult.

And why is Thornton, who was again among the league’s leading scorers, not in the top ten? Or even the top 15? Sorry, but this is far too low for a player of his caliber. Sure, the case can be made that he struggles in the playoffs, but there’s no denying his obvious talent and skills. I certainly wouldn’t rate Alfredsson, Heatley, Kovalchuk, Morrow, Gaborik, Hossa, Staal and Chara above Thornton.

Lundqvist is a terrific goalie but I don’t believe he ranks higher than Nabokov. If it were up to me, I’d rank Brodeur, Nabokov and Luongo over Lundqvist.

I also disagree with Phaneuf dropping in the rankings compared to last season and I’d give him a slight edge over Chara in ranking defensemen.

Niedermayer missed most of the first half of last season before deciding to return to action and that cost him in the rankings. Had he played a full season his ranking likely would’ve been higher.

And Toskala ranked higher than Nash, Sakic, Gomez, Toews, Kopitar, Richards and Kane?  Gimme a break!  In fact, why is Toskala even on this list? Mats Sundin or Tomas Kaberle would’ve been better choices if one is seeking decent Leafs (or former Leafs) to be on this list.

I would also rank Richards higher than where he placed (probably about ten spots higher), but there’s no question he deserves to be on this list and his stock will continue to rise.

As for the rest of this listing, I really don't have much of a quibble over where most were ranked. Some could probably be moved up or down a spot or two but for the most part I have no real argument over the rest of these rankings.

That’s my two cents, folks.  Let me hear yours in the comments, and remember, this is THN’s listing, not mine, so don’t complain to me about where they placed these players as I had no input in this.

It was apparent watching Game One of the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals that Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin is not playing as well as he did earlier in the playoffs.

In fact, Malkin hasn’t played well since Game One of the Eastern Conference Finals, when he had a three-point night, including two goals, but was also leveled into the boards by Philadelphia Flyers forward Mike Richards.

Malkin was slow to get up from that hit and although he would subsequently score seconds later he wouldn’t score again until Game Five when the Penguins eliminated the Flyers.

The proof is in the statistics.In his first ten playoffs game this spring, Malkin had 8 goals and 17 points, was only held scoreless in two of those games, and was tied for the playoff scoring lead.

Following Game One of the Eastern Conference Finals, Malkin has had only 1 goal and 1 assist for 2 points his last five games.

It’s true the Flyers in the Conference Finals and the Red Wings in Game One of the Cup Finals focused more attention on Malkin, not allowing him the time and space to set up his scoring plays.

Still, Malkin proved capable against the Senators and Rangers of shrugging off that tight-checking blanket to be an offensive factor.

The Senators were an injury-ravaged team in turmoil so it's not surprising they could only contain him for one game, but the Rangers were a more defensively sound, tighter checking team and they too could only keep Malkin off the scoreboard in one game.

The Flyers and Red Wings checkers deserve full marks for their efforts in neutralizing Malkin, but one has to wonder if there isn’t another factor at play here, if he’s either wilting under the playoff heat or possibly nursing an injury, perhaps incurred from that heavy hit from Richards in the Conference Final.

If the problem is Malkin’s lack of experience handling the pressure at this stage of the playoffs it’s something he’ll have to mentally work through. If it’s an injury, that could be a more significant problem which he might not be able to overcome.

His critics may be quick to suggest that he’s struggling under the pressure, but I’ve learned over the years not to be so quick to assume that's the reason a talented star struggles in the playoffs. More often than not, they’re hiding an injury which seriously affects their play.

Either way, something has knocked Malkin off his game, and if he cannot recover over the course of the Final, it’ll prove a significant blow to the Penguins offense, one that could prove costly to their Stanley Cup hopes.

The fear of the offer sheet has once again resulted in another potential restricted free agent being re-signed well before the summer of 2008.

This time it's center Mike Richards, who today has reportedly re-signed a contract extension with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Reportedly Richards' new contract is for twelve years and $69 million, breaking down to a cap hit of $5.75 million per season, with a "no-trade" clause that begins in the 2011-12 season. It's the second-longest contract in the NHL, behind the fifteen-year deal of the NY Islanders' Rick DiPietro.

It's not surprising that Holmgren made this move. Richards is enjoying a breakout season, leading the Flyers in goals, assists and points, but he's also perhaps their best defensive forward, with a+10 rating and is the only player on the team to score shorthanded this season, having done it three times.

Flyers GM Paul Holmgren had earlier stated his intent to re-sign his key RFAs like Richards, including forwards Jeff Carter and RJ Umberber, and we can likely expect more re-signing by Holmgren as the season progresses.

He obviously has no intention of allowing contract negotiations with his best RFAs to drag into next summer when those players could become potential offer sheet targets.

A number of talented young players are eligible for restricted free agent status next summer, including Washington's Alexander Ovechkin, Calgary's Dion Phaneuf, Florida's Jay Bouwmeester, Nashville's Shea Weber, Ottawa's Andrej Meszaros and St. Louis' Brad Boyes

But that list has been slowly but steadily shrinking, and most if not all of the aforementioned will likely re-sign with their current teams well before July 1, 2008.

**UPDATE** James Mirtle has a very interesting take on this signing on his blog, specifically the dangers lurking behind such lengthy contracts, citing Jose Theodore, Jim Carey and Sergei Samsonov to make the case. Even NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman privately doesn't believe they're a good idea under this CBA as it offers no opportunity for re-negotiation.

I concur with Mirtle and Bettman on this. While I understand the rationale behind these contracts, the length is fraught with peril, and if the player signed to that deal ends up a spent force midway through, it's a lot of precious cap space per season tied up in one player. Even demoting said player to the minors or buying them out is still a costly experienced for a team, even if it doesn't count against their cap space.