Released on October 15, NHL 22 has given gamers more of the fast-paced on-ice action they've been craving. One of the best parts about the series is the ability to manage teams in modes like HUT and Franchise. With most teams only able to have one or two superstars, it's important to pick the right player to lead a team.
Whether one wishes to have rock-solid goaltending, elite two-way defending, or game-breaking goal-scoring, these players have the talent and youth to be the best stars on a championship contender for many years. Building the next NHL dynasty starts with these superstars.
10 Andrei Vasilevskiy
Tampa Bay's 27-year-old stalwart goaltender is a two-time Stanly Cup champion and the highest-rated goalie in the game. Andrei has everything a GM would want in their #1 'tendie: talent, youth, and playoff experience.
One of the most frustrating things for players who want to run a successful team is when a bevy of skilled defensemen and forwards are let down by leaky netminding. For those who want to build their team from the net out, the battle-tested Vasilevskiy has all the tools to backstop a championship dynasty. For players who want to build their own superstar goalie, a great place to start is the best perks for goalies.
9 Thomas Chabot
Ottawa's 24-year-old smooth-skating defenseman has inherited the role left by Erik Karlsson as the team's best player and #1 defenceman with ease. With a 55-point season on his resume, he has all the tools to dominate both ends of the ice for 30 minutes per game.
The modern era of the NHL calls for a defenseman who can lead the rush, quarterback a powerplay, and also defend a lead in the last minute of the game. Chabot's skating, puck skills, endurance, and defensive awareness keep him involved in the play regardless of the situation, and he's already locked into an affordable eight-year contract.
8 Cale Makar
Colorado's 22-year-old defender is a sensational player with a Calder Memorial trophy already under his belt. He finished the 2020-21 season with an incredible 44 points in 44 games and gives the Avalanche a tremendous boost to their play in the offensive zone.
While many d-men have a booming slap shot from the point, few can elusively walk a blueline or sneak off the half-wall for a wrister as well as Makar does. Signed until the 2026-27 season, NHL 22's GMs won't have to worry about a potentially headache-inducing negotiation with the young blueliner for years down the line. He's also a great d-man for players to model their CHEL builds after, as he has some of the best perks for defencemen.
7 Elias Pettersson
Vancouver's 22-year-old center recorded over 50 goals and 130 points in his first two seasons, bagging the rookie-of-the-year honors along the way. His skill gives the Canucks a deadly trio of top-line forwards, along with wingers J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser.
Petterson has already scored more playoff points than most players do in their careers. His 18 points in 17 games in the extended 2020 playoff season prove he's a big-game player, and a bargain at only $7,35o,ooo AAV. His tw0-way game is also miles ahead of most players his age, and he's excellent at disrupting plays on the backcheck.
6 Jack Eichel
Buffalo's 24-year-old center may be mired in a team controversy regarding when, if, and which back surgery to get, but the video game version is the on-ice force that Sabres fans hope he'll continue to be for them.
Standing 6'2" and weighing over 200 pounds, it's a marvel to watch him fly up and down the ice. Able to beat defenders with finesse or power, he's a true franchise center who's locked into a contract for five more seasons. While he's yet to find consistency from season to season in the NHL, his 82 points in 79 games in 2018-19 show what he's capable of. Equipped with some of the best perks for centers, he's a worthy choice in any fantasy draft.
5 Brayden Point
Tampa Bay's 25-year-old center is an electrifying talent for the Bolts. Perhaps even more impressive than his 41-goal, 92-point season in 2018-19 is the fact that he unseated team captain and former 60-goal scorer Steven Stamkos as the team's #1 center.
Point has racked up his namesake in the past two playoffs, totaling 56 points in 46 games. He has two Stanley Cup rings to show for it and is anything but a passenger on the Lightning's loaded roster. In fact, he's arguably their franchise player and would be so on just about any team lucky enough to acquire him.
4 Auston Matthews
Toronto's 24-year-old center is one of the best goal-scorers in the NHL, with a league-leading 88 goals in 123 games over the last three seasons. If not for two seasons being shortened by the COVID pandemic, that goal total would likely be in triple digits.
While the Leaf's playoff failures have been blamed in part due to Matthew's apparent struggles to score, which includes three playoff seasons of only four goals total, he's a dynamite forward all year-round in NHL 22. Able to skate like the wind and armed with one of the best shots in the game, he's arguably the prototypical goal-scoring #1 center that all GMs crave. His superstar linemate Mitch Marner is the main set-up main though, with some of the best perks for wingers.
3 Leon Draisaitl
Edmonton's 25-year-old center is the only player to be top-3 in goals, assists, and points over the last three seasons, with totals of 76, 126, and 2o2, respectively. If Draisaitl is the Robin to Connor McDavid's Batman, then he's the best Robin one could ask for, as he even has his own Hart Memorial trophy as the league's Most Valuable Player.
Just when the NHL's premier two-punch center duo of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin seemed to be leaving their primes, another pair of centers have entered theirs and are terrorizing the league. Germany's superstar is elite in all of the offensive areas of the game and has the size and speed to wreak havoc on defense.
2 Nathan MacKinnon
Colorado's 26-year-old center had a relatively slow start to his career. While he averaged roughly 60 points in each of his first four seasons, he exploded for an average of nearly 100 points in the three seasons to follow.
MacKinnon has always had all the offensive tools but watching the former #1 overall pick put them all together to become one of the best players in the league has been a treat for fans. While he has yet to grasp hockey's ultimate prize, his 59 points in 44 playoff games are more than enough to brand him as a proven playoff performer. While players can't take Nate into CHEL's drop-in modes, they can use the best perks for online competition to build a similarly OP hockey player.
1 Connor McDavid
Edmonton's 24-year-old superstar center was heralded as the savior of the Oilers since the lottery balls fell and they won the right to draft him first overall in 2015. Described by The Great One himself, Wayne Gretzky, as being as good of a player to enter the league in 30 years, he has seemed to surpass those nearly impossible expectations.
McDavid has never scored at a pace of less than a point-per-game in any season in his career so far and leads all players with an astonishing 213 points over the last three seasons, accomplished in just 124 games. For hockey fans, they could likely take it as read that the two-time MVP would be the #1 player to build a team around in NHL 22, as his game-breaking speed and generational puck skills make him a threat to either shoot or pass for a goal on every single shift.
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