Tiers (players listed alphabetically)
1A: McDavid, MacKinnon,
Matthews
1B: Barkov, Draisaitl, Kucherov, Makar
1C: Fox, Q.Hughes, J.Hughes, Pastrnak, M.Tkachuk
1 = Top-12 Players
2A: Crosby, Josi, Kaprizov, Panarin, Shesterkin
2B: Aho, Eichel, Heiskanen, Hellebuyck,
Marner, E.Pettersson, Point, Rantanen
2C: Bouchard, Hischier, McAvoy,
W.Nylander, J.Robertson, Saros, Sorokin
2 = Top-32 Players
3A: Bedard, Dahlin, Forsberg, Guentzel, Hedman, Reinhart, Vasilveskiy
3B: Bratt, Demko, Dobson, Forsling, Hintz, Hyman, Morrissey, Slavin, Swayman, R,Thomas, B.Tkachuk
3C: Barzal, Boldy, Ekholm, Keller, Larkin, J.Miller, Stutzle, Theodore, T.Thompson, D.Toews, Weegar
3 = Top-61 Players
4A: Ek, Hagel, D.Hamilton, W.Johnston, E.Karlsson, Oettinger, Stone, N.Suzuki, Svechnikov, Verhaeghe, Werenski
4B: Buchnevich, Faber, Hanifin, Jarvis, Konecny, Marchand, Pietrangelo, Sanderson, Spurgeon, Trocheck, Ullmark, Zibanejad
4C: Burns, Connor, Fiala, Harley, Horvat, Kopitar, Markstrom, Meier, Raymond,
Rielly, Seider,
Tavares
4 = Top-96 Players
5A: Bobrovsky, Brodin, Carlson, Ehlers, Jones, Kadri, Kreider, Kyrou, H.Lindholm, B.Nelson, Nugent-Hopkins, R.O'Reilly, Power, Sergachev, Stamkos, T.Terry
5B: Boeser, Caufield, Debrincat, Ekblad, Kempe, Letang, Malkin, Marchessault, McCann, McDonagh, Montour, Rust, Scheifele, Tuch
5C: R.Andersson, Beniers, J.Benn, Byfield, Chabot, Cozens, Hertl, Hronek, P.Kane, Lafreniere, Lehkonen, E.Lindholm, K.Miller, Ovechkin, Pesce, M.Roy, Skinner, Skjei, Slafkovsky, Strome,
C.Tanev, Tippett
5 = Top-148 Players
Marner dropped from 2A to 2B.
Nylander bumped up from 3A to 2C.
Rielly down two tiers from 4A to 4C.
Tavares down two tiers from 4A to 4C.
Not sure where Tanev was last year, but unsurprisingly grouped with all the other top UFA free agent D this year - Montour at 5B, but all of Pesce, Roy, Skjei with Tanev at 5C.
Still would have liked to have added 2 of those guys, not just one, though.
The strength of the team is still in having 3 top-30 players. Only a handful of teams can match that.
But it's starting to hurt that the next tier of impact talent has fallen from borderline top-60 to more in the Top-100 to Top-150 range.
Also some names that still sting on this list...
Hyman 3B
Verhaeghe 4A
Kadri 5A
O'Reilly 5A
McCann 5B