The NHL All-Star Game is this weekend, which means that the NHL All-Star Skills Competition is on Saturday night. We'll marvel at the fastest skaters, hardest shots and how many players can pass the puck into those dopey little mini-nets.
But those aren't the only skills that deserve lauding in the NHL. In this edition of the Power Rankings, we honor some of the player skills that leave us in awe.
How we rank: We use a panel of voters, and these rankings reflect which teams voters think would win head-to-head matchups. Higher-ranked teams are favored over lower-ranked teams. A run of wins doesn't guarantee a jump, and a couple of losses don't guarantee a fall.
Previous rankings: Preseason | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13 | Week 14 | Week 15
1. Vegas Golden Knights
Record: 32-11-4
Week 15 Ranking: No. 2
Marc-Andre Fleury's attitude. Not every skill requires a stick and a puck. Fleury showed a remarkable comportment when dealing with the Matt Murray situation in Pittsburgh and his subsequent acquisition by an expansion team, which immediately made Fleury the face of the franchise. Disposition matters during an 82-game season, and there's a reason why Fleury is a beloved teammate.
2. Tampa Bay Lightning
Record: 33-12-3
Week 15 Ranking: No. 1
Steven Stamkos' shot. When he was 9 years old, Stamkos would attend "shooting school" on synthetic ice, and fire around 500 pucks each time. Practice has apparently made perfect, as he has 18 goals this season and 339 in his career.
3. Winnipeg Jets
Record: 29-13-7
Week 15 Ranking: No. 6
Dustin Byfuglien's speed. Look, when you're 6-foot-5 and 265 pounds, there's a certain expectation about your skating prowess -- i.e., people assume you'll move like an ocean liner. While Buff isn't exactly Carl Hagelin in the speed department, he has always had skating ability that defied those expectations.
4. Washington Capitals
Record: 28-15-5
Week 15 Ranking: No. 4
Alex Ovechkin's spot on the ice. Imagine being as good at anything in life as Ovechkin is when he one-times the puck from the left circle. As St. Louis Blues goalie Carter Hutton said: "I don't think it's physically possible, when he picks his spot, to be able to save it."
5. Nashville Predators
Record: 28-11-7
Week 15 Ranking: No. 3
Pekka Rinne's glove hand. His catching ability was honed through years of playing Pesapallo, which is Finland's version of baseball -- if baseball featured the pitcher standing a foot away from the hitter and tossing the ball straight up in the air so the hitter can wallop it. Yeah, it's weird.
6. Boston Bruins
Record: 28-10-8
Week 15 Ranking: No. 5
Patrice Bergeron's faceoff prowess. Could it be anything else? Since 2012, no player has won more faceoffs (5,469) or has a higher faceoff-winning percentage (59.2). Give him all the Selkes.
7. St. Louis Blues
Record: 29-18-3
Week 15 Ranking: No. 7
Vladimir Tarasenko's quads. As Mike Rupp once wrote on The Players' Tribune, while calling Tarasenko an NFL fullback: "I knew they called him Tank, but I've never seen a hockey player with that kind of build."
8. Dallas Stars
Record: 28-17-4
Week 15 Ranking: No. 15
John Klingberg's vision. Even when he was an overlooked prospect, taken No. 131 overall in the 2010 draft, the way he saw the ice was considered an asset. Now it's one of the reasons Klingberg could win his first Norris this season.
9. Toronto Maple Leafs
Record: 27-18-5
Week 15 Ranking: No. 14
Auston Matthews' hands. The correct answer is "Auston Matthews' everything," but let's just limit this to his silky mitts and the ability of a guy with his frame to put the puck on a string for highlight-reel goals and assists. The Modern-Day Mario comparisons aren't off.
10. San Jose Sharks
Record: 26-14-7
Week 15 Ranking: No. 18
Joe Pavelski's hockey IQ. The captain's puck brain has been a point of praise throughout his career in San Jose. "It's really the 6 inches between his ears that add to his natural skill level," Mike Eaves, who coached Pavelski at Wisconsin, told the Sharks' website in 2016.
11. Colorado Avalanche
Record: 27-17-3
Week 15 Ranking: No. 12
Nathan MacKinnon, skating with the puck. He's not the best in the league, as we'll see down the rankings, but one of those players who is fast and then looks even faster with how he's able to handle the puck at such a high velocity.
12. New Jersey Devils
Record: 24-15-8
Week 15 Ranking: No. 13
Jesper Bratt's agility. The rookie winger has considerable nimbleness, but watch how quickly he can change course when he skates, especially as he continues to progress on the defensive end.
13. Calgary Flames
Record: 25-16-7
Week 15 Ranking: No. 10
Jaromir Jagr's lower body. Look, I realize this is almost a cheat, given that Jag is hurt and barely a Flame at this juncture. Speaking of junk: Jagr's trunk is one of the truly incredible artifacts in professional sports. His lower body is like Planet Czech, with its own gravity field.
14. Columbus Blue Jackets
Record: 26-19-3
Week 15 Ranking: No. 16
Seth Jones' adaptability. He's a defenseman who can be the guy who rushes the puck or be the stay-home guy when Zach Werenski is doing his thing -- and in both situations Jones excels.
15. New York Rangers
Record: 24-20-5
Week 15 Ranking: No. 20
Michael Grabner's skating. By the time you finish this sentence, Grabner will already be on his third lap around the rink.
16. Los Angeles Kings
Record: 26-18-5
Week 15 Ranking: No. 8
Jonathan Quick's flexibility. Look, I'm not exactly what you'd call a limber gentleman -- my yoga sessions have been referred to as "nice attempts" -- so I'm in awe of Quick's ability to fold himself in half to make saves along the ice at times.
17. Anaheim Ducks
Record: 23-17-9
Week 15 Ranking: No. 22
Corey Perry's devious nature. Look, I know we're supposed to loathe the sneaky, underhanded and sometimes injurious stuff that Perry's so good at administering (usually against other California teams). But I'd like to take a moment and appreciate it, insofar that he'd totally be a member of the Cobra Kai were this "The Karate Kid."
18. Philadelphia Flyers
Record: 24-16-8
Week 15 Ranking: No. 21
Wayne Simmonds' net-front presence. As Pierre McGuire may have mentioned once or twice, Simmonds is dominant when standing on the opposing team's doorstep.
19. Minnesota Wild
Record: 26-17-5
Week 15 Ranking: No. 11
Ryan Suter's stamina. From 2014-2018, no player in the NHL has averaged more ice time than the Wild defenseman (27:56).
20. Pittsburgh Penguins
Record: 26-21-3
Week 15 Ranking: No. 9
Sidney Crosby's backhander. A very tough call between this and Phil Kessel's wrister, but the fact that Crosby can bull's-eye this thing from in close or at the top of the slot is incredible.
21. New York Islanders
Record: 24-20-5
Week 15 Ranking: No. 19
Mathew Barzal's passing. The speed and creativity of the Islanders rookie is highlight-reel worthy and the kind of panache that earns one the Calder Trophy.
22. Chicago Blackhawks
Record: 22-19-7
Week 15 Ranking: No. 17
Duncan Keith's patience. I've always admired the cerebral way that Keith handles himself, from knowing when to pinch to playing smart positional defense. To play more than 25 minutes a night and have 16 penalty minutes in 80 games last season is something.
23. Carolina Hurricanes
Record: 21-19-8
Week 15 Ranking: No. 24
Jaccob Slavin's dedication to defense. Rare is the defensive defenseman whom everyone agrees is elite at what he does, but most people concur that Slavin fits the description.
24. Detroit Red Wings
Record: 19-20-8
Week 15 Ranking: No. 23
Andreas Athanasiou's speed. Few players in the NHL can match the skating swiftness of Athanasiou, who puts the wings in Red Wings. Now, if he can only learn to finish more of those chances he creates ...
25. Montreal Canadiens
Record: 20-22-6
Week 15 Ranking: No. 25
Shea Weber's shot. He has become a maligned player for various reasons -- his contract, the player for whom he was traded -- but there's no denying that howitzer, which can do everything from score goals to damage both opponents and teammates.
26. Vancouver Canucks
Record: 19-23-6
Week 15 Ranking: No. 28
The Sedin brothers' sonar. We may never see two players with the inherent chemistry and supernatural connection that Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin have.
27. Edmonton Oilers
Record: 21-24-3
Week 15 Ranking: No. 26
Connor McDavid's skating with the puck. With due respect to MacKinnon, McDavid has changed the game for what a player can do with the puck when skating at full speed. It's a shame we won't see it in the playoffs this year.
28. Florida Panthers
Record: 19-21-6
Week 15 Ranking: No. 27
Aleksander Barkov's shooting prowess. No one has scored more shootout goals than the Panthers center (15) since 2015. He also leads in game-deciding goals (6) and shootout percentage (71.4).
29. Ottawa Senators
Record: 15-22-9
Week 15 Ranking: No. 29
Erik Karlsson's skating. Well, obviously.
30. Arizona Coyotes
Record: 12-28-9
Week 15 Ranking: No. 31
Max Domi's stickhandling. As David Burstyn, director of scouting for McKeen's Hockey, said when Domi was drafted: "He just manufactures offence and he can make the puck talk. He can stickhandle in the rain without getting the puck wet."
31. Buffalo Sabres
Record: 13-26-9
Week 15 Ranking: No. 30
Robin Lehner's psyche. Who doesn't love a good conspiracy theory about the National Hockey League trying to sabotage the season for one of its teams through insidious replay calls, because all it wants to do is punish a billionaire owner it approved and a market that can drive national ratings?