Chicago Blackhawks: Five best division rivals since 2009-10

The best player in the Central Division right now is Nathan MacKinnon. He is only 24 years old but there is no denying how good he is. Even though he was only there for a little more than half the decade, he deserves this spot at number one. In half the amount of time, he is the NHL’s 35th leading scorer in the decade of the 2010s. He was drafted first overall by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2013 NHL Draft.

He had one of the best rookie years of the modern era but he followed that up with a couple of disappointing years by his standards. Then in 2017-18, he figured it out. He had 39 goals and 58 assists for 97 points and hasn’t had less than 90 points in a season since. He was going to blow past 100 points this season before it was put on pause. In his career, he has 190 goals and 205 assists for 495 points in 525 games. He is below a point per game pace in his career right now but he will get by that over the next year or two now that he is fully developed.

MacKinnon is number one on this list now and might be again on the same type of list for the 2020s. He is one of the league’s best players right now and likely will be for a long time. He is right there with Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews for the right to be called the league’s best young player. It is less than ideal that the Hawks have to deal with him for the next decade-plus but it is going to be entertaining from a hockey point of view.