NHL Awards Rankings: New No. 1 in MVP race

2. Artemi Panarin, New York Rangers

There are so many players contributing to this New York Rangers team this season. When Jonathan Quick looks like he did at his peak inexplicably, you know everything is going right for the franchise. The defense played well while Adam Fox was out, and he has now returned. Igor Shesterkin is still Igor Shesterkin. Yet, the offense is driven through Artemi Panarin.

Panarin leads the Rangers in points. That's great for by far the best team in the Metropolitan Division. However, it's by how much that makes this impressive. Panarin has 38 points, which is 13 more than the next guy on the list. That next guy isn't Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, or even one of the young kids like Alexis Lafreniere or Kaapo Kakko. It's Vincent Trochek.

The Rangers offense has been Panarin for the most part. If he's not creating for his line of the aforementioned Trochek and Lafreniere. So, one could assume those Trochek points are coming from the team's best player.

What's crazy is that Panarin's points aren't only coming from the power play, which has been the case in the past. He has just four power-play goals, which means he has 12 goals at even strength. Panarin is playing very well, and he could be pushing himself in this conversation if the points remain and the Rangers stay at the top of the Metro.