This in from The Athletic’s hockey writers Sean Gentille, Shayna Goldman and Dom Luszczyszyn, their ranking of Edmonton Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard as a “franchise player” and the 24th best player in the National Hockey League. Article content

A franchise player, according to The Athletic, is “a top 30 player. Someone who is the best player on a contending team or second best on a championship-caliber team. An unquestionably elite player.” Article content Article content

The Athletic ranked Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl as the two best players in the NHL, making Edmonton the only NHL team with three players in the Top 25. Only three other teams have two Top 25 players, Dallas (Miro Heiskanen, Mikko Rantanen), Florida (Aleksander Barkov and Matt Tkachuk) and Vegas (Jack

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