Heika's take: Did Stars get fair shake on NHL Network's player rankings?

We love rankings.
We hate rankings.
We love to hate rankings.
The arbitrary opinions of a person or group of people seem to drive us crazy … especially when they involve players we cheer for. So it is that as the NHL season nears and various organizations reveal their rankings, we have an opinion or two.
And we should, that's what rankings are designed to do. They're there to spark conversation, to allow us to dig deep, to start to understand where our team is in comparison to the rest of the league.

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But that comparison is not easy. One of the toughest parts of my job for the past 20 years has been voting for postseason awards. Until you actually have to place players in a ranked order, you don't realize how close they are and how different their skillsets might be. Yes, Alex Ovechkin and Patrick Kane are both wingers, but they go about their job much differently. Same goes for Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns on defense.
How do you definitely say one is better than the other?
Yet, that is our task, and it's also why ranking players can be revealing. By having the conversation and trying to win the debate, we learn more about what we are studying.
The NHL Network ranked wingers, centers, defensemen and goalies throughout the month, and the Stars had three players who received significant mention. So were they too low? Too high? Just right? Let's take a look.

Jamie Benn

No. 8 on NHL Network's "Top 20 Wings" list

The highest-ranked player for the Stars was Jamie Benn checking in at eighth overall among wingers. Benn is in an interesting place, as he was considered one of the top two wingers in the game a few years ago. He won the scoring title with 87 points (35 goals, 52 assists) in 2014-15 and then finished second with a career-best 89 points (41 goals, 48 assists) in 2015-16. Mix in a gold medal with Canada in the 2014 Olympics and he was at the top of his craft.
However, Benn slipped to 23rd in an injury-hampered campaign in 2016-17 and then was 22nd last season with 79 points, so the eighth-place ranking seems about right at this time. The scoring curve is going up in the NHL, and that's making it tougher. Players like Nikita Kucherov, Taylor Hall and Patrik Laine are hitting their prime, so some older players get pushed down a little.
But Alex Ovechkin and Patrik Kane continue to be in the top five, and there's a reason for that. One, both are goal-scoring machines, and two, both have had playoff success. Kane was won three Stanley Cup and has 123 points in 127 playoff games. Ovechkin finally won his first Cup this year and has 117 points in 121 playoff games.
Benn has 20 points in 19 playoff games in nine NHL seasons. That's part of being on a franchise that was in bankruptcy and missed the playoffs for his first four NHL seasons, but it's part of the consideration when ranking players.
Yes, having big numbers last season counts for a lot, but being a regular also carries a lot of weight.

Tyler Seguin

No. 9 on NHL Network's "Top 20 Centers" list

Tyler Seguin was ranked ninth among centers, and that's also about right. The center competition is always the toughest, so ranking ninth is actually pretty impressive. Seguin last year was second on the Stars in scoring with 78 points, but also set a career-high in goals with 40. He ranked second in the NHL in shots on goal with 335, won 54.9 percent of his faceoffs and was plus-12.
So even in a disappointing year for the Stars, Seguin might have been the best player on the team. And when you consider the players ahead of him, it would have been tough to move up. Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Anze Kopitar, those are big names. Heck, fans of John Tavares and Steven Stamkos could argue their cases to be ahead of Seguin, so he fits in well.
Like Benn, Seguin could use a nice playoff run to boost his ranking. While he won a Stanley Cup with the Bruins and has played in 49 playoff games, injuries and lack of opportunity has him with just seven postseason games in five years with Dallas.

John Klingberg

No. 10 on NHL Network's "Top 20 Defensemen" list

John Klingberg checked in at No. 10 on the list of defensemen, and that also seems about right. While you can argue a player who finished second in defenseman scoring by one point deserves to ride the wave of recent success, Klingberg is a work in progress.
Yes, his scoring totals are impressive -- he had 67 points in 82 games and led all NHL defensemen with 59 assists. That career-best was 18 points better than the year before and sets Klingberg up pretty well for his fifth season in the NHL. However, he is still 6-2, 175 pounds, and that puts some limits on his ability to defend in his own zone.
While Erik Karlsson is listed at 6-feet, 191 pounds, there is no other defensemen in the Top 10 under 200 pounds. Being able to control the front of the net is a key in assessing the value of any defenseman, and that's an area Klingberg has to work on.
Klingberg averaged 1:07 in shorthanded time on ice, seventh on the Stars and 174th among NHL defensemen. He wants to kill penalties and might get more of a chance this season, which would certainly add to his overall game. On the good side, he ranked 17th in SAT (shot attempt differential at even strength) at plus-187, so he plays a lot of his defense by controlling the puck.

On the bubble

Stars goalie Ben Bishop was not in the Top 10 goalies. Last season, he battled injuries late in the year and missed 15 of the last 17 games. He ranked 17th in wins at 27-16-3, 14th in goals against average at 2.49 and 19th in save percentage at .916. So he has some work to do to get into the Top 10 again. Bishop led the NHL in GAA (2.06) and was second in save percentage (.926) in 2015-16.
As it is with so much of these rankings, numbers play a part, but perception is just as important. For the Stars to push higher, they need to finish higher in the standings and play more games in May.
That's when fans can really dig in and make spirited arguments for their guys.
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.
Read more: Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, John Klingberg, Dallas Stars