Unsurprising: NHL Quarter Century Team projections have Evgeni Malkin ranked way too low

Another year, another list of all-time NHL greats with Evgeni Malkin slotted way too low. In other news, the Flyers are garbage.

The NHL is currently holding a 2000's Quarter Century Team voting process where fans can vote on who they think deserves a spot on the team, representing the greatest players since the turn of the millennium.

Penguins' Evgeni Malkin ranked 9th on the revealed list. The top three make a lot of sense. Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, and Connor McDavid are excellent choices to headline the top of the list.

From then on there are questionable players listed ahead of Evgeni Malkin, proving once again that Geno is one of the most underrated hockey players of all time.

Above him on the list are Patrick Kane, Marc-Andre Fleury, Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Brodeur, and Nicklas Lidstrom. Let's take a look at each of them and objectively see if Malkin deserves more props. We'll go in ascending order.

Nicklas Lidstrom

The Detroit Red Wing's Hall-of-Famer played from 1991-2012, and while his career is split down the middle with the year 2000 as the equator, much of his success came in the second half of his career.

As a defenseman, Lidstrom (age 30-41) played 871 games and logged 646 points (143 goals, 503 assists). He's 6th all-time in points for a defenseman. He was an assist machine in his 30's, which is an incredible aspect of his career.

Playing into his 40's is perhaps the highlight of his Hall-of-Fame career, and that's with him winning seven Norris Trophies, all in the 2000's. While he is a four time Stanley Cup champion, only the two in 2002 and 2008 count for this exercise. He's also the only defenseman above Geno.

Final Verdict: It's hard to compare defenseman and forwards, but I guess Lidstrom can go ahead of Malkin. If he's the best defenseman in the 2000's, then Geno by proxy would need to be a top three forward. This one's hard. Call it a draw, I guess.

Martin Brodeur

Brodeur is one of two goalies listed ahead of Malkin. The other one, whom we're great friends with, will be addressed in due time. Comparing goalies with forwards is difficult, but we'll try it.

Martin Brodeur is another example of a player who straddled the turn of the millenium with his career. He played from age 28-42, most all of it being with the New Jersey Devils.

While a Hall-of-Famer and a three time Stanley Cup champion, only one Cup counts for Brodeur, as two of them came before the July1, 2000 threshold that the list observes.

In the allotted time, Brodeur was 447-272-89 with a .912 save percentage. In the 2000's, Brodeur won all four of his Vezina trophies.

Final Verdict: Again, it's hard to have goalies in this conversation when Malkin is a forward. Based on all the accomplishments for a goaltender, I can reasonably give him the benefit of the doubt being higher, though.

Nathan MacKinnon

Finally, a forward, and one we can easily compare to Malkin.

Nathan MacKinnon is one of the best players in the NHL right now. He's 29 years old and has already won a Calder Trophy, Hart Trophy, and a Stanley Cup. He's also well on his way to leading the NHL in points and assists this season to get him the Art Ross trophy that Malkin has.

MacKinnon broke into the NHL at age 18, two years younger than Malkin. So, to compare, we'll take MacKinnon's career to this point and Malkin's career from age 20 when he was a rookie to age 31 (to account for the same amount of years).

Between the two, MacKinnon played 73 more games than Malkin in that span to the tune of 1,001 points (362 goals, 639 assists) which he achieved recently.

Malkin in those 11 years scored 370 goals and logged 560 assists (930 points). In that span Geno also won the Calder Trophy, the Art Ross Trophy twice, the Hart Trophy, and three Stanley Cups.

Final verdict: Based on personal accolades as well as raw statistics, Evgeni Malkin in the comparable career portion to Nathan MacKinnon undoubtedly deserves higher regards.

He's more decorated with more playoff success and a comparable number of points (even leading MacKinnon in goals with a season's worth of less games). MacKinnon's best days might be starting, but when we are considering the player at this quarter century mark, Malkin is better.

Marc-Andre Fleury

I'll be quick with Flower, especially since I'm not trying to degrade what he's done to deserve a top five spot on this list himself.

While not one of the most personally decorated goalies, his success and longevity (all of which is in the 2000's) is why he's so high on the list. I covered MAF's personal accolades HERE if you'd like additional literature.

Fleury is a future Hall-of-Famer whose numbers are amongst the best in NHL history, and he's a playoff performer. All of Malkin's Cups had Fleury involved.

Final verdict: If you want to split hairs, you could argue Malkin had more playoff success than Fleury because Flower was hardly involved in the 2016 Stanley Cup playoff run, which just so happened to be the only one Geno didn't lead all playoff performers in points. Call this one a tie.

Patrick Kane

Here it is: the greatest American hockey player vs. Evgeni Malkin. This is the contentious matchup. Both personally decorated and have playoff dynasty credentials.

Malkin has one more season played than Patrick Kane, who came into the league in 2007.

Kane, like Malkin, won the Calder Trophy, the Hart and Art Ross Trophy in the same year, and three Stanley Cups with one Conn Smythe sprinkled in. Kane scored the most anti-climactic golden goal of all time to win the Stanley Cup in 2010, which he does have on his resume.

While this is hardly a good example, Patrick Kane (also known as "Showtime") is known for being one of the great clutch performers in NHL history. Big goals to win series in the final minutes of Game Sixes and Sevens, overtime winners, regular season shootouts - you name it, Kane has clutched up.

We need to break this up into regular season and postseason to make the final call.

Regular Season Comparison

In 1,285 regular seasons games for Patrick Kane, he has 488 goals and 841 assists (1,329 points).

In 1,203 regular season games for Evgeni Malkin, he has 511 goals and 828 assists (1,339 point).

I don't know about you, Clark, but that looks like more goals and more points in exactly a season's worth of less games.

And, if you want to compare the two of them as they currently are, Kane has 17 goals and 28 assists this season in 56 games compared to Evgeni Malkin's 13 goals and 30 assists in 58 games.

Patrick Kane got a NHL post about how productive he still is at age 36. We get crickets and tumbleweeds when it comes to Evgeni Malkin at age 38. The NHL has narratives.

Playoffs Comparison

Well, if you want to take into account the games that actually matter, here you go.

In 143 playoff games, Patrick Kane has 53 goals and 85 assists (138 points at 0.965 points-per-game).

In 177 playoff games, Evgeni Malkin has 67 goals and 113 assists (180 points at 1.017 points-per-game).

Final verdict: I'm sick of the narratives. Evgeni Malkin is an all-time better player than Patrick Kane.

I get it, Kane is American. Awesome, so am I. I bleed red, white, and blue. But it's time to recognize Geno as the better all-time player.

Final FINAL Verdict: If the NHL sees Patrick Kane as the 4th best player of the 2000's and Evgeni Malkin manages to be the better player between the two, then Patrick Kane is not the 4th best player of the 2000's. The 4th best player of the 2000's wears number 71.

"It's Evgeni Malkin. Number 4. Feed him more. He is score. Penguins in 5." - Shannon Sharpe (probably [if he cared a rat about hockey])

Case closed. You're free to go now.