The Toronto Maple Leafs have two of the top ten wingers in hockey, according to the NHL Network.
I think 100% of knowledgable people would agree with that. It's not controverial in any way to state that Mitch Marner and William Nylander are top ten wingers.
Marner has four straight season where he was on pace for 100 points, and is an elite defensive player.
William Nylander is a 40 goal scorer, but he's not so hot at 5v5 and is more of a power-play merchant than anything else. He's still a great player, but you'd have to be completely ignorant about hockey to say that he's better than Marner. You could like him better, just as it's fair to like Right Said Fred more than Beatles, as long as you understand the difference between an opinion and objective reality.
You just can't seriously say that Nylander is objectively superior, because it's not even close.
No, William Nylander is not better than Mitch Marner, under any circumstances
I would hate to say that the NHL Network is just lying for the purposes of engament, but what other conclusion can a person draw?
Marner scores more points, he's ranked higher by expected goals. His 5v5 numbers are superior in every single year of their careers. He plays better defense, and you can look up their respective Jfresh or Athletic Player Cards to see that is better in virtually every way.
You could also just watch a game and use your eyes.
There is no credible person on this planet who can argue that Marner is a worse player than Nylander. That just isn't a defendable argument. Nylander is great. Marner is a hall of fame talent.
Marner came 10th on the list of best wingers, but in reality, if you didn't hold the Leafs lack of playoff success against him alone, he is proabably something like the fifth best player alive regardless of position.
None of the players who scores as much as Marner does - Kucherov, Pastrnak, Rantanan, Kaprizov - also play elite defense. He's better than all of them. Nylander isn't even this list, all due respect.
But even Marner didn't get it the worst on the NHL Networks very silly list. Sam Reinhart was ranked 9th despite scoring 57 times and winning the Stanley Cup last year.
Sure, these lists are annoying, but they are a ton of fun. It is hilarious that anyone thinks Nylander is better than Marner, but it's just sad to say that there are eight better wingers than Sam Reinhart.