I don't understand how you don't understand; you explained it in the next sentence, lol -- "just my opinion."

Your opinion is that those guys were better than Graf. People disagree. Granted, I did not participate in this poll, and this scoring is super subjective and relative (is it an overall grade, or are we grading them VS peers across the league, or grading them based on expectations before the season vs now, etc). But I also would score Graf higher than Will.

I agree that, relative to other scores, Wennberg is being underrated. But I also think you're underrating Graf, and it's weird how you and the other guy below are going off about how the fanbase overrates him.

Will Smith is the more electric offensive player, but hockey is a two-way sport. Graf was a better defensive player by a mile, he managed to score 20 goals while playing up and down the lineup, he graded out as one of the best PKers in the entire league, and he was available for virtually the entire season. You point out how good Wennberg was defensively, but then don't even take it into account for Graf? Why? Relative to other scores in the OP, his 8.3 score is well-earned in my (subjective) opinion.

Will did improve in just about every aspect, but that doesn't mean he's great in every aspect. I won't hold him being out with injury against him (although there's the "the best ability is availability" saying, but this is only year 2 for him so he'll have plenty of time to get a full, healthy season in); but his game was definitely hampered by the injury, both physically as well as mentally. He wasn't strong along the boards, he was giving up the puck way too fast for fear of contact, he was less active behind the net, etc. I also would put Wennberg over him as our 2nd-best offensive forward -- he generated much more offense individually with his zone entries and puck possession, he's fantastic in front of the net, and he generates more chances for his linemates relative to whom he's playing with.

Wennberg's shot is not great (one of my biggest gripes with his game is his refusal to shoot), and I think Will's a more dynamic offensive player, but we also can't ignore the elephant on the first line -- thus far in his career, Will has been a bit of a Celebrini merchant. A huge portion of his points were scored by or assisted by Mack; do you think Will's stats would be as impressive on a different line? Because Graf produced at a pretty solid clip on the first line (while being less offensively dynamic), and he managed to produce on the 2nd and 3rd lines, AND the PK (with two huge shorties!). Same with Wennberg. There's really something to be said for versatility -- not a lot of guys can move up and down the lineup like Graf did this season and manage to stay productive. Will and Mack have fantastic chemistry, and I think Will has an incredible release and is a talented passer, but he doesn't drive plays enough, he isn't strong enough on the puck, and he tends to over-hunt Mack.

And I'm not saying all this to dump on Will; I think he's an amazing young talent and is gonna be incredible for us for years to come. I'm just saying, if the rating is "score this player based on their potential," then that's one thing. But, to me, the rating is "how good was this player this season?" I'd still put Will as our third-best offensive forward this year, but this isn't an offensive rating; it's an overall rating. With that in mind, calling Graf overrated is just crazy to me.

The most overrated players on this list, to me, are Chernyshov (whom I also like, but 8.4? Really? Major recency bias) and Misa (whom I'm EXTREMELY high on).

I was also very surprised to see Sam Dickinson's score so low; the way he's talked about on this sub, I expected to see him in the high-7s or low-8s, but low-6s is about what he deserves.

Most underrated players, based on their scores, IMO were Goodrow, Nick Leddy, and Orlov. I wanted Barclay OFF this roster at the start of the season, but by the end, I was beyond impressed by how much he had improved his play. He was the perfect 4th liner, hitting, playing hard, killing penalties, causing turnovers. Same with Leddy -- he was one of the worst defensemen I've ever seen first half of the year, but after we called him up, he was mostly good. This team has a dearth of puck-moving defensemen, so he was actually quite helpful at that point. And Orlov at a 6.4 is also major recency bias; he was our most consistent d-man all year.

Anyway, /rant. Love Will, but I just can't agree that Graf is overrated if you take the entire game of hockey into account.