Elite is a word used quite a lot, and used differently by different people, but offensively, how many points would a player need to get in order for you to consider them elite offensively as the minimum

I consider only very few forwards in the NHL "elite". I not only use point total, but overall impact to the team. For example, Sidney Crosby elevates the game of who plays next to him. He could score 60 points, but if he makes his line mates put up 50 points when they are really only talented enough to put up 20, thats a major differential.

The only forwards I consider "elite" are Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, and Patrick Kane. Guys like Malkin, Tavares, Backstrom, yeah they are all good, but not elite. In today's society, everyone is "elite." Elite should only be used when talking about a player that is truly elite, a 100% certainty. You can't make the case that these guys aren't elite (McDavid, Crosby, Kane) but you can make the case that Tavares isn't, at least, more strongly than the aforementioned names.

Id say if you are top 3 (even top 5) at your position, id consider you elite. I agree with phillyjabroni it does get thrown out way to much but Id also say that marking 10-15 players as "elite" wouldnt be excessive

It depends ... what if they're a great all-round player or a great defensive d-man?

Elite forwards:
Connor McDavid
Sidney Crosby
Evgeni Malkin
Nicklas Backstrom
Patrick Kane
Alex Ovechkin
Leon Draisaitl
Jack Eichel
Auston Matthews
Steven Stamkos
Jamie Benn
Tyler Seguin
Ryan Getzlaf
Vladimir Tarasenko

Surprised you didn't include Marchand & Bergeron. Toews is also missing from here. Cant forget about Johnny hockey. And did u complete forget about JT? Kucherov?... this list needs to either be redone or redefined

Great all around player isn't elite. Elite should be reserved for select players that are truly elite. Once you start making a list after the top 5 players in their positions, than everyone is elite. I'll use a defensemen for example.

Elite Defensemen : Karlsson, Doughty, Hedman, Burns

You can make the case that Josi is elite. But the difference between Josi and Klefbom, for example, is closer than that of Josi to Hedman. Once you say that Josi is elite, than Klefbom should be considered elite, or at least thought about being elite. But everyone knows that outside of the four aforementioned players are not "truly elite"

e·lite
əˈlēt,āˈlēt/
noun
noun: elite; plural noun: elites
1.
a select part of a group that is superior to the rest in terms of ability or qualities.
"the elite of Britain's armed forces"

Add Tavares, Kucherov, Marchand.

I'm not sure how you can call Kane better than Malkin. Kane's career point per game is 1.02 while Malkin's is far better at 1.18

I think to be elite you need to prove you can be that good all the time. Hedman has only just stepped into that bracket for defensemen. He's been really really good for a few year but he's stepped it up recently.

Matthew and Eichel (I know they're forward not d) but they haven't done enough to be elite yet. They're really good but still need to do it consistently. Was Jonathan Cheechoo an elite goal scorer? No. He had a good year but didn't repeat the performance enough to be considered elite.

Mostly because Malkin has been second fiddle to Crosby, so I can't determine if he benefits from playing against 2nd line players and dominates because he's that good. PPG aren't really the only indicator I use to determine "elite" status, which I previously said.

I think PJ hit right when it comes to elite. Very few players are elite in the NHL, but it gets thrown around so much. If I had pick one guys from each of the 3 major positions...

FWD - Crosby and/or McDavid
DEF - Karlsson
GT - Price

Malkin had his best years PPG wise when Crosby was injured and he was playing first line against other first line forwards, etc.

Those are the freaks. The next tier is superstar then elite.

So basically anyone in the top 6 or 4 (DEF) is elite lol. IMO elite is as high as it gets. You can be a superstar and not be elite.

There's many tiers to this in the NHL

Franchise
Connor McDavid, Erik Karlsson

Superstar
Niklas Backstrom, Roman Josi

Elite
Taylor Hall, Ryan Suter

Top line player
Ondrej Palat, Hampus Lindholm

2nd line player
Tyler Bozak, Alec Martinez

3rd line player
Valetteri Filppula, Yannick Weber

#7 dman and 4th line forward
Ryan Reaves, Ryan Sproul

Extra forward
Nail Yakupov