Is Erik Karlsson The Best Player in the NHL?

[RickJay]

I barely knew who this guy was a few years ago but oh my God.

1. Karlsson leads all NHL defencemen with 57 points. That's one thing, but bear in mind he leads my a margin of 17. Nobody else has more than 40 (Brian Campbell.)

2. Is he just piling up power play points? Nope; he has 10 more even strength points than any other defenceman.

3. Karlsson is +14 on a team that's +4, making him 10 goals better than his own team (a rough measure, I know, but it's telling) which is extremely high; I can't offhand find any other defenceman on the scoring leaders with a delta like that. (There may be a few; I can't do a decent search.)

4. Just watching him, he's sensational. He does everything well. The Senators with him on the ice are a dangerous team that moves the puck quickly and attacks with gusto; when he's sitting, they don't look good at all.