Matthew Schaefer (Brad Penner / Imagn Images) Less than a month remains until the beginning of the National Hockey League regular season. As anticipation continues to build until the cathartic release of nightly NHL hockey, it seemed like the ideal time to delve back into the subtle science and exact art of player rankings. I must again preface this article with a handful of caveats. Assigning players to numerical rankings on a league wide basis is an incredibly arbitrary project, one that could be completely different if a different person were to take on this endeavour. I have my own biases from a player profile perspective that I freely acknowledge. For instance, I place a high value on driving play among forwards and defensemen alike, which may supersede any player's supreme skill in a vacuum. I attempted to account for particularly friendly and unfriendly team environments in my ranking as well, because systems are r...