Connor McDavid’s sizzling first half of the season has only strengthened his grip on the title of the game’s best player.

The NHL scoring leader, McDavid is on track to set new career benchmarks in goals, assists and points - in addition to serving as a nightly human highlight reel - so it’s no surprise that No. 97 received 94 per cent of the first place votes in TSN Hockey’s first mid-season Top 50 ranking.

Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon received the only other first place vote and finished as the definitive second choice.

Boston’s David Pastrnak (No. 3), Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl (No. 4) and the Rangers’ Artemi Panarin (No. 5) round out the top five.

There is plenty of intrigue after the top spots.

With the mid-season Top 50 representing an assessment of performance this season only before the all-star break - not a projection for the second half - Sidney Crosby has been relegated to No. 22 as the Penguins’ captain missed 28 games recovering from sports hernia surgery.

Crosby has played just 22 games. No other skater on the list has played fewer than 33. Crosby has been his usual all-world self since returning Jan.14, collecting eight points in five games.

Crosby, 32, was ranked No. 1 in TSN’s pre-season Top 50 for seven straight years and has slid to the second spot the last three years under McDavid.

Top 50 stalwarts Drew Doughty, Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns, Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn all didn’t make the mid-season cut. Doughty has been featured on each of TSN’s pre-season Top 50 rankings over the last 10 years.

Two players inside the Top 20 of this pre-season’s Top 50 - Burns (No. 13) and Johnny Gaudreau (No. 16) - didn’t appear on a single ballot for the mid-season Top 50.

Instead, they’ve given way to new blood, including rookie Cale Makar (No. 29), David Perron (No. 30), Bryan Rust (No. 33), and Mika Zibanejad (No. 39).

Goaltenders Tristan Jarry (No. 42) and Darcy Kuemper (No. 46) appear on the Top 50 for the first time. Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck is the top ranked (No. 23) of six goalies to make the cut - and the only one to rise above the 40s.

Five of seven Canadian clubs are represented in the mid-season Top 50. Ottawa and Calgary don’t have any players on the list.

The Flames had four on the pre-season list: Gaudreau, Mark Giordano, Matthew Tkachuk and Sean Monahan.

Norris Trophy frontrunner John Carlson is the highest-ranked defenceman at No. 7.

Carlson’s teammate Alex Ovechkin fell from No. 7 on the pre-season list to No. 10, staring up at players like Pastrnak - whom he will attempt to chase down in the Rocket Richard race in the second half.

Let the debate begin. Here is TSN Hockey’s mid-season Top 50 ranking for 2019-20: (For details and more go to TSN.ca)

1. Connor McDavid 
2. Nathan MacKinnon
3. David Pastrnak 
4. Leon Draisaitl 
5. Artemi Panarin
6. Jack Eichel 
7. Auston Matthews
8. John Carlson 
9. Brad Marchand
10. Alex Ovechkin
11. Evgeni Malkin
12. Jonathan Huberdeau
13. Patrick Kane 
14. Roman Josi 
15. Nikita Kucherov
16. Mark Scheifele 
17. Aleksander Barkov
18. Mitch Marner
19. Victor Hedman 
20. Elias Pettersson
21. Steven Stamkos
22. Sidney Crosby
23. Connor Hellebuyck 
24. Alex Pietrangelo 
25. Dougie Hamilton
26. Patrice Bergeron 
27. Kyle Connor 
28. Brayden Point
29. Cale Makar 
30. David Perron
31. Mark Stone
32. Sebastian Aho
33. Bryan Rust
34. Max Pacioretty 
35. Jake Guentzel 
36. Mikko Rantanen
37. Ryan O'Reilly 
38. Andrei Svechnikov  
39. Mika Zibanejad
40. Ben Bishop 
41. JT Miller
42. Tristan Jarry 
43. John Tavares
44. Shea Weber
45. Andrei Vasilevskiy 
46. Darcy Kuemper
47. Patrik Laine
48. Brock Boeser
49. Jordan Binnington 
50. Teuvo Teravainen