Browsing: NHLs

Ahead of the 2025-26 campaign, weâ€re breaking down the leagueâ€s most prolific game-changers, the ones most likely to swing things in their teamâ€s favour by the new seasonâ€s end.

To do that, we turned to our Sportsnet Insiders for their insight, asking them to rank the top 50 players in the NHL right now. Not the top scorers or the top defenders, the top two-way talents or the top netminders — simply the gameâ€s best at this moment, across all positions and all skill-sets.

There was only one rule: As with last yearâ€s list, this ranking is forward-looking. It doesnâ€t factor in legacy or past performance, it considers only how the leagueâ€s best are expected to stack up against each other in 2025-26.

The overall ranking below is an amalgam of the Top 50 lists from Insiders across the network. For each individual list, players were assigned points based on how high they finished in that particular ranking — the higher they ranked on an Insiderâ€s list, the more points they accrued.

Each playerâ€s position on the overall ranking is a result of how many total points they collected across all of our Insiders†lists.

With that, here is Sportsnetâ€s ranking of the Top 50 Players in the NHL, continuing with Nos. 30-21.

Itâ€s been a meteoric ascent for Brandon Hagel. Rewind half a decade to his days in Chicago, and the Saskatoon product seemed a dutiful depth contributor, good for 20 goals and 40 points. Then came the move to Tampa Bay and Hagelâ€s evolution into one of the most lethal scorers in the game. The 27-year-old enters the new season fresh off a career-best 35-goal, 90-point campaign. But perhaps the most impressive aspect of Hagelâ€s game is how much damage he does when the ice isnâ€t tilted in his favour. At even-strength, he amassed the fifth-most points in the league last season. The only NHLers to collect more? David Pastrnak, Nathan MacKinnon, Nikita Kucherov, and Leon Draisaitl. Not bad company. An elite scorer who earns Selke Trophy votes every year, Hagel announced himself to the wider hockey world with his sterling performance for Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Heâ€s a good bet to be back in red-and-white as Canada vies for hardware in 2026, and will be a key part of the Bolts†pursuit of a trophy, too.

With each passing year, the trade that sent Nick Suzuki to Montreal looks like more of a steal for the Canadiens. The young pivot has raised his level every season heâ€s worn a Canadiens sweater, and the 2024-25 campaign was no exception. Potting a career-best 89 points while reaching the 30-goal plateau for the second time, Suzuki was the catalyst that fuelled Montrealâ€s return to the playoffs for the first time in four years. But beyond his offensive production, itâ€s the totality of Suzukiâ€s game thatâ€s allowed the rebuilding Canadiens to find tangible progress — the 26-year-old has established himself as a premier two-way talent in the game, taking on more defensive responsibilities than most elite scorers with the type of offensive gifts he possesses. Only just entering his prime, thereâ€s plenty more to give for the young Habs captain, and his recent history suggests 2025-26 will bring yet another step forward.

If you want a sense of the tumult Rasmus Dahlin has navigated in Buffalo over his seven years in the league, just go back and take a gander at the squad he debuted with. Only one other member of that roster remains in a Sabres sweater. And yet, even amid an ever-changing locker room and with four different head coaches manning the Buffalo bench, Dahlin has still managed to deliver on the expectations placed on him when he was tabbed with the No. 1 pick back in 2018. After two sterling campaigns — a 73-point effort in 2022-23 and 20 goals in 2023-24 — Dahlin kept pace and collected 17 goals and 68 points in 73 games last season. The 25-year-old has become one of the most prolific blue-line scorers in the game. Case in point: over the past three seasons, only Cale Makar has amassed more goals than the 53 Dahlinâ€s posted. His 68 points last season ranked fourth overall among blue-liners, the only three in front of him being the trio nominated for the Norris Trophy (Makar, Quinn Hughes and Zach Werenski). As Buffalo remains in search of stability and a path back to the playoffs, the only certainty is that Dahlinâ€s continued growth will be crucial to both.

Much was made of the potential heights Igor Shesterkinâ€s new contract would hit when the goaltender was waiting to ink a new deal. And the predictions were correct: Midway through 2024-25, he put pen to paper on the most lucrative pact a goaltenderâ€s ever received — eight years, $92 million, with an average annual value of $11.5 million. Then the former Vezina Trophy winner and Hart Trophy nominee put up some of the worst numbers of his career. To be fair, youâ€d be hard-pressed to pin the New York Rangers†troubles on Shesterkin alone. The clubâ€s lacklustre defence didnâ€t offer him much help and there were issues in all corners of the lineup. And while the 29-year-old finished with the worst save percentage of his career — .905, a far cry from the .935 he posted in his Vezina year — a deeper look at the numbers is more forgiving to Shesterkin, MoneyPuck ranking him seventh league-wide when it came to Goals Saved Above Expected. Still, entering the 2025-26 campaign as the highest-paid goalie in the game, and one of the highest-paid players in the league overall, the onus will be on Shesterkin to find success regardless of how the group in front of him performs.

Injuries robbed us of the chance to see Miro Heiskanen at his best in 2024-25, the smooth-skating defender missing a third of the season while recovering from a knee injury. But it also proved just how essential Heiskanen is to the Dallas Stars†cause. While the club remained among the leagueâ€s best overall after their star defender was sidelined in late January, collecting the seventh-most points in that span largely on the back of their sterling offence, they also became one of the leagueâ€s most porous defensive groups. Heiskanen returned by the end of the year, jumping back into the fray in Game 4 of the second round and making his presence known, but it was a tumultuous campaign overall for the rearguard. Now, the 26-year-old heads into the new season healthy and ready to reclaim his place as one of the best defencemen in the game. And with Thomas Harley emerging as a viable No. 1 option in his absence, Heiskanen should have some help carrying the blue-line load for Dallas this season.

The injury bug came for Matthew Tkachuk last season, too. After two dominant seasons in Florida, and a Stanley Cup banner hung in 2024, Tkachukâ€s 2024-25 campaign was derailed when he was injured playing for Team USA during the 4 Nations Face-Off. The Panthers†skilled agitator was sidelined from late February through to the end of the season. Then he returned for Game 1 of the first round, put up two goals and an assist in that playoff opener, and went on to produce at a point-per-game pace as Florida claimed its second-straight title. Even if heâ€s not operating at 100 per cent, Tkachuk remains an essential piece of the Panthers†identity, and the former Calgary Flame has been pivotal in guiding the Cats to the first two championships in franchise history. Now navigating recovery from off-season surgery, Tkachuk is expected to miss the first two months of the season, leaving his 2025-26 performance up in the air. The hope for the Panthers is that the star winger can once again hit the ground running when he returns, as they hunt for the elusive three-peat.

Like much the rest of the New York Rangers†squad, it was middling campaign for Artemi Panarin in 2024-25. The 33-year-old still put up 37 goals and 89 points, but after a 49-goal, 120-point effort a year prior that had him in the Hart Trophy conversation, it seemed a step backwards — particularly given it came as his Rangers stumbled and fell out of the playoff race. While he’ll no doubt be expected to recover his top form in 2025-26, thereâ€s also the matter of what happens with the wingerâ€s contract situation. Panarin joined the Blueshirts back in 2019 on a hefty seven-year, $81.5-million deal, his $11.6-million AAV making him one of the highest-paid players in the league throughout his Rangers tenure. Four seasons above 90 points, including that 120-point breakout, suggest heâ€s made good on that price tag. But now, heading into the final year of that deal, with Panarin approaching age 34, the Rangers are reportedly less willing to shell out top dollar this time around, putting even more pressure on the winger to perform in 2025-26.

It was an interesting season for Brady Tkachuk. In one sense, the campaign saw the Ottawa Senators captainâ€s production take a step back — after a 37-goal, 74-point effort in 2023-24, Tkachuk put up 29 goals and 55 points last season as he navigated injuries. On the other hand, the 2024-25 campaign seemed like the first year we truly got to see what the younger Tkachuk is all about. First came the 4 Nations Face-Off, where the 26-year-old had an undeniable impact with three goals in four games for Team USA, despite picking up a hip injury. Then came a long-awaited return to the post-season for his Senators, ending a seven-year playoff drought. Sidelined for two weeks with an upper-body injury right before the post-season began, Tkachuk returned in time to reclaim his place as the Sens†emotional compass, guiding Ottawa through a rollercoaster Round 1 series with the rival Toronto Maple Leafs and putting up a team-leading four goals and seven points through the six-game bout. Fresh off receiving Hart Trophy votes for the first time in his career, all eyes will be on just how much Tkachuk can raise his level in 2025-26, and how far he can push the young Sens.

Even Father Time cannot seem to get the better of the steady, unflappable Victor Hedman. At 34, the veteran Tampa Bay Lightning defender remains one of the gameâ€s best. Playing his first season as the Bolts captain in 2024-25, following the departure of Steven Stamkos, Hedman produced the fourth-most points of his decade-and-a-half-long career, posting 15 goals and 66 points from the Lightningâ€s blue line. That sum was good for sixth-best among all NHL defenders, Hedman keeping pace with the young high-flyers now dominating his position. The campaign also marked the 10th straight season the Bolts icon received Norris Trophy votes, Hedman finishing fifth overall in the race. Over that decade-long span, no big-league blue-liner has amassed more points than Hedmanâ€s 612. And given what he did last year, thereâ€s little doubt the two-time champ will continue to be a force from the backend in 2025-26 as his Bolts look to find a path back to the playoffs†latter rounds.

Thereâ€s little else you couldâ€ve asked of Zach Werenski this past season. Beginning the campaign under incredibly difficult circumstances, he and his teammates forced to navigate the loss of a beloved teammate, the Columbus Blue Jackets defenceman put his team on his back and produced the most prolific season of his career — and perhaps one of the greatest campaigns from a Blue Jacket in the franchiseâ€s history. The 27-year-old collected 23 goals and 82 points by the yearâ€s end, finishing second only to Cale Makar in both categories among all NHL rearguards. Werenski finished second to the Colorado blue-liner in Norris Trophy voting too, beating out the likes of Hedman, Quinn Hughes, and Josh Morrissey. But the Blue Jackets leaderâ€s performance is even more impressive when you take into account the team around him; the lack of all-world scorers to feed off on the man-advantage. In fact, at even-strength, Werenski was the most productive defenceman in the league last season, pacing the rest of the pack with 17 goals and tying Makar with 54 points, while finishing near the top of the league in game-winning goals and overtime winners, too. Leading the Blue Jackets to within a stoneâ€s throw of a playoff berth last season, the goal for 2025-26 is surely a repeat performance, a few more points earned, and an end to the Jackets†post-season drought.

Check back Thursday for Nos. 20-11.