Ranking the NHL's Top 25 Players for 2023-24
If there's something we love to do here at Bleacher Report, it's rank things. Players, teams, jerseys, logos...you name it, we want to rank something No. 1 and contribute to as many arguments online and in sports bars as possible. That's why today we're going for the gusto--we're ranking out the top 25 players in the NHL for this season.
"But Joe, how in the heck are you going to do that?! We're barely a tenth of the way into the season!"
We've got a method to our madness, and that's why the players' established history will play a major role in how we do this. Just like your favorite players trying to get out of a slump, we're going to do our best to not overthink this and go to the net.
The other thing we're not going to do here is break it down by position and potentially leave out top-25 worthy players because they could be behind five other centers or defensemen or wingers.
These rankings are about being the best, period, and the ultimate say-so on this is whether you'd want this player on your team no matter what. If there was no salary cap, these are the 25 guys you'd be screaming at your team's GM to add right away. Disagree with this? Meet us in the comments.
25-21: Hintz, Point, Kaprizov, Fox and Ullmark
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25. Roope Hintz, Center, Dallas Stars
With the number of really great players around the league, Hintz's selection here might surprise you, but if you look at how he and Jason Robertson have helped elevate the Stars into a Stanley Cup contender, it really isn't much of a surprise at all.
Hintz has gone from being a steady contributor in the middle of the lineup to a first-line force over the past couple of seasons (147 points with 74 goals the past two seasons combined), but his consistency and dominance up the middle have made him an irreplaceable fixture for the Stars.
24. Brayden Point, Center, Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning have been one of the most dominant teams in the NHL over the past five years, and a major reason they've been able to do that is the playmaking of Point. Since he entered the NHL during the 2016-2017 season, he's put up nearly 500 points and helped lead Tampa Bay to two consecutive Stanley Cup victories and three straight Cup Finals.
Although they didn't make it that deep last season, Point had a career year with 51 goals and 95 points to show that he's just really getting his career rolling in his mid-20s. On a team that's loaded with talent elsewhere in the lineup, it's Point who's become the steadiest and most dangerous player up front.
23. Kirill Kaprizov, Forward, Minnesota Wild
Since Kaprizov arrived from Russia in 2021, the Wild have been forever thankful he did. As he enters his fourth season in St. Paul, Kaprizov has amassed nearly 250 points in under 220 games played. He's scored 40 or more goals the past two seasons, including a career-high 47 two seasons ago. That year he had a career-high 108 points to highlight that he can also help set up his teammates.
Kaprizov is an electrifying skater with breathtaking skill and agility that's helped separate him from much of the pack in the NHL. If there's a reason to be disappointed in him, it's that he didn't come to the NHL sooner out of the KHL, but that's neither here nor there now. That he's helped make the Wild a more difficult team to play against and worlds more fun to watch is a big credit to him.
22. Adam Fox, Defenseman, New York Rangers
With the many elite defensemen in the NHL, it takes a special one to come away with a Norris Trophy these days, and Fox did that in 2021 at age 22. His smooth skating, high hockey IQ and ability to control the puck at even strength and on the power play helped upgrade the Rangers defense in a big way when he joined them out of Harvard.
In nearly 300 games played, he's put up nearly 250 points from the blue line with more than 40 percent of that scoring coming on the power play. That could be a reason to be critical of his selection here; however, Fox's defensive play has been stellar just the same, as he has positive effects in shots attempted when he's on the ice (51.6 percent shots attempted) and never having an expected-goals-for percentage below 50 throughout his career (per Natural Stat Trick).
His dynamic ability has allowed the Rangers to lean on him heavily and turns them into Stanley Cup contenders.
21. Linus Ullmark, Goalie, Boston Bruins
Ullmark's inclusion likely comes with some controversy given his emergence as an elite puck-stopper last season en route to winning the Vezina Trophy. But his body of work, from his years backstopping some pretty rough Buffalo Sabres teams to joining the Bruins and evolving into the player he is today, shows that sometimes the biggest things a player needs to hit their potential are more games played and a much better situation in which to thrive.
Ullmark had an incredible career year last season, going 40-6-1 with league-leading marks in save percentage (.938) and goals-against average (1.89). In his three previous years, two with Buffalo and one in Boston, he went 52-30-8 with a .916 save percentage and 2.48 goals-against average. Seeing a goalie break out with a Vezina season at age 29 isn't exactly a rarity, but now that he's on a great Boston team and afforded the spotlight that comes with it, he's earned his spot in the limelight.
20-16: Stone, Marchand, McAvoy, Pettersson and Hughes
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20. Mark Stone, Forward, Vegas Golden Knights
One of the cruelest parts of Stone's injuries the past couple of years is that it's robbed us from being able to watch him be one of the elite all-around power forwards in the game. From his early seasons in Ottawa to helping the Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup last season, Stone has been a force offensively, scoring at rates year to year that hover around or exceed a point per game.
He's been a consistent 20- to 30-goal scorer in his career, and while the point totals haven't always demanded attention at the top of the leaderboards (thanks, injuries), Stone's ability to be a top-tier defender on the wing has helped set him apart from most of his peers. Most great defensive forwards play center, but like Marian Hossa, Stone has done it on the wing, driving opponents mad with his tenacious defending and physical play. That total package makes him one of the best in the league.
19. Brad Marchand, Forward, Boston Bruins
Very few wingers in the NHL can do what Marchand can and pull it off in every facet of the game. He's been and continues to be a big-time goal scorer at even strength and on the power play, but he's also proved throughout his career how adept he is at killing penalties.
His boundary-pushing methods of driving opponents out of their mind always grab the headlines across the league, but that's part of what's made him an elite player throughout his career. Yes, he's physical and occasionally crosses the line, but it's also part of the psychological game that gives him an advantage as well.
If he didn't have the numbers to back up what he's doing, it would drive any organization up a wall figuring out how to handle him. But he produces consistently and has become a leader as he's gotten older. He's the ultimate guy teams would love to have just so they don't have to play against him. Unfortunately for the rest of the league, he'll probably be a Bruin for life.
18. Charlie McAvoy, Defenseman, Boston Bruins
Even though McAvoy hasn't won a Norris Trophy yet, that's going to change if he keeps playing the position as well as he has the past few seasons. McAvoy is a top-tier all-around defender capable of leading the rush and shutting down opposing scorers all the same. His offensive numbers aren't at the top of the charts among his contemporaries, which likely leads to his being overlooked, even on his own team occasionally, but the value he's provided in playing an elite all-around game is part of the reason the Bruins have been one of the NHL's top teams the past few years.
In his career, his shot-attempt percentage at five-on-five is above 55 percent (via Hockey Reference), and his expected goals for percentage has never been below 54.9 percent at five-on-five either (via Natural Stat Trick). That's an astounding level of puck possession as well as helping teammates generate the highest quality of chances.
This isn't to say McAvoy is underrated by any stretch, but he may be underappreciated given that he plays for Boston. He's an elite player who will one day get his Norris recognition.
17. Elias Pettersson, Forward, Vancouver Canucks
It may get lost in the drama that envelops the city of Vancouver, but the way Pettersson produces offensively puts him on another planet. He's in his sixth season with the Canucks, and he's scored more than a point per game for his career (347 points in 338 games). The past two seasons have shown that while he's entering his prime, the best may be yet to come.
Pettersson is coming off a career year in which he had 39 goals and 102 points, and that came a year after he eclipsed the 30-goal barrier for the first time when he scored 32 in 2021-2022. It may feel like we've been talking about him for a long time, and yeah, six years is a fair amount of time, but now with the Canucks earning positive headlines, it's highlighting how good of a player he is and has been in what's often been a less-than great situation.
From his playmaking to his goal scoring, Pettersson is one of the best offensive talents in the league by far, and the extension he earns from Canucks management in the coming months ought to reflect that whenever it gets signed.
16. Jack Hughes, Forward, New Jersey Devils
There's no such thing as "too soon" when it comes to ranking out elite players doing elite things, but what Hughes has done in New Jersey so early in his NHL career has highlighted how special of a player he is.
Although he's earned a ton of attention this season for how he's piled up points so far, he's been doing this steadily for the past three years. Hughes had to deal with injuries in two of his first three seasons, all of which were surrounded by the COVID-19 pandemic that could've stunted his pro development.
Instead, all he's done is become one of the most dynamic point producers in the NHL. Two seasons ago he missed 33 games because of injury and had 56 points in 49 games and still managed to score 26 goals. He followed that up last season with 99 points and 43 goals to truly announce to the NHL world that he was going to be a problem for everyone else.
That this season has shown he's only gotten better tells us that he belongs among the best players in the NHL right now and that he's only going to climb the rankings in years to come.
15-11: Crosby, Hellebuyck, Rantanen, Panarin and Robertson
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15. Sidney Crosby, Center, Pittsburgh Penguins
It's kind of wild to think that one of the greatest players of all time could be overlooked, but Crosby at age 36 could be overlooked. Sure, the Penguins aren't the same team that was winning Stanley Cups, and they're in a battle to just make the postseason now, but all Crosby does is produce at a point-per-game pace like he always has throughout his career.
Crosby is one of the rare players who can still do all the things they were 10-plus years ago, albeit maybe a little bit slower, and still be better than 98 percent of the league while doing so. The way he's kept himself in top condition and how he's managed to find new ways to bend the game to his will is beyond impressive, and to watch him continue to dazzle now is just incredible. Forget about him if you want to, but when he comes away with a three-point game against your team, you'll curse him out like you always did.
14. Connor Hellebuyck, Goalie, Winnipeg Jets
Being a consistently great goaltender in the NHL is an impossible task. To be a goalie who can consistently wind up at the top of the statistics board and be a Vezina contender is truly special. That's what Hellebuyck's been able to do during his career with the Jets.
He won the Vezina in 2020 and arguably could've won it again last season had it not been for Ullmark's incredible year, but steadily through his career Hellebuyck has had to shoulder a sizable workload for Winnipeg and faced up against the most shots in the league (it happened four straight seasons from 2018-2019 to 2021-2022).
"See the puck, stop the puck" is the usual goalie mantra, but Hellebuyck has made it a way of life with the Jets in leading them to the playoffs in five of eight seasons there. A career .916 save percentage with 32 shutouts shows how well he's done in handling such a monster workload and why they had to sign him to a seven-year extension this fall.
13. Mikko Rantanen, Forward, Colorado Avalanche
It can be difficult to play in the shadow of fellow elite players, but Rantanen found a good way to get around that: Being elite himself. All Rantanen has done with Colorado is become an offensive force of nature. He's played over 500 games and is just beyond a point-per-game player in his career (531 points in 502 games).
Ever since his real breakout season in 2017-2018, Rantanen has piled up points like mad, which culminated in a career year last season in which he scored 55 goals with 105 points and wound up sixth in MVP voting. In four of the past five seasons, he's scored 30 or more goals, and he's scored 80 or more points in a season four times.
Playing alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar could make doing this a lot easier, except Rantanen did a lot of his offensive damage last season without Makar in the lineup. That he's become a player who can fill it up on his own allows Colorado to be that much more dangerous. He's an elite scorer on the power play, but last season he proved to be vastly more dangerous at even strength, a development that should have the rest of the league petrified.
12. Artemi Panarin, Forward, New York Rangers
It's rare to have the kind of talent that allows you to succeed in the brightest spotlights in the NHL, and Panarin has been able to do just that. Going from Chicago with its dynastic Stanley Cup teams to New York City where the Rangers have the pressure on them to win it all every year hasn't fazed Panarin one bit.
In three of his first four seasons with the Rangers, Panarin put up 90-plus points, and the one season he was unable to do that was the COVID-19-shortened 2020-2021 campaign in which he had 58 points in 42 games. That he put up 95 points in 69 games in 2019-2020 before the pandemic shut the season down is incredible, and he's continued his success in Manhattan.
As exciting as his goals are when he scores them, it's Panarin's role as a playmaker that truly sets him apart. He's had 50 or more assists in five of the past six seasons and had a career high 74 helpers two years ago. All that coming from a winger feels rare because wingers generally score the goals. Instead, Panarin has been a full-on offensive powerhouse in New York and showed that he's a big reason Stanley Cup dreams run wild in New York.
11. Jason Robertson, Forward, Dallas Stars
Seeing young players arrive in the NHL and establish their presence as scoring forces is always exciting, and when Dallas' Robertson did that two years ago at the age of 22, it sent notice that the Stars were going to be a problem for everyone in the West.
Robertson scored 41 goals and had 79 points (in 74 games) in 2021-2022 and even earned MVP votes when he helped get the Stars back to the playoffs after a year away from them. He followed that season last year with an even more impressive 46-goal, 109-point campaign that landed him fourth in MVP voting.
As impressive as the scoring was, his defensive game also showed through as well. Robertson's emergence as a dynamic two-way player, but particularly his ability to score goals, placed him firmly at the front of the Stars attack. On a team that's got a lot of great scorers on it, he's arguably the best of the bunch. With Robertson leading the way, Dallas will have annual Cup aspirations.
10-6: Sorokin, Saros, Marner, Draisaitl and Pastrnak
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10. Ilya Sorokin, Goalie, New York Islanders
Watching Sorokin's emergence in goal on Long Island has truly been remarkable. Although he arrived from Russia with an impressive résumé already in hand, it didn't take Sorokin long to show Islanders fans that the hype he came over with wasn't just real, it probably wasn't enough hype to articulate the kind of keeper he is.
Now in his fourth season, Sorokin's put up 17 shutouts and has a career .923 save percentage over 144 games. Numbers like these are staggering and the kind of thing we got used to seeing from goalies back when goals were harder to score around the league.
Now that offenses are a bit more prolific, Sorokin stymieing shooters the way he has is nothing short of incredible. He's the Isles' No. 1 goalie now and for the foreseeable future, and having that position locked down with a player of Sorokin's caliber makes being GM or coach a lot less stressful knowing they've got one of the best in net.
9. Juuse Saros, Goalie, Nashville Predators
What's impressive about Saros' rise in Nashville is that he's accomplished it in the wake of legendary Predators goalie Pekka Rinne retiring. It would've been difficult for a lot of players to have to try to step out from Rinne's shadow, but what Saros has done since taking over the starting job is beyond impressive.
He went from being one of the best backups in the NHL to being an elite-level starter like it was nothing. Over his career, he's posted a .919 save percentage and has 21 shutouts in just under 300 games played. In the past three years, he's finished sixth, third and fourth in Vezina voting, and last season may have been his best performance yet .
He carried the Predators back into the playoff race after they'd lost multiple key players to injury and trades, going 33-23-7 with a .919 save percentage while playing the most minutes and facing the most shots against in the league. At 28 years old and how the goalie aging scale is skewed a bit older, it's hard not to think Saros is just getting started as one of the best in the league.
8. Mitch Marner, Forward, Toronto Maple Leafs
Every player who dons the blue and white in Toronto faces a metric ton of scrutiny, but few Maple Leafs players have faced it the way Marner has. And yet, all he has done is become one of the elite scorers in the NHL as well as an outstanding defender.
His career scoring rate is 1.1 points per game, and over the past two seasons he's developed more of a goal-scoring touch to go with his elite playmaking. He's put up 90-plus points in three of the past five seasons and even in the pandemic-affected seasons, he piled up points like mad with 67 in both 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. That he's scored 65 goals the past two seasons shows he's learning to trust his shot more, and when sharing a line with Auston Matthews, it can be tough to get shots in the first place because he's also filling the net.
But Marner evolving into an outstanding two-way player is the kind of development that helps separate him from most others in the league. After all, 90-point guys who can also be trusted to shut down other top scorers are rare, and that's why he's one of the best in the NHL.
7. Leon Draisaitl, Forward, Edmonton Oilers
There's nothing people love more than goals, and there's nothing that Draisaitl excels at more than scoring and creating goals. The Oilers having two elite level offensive weapons is often seemingly unfair, but what Draisaitl does on the power play to make it such a game-crushing moment for opponents to take a penalty against them is out of this world.
Draisaitl scored 107 goals the past two seasons, and 56 of them came on the power play, including an astounding 32 with the extra man last season. That he scored so many goals disproportionately compared to his even-strength output (19) is wild unto itself, but it's not as if Draisaitl is a power-play-only weapon. Four times in his career he's scored 100 or more points and had a career high 128 last season and trailed only his teammate Connor McDavid in the scoring race.
Offensive forces like Draisaitl are rarer than rare, even in the current high-scoring NHL.
6. David Pastrnak, Forward, Boston Bruins
Speaking of goal scorers, Pastrnak has made putting the puck in the net an art form in Boston. Going back to 2016-2017, he has been the goal-scoring dynamo the Bruins needed.
In six of the past seven seasons, Pastrnak has scored 34 or more goals, twice scoring 40-plus. Last season he set a career high with 61 goals and finished second only to McDavid (64) for the Rocket Richard Trophy.
Pastrnak was second in MVP voting last season as well, as his goal-scoring prowess helped lead the Bruins to the Presidents' Trophy. Pure goal scorers like Pastrnak are special talents, and even though he fills the net plenty by himself, he's also adept at helping his teammates score as well, as was highlighted by his 119-point season a year ago. Teams just don't have players like him laying around ready to slot into the lineup, and Pastrnak special ability to score goals consistently and in bunches is what makes him stand out among the rest in the league.
5-1: Makar, Tkachuk, MacKinnon, Matthews and McDavid
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5. Cale Makar, Defenseman, Colorado Avalanche
It says something about how good Makar is that it was controversial he finished third in Norris voting last season despite missing 22 games because of injury. Of course, the body of work he put into the 60 games he played—in which he had 17 goals and 66 points—did most of the heavy lifting there, but it shows the immense respect he's earned since entering the league in the 2019 playoffs.
In his first 250 games in the league he's put up 261 points. Two seasons ago he had 28 goals and 86 points on the way to winning his first Norris Trophy. He also won the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs as he helped the Avalanche win the Stanley Cup.
It's remarkable what he's done in such a short time, and how a player of his skill and ability has completely altered how teams and coaching staffs view play from the blue line. So many more teams are more aggressive with their defensemen in the offensive zone because they want to find a way to emulate what Makar has done for Colorado. The big catch there being those teams don't have Makar.
4. Matthew Tkachuk, Forward, Florida Panthers
Tkachuk would've landed in the top 25 based on his offensive credentials alone, but what puts him in the top five is everything else he does. From the physical nature of his game to how he fires up his teammates by crashing the net or taking on an opponent's big-time player, Tkachuk is a difference-maker all over the ice.
In each of the past two seasons he's scored over 100 points, and three times he's scored 30 or more goals. The last two times he did it, he scored 40-plus. He's a throwback player, and it's clear he followed in his father Keith's footsteps with the way he plays around the net, using his body and fearlessness to get after pucks and opponents equally.
That he helped lead the Panthers to the Stanley Cup Final a year ago highlights everything he means to the team and who he is as a player. Love him or hate him, he's an elite talent.
3. Nathan MacKinnon, Center, Colorado Avalanche
It can be oddly easy to forget about MacKinnon sometimes, and that's really weird to say about one of the best players in the league. Over the past six seasons, MacKinnon has put up 553 points in 409 games. He's one of the fastest skaters in the league, and he plays the game with the kind of competitive edge that makes coaches get wistful.
MacKinnon's ability to make plays and score goals elevate not only himself among his peers but it helps bring his teammates up to his level as well. Watching MacKinnon use his speed to slice through defenses to get to the net or find an open teammate for a shot is breathtaking much in the same way watching him dig in around the net and use his body to force opponents out of the way is inspiring.
MacKinnon is the modern ideal of what it means to be in the NHL with his all-around skill set.
2. Auston Matthews, Center, Toronto Maple Leafs
It's hard to not be awed by the way Matthews plays the game, which has made it so baffling to see Toronto struggle so much in the postseason. Matthews is a goal-scoring phenomenon who, when healthy, is arguably the most unstoppable player in the NHL.
With his size, speed and skill set, he's capable of snapping shots past goalies from anywhere on the ice as well as able to dig in around the net for loose pucks and as tip shots from defensemen past opposing goalies.
Matthews has never scored fewer than 34 goals in a season in his career, pandemic-shortened or not. Four times he's scored 40-plus, and two seasons ago he led the NHL with 60 goals. In the COVID-shortened 2020-2021 campaign, he scored an astounding 41 goals in 52 games to win the Rocket Richard. All he's done his entire career is pile up goals and points, and now that he's 26 years old, it feels like we're about to witness his best years.
1. Connor McDavid, Center, Edmonton Oilers
Who else was going to be No. 1?
McDavid is a truly generational talent in a time when that phrase gets broken out a bit too often. He's one of two (and potentially three) players whom the hype was justified upon them entering the NHL. For his career, he's scored at a rate of nearly 1.5 points per game. He's a three-time MVP already at 26 years old, and six times in his first eight seasons he scored 100 or more points and fell three points short of doing it in the COVID-shortened 2019-2020 campaign. Injury prevented him from racking up points his rookie season (and also prevented him from winning the Calder).
The seemingly effortless way he's able to skate past everyone on the ice to create chances and score goals is breathtaking and makes him a one-of-one player who can do such things. Taking a penalty against the Oilers with McDavid on the ice is a virtually automatic goal allowed, this year's struggles notwithstanding.
What's incredible still is that with the game opening up more of the last couple years, we're only seeing McDavid's ability to take over games grow stronger. That he set career highs in goals (64) and points (153) last season is mind-bending, and it's incredible to think he could do even more. He's the best in a league with a ton of elite talent, and how he's able to do it puts him in his own universe.
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