The Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews, Senators' Brady Tkachuk and Blackhawks' Connor Bedard are listed between 21st and 30th on The Hockey News' top 100 NHL players ranking following the regular season.
Aside from the Olympic gold medal, it's hard to fathom how Auston Matthews' 2025-26 season could have gone any worse than it did.
Long periods of ineffectiveness and injury have a lot of people questioning whether the Toronto Maple Leafs captain is still an elite offensive producer. He's a Selke-worthy player, but he's paid to score.
Matthews now sits between 21st and 30th among the top 100 NHL players right now.
The Hockey News' top 100 NHLers 2026 print edition was published right before the playoffs. We're rolling out the list that appeared in the magazine online.
Catch up on the players ranked 31st to 40th, 41st to 50th, 51st to 60th, 61st to 70th, 71st to 80th, 81st to 90th and 91st to 100th, and keep reading to learn the criteria for the list.
Check out the entire list now with bios on each and every player by subscribing to The Hockey News. The bios were written by Ryan Kennedy, Ken Campbell, Jared Clinton and Carol Schram.
Top 100 NHL Players: 21 To 30
30. Logan Thompson, G, Washington Capitals
Age: 29
Last Year: 22
In a season where not much was expected of the Capitals, Thompson kept the team afloat on many a night. He led the league in goals saved above expected, which means he will get some Vezina-voting love, even if he wasn't a finalist. His is one of the better diamond-in-the-rough stories from the past few years.
29. Mark Scheifele, C, Winnipeg Jets
Age: 33
Last Year: 27
28. Matt Boldy, LW, Minnesota Wild
Age: 25
Last Year: 82
By February, Boldy had set a new career-best goal total. He then reached a career-high point output in mid-March. He lacks the flash of Kirill Kaprizov, but give Boldy credit for his heart-and-soul credentials: he was among a select few NHLers with 40-plus goals, 50-plus hits and 50-plus blocks this season.
27. Auston Matthews, C, Toronto Maple Leafs
Age: 28
Last Year: 9
26. Lane Hutson, D, Montreal Canadiens
Age: 22
Last Year: 100
25. Jack Hughes, C, New Jersey Devils
Age: 25
Last Year: 32
Hughes clinched American folk-hero status with the golden goal in Milan, but he would no doubt have loved a Stanley Cup playoff berth, too. When healthy, Hughes is a fast, super-skilled center with a great competitive edge to his game. Devils fans are hoping for an injury-free 2026-27 so he can really soar.
24. Brady Tkachuk, LW, Ottawa Senators
Age: 26
Last Year: 34
There was a time when Tkachuk was a powder keg waiting to explode, but his game and demeanor have matured. The edge he brings to the game has not dulled, however. He’s more than just a sneering face. His puck skills and ability to play with finesse in tight quarters have made him a consistent 30-goal man when healthy.
23. Charlie McAvoy, D, Boston Bruins
Age: 28
Last Year: 30
22. Ilya Sorokin, G, New York Islanders
Age: 30
Last Year: Not Ranked
21. Connor Bedard, C, Chicago Blackhawks
Age: 20
Last Year: 84
Before a mid-December injury sidelined him for a month, Bedard was in the thick of the Art Ross race, only nine points off the league lead in scoring. He can singlehandedly spark the Blackhawks' offense, and with reinforcements arriving, it seems only a matter of time before Bedard has his definitive breakout season.
Criteria
- The greatest emphasis was put on how they're playing this season, with a smaller emphasis placed on how they played the previous year (2024-25). There was also slight consideration for how they played two or three seasons prior to that. We structured it this way because we didn't want any one-year wonders making the list. Moreover, sometimes star players can have a down year.
- We attempted to construct the top 100 to reflect a 20-man lineup, where 12 players are forwards, six are defensemen and two are goalies. So an evenly distributed top 100 should have 60 forwards, 30 D-men and 10 goalies. We aimed to keep that structure consistent within every group of 10 or 20.
- We don't forecast a young player's bright future. If they were excellent this year, they made the list. If they were just very good but showed exceptional promise for the future, they likely didn't make this year's list.
- At the other end of the age spectrum, we're not concerned if a player is nearing the end of his career. If they were a standout this year, they made the list. See Sidney Crosby.
- We don't consider a player's career achievements for a list about the here and now. Crosby and Alex Ovechkin are top 10 players in the history of the game. But they're not top 10 players this season.
- A player's salary was not taken into account, and we made no attempt to include at least one player from each of the NHL's 32 teams.
We count down the very best the NHL has to offer in our 2026 edition of the top 100 players, available to purchase as a single issue or for free when you subscribe to The Hockey News today.
Also in the issue: we examine the effectiveness of unusual training methods, look back at the Americans' win at the Paralympics, explore the Extreme Ice Hockey League and learn more about inline hockey being played outside of the White House.
Plus, you'll find features on Connor McDavid, Macklin Celebrini, Martin Necas, Thomas Harley, Tim Stutzle, Tom Wilson, Travis Konecny, Nick Schmaltz, Darren Raddysh and much more.