The Senators' Jake Sanderson, Red Wings' Dylan Larkin and Jets' Kyle Connor are listed between 51st and 60th on The Hockey News' top 100 players ranking.
Five Olympic gold medallists on Team USA rank between 51st and 60th on The Hockey News' top 100 NHL players list.
Jake Oettinger, Jake Sanderson, Dylan Larkin, Kyle Connor and Brock Faber won gold in Milan and were elite NHL players once again this season.
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 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: 51 To 60
60. Brock Faber, D, Minnesota Wild
Age: 23
Last Year: 73
Offense drives the Norris discussion, and Faber notched career-best goal and point totals, but his value exists not in what appears on the scoresheet but what is absent from it: the opposition. His eight-year, $68-million contract is already a steal, and he's only completed the first season of the pact.
59. Nico Hischier, C, New Jersey Devils
Age: 27
Last Year: 67
58. Roman Josi, D, Nashville Predators
Age: 35
Last Year: 31
Roman Josi has established himself as the type of consistent defenseman you can set your watch to. And just maybe that timepiece will be from the company he owns along with an old friend and a new 'Kid.' - Read more
57. Kyle Connor, LW, Winnipeg Jets
Age: 29
Last Year: 38
56. Dylan Larkin, C, Detroit Red Wings
Age: 29
Last Year: 53
55. Sam Reinhart, RW, Florida Panthers
Age: 30
Last Year: 25
54. Jake Sanderson, D, Ottawa Senators
Age: 23
Last Year: 88
Sanderson is easily the best Senators defenseman since Erik Karlsson. Sanderson resembles Karlsson in many respects, namely skating, puckhandling, hockey IQ and a penchant for being a one-man breakout. Even when Ottawa was struggling early in the season, Sanderson was one of the bright spots.
53. Wyatt Johnston, C, Dallas Stars
Age: 23
Last Year: 63
52. Jakob Chychrun, D, Washington Capitals
Age: 28
Last Year: 95
51. Jake Oettinger, G, Dallas Stars
Age: 27
Last Year: 51
'Otter' has helped the Stars author three consecutive trips to the conference final, but his success has halted there – often in shocking fashion. In fact, entering the 2026 playoffs, Oettinger had an .881 save percentage across 18 conference-final outings. No goaltender with more than five games had fared worse.
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.