The Golden Knights' Mark Stone, Ducks' Leo Carlsson and Rangers' Adam Fox are listed between 61st and 70th on The Hockey News' top 100 players ranking.
Mark Stone has a chance to win the second Stanley Cup championship of his NHL career.
The 34-year-old missed Games 1 and 2 of the Western Conference final but was on the scoresheet in Games 3 and 4 as the Vegas Golden Knights swept the Colorado Avalanche.
Stone has 95 points in 123 career playoff games. And although he hasn't played more than 66 games in a season since 2016-17, he's still proving he's one of the top 100 NHL players.
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 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: 61 To 70
70. Cutter Gauthier, LW, Anaheim Ducks
Age: 22
Last Year: Not Ranked
69. Shea Theodore, D, Vegas Golden Knights
Age: 30
Last Year: 52
68. Leo Carlsson, C, Anaheim Ducks
Age: 21
Last Year: Not Ranked
The Ducks' early "load-management" approach with Carlsson raised eyebrows. But three years in, his development path is yielding superb dividends. He's bounced back impressively following the thigh surgery that kept him out of the Olympics. He led the Ducks in points per game while setting career highs across the board.
67. Mark Stone, RW, Vegas Golden Knights
Age: 34
Last Year: 71
66. Devon Toews, D, Colorado Avalanche
Age: 32
Last Year: 49
Toews is so much more than Makar's partner in crime, and nothing highlights Toews' importance to the Avalanche's success more than his January absence. Colorado had lost nine times in 40 games before Toews fell injured, then proceeded to lose eight of 13 games while he was on the shelf.
65. Alex DeBrincat, LW, Detroit Red Wings
Age: 28
Last Year: 72
64. Adam Fox, D, New York Rangers
Age: 28
Last Year: 40
The idea Fox isn't still an elite offensive D-man is bizarre. On a bad Rangers team, he rocked a 55 percent Corsi rating at all strengths (best on the squad), and New York was outscoring opponents by a wide margin when he was on the ice in 5-on-5 situations. Injuries hurt his totals, but he still averaged a point per game.
63. Clayton Keller, LW, Utah Mammoth
Age: 27
Last Year: 47
62. Jackson LaCombe, D, Anaheim Ducks
Age: 25
Last Year: Not Ranked
61. Brandon Hagel, LW, Tampa Bay Lightning
Age: 27
Last Year: 50
Undrafted in the WHL and a sixth-round pick in the NHL, Hagel has willed himself into being a crucial all-zones player who has a soft scoring touch and a surprising physical game. But Hagel's worth is in his ability to play anywhere in the lineup and on either special-teams unit.
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.