How The Hockey News Built Its 2026 NHL Top 100

Pavel Dorofeyev, a 2019 third-round pick, sits at No. 91 after ranking among the NHL’s top 20 goal-scorers the past two seasons.

Strict Season Focus Over Legacy

The ranking places heaviest weight on 2025-26 results and lighter weight on 2024-25 play. Only slight consideration goes to seasons before that. This structure prevents one-year wonders from cracking the list while still recognizing established stars who delivered again this year.

Roughly 700 NHL players exist at any time. The top 100 therefore represent the top 14 percent. Thirty additional players were evaluated but fell short, leaving room for movement in future editions.

Salary figures and team representation quotas played no role. A player nearing retirement can still rank if his 2025-26 output warrants it, as seen with veterans like Erik Karlsson at No. 98.

Positional Quotas Shape Every Tier

The list mirrors a 20-man lineup: 12 forwards, six defensemen and two goalies. Scaled across 100 spots, that produces an ideal 60 forwards, 30 defensemen and 10 goalies. Every group of 10 or 20 maintains close to those ratios.

Ranks 91-100 illustrate the balance. Defensemen occupy three spots (Darren Raddysh at 100, Seth Jones at 99, Erik Karlsson at 98, Ivan Provorov at 95). Forwards fill five (Alex Tuch 97, Matthew Knies 96, Juraj Slafkovsky 94, Nick Schmaltz 93, Pavel Dorofeyev 91). Goalies claim one (Lukas Dostal at 92).

Raddysh, 30, reached the NHL full-time only after years of minor-league work. His strong 2025-26 campaign earned the final spot. Dorofeyev, 25, has posted elite shooting percentages without defensive lapses.

Youth and Experience Side by Side

Ages in the bottom 10 range from 22 (Juraj Slafkovsky) to 35 (Erik Karlsson). Matthew Knies at 23 and Lukas Dostal at 25 show that current production, not draft pedigree or projected ceiling, determines inclusion.

Provorov, 29, logs nearly 25 minutes per game for Columbus and contributes to positive five-on-five goal differentials. Tuch, 30, combines scoring and playmaking while anchoring the Sabres’ two-way game.

The methodology explicitly rejects forecasting. Players who were merely very good with bright futures stayed off the list if their 2025-26 numbers did not reach the threshold.