Sportsnet Insiders’ top 50 boosts Celebrini and underlines centre dominance

With the 2026-27 NHL season fast approaching, Sportsnet’s Insiders have unveiled their latest ranking of the league’s top 50 players, and the new list offers a clear snapshot of who drives the game right now. Connor McDavid once again holds the No. 1 spot, joined near the top by Nathan MacKinnon, Nikita Kucherov and Leon Draisaitl in a familiar elite tier.

The most eye-catching change comes from San Jose. Sharks captain Macklin Celebrini rockets up the board to No. 4 after sitting 43rd a year ago, representing the biggest jump of any player between the 2025 and 2026 lists. At the other end of the spectrum, Winnipeg Jets winger Kyle Connor takes the steepest fall, dropping from 15th to 44th.

Lightning depth stands out, Stars close behind

Team-wise, the Tampa Bay Lightning are the most heavily represented club, placing five players in the top 50. Kucherov leads that group at No. 3, followed by goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (27th), Brandon Hagel (40th), Brayden Point (41st) and Jake Guentzel (46th). The Dallas Stars rank second with four names on the list: Mikko Rantanen (17th), Jason Robertson (21st), Miro Heiskanen (22nd) and Wyatt Johnston (36th).

Five other teams land three players apiece: the Edmonton Oilers, Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild, Florida Panthers and Montreal Canadiens. While Tampa Bay wins on volume, Edmonton and Colorado shine at the very top, each with two players inside the top 10. The Oilers are represented there by McDavid (1st) and Draisaitl (5th), while Colorado counters with MacKinnon (2nd) and Cale Makar (6th).

Looking at the top half of the ranking, Minnesota and Dallas stand out for high-end depth. The Wild have Quinn Hughes, Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy all inside the top 25, and the Stars match that with Rantanen, Robertson and Heiskanen in the same range.

Centres drive the top 10 as goalies lag

The positional breakdown of the top 10 reinforces how central the pivot role remains in today’s NHL. Four full-time centres crack that tier — McDavid, MacKinnon, Celebrini and Jack Eichel — plus Draisaitl, who alternates between centre and wing. They are joined by two right wingers, Kucherov and David Pastrnak, and three defencemen in Makar, Hughes and Zach Werenski.

Goaltenders sit noticeably lower. Vasilevskiy, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, is the highest-ranked netminder at No. 27, followed by Connor Hellebuyck (28th), Igor Shesterkin (35th) and Ilya Sorokin (39th). In last year’s edition, Hellebuyck was the top goalie at No. 24, coming off a season that earned him both the Hart and Vezina trophies, and he was joined by four other goaltenders on the list.

Strong consensus at the top, debates at the fringes

The voting patterns also reveal how much agreement there is among Sportsnet’s Insiders. The top 19 players in the final ranking appeared on every single ballot submitted. That unanimous group features McDavid, MacKinnon, Kucherov, Celebrini, Draisaitl, Makar, Hughes, Pastrnak, Eichel, Werenski, Kaprizov, Aleksander Barkov, Sidney Crosby, Nick Suzuki, Auston Matthews, Rasmus Dahlin, Rantanen and Mitch Marner.

Further down, the picture gets more divisive. Thirteen players were listed by only one Insider each, indicating more disagreement around the cutoff of the top 50. That list of one-off selections includes Bo Horvat, goalie Jesper Wallstedt, Mika Zibanejad, Alex DeBrincat, Zach Hyman, Alex Ovechkin, Jesper Bratt, Filip Forsberg, Lucas Raymond, Shea Theodore, Devon Toews, Roman Josi and Victor Hedman.

On the outside looking in, Sam Reinhart lands at No. 51 as the highest-ranked player to miss the cut, ahead of a group slotted 52 through 60 that also narrowly fell short. Altogether, the trends underscore an NHL landscape still driven by elite centres and a handful of deep, star-laden contenders.