The roots of the game stretch back to antiquity, as records show an early form of the sport practised 4,000 years ago in Egypt, with variations played in what is now Ethiopia (1000 BC) and Iran (2000 BC). Smith had a phenomenal season in the NCAA last year, and is set to join a San Jose Sharks team in great need of high end talent. The young trio of Macklin Celebrini, William Eklund, and Smith will give Sharks fans a really great view at the bright future the team is building, especially at forward. With Celebrini looking like the team’s future 1C, Smith will get the chance to feast on easier competition on the second line which I think will benefit him greatly. Next, select your favourite teams and leagues and we’ll show you their latest news and scores in the My Favourites section of the home page.

Logan Stankoven, C, Dallas Stars

There is still a lot of faith that he can bounce back after last season, and with his shooting and utilization of his size, there isn’t much reason to think 56 points is going to be a regular season for him. When he was drafted first overall, the offense was known to be his biggest asset, but his defensive play has become much stronger and he is now able to take control over a game at both ends of the ice. He is a bit of a hot-and-cold player with his offense, but over the course of a season, he has proven he can be relied upon for 50+ points regularly, he could even challenge the point-per-game mark soon. After a couple of dominant years in a row, Mika Zibanejad took a bit of a step back in his goal-scoring and point production last season.

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• He’s a center with a June birthday, meaning he’s one of the youngest players from the 2024 draft class, and will be just 18 years old for his entire rookie season in the NHL.
• The excitement of the 2024 NHL season has fans buzzing as they watch the incredible skill and athleticism of the league’s top players.
• Also adding to the case file was that they seduced Matthew Wood, a former 1st round pick who has been a very strong collegiate performer, to transfer from UConn.
• On top of all that, his 140 shot attempts are the most this postseason out of all skaters.
• He was off to a fantastic start and built off of the prior season’s career-high of 74 points.
• According to Money Puck, Bobrovsky has registered a .960 save percentage when facing unblocked shots throughout the postseason.
• If you’re wondering why goalies weren’t included in this ranking, that’s because we have a separate article for that position.

Many point to his ice time with McDavid as the reason, but it is clear that he is an elite talent in his own regard. With 81 playoff points over his last three seasons, Draisaitl is not only one of the best playoff producers in the NHL but one of the best in history. In the same season he was named captain of the https://gambibet.org/ Canucks, he had the best season of his career which ended by taking home the Norris Trophy. Hughes has been among the best defensemen in the league since breaking in, and with a previously established elite offensive game, the development in his defensive play over the last five years has been outstanding.

Aleksander Barkov, Florida Panthers

Yegor Surin is a hardworking, offensive player, constantly fighting through checks and winning innumerable puck battles. He was one of the MHL’s top scorers and added over 100 penalty minutes over the course of the season. He’ll surely be a fan favorite type in the NHL someday, likely as a middle-six winger or a bottom-six center. The excitement of the 2024 NHL season has fans buzzing as they watch the incredible skill and athleticism of the league’s top players.

Aleksander Barkov, C, Panthers

With major changes looming over the Leafs’ roster, Rielly is one of the few that can be marked safe. He has a good contract, plays important minutes, and has a strong presence in the game. Forward James Hagens topped off the rankings at No. 1, followed by forwards Ryan Leonard at No. 2 and Gabe Perreault at No. 3. Hockey season comes back into full swing, and there are already a ton of fun storylines to follow this year.

Liam Öhgren, LW, Minnesota Wild

HE has built great chemistry with most of the high-end wingers on the team, making him easy to build around. Despite missing time with an injury last season, Andrei Svechnikov showed just how important he is to the lineup when he returned. With his 52 points, he had a pretty average regular season by his standard, but once the playoffs hit, he was scoring a point per game and making an impact every night. Since signing with the Ottawa Senators, he has been a fantastic addition to the top six and as a quality leader in the locker room. He transitioned from center to the wing as he got older, but he still plays a strong defensive game and has good offensive numbers.

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I was eager to see how Matthew Wood would adjust to the college game after he dominated the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) two years ago, leading the league in goals and points as a 16-year-old. His freshman results were extremely positive with Wood being one of the top rookie point scorers and one of the top scorers on his team despite being the youngest player in all of men’s NCAA hockey during his draft year. He could use a bit more speed (who couldn’t), but he has shown that his timing and puck protection skills are strong enough for him to succeed in college. The Seattle Kraken are putting in work trying to build a high-end prospect pool from scratch, and drafting Jani Nyman in the second round of the 2022 Draft was a big step in the right direction. Nyman is a big Finnish winger with the size and strength to compete against men in Liiga (the top Finnish pro league) without looking out of place.

Roope Hintz, C, Dallas Stars

• I frankly have no clue what’s going on with that, other than that Pitlick tried to sign with NHL teams over the summer but it never happened.
• He was loaned to a different KHL club this year where he had to prove himself once again.
• Since joining the Panthers, Carter Verhaeghe has taken huge steps in his game and has become not only a great goal-scorer but one of the most clutch players in the NHL.
• He has all the talent and the résumé to prove he can have a breakout year and become a core piece of the Flames’ future.
• He anticipates play really well, and is vocal with his teammates, coordinating play at both ends of the ice.
• His freshman results were extremely positive with Wood being one of the top rookie point scorers and one of the top scorers on his team despite being the youngest player in all of men’s NCAA hockey during his draft year.

He didn’t last very long and didn’t leave the biggest impact, but he’s still just 19 so every bit of pro experience and guidance he soaked up in those weeks was time well spent. Your votes will help highlight the athletes who are making the biggest impact this season, showcasing the talent and dedication of the best players in the league. Join us in recognizing the exceptional performances of these hockey heroes and contributing to the ongoing excitement of the NHL. Last season, Makar became the second-fastest defenseman to reach 300 career points, and he did so in just 280 games.

Jason Robertson, F, Dallas Stars

He has flirted with a 100-point season in three out of the last four years, securing 92 last year. The Rangers winger is a superb playmaker who has made a career setting up his teammates. The Canucks knew they had a lethal shooter on their hands in Pettersson, but Vancouver’s face of the franchise has flourished into one of the best two-way centers in the league.

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Ivan Demidov is an incredibly talented offensive player, with great hands, a zippy shot, and some sneaky-good playmaking instincts. He spent last season in the MHL, Russia’s top junior league, where he was dominant as a 17-year-old rookie, scoring 64 points in 44 games (third most points in the league). Stankoven’s offensive skills have translated incredibly well to the pro game and the Dallas Stars are going to need to find a permanent spot for him in the lineup very soon.

Ranking the NHL’s top 50 players for the 2023-24 season from Connor McDavid to William Nylander

He is the best player they have, one of the longest-tenured players with the Utah/Coyotes team, and provides great leadership. Keller has been scoring nearly a point per game over three seasons, during which time the Coyotes have struggled a lot. He has proven himself as one of the top-scoring wingers in the league and is starting to get recognition for it. They lost last year’s #2 goalscorer Ryan Kirwan to the transfer portal (ASU), and #3 goalscorer Jacques Bouquot graduated. PSU rolls over Aiden Fink, Matt DiMarsico, and Reese Laubach, all of whom were freshmen last year and they seem like a solid group to build a team around.

However, he potted 36 goals yet again, marking the fourth time in the last five years the Hurricanes center posted at least 30 goals. His knack for finding the back of the net is paired with a solid defensive presence, making the Finn one of the league’s top centers. He posted 66 points in 67 games in the regular season before contributing 26 points in 20 games in his first playoff run, culminating in a Stanley Cup win. He looked like the franchise star the Golden Knights were expecting him to be when they traded for him two years ago. Similar to Heiskanen, McAvoy has always provided the Bruins with strong, two-way play on the blue line.

• Few OHL defenders are capable of slowing him down in transition where his quick weight shifts and deceptive posture can be incredibly difficult to read.
• The Nashville goaltender led the league in goals saved above expected, finishing with a rate of 46.7.
• He looked much more comfortable with the North American game over the course of his first season and grew a lot on ice from his NHL pre-season games to the NHL games he played toward the end of the year.
• With Selke Trophy votes in two of the last three years, his defensive play has been on notice, and that is part of what makes him so valuable to the strong defensive team, the Islanders.
• Oliver Moore was the best skater from the 2023 draft class with blazing speed and excellent agility.

Nugent-Hopkins has spent over a decade with the Oilers, and in that time he has been a very reliable two-way center and has spent a lot of time killing penalties and working hard on the forecheck. For anyone who hasn’t looked for college hockey content beyond MGoBlog, it is sparse. I would honestly venture that many of the opponent previews above are more detailed than what you can find from those programs’ own fanbases. Various museums report that a form of the game was also played by the Romans and Greeks, as well as the Aztecs.

The Russian dynamo is the easy favorite behind Macklin Celebrini to be in contention for the Calder trophy. He has the opportunity and the skill set from his playing time in Russia to become a dominant rookie in his first season in the national hockey league. He may be the most skilled rookie in this class, but he already has the IQ and game sense to play at the highest level. He will automatically become one of the Philadelphia Flyers’ best players, and it won’t even be close. His talent alone can help elevate the ceiling of the Philadelphia Flyers this season. After a 54-goal regular season, Hyman is out to 14 goals in 18 contests this postseason — a jaw-dropping 0.77 goals per game rate.

Add to that his smooth skating, strong work ethic, and strong stick-work defensively and there’s a real chance for him to become an important defenseman for the Blackhawks down the line. There are still several things that need to be addressed before he reaches that level, mainly his hockey sense and decision making, but he’s already come a long way and I expect he’ll make it. Ever since scoring 30 goals as a rookie in the OHL, Colby Barlow has been on my radar as a pro-sized winger with a legit NHL-caliber shot.

• The 6’4” Latvian goaltender has the skill and athleticism to prove he belongs in the NHL.
• He has two 40-goal seasons in the past three years and has been the top forward on the Predators as they come out of a quick re-tool.
• McDavid is undoubtedly one of the frontrunners for the Conn Smythe entering the Stanley Cup Final.
• Regarded as one of the top two-way players in the entire league, Mark Stone is likely only this low because of his health.
• Nick Suzuki had one of the best offensive seasons by a Montreal Canadiens player since 2000, and not only was he producing at a great rate, but he is also an excellent defensive center.
• He looked like the franchise star the Golden Knights were expecting him to be when they traded for him two years ago.

A fault can lead the referee to inflict a green card (two-minute suspension), yellow (five-minute suspension) or red (ejection) to the player concerned. The Panthers, on the other hand, are a team that prides themselves on playing suffocating defense from top to bottom. Captain Aleksander Barkov and defenseman Gustav Forsling will be asked to contain McDavid as much as possible while Matthew Tkachuk leads a punishing forecheck for the Panthers in the offensive zone. Verhaeghe is already in the NHL history books, as his five career overtime playoff goals are tied for the third-most of all-time. He’s been the hero once in 2014, which came in the first round against the Lightning — one of two OT wins this postseason for Florida. In total, Verhaeghe has nine goals heading into the Stanley Cup Final, which puts him in a tie for fourth out of all skaters.

Moritz Seider, D, Detroit Red Wings

On top of the offense, Barzal is one of the best skaters in the league and puts in good work defensively as well. Not many would have been able to predict Gustav Forsling to make this kind of list even just a few years ago. From being a throw-in in a trade and being waived, to now in the Top 50 for the best players in the league is remarkable. Forsling is a great shut-down defenseman and was given a heavy workload in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs on the path to winning a Stanley Cup, and received eight third-place votes for the Conn Smythe.

His red-hot start in the Finnish Liiga in his draft year had NHL scouts salivating at his goal scoring potential, and while he ultimately cooled off quite significantly, that potential hasn’t disappeared. Kemell had some inconsistent play in the Liiga since, but has largely been effective in the AHL in parts of two seasons there. I’m still a big believer in his shot and skill, which are strong enough to give him a chance to become a top-six winger in Nashville. Owen Beck is an incredibly reliable and versatile two-way centerman who has increased his stock considerably ever since being selected in the 2022 NHL Draft at the beginning of the second round. He is smart, skates well, wins faceoffs, back-checks hard, and has already begun to grow into more of his offensive potential. Beck is going to be a player that coaches love because he works hard and has tons of skill.

He missed most of his freshman season at the University of Michigan due to injury, but had an excellent sophomore year last season and is set to go pro this Fall. Sam Rinzel was drafted 25th overall by the Blackhawks back in 2022, largely for the massive potential he brings to the table. As a 6-foot-4, right-shot defender, Rinzel has the basic tools that all NHL teams look for.