McDavid and Schaefer bookend TSN’s final ranking of Top 25 NHL Players

From Connor McDavid to Matthew Schaefer.

The two otherworldly players have lit up the hockey universe this season and anchor TSN’s final ranking of the Top 25 NHL players in 2025-26.

McDavid, the league’s most highly decorated player, is No. 1 in our poll of 10 experts. Schaefer, the record-setting rookie on the threshold of a Calder Trophy, is No. 25.

The Edmonton captain put the finishing touches on his sixth Art Ross Trophy with four assists Thursday against Vancouver – topping the 130-point mark (48-90-138) for the third time in his 10-year career.

Meanwhile, the Islanders’ 18-year-old Schaefer tied the record for most goals by a rookie defenceman (23) and became the youngest blueliner to surpass 50 points (59). He is a legitimate candidate to become the first unanimous rookie of the year since Teemu Selanne in 1993.

In between McDavid and Schaefer is a legion of stars and superstars, headlined by No. 2 Nathan MacKinnon and No. 3 Nikita Kucherov.

McDavid received seven of 10 first-place votes; Kucherov, two, and MacKinnon, one.

The three supernova talents monopolized balloting, collecting every top three vote (first, second, third): McDavid (7-3-0), MacKinnon (1-4-5) and Kucherov (2-3-5).

The trio split hockey’s three most important individual counting stats: McDavid led the league in points (138), MacKinnon in goals (53) and Kucherov in points per game (1.71).

This last occurred in 2014-15 when Jamie Benn led in points, Alex Ovechkin, goals, and Sidney Crosby, points per game.McDavid did not get off to a typical start this season, recording just 11 goals and 36 points in his first 27 games, trailing MacKinnon by 10 points in the scoring race by early December.

And then something happened.

Coincidence or not, from the day TSN (literally) questioned McDavid’s standing as the game’s uncontested best player in the Dec. 2 Quiz – asking if MacKinnon had surpassed or equalled 97 as the pre-eminent player on the planet – the Oilers’ superstar went Artemis II, rocketing to the scoring championship.

McDavid outscored MacKinnon by 21 points over the next 55 games and held off the sublime Kucherov to win the Art Ross.

A half-dozen scoring titles equals the number posted by Mario Lemieux and Gordie Howe and leaves him behind only the inestimable Wayne Gretzky’s 10.

Without the injured Leon Draisaitl by his side, McDavid dragged Edmonton into the playoffs and home-ice advantage against Anaheim in the first round.

McDavid had a point in all 41 Oilers’ victories this season, becoming only the third player to record at least one point in each of his team’s victories, joining Gretzky (29 wins in 1980-81) with Edmonton and Dennis Maruk (26 wins in 1981-82) with Washington. The 29-year-old McDavid now has 15 career individual awards and is the favourite to win the Hart Trophy as league MVP for a fourth time.

MacKinnon won his first Rocket Richard Trophy and also led the NHL in even-strength points (97) and plus-minus (plus-57).

About the only thing Kucherov couldn’t do this season was stay healthy – missing six games. He had an astonishing 102 points during one 48-game stretch, an average of 2.13 points per game.

Rounding out TSN’s fab five are San Jose sensation Macklin Celebrini, the No. 4-ranked player who recorded his first 100-point season at age 19, and Boston’s David Pastrnak, the No. 5-ranked player who recorded his fourth straight 100-point season at age 29.

Celebrini, the 2024 No. 1 overall pick, entered the best league in the world with the loftiest of expectations and has, nonetheless, exceeded them, following up a Calder Trophy-winning first season with an all-world performance at the 2026 Olympics and 46-goal sophomore NHL season.

The North Vancouver native’s goal and two assists Thursday versus Winnipeg in the Sharks’ season finale raised his total to 115 points, breaking Joe Thornton’s franchise record.

Celebrini’s total was 56 more than the next-highest San Jose scorer, Will Smith’s 59.

Outside the top five, Montreal’s Nick Suzuki leads the way, slotting in at No. 6.

The Canadiens’ captain recorded his first 100-point season and is a top contender for the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s top defensive forward.

Next up is a cluster of Norris Trophy candidates – No. 7 Columbus’ Zach Werenski, No. 9 Colorado’s Cale Makar and No. 10 Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard – surrounding No. 8 Draisaitl, who missed 17 games.

As focused as voters were on McDavid, MacKinnon and Kucherov at the top of the polls, they were even more single-minded in establishing who was the NHL’s best goalie this season: Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy.

He was the first goalie ranked on nine of 10 ballots and finished as the No. 12 overall player, one spot behind Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele at No. 11.

Vasilevskiy had a league-leading 39 wins and .912 save percentage, while Scheifele had a career-high 103 points, surpassing his previous best by 16 points.

Voters in the TSN poll were asked to separately rank the top five goalies of 2025-26. The consensus was, in order, Vasilevskiy, No. 20 Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin, No. 24 Boston’s Jeremy Swayman, plus Washington’s Logan Thompson and Colorado’s Scott Wedgewood.

Three more players from Canadian teams made the top 25: No. 14, Montreal’s 51-goal-scoring Cole Caufield; No. 19, Montreal’s back-to-back 60-assist blueliner Lane Hutson; and No. 22, Winnipeg’s 92-point man Kyle Connor.

TSN Hockey’s Top 25 NHL Players