Ahead of the release of TSN’s annual Top 50 list of NHL players, several tough decisions remain as the pieces begin to fall into place for the full reveal next week.
New Florida Panthers forward Brady Tkachuk was the first player left off the list at No. 51, and the attention now turns to ranking a pair of Selke Trophy winners as the buildup continues for the first reveals on Monday.
Nick Suzuki of the Montreal Canadiens and Panthers star Aleksander Barkov are both set to compete for spots in the top 10, but which centreman deserves the edge in TSN’s rankings this time around?
Suzuki scored 29 goals with 72 assists for a career-high 101 points last year, becoming the first player in Canadiens’ franchise history to eclipse the century mark since Mats Naslund did so during the 1985-86 season.
The London, Ont. native was also tied for the team lead with 16 points during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, helping the Canadiens reach the Eastern Conference Finals before falling to the eventual Stanley Cup-champion Carolina Hurricanes in five games.
Suzuki came in at No. 25 on last year’s rankings, and with the Habs looking for an encore following one of their most successful seasons in a decade, TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button gives the nod to the Canadiens captain this time around.
“I’m picking Nick Suzuki … certainly there’s no underestimation of Barkov,” Button said. “The reason I’m picking Suzuki? He’s got more offence to his game.
“Not that Barkov’s importance or contributions to the game are any less, but that offensive part of things - helping [Cole] Caufield be a 50-goal scorer, being a great defensive player - everything that goes with it. That’s why I choose him by the slightest of margins, the slightest of margins.”
Suzuki held a plus-37 rating - the fifth-highest mark among forwards in the league - and registered a faceoff win rate over 50 per cent for the third straight year (50.4).
The 26-year-old was the runaway Selke winner last year as the league’s best two-way forward during the 2025-26 campaign, garnering 151 first-place votes on the 198 ballots.
He finished with 87.17 per cent of the total vote points to blow away Tampa Bay Lightning forward and runner-up Anthony Cirelli with just 23.59 per cent, marking the second-most lopsided result in the 48-year history of the award.
The only year with even more skewed voting results? Barkov’s Selke Trophy win in 2024.
Florida’s captain had his 2025-26 season derailed by a torn ACL and MCL in the first practice of Panthers camp last September.
The Tampere, Finland native did not appear at all last season for Florida while recovering from knee surgery but returned in time for the IIHF World Championships to captain his nation to the gold medal for just the fifth time ever.
Prior to his injury, Barkov was coming off of an exceptional two-year run in which he recorded 151 points over 140 regular-season games and 44 points over 47 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
He guided the Panthers to back-to-back Stanley Cup victories over Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers, also taking home two Selke Trophies and a King Clancy Memorial in 2025.
The second-overall pick of the Panthers in 2013 has won the Selke Trophy three times over the course of his 13-year career and is just the fourth back-to-back winner of the award in the past quarter century after Rod Brind’Amour, Pavel Datsyuk, and Patrice Bergeron.
Barkov’s injury marked the first in a long list of absences for Florida last season, who led the NHL with 540 man-games lost en route to missing the playoffs, the first time a back-to-back Cup champions failed to qualify for the postseason since the 1970 Canadiens.
Ranked at No. 12 in TSN’s 2025 rankings, Barkov is now back to full health for the new year and is once again the choice over Suzuki for TSN Hockey Analyst Frankie Corrado.
“Out of all of the little battles that you have when you’re constructing this list, this is the one that was the tightest for me, trying to find a way to get Barkov and Suzuki on there.” Corrado said.
“I had Barkov at nine; I had Suzuki at 10. It just goes to show you how close it is. I will take Sasha Barkov because of the range, because of his ability to defend against bigger, stronger players in maybe higher leverage situations.
“That doesn’t take away what Barkov does offensively, doesn’t take away from what Suzuki did last year. They’re both incredible at their craft, and it is a little bit of a lost art in today’s day and age.”
Find out where both stars land in TSN’s full Top 50 rankings when the complete list begins its rollout next week.
