With a new NHL campaign upon us, TSN Hockey’s blue-ribbon panel has compiled its annual list of the Top 50 players - a projection of the top players for the upcoming season - and today we begin by revealing the players ranked 50th to 41st.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs saw some new blood last season when the Buffalo Sabres and Utah Mammoth ended their postseason droughts.
Entering last season, Buffalo was in the midst of the NHL’s longest active playoff drought, having not made the postseason since the 2010-11 campaign. Star forward Tage Thompson had been with the Sabres for seven of those playoff misses and was vocal about not letting mediocrity be the standard.
“Obviously, we’ve had a number of seasons where we haven’t been successful and when that happens, it’s easy to be negative and look at the past and kind of say, ‘Here we go again,’” Thompson told reporters at the beginning of last season. “So, I think it’s just one of those things that you’ve got to remind yourself it’s a long season and it doesn’t really matter what’s happened in the past; it’s a new opportunity to get better and grow. I think we just kind of learn to stay positive and kind of just take it one day at a time.”
Thompson responded by leading the team in scoring with 40 goals and 81 points in 81 games last season. The Sabres had a dramatic rise in the standings, going 50-23-9 for a 30-point increase from the year before to win the Atlantic Division.
The 6-foot-6 centre added five goals and 15 points in 13 playoff games before his team was eliminated by the Montreal Canadiens in the second round in seven games.
Despite the newfound team success and reaching the 40-goal plateau for the third time in his career, Thompson dropped three spots in this year’s TSN Hockey top-50 players ranking to No. 48.
Captained by Clayton Keller, the Mammoth made the playoffs last season for the first time since the franchise moved to Utah in 2024. It was the first time the organization has made the postseason since they were still the Arizona Coyotes in 2019-20.
Keller, 28, led the Mammoth in scoring with 22 goals and 88 points in 82 games, helping the Mammoth claim the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference with a 43-33-6 record.
He added a goal and five points in six playoff games before his team was eliminated by the eventual Western Conference-champion Vegas Golden Knights in six games in the first round.
Like Thompson, Keller’s team success did not translate to the TSN Hockey top 50 NHL players as sits at No. 49 after landing at No. 36 last season.
Thompson and Keller also teamed up to make history playing for the United States, first helping their country end a 92-year drought to win the 2025 World Hockey Championship. Then they helped lead the United States in a dramatic overtime victory over Canada at Milano Cortina 2026, helping their country to their first gold medal since 1980.
50. Brayden Point, Tampa Bay Lightning
2025-26 Ranking: 16
Lightning forward Point kicks off the list at No. 50, which is a large 34-rank drop from the year before. Point, 30, had 18 goals and 50 points in 63 games but was slowed down by injuries, which cost him a spot playing for Canada at Milano Cortina 2026. He added a goal in seven playoff games before his team was eliminated by the Canadiens in the first round.
The 5-foot-11 centre is still expected to be the team’s top-line centre entering the 2026-27 campaign and a big part of the Lightning’s push to Stanley Cup contention.
49. Clayton Keller, Utah Mammoth
2025-26 Ranking: 36
Keller comes in at No. 49 with a 13-spot drop from last season, despite an excellent season that saw him play a full 82 games for only the fourth time in his 10-season career.
The 5-foot-10 winger led the Mammoth in scoring last year with 26 goals and 88 points, which was only two points off his career high that he set a year earlier.
Keller is entering the seventh season of a $57.2 million contract that carries a cap hit of $7.15 million. His contract turned into a full no-movement clause this year and he is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2027-28 campaign if there is no extension.
48. Tage Thompson, Buffalo Sabres
2025-26 Ranking: 45
Thompson returns to the list at No. 48, dropping three spots despite a very successful 2025-26 campaign.
The 6-foot-6 centre tasted the playoffs for the first time in his career, leading the Sabres to an Atlantic Division victory and is looking to build off of that success this season.
Thompson reached the 40-goal plateau for the third time in four seasons, leading the team in scoring with 40 goals and 81 points in 81 games. He added five goals and 15 points in the playoffs before the Sabres fell in seven games to the Canadiens in the second round.
47. Sam Reinhart, Florida Panthers
2025-26 Ranking: 18
Reinhart fell 29 spots in the rankings from last season to land at No. 18 after the entire Panthers team took a step back from their Stanley Cup-winning ways.
Despite a 20-point drop in production last season, the 6-foot-1 centre still led the Panthers in scoring with 29 goals and 61 points in 64 games in a season that was mired with injuries. He also helped Canada to a silver medal at Milano Cortina 2026, scoring a goal and two points in six games.
After having a full off-season for the first time in two seasons, Reinhart and the Panthers are healthy to enter the 2026-27 campaign as they look to return to prominence in the Eastern Conference.
46. Charlie McAvoy, Boston Bruins
2025-26 Ranking: N/A
McAvoy returns to the list at No. 46 after missing the cut last season.
The 6-foot-1, right-shot defenceman led all Bruins blueliners in scoring with 11 goals and 61 points in 69 games while averaging 24:23 of ice time. He had to miss time early in the season after taking a puck to jaw, which required facial surgery.
McAvoy added two assists in six playoff games before his team was eliminated by the Sabres in six games in the first round. He will be suspended for the first six games of the regular season as punishment for slashing Sabres forward Zach Benson in Game 6 of their first-round series.
The Long Beach, N.Y., native was also a key part of the United States’ Olympic team in a gold-medal finish.
45. Jake Guentzel, Tampa Bay Lightning
2025-26 Ranking: 40
Lightning forward Jake Guentzel drops in at No. 45, making a five-spot drop from last season.
The 5-foot-11 centre has been everything the Lightning hoped for when they signed him to a seven-year, $63 million contract in July of 2024. He had a career season offensively last year, recording 38 goals and 88 points in 81 games to finish second on the team in scoring.
He added two goals and eight points in seven playoff games before the Lightning were eliminated by the Canadiens in the first round.
Guentzel also helped the United States to their first Olympic gold medal in men’s hockey since 1980 at Milano Cortina 2026.
44. Sebastian Aho, Carolina Hurricanes
2025-26 Ranking: 32
Aho comes in at No. 44 as he continues to be one of the leaders in offensive production for the Hurricanes.
The 29-year-old centre led the Hurricanes in scoring last season with 27 goals and 80 points in 79 games as they claimed the best record in the Eastern Conference.
His production stalled at times in the playoffs, only registering five goals and 12 points in 19 playoff games, but it was enough to help lead the Hurricanes to their first Stanley Cup in 20 years, defeating the Vegas Golden Knights.
43. Ilya Sorokin, New York Islanders
2025-26 Ranking: N/A
Sorokin returns to the list at No. 43 after missing out each of the past two years.
The 6-foot-3 netminder was outstanding for the Islanders last season, despite his team falling out of playoff contention late in the season.
Sorokin, 30, had a 29-24-2 record with a 2.68 GAA and .906 save percentage while leading the league with seven shutouts, 452 high-danger saves and had a .864 high-danger save percentage.
He finished second in Vezina Trophy voting, only behind Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.
42. Jaccob Slavin, Carolina Hurricanes
2025-26 Ranking: 42
Slavin remains in the same position he was in last year at No. 42.
The 6-foot-3 blueliner wire mired with injuries last season, only appearing in 39 games, averaging 21:19 of ice time and recording a goal and eight points.
He was fully healthy during the playoffs, averaging 23:31 of ice time in 19 playoff games, which was only second to K’Andre Miller on his team. He added five assists as he won his first Stanley Cup of his career.
Slavin was also a key part of the United States’ Olympic team in a gold-medal finish.
41. Brandon Hagel, Tampa Bay Lightning
2025-26 Ranking: 28
Rounding out this group of players is Hagel coming in at No. 41.
Hagel finished third in scoring on the Lightning last season setting a career high with 36 goals to go along with 74 points in 71 games.
He was tied for the team scoring lead in the playoffs, along with Guentzel, with six goals and eight points in seven games before the Lightning were eliminated in the first round.
The Saskatoon native also represented Canada at Milano Cortina 2026, recording a goal in six games in a silver-medal finish.
On Tuesday, we reveal No. 40 to No. 31 of our annual Top 50 NHL Players list.
