Who are the top three best players in the NHL today?

A new generation of speed and finesse has swept the NHL, and it has given the opportunity for new faces to be regarded as the top 3 players in the NHL.

In what was once a violent and brutal league, the NHL has transitioned over the years to become an elegant and masterful sight to behold, as the new strategies of the game today are focused on flow and creativity, while still maintaining the unmatched toughness the sport had built its foundation upon.

In the new age of the NHL, the gladiators that had once dominated the ice, are no longer roaming the league. In their place, is a wave of younger players who possess the same toughness, but can skate at speeds reaching over 25 MPH.

They can score a goal from anywhere on the ice, make impossible passes look simple, and have incredible athleticism and hand-eye coordination to create highlight-reel plays with their dekes and puck tricks.

Because of the new speed and finesse era that’s sweeping the sport around the world, it leaves players who were once dominant superstars as the odd ones out, as they are slowly being aged out of the NHL.

Since 2007, the league has maintained a stagnant order of the Top 3 best players in the NHL, led by Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby as the clear cut number one guy, followed by Capitals left winger Alex Ovechkin at number two, and former Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson at number three.

With these players leading the NHL as the best of the best, there are honorable mentions of Chicago Blackhawks right winger Patrick Kane (number four), Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron (number five), and Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin (number six). All of whom were the founding fathers of the new generation of hockey players. With this list in mind, let’s shift over to see who cracks the list of the Top 3 players in the NHL today.

Honorable Mentions: Victor Hedman, Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane

As mentioned before, with the new wave of talent storming the league, the NHL has witnessed the transition of moving out the old and moving in the new. As a result, it has led to players like Sidney Crosby, who was the long-standing face of the league, being placed just outside of the Top 3 players of the NHL today.

The reasoning is not because Crosby or Patrick Kane have regressed. As a matter of fact, if anything Kane has found more success as he has aged, recording his first 100+ point seasons in his career after turning 30-years old. It’s because the players who are now ranked above them are just that much better.

Crosby will always be remembered as one of the greatest players of all time, and it’s not debatable. This scenario is simply the unfortunate reality of the beginning of a new era in the NHL. It is seen in other North American leagues like the NFL, with Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes emerging as the new face of football.

All of the players on the list from 2007-2015 were the pioneers of the speed and finesse movement, as they paved the way for the new generation with speed and finesse combined with physicality were ahead of their time. Each of the players above is a hybrid of all of the players in the former rankings.

While it has been sad to see that “Sid the Kid” has been regressing over the years, it is not a result of aging, but as a result of injuries. The eye-popping center has withstood numerous concussions over the past decade, and the signs of their effect on his game are beginning to show more and more each year.

3. Artemi Panarin — New York Rangers

Artemi Panarin made his rookie debut in the NHL as a 24-year-old during the 2015-16 NHL season with the Chicago Blackhawks after signing with the team as a free agent at the conclusion of his season with St. Petersburg SKA of the KHL.

In his final KHL season, he scored 26 goals and 36 assists (62 total points) in 54 games while netting another 5 goals and 15 assists (20 points) in 20 games during St. Petersburg’s championship run.

Wowing the team in his first preseason in North America, he played well enough to earn a spot as the complementary winger with Kane during his rookie year, where he would remain for the entirety of the season and tally 30 goals and 47 assists in 80 games played, winning rookie of the year. In a playoff run only lasting to a Game 7 in the first round, Panarin would score two goals and five assists against the St. Louis Blues.

Panarin would go on to have similar production during the 2016-17 season as he scored 31 goals 43 assists in 82 games played. In their postseason run, he would tally just one assist in their 4-0 series loss to the Nashville Predators before being traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Many believed he would drop off significantly as a result of not having Patrick Kane on his line, but he would silence all of the doubters forever, as he looked better without Kane than when he was with him.

Artemi Panarin is not only one of the most skilled playmakers in the league, but his shooting accuracy and precision are second to none, as he can pick the smallest opening on the net from any spot on the ice.

As the face of the New York Rangers, he is now able to display his incredible skills in one of the largest markets in all of sports. The only other players in the NHL who can best his influence over a game are ranked above him on this list.

2. Nathan Mackinnon — Colorado Avalanche

The 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs showed the hockey world just how much better Nathan MacKinnon is than his peers. While his team was eliminated after a Game 7 loss to the Dallas Stars in the second round, it does not alter the fact that he not only led the playoffs in points (scoring 9 goals and 16 assists for 25 points in 15 games played), but he also tied the fifth-longest playoff point streak in history with 14 games.

What separates MacKinnon from the rest of the pack is not just his unmatched competitiveness in his game, but he is better than his peers in almost every single category ranging from shooting, passing, puck skills, hockey IQ, skating, and this list can go on forever.

Every time MacKinnon steps on the ice, he makes sure, not only the other team, but the entire NHL knows he’s one of the best players on the face of the earth.

Many will drop their jaws when watching the Colorado Avalanche center turn his opponents inside out with mind-blowing puck skills, but the most dangerous weapon in his arsenal is his skating. He has a gift of being able to turn on a dime, move laterally and turn on a dime again, and leaving his defender laying on the ice with broken ankles, a headache, and eating ice shavings while hearing Colorado’s goal horn sound off.

Were it not for the guy who is listed at No. 1, MacKinnon would be the greatest player in the NHL by a mile. The 6’0″, 200 pound forward is not only possessed with incredible finesse skills, but he can play the physical game as well, with the ability to knock down anyone on the ice at any given time due to his immeasurable strength.

The hockey world had been waiting for Nathan MacKinnon to make the surge to superstar status after being drafted 1st overall in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, as he would produce a career-high of just 63 points in his rookie year. From 2013-2017, he would never surpass the 60 point marker as Colorado struggled significantly in the Western Conference.

His breakthrough season would finally come during the 2017-18 regular season, as he would score 39 goals and 59 assists in 74 games played. MacKinnon would follow this up with a total of 99 points in the next season, and another 93 this past year, despite only playing 69 games due to the league’s shutdown following the pandemic.

After these performances, in addition to his recent playoff outing, Nathan MacKinnon has solidified himself as the second-best player in the NHL today, but he remains a distant second to the No. 1 player in the world.