In a league where success must be untangled from a chaotic whirlwind of sticks, skates, and bodies flying around the sheet at breakneck speed, how do you parse the historic from the great, the great from the merely very good? How does an out-and-out elite centreman stack up against a perennial Norris Trophy-calibre blue-liner or a steady, smothering netminder?

Any attempt at picking out the leaders spurring the NHL’s current era forward must first navigate these questions. That is the task we put to our Sportsnet Insiders, asking them to rank the top 50 players in the NHL at this moment. Not the best forwards or the best defenders, not the best offensive-minded phenoms or the best shutdown talents, but the best — full stop.

Fifty names, one list. Who comes out on top?

There was only one ground rule: The ranking must be forward-looking. It doesn’t factor in legacy or stature in the game — it considers only how the league’s best are expected to perform in 2024-25. The overall ranking below is an amalgam of the Top 50 lists from Insiders across the network. For each Insider’s list, players were assigned points based on how high they finished in that particular ranking — the higher they ranked on an Insider’s list, the more points they accrued.

Each player’s position on the overall ranking is a result of how many total points they collected across all of the Insiders’ lists.

With that, here is the next installment of Sportsnet’s ranking of the Top 50 Players in the NHL — a look at Nos. 30-21.

50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11 | 10-1

The youngest member of a big-league family that’s already produced two of the greatest American NHLers in history, Brady Tkachuk is hunting for the type of legacy his father and brother have already authored. But the younger Tkachuk is a different animal than his Cup-winning sibling. The Ottawa Senators captain has bulldozed through three straight career years in the nation’s capital — reaching a personal-best 83 points two seasons ago and netting a career-high 37 goals last season — but that production didn’t come from the type of silky-smooth finessing brother Matthew has leaned on. It came through sheer force of will, through a relentless determination to turn himself into an elite scorer in the big leagues — and a willingness to square off against anyone who stands in his way. But now that he’s there, the pressure doesn’t figure to let up. Entering 2024-25 with an improved squad around him and a new coach behind the bench, the onus will be on the 25-year-old captain to lead the young Sens to a bit of long-awaited progress.

Filip Forsberg’s ability to make magic with the puck on his stick has never been in doubt. From the jump, the talented Swede has been perennial highlight-reel material, capable of steady production for Predators squads that were starving for dynamic skill like his. But over the past three seasons, he’s taken his game to a level of consistent dominance few thought it could reach. The breakout came in 2021-22, when Forsberg collected 42 goals and 84 points through 69 games. After concussion issues cut short his follow-up attempt the next year, the 30-year-old got back on track last season and once again delivered a gem of an offensive effort, amassing career bests of 48 goals (a top-10 finish, league-wide) and 94 points (a top-15 finish). But it’s how he lifted those totals that tells the true story of Forberg’s ascent. Of his 48 tallies, 35 came at even-strength, the fifth-most across the league. Eleven of them were game-winners, second-most in the league, and three of those winners clinched games in overtime, where Forsberg tied for the league lead in goals. Simply put, he was a force for Nashville — and that was before the club added the star duo of Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault, who are sure to help raise Forsberg’s level even higher in 2024-25.

Outside of the generational century scorers, if you had to construct a centreman to lead your organization, you could do worse than Sebastian Aho as the blueprint. The Carolina Hurricanes leader might not rack up scoring titles and MVP nods, but he brings something undeniably valuable to the table: unwavering consistency. Case in point: While Aho’s never won a Rocket Richard Trophy or reached the 40-goal plateau in his eight NHL seasons, he’s amassed the ninth-most goals of anyone in the game in that span, sitting level with Sidney Crosby. Make no mistake, the Finnish standout can put up numbers and make defenders look silly, but that isn’t the focal point of his game. Aho can give you 35 goals and 80 points, but he can log the hard minutes, too, lining up against the best the opposition has to offer. He’s first out for the Canes’ power play, but he’s no less deadly on the penalty kill, his 17 career short-handed goals ranking as the most league-wide since he debuted. It’s that consistency that earned Aho a weighty eight-year, $78-million extension that kicks in this year. And it’s that extension that ramps up the pressure on the 27-year-old in 2024-25, with questions continuing to linger about whether his ever-contending Canes can finally push their way through the playoff gauntlet to the promised land.

He’s been one of the most polarizing players in the NHL for the better part of the past decade, a supremely talented scorer who’s waded through seemingly endless criticism of the other aspects of his game for his entire Maple Leafs career. For the first six years of William Nylander’s NHL tenure, those arguments held a little more weight, the winger brimming with explosive, dynamic skill, but finishing campaigns with good-but-not-great impact. Three years ago, though, the pieces seemed to fall into place, the Swedish phenom coming up with a career-best 34 goals, a benchmark 80 points. The next year, the ceiling was pushed higher still, Nylander hitting the 40-goal plateau and flirting with 90 points. But it was last season that the 2014 eighth-overall pick truly delivered the type of all-world season his supporters had been waiting for — a 40-goal, 98-point gem that lifted Nylander into a different stratosphere among the game’s best (his point total ranking as the 10th-highest in the league), and earned him a monster eight-year, $92-million extension. That said, it seems the career year only intensifies the pressure on Nylander heading into 2024-25, with all those who’ve questioned and criticized him now watching closely to see whether he can do it all again with his payday already secured.

A change of scenery has brought nothing but career-best numbers and championship celebrations for Jack Eichel. Injuries threatened to derail the centreman’s career all together at the end of his time with the Buffalo Sabres. But after a move to the desert, and half a season to get his feet back under him, the 2015 No. 2 pick managed a near point-per-game regular-season campaign before leading the Golden Knights to a championship, his 26 playoff points pacing the team as they won their young franchise’s first title. Through three seasons in the desert, Eichel’s yet to play out a full campaign wearing Golden Knights colours, injuries limiting him to fewer than 70 games time and time again. Still, he’s produced at above a point-per-game clip over the past two regular seasons (putting up 134 points through 130 games), and has done the same in the post-season (collecting 33 points through 29 playoff tilts). Health will be the greatest potential obstacle in 2024-25 — for him and his club as a whole — but Eichel’s proven he can be an impact piece whenever he suits up.

The Vancouver Canucks’ star centreman finds himself on the doorstep of a pivotal moment in his career. Two seasons ago, Pettersson was lighting up the league to the tune of 39 goals and 102 points, hitting that century mark for the first time, and finishing among the league’s top 10 scorers — all while also finishing seventh in Selke voting for his work on the other end of the sheet. That run of form largely continued through 2023-24, as Pettersson amassed 34 goals and 89 points, and, in between, inked a $92-million extension. It was cloud nine for Vancouver and its franchise centre, whose sky-high skill seemed to have matured into something more indomitable over the past two seasons. Then came the playoffs, the stakes as high as they could be, and the expectations even higher after the best Canucks’ season in more than a decade. It wound up a 13-game stretch to forget for Pettersson, the 25-year-old held to just one goal and six points as his club bowed out in the second round. He’ll get the blank slate of a new season to regain his footing, and a new linemate to work with in Jake DeBrusk, but there’s no question the pressure will be piled high on the young Swede’s shoulders in 2024-25 given how it all ended in May — especially in Year 1 of that new deal, which comes with an $11.6-million cap hit that makes Pettersson the fifth-highest-paid player in the league.

Track the trajectory of Victor Hedman growing into his prime against the Lightning growing into a true contender, and you’ll understand the impact the 33-year-old defenceman’s had in Tampa Bay. While the first half-decade of the Swedish standout’s career with the Bolts brought its fair share of memorable moments, it’s more recently that Hedman’s gone from a promising talent to an all-time one. Six times in the past eight seasons, the towering rearguard’s finished as a finalist for the Norris (claiming it once, in 2018). Three times in that span, his Bolts have reached the Stanley Cup Final , and they’ve won it twice, in 2020 and 2021, Hedman claiming the Conn Smythe for the first of those two titles. There were others who helped guide the club towards its spell as a perennial contender, of course — like the star trio up front, Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point, and Nikita Kucherov — but watch one game of Lightning hockey and it’s clear how essential Hedman is to the Bolts’ project. The franchise’s new captain does it all for Tampa Bay, chipping in offensively (he enters 2024-25 coming off a 76-point effort last season) and stymying opposing scorers with the best of them. With no signs of slowing down — not after logging the eighth-most minutes per night league-wide last season — and with the ‘C’ now stitched to his chest, expect another ageless campaign from the future Hall of Famer.

After three straight years, it’s time to accept that this is truly just what J.T. Miller is — an elite scorer who can hang points on the board with the best in the game. The doubt was fair after Year 1 of his late-career evolution, maybe even Year 2, because if you rewound to Miller’s New York days, he seemed like a talented depth forward, a 20-goal, 50-point complementary piece. His run in Tampa Bay didn’t change much on that front, but Miller’s first campaign under the Rogers Arena lights hinted at a seismic shift, the then-26-year-old potting a career-high 27 goals and 72 points through his first 69 games as a Canuck. Fast forward to 2024-25, and the veteran enters the new season fresh off reaching the 100-point plateau for the first time in his career, while finishing just shy of 40 goals, too. In all, over the past three years, Miller’s amassed the 10th-most points of anyone in the game, his 284 just a shade behind the likes of Auston Matthews and David Pastrnak. The arrival of head coach Rick Tocchet has improved his play on the other side of the puck, too, Miller earning Selke votes in each of those three years of elite scoring. There’s no question he’s been a pivotal part of the Canucks’ turnaround, and as they hope to build on their sterling 2023-24 season, all eyes will be on Miller to build on his own, too.

It was a tale of two seasons for Connor Hellebuyck in 2023-24. Between Games 1 and 82, the American netminder looked flat-out dominant, winning the second Vezina Trophy of his career for his regular-season prowess and finishing as high as sixth in Hart Trophy voting for his big-picture impact on the Jets’ fortunes. It was just as impressive a campaign for the club as a whole, Winnipeg coming up with their best season in half a decade, finishing as the second-best club in the West. But past Game 82, it all went south. Drawing the high-flying Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the playoffs, Winnipeg found itself absolutely buried, Hellebuyck allowing a staggering 24 goals through five games before his campaign came to an end. It was a crushing conclusion to a resurgent year for the veteran, but perhaps a poignant reminder of the situation Hellebuyck finds himself in — regardless of the regular-season success and the awards, playoff progress for these Jets will come only if Hellebuyck can perform. For now, the calendar has been flipped, the slate wiped clean, and the Jets return to camp to take aim at another strong season after their 2023-24 bounceback. But the true test of Hellebuyck and his club will come when 82 games are in the books, and the real test begins.

Think of Miro Heiskanen, and you picture the stride. Through six years in Dallas, the talented Finn has reached the highest echelon of NHL defenders, due in no small part to how he floats across the ice, weaving through the opposition like a ghost haunting the sheet. It’s carried him to lofty heights already, Heiskanen coming off a pair of seasons that saw him amass 127 total points, proving he’s not too far off the Hugheses and the Makars when it comes to driving offence from the blue line. There’s no question what’s appreciated most by the Stars faithful is the fact that their young back-end gem tends to save his best for the games that matter most — in 85 playoff tilts, Heiskanen’s posted 61 points for the Stars, highlighted by a wild, 26-point surge during Dallas’s 27-game Cup Final run in 2020. He was no less pivotal in the Stars’ most recent three-round playoff march, the young rearguard tying for the team lead in points over that stretch. Since Dallas’s run to the Final, there’s been a sense these Stars are one piece of brilliance away from taking the next step, from finally trading ‘contender’ for ‘champion.’ For Heiskanen, already a leader for the club, and destined to have his name engraved on the Norris Trophy one day, a new season brings with it a new opportunity to prove he can provide that needed spark, that he can be the answer.

Check back Thursday for Nos. 20-11 on Sportsnet’s ranking of the Top 50 Players in the NHL.

Sportsnet Insiders rank the NHL’s top 50 players: 30-21

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