The 2024-25 NHL season is upon us, and with it comes a new assessment of the league’s top talent. Our annual player tiers have been expanded to include 150 players, split across five categories: MVP Cornerstones, Franchise Pillars, All-Star Candidates, Bona Fide Stars, and Elite Support. This year, we’ve also introduced a new tier: Goalies, adding another dimension to the rankings.
Unlike traditional rankings, our tiers aren’t based solely on individual stats or accolades. Instead, we’ve combined data-driven analysis with expert opinions from NHL team executives, coaches, scouts, and analysts. The goal is to create a comprehensive, objective assessment of the league’s top players, taking into account their overall impact and potential.
The highest tier, MVP Cornerstones, includes the league’s most elite players. These are the players who can single-handedly carry their teams into championship contention. This year’s list includes Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews, and Aleksander Barkov, among others.
The Franchise Pillars tier includes players who are considered essential to their team’s success, but may not be as dominant as the Cornerstones MVPs. This tier includes players like Sidney Crosby, Roman Josi, Kirill Kaprizov, and Igor Shesterkin.
The All-Star Candidates tier includes players who are highly skilled and capable of performing at a high level, but who may not be consistent enough to be considered elite. This tier includes players such as Connor Bedard, Rasmus Dahlin, Filip Forsberg, and Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The Bona Fide Stars tier includes players who are excellent contributors to their teams, but may not be as dominant as players in the higher tiers. This tier includes players such as Joel Eriksson Ek, Brandon Hagel, Dougie Hamilton, and Jake Oettinger.
The Elite Support tier includes players who are valuable role players and can make significant contributions to a winning team, but may not be considered elite stars. This tier includes players such as Sergei Bobrovsky, Jonas Brodin, John Carlson, and Nikolaj Ehlers.
Our rankings are based on a combination of data-driven analysis and expert opinion. We believe this approach provides a more complete and accurate assessment of the league’s top players. We encourage readers to discuss and debate our rankings and share their opinions.
