Brad Marchand<\/strong> improved his case by helping propel the Panthers to their second Stanley Cup win, placing him in the now-defunct \u201cAlmost there \u2014 if not already a lock\u201d grouping. (Burns was there, too.) Marchand had 27 goals and 54 points in 52 games during the 2025-26 season, crossed the 1,000 career point threshold and added an Olympic silver to his resume. With five years left on his contract, the 38-year-old is in a perfect position to continue compiling, especially with the Panthers in win-now mode.<\/p>\nLast year, we grouped John Tavares<\/strong> and Corey Perry<\/strong> in a two-man tier called \u201cCrossing the blue line.\u201d Tavares proceeded to have another 30-plus goal season in 2025-26 for the Maple Leafs, putting him 75 away from 600 career goals, a feat only 22 players ever have achieved. Is his peak at the level of inner-circle Hall of Famers? No, though he does have a pair of top-three Hart finishes and an Olympic gold. That, combined with where his counting stats are bound to finish, seems likely to get him in, but he\u2019d do well to keep adding to his numbers.<\/p>\nPerry is a fascinating case. He has a Hart Trophy, a Stanley Cup championship, a Maurice “Rocket Richard Trophy and two Olympic gold medals, and is part of the Triple Gold club. The Los Angeles Kings forward also ranks outside the top 100 players in all-time points, outside the top 60 in all-time goals and only once finished in the top 10 in Hart voting, when he won in 2010-11. He\u2019ll be hard to leave out \u2014 especially if he can score 28 points to crack 1,000 this year \u2014 but the committee might make him wait longer than you\u2019d expect for someone with his amount of hardware.<\/p>\n
Kings teammate Artemi Panarin<\/strong>, now 34, moves up from his \u201cOn track\u201d grouping last summer after another point-per-game year. He\u2019ll at the very least have a borderline case when his career is done. He should fly past 1,000 career points this season, as he’s just 46 away from the milestone, and if he plays beyond his current contract, which expires in 2028, he could finish among the all-time top 50 in points. His lack of playoff success might hurt with the committee \u2014 his 64 points in 77 career postseason games is well below his career-average scoring rate \u2014 but with a few more strong seasons he\u2019ll have accumulated enough points not to cost him induction.<\/p>\nFamily, friends and cows: How one player celebrated the NHL Draft<\/p>\n
Peter Baugh and Madison Eades<\/p>\n
We discussed the first four names last year, so let\u2019s focus on the three new additions here.<\/p>\n
Brayden Point<\/strong> has been a key member of two Stanley Cup-winning teams with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and while he lacks individual hardware, his stats at age 30 give him a real shot. A down year in 2025-26 did give us some pause, though, as Point will probably need to clear 1,000 points to overcome the lack of individual awards.<\/p>\nMeanwhile, the Golden Knights’ Mark Stone<\/strong> seems to only be getting better with age. He just set a career high with 73 points at age 33, doing so in only 60 games. He\u2019s one of the era’s top defensive forwards, and while he doesn\u2019t have a Selke win, he has three top-five finishes and captained a Stanley Cup champion.<\/p>\nThat\u2019s a quietly strong resume, and if Stone had been able to stay healthier, he\u2019d likely fall in a higher tier. Staying in the lineup has been an issue, though, and while there\u2019s no doubting his impact when he\u2019s available, we wonder how high his counting stats will get. He\u2019s already 34, and at 707 points, so he\u2019ll probably need a few more strong seasons (or a Selke win?) to get onto the right side of the bubble.<\/p>\n
Quietly, Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin<\/strong> might actually have the best case of the three. He\u2019s a defensive blueliner, so his counting stats obviously don\u2019t jump off the page, but he\u2019s one of the very best pure defenders of his era. This year he won a Stanley Cup and an Olympic gold medal, and while he only has one top-five Norris finish, he posted a nine-year run in the top 20 before the streak ended last season. He also has twice won the Lady Byng Trophy.<\/p>\nConsidering Norris voters\u2019 recent tendency to reward offensive defensemen, it’s notable that Slavin has been so universally recognized for his impacts as more of a classic defender. And while this type of profile doesn\u2019t always garner trophies or first-ballot Hall nods, Slavin\u2019s sustained shutdown excellence feels like it merits special consideration. Kevin Lowe had to wait until the 2020 Hall of Fame class, but he eventually got in. Maybe that is a sign Slavin won\u2019t have to wait so long when his time comes.<\/p>\n
The selection committee is made up of former players, executives and journalists. For any candidates in this category \u2014 great players but far from locks \u2014 having an advocate on the committee can go a long way. For example, newly elected goalie Pekka Rinne could’ve benefited from his former Nashville general manager, David Poile, being a committee member.<\/p>\n
Of the returners to this tier, John Carlson<\/strong> is especially worth monitoring going forward as someone who could make a jump. He’s coming off a 60-point season between Washington and Anaheim, his highest since 2021-22, and could continue to rack up scoring numbers after joining Tampa Bay \u2014 especially if he takes the departed Darren Raddysh’s spot on the Lightning’s juggernaut top power play.\u00a0<\/p>\nHow to win a Stanley Cup without superstars<\/p>\n
Harman Dayal<\/p>\n
The distinction between this group and the \u201cProbably in \u2014 and still rising \u201d tier mainly comes down to where the players’ respective resumes stand today. But everyone listed as “On track” has a great shot to get in if they maintain their current production levels a little longer and potentially add a major piece of hardware to back it up.<\/p>\n
There are three new additions to this tier. The Golden Knights’ Jack Eichel<\/strong> has the Cup and now a gold medal, and looks like he’ll remain in Hart and Selke conversations for the near future. He seems to have put some injury questions behind him, too, having played in 63 or more games each of the past four seasons and at least 74 in each of the past two. Teammate Mitch Marner<\/strong> is in the Selke mix too and feels like he made some reputational gains with how well he played this postseason. The 29-year-old is second in points to only Connor McDavid among the loaded 2015 NHL Draft class.<\/p>\nColumbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski<\/strong> just won a Norris and an Olympic gold, which vaults him into this mix. He didn\u2019t start getting recognition among the truly elite until the last couple seasons, but with that hardware to accompany consecutive top-10 Hart finishes, he\u2019s well on his way to a strong Hall case. He probably needs about two more years at this level to move into the \u201cProbably in \u2014 and still rising \u201d category, and we think he\u2019s plenty capable of doing so.<\/p>\nOut the tier’s returnees,\u00a0Minnesota Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes<\/strong> has a strong case for a higher tier, right there with Makar as an era-defining blueliner. We debated putting him in that same group this year, but there\u2019s still a resume gap at this time. We fully expect Hughes to move up in the near future as he continues to rack up monster production and likely more hardware. But for now, he probably still fits best here, with just a little more to accomplish.<\/p>\nAnother very close call involves David Pastr\u0148\u00e1k<\/strong>, who has 933 career points, 420 goals, five end-of-season All-Star selections and a Rocket Richard Trophy. If you wanted to compare him to Matthews, the career production is actually pretty similar. But Matthews has the Hart and three Rocket Richards to Pastr\u0148\u00e1k\u2019s one, which is why we leaned more to this tier for the Boston Bruins sniper. A year from now, though, it\u2019s likely we\u2019ll be talking about Pastr\u0148\u00e1k already being in the 1,000-point club and a six-time All-Star. That alone might be enough; a Cup or another major individual award would really put it over the top.<\/p>\nMeanwhile, the Dallas Stars’ Mikko Rantanen<\/strong> and the Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk<\/strong> aren\u2019t likely to win an MVP, though Tkachuk does have a top-three finish on his resume and Rantanen a sixth-place one. But both are well on their way as stat-compilers. Both are under 30 and should comfortably clear 1,000 points, with Cup titles and varying degrees of international success in tow.<\/p>\nIs Zach Werenski really committed to the Blue Jackets?<\/p>\n
Aaron Portzline and Sean McIndoe<\/p>\n
Most of these players return from last year\u2019s list, where they were thoroughly discussed. Let\u2019s run through both the new additions, and also touch on a couple returners whose cases might have improved in 2025-26.<\/p>\n
Sebastian Aho:<\/strong> A returner, Aho has only one top-10 Hart finish and doesn\u2019t have the elite season-by-season production of typical Hall of Fame forwards. But the Hurricanes center now has a Stanley Cup and an Olympic bronze and \u2014 having only just turned 29 \u2014 could someday have hard-to-ignore career statistics. He already has 310 goals and 711 points.<\/p>\nRasmus Dahlin:<\/strong> Last summer, a commenter asked about Dahlin, who wasn\u2019t on the list. We replied that a playoff appearance or another similar individual season to 2024-25 would probably get him into this tier. Well, the Buffalo Sabres defenseman accomplished both. The 26-year-old finished third in Norris voting, the Sabres made the second round of the playoffs and his Hall of Fame likelihood arrow is pointing up.<\/p>\nJason Robertson:<\/strong> Another newcomer, Robertson only just turned 27, and he has a fourth-place Hart finish and two end-of-season All-Star selections. His numbers dipped after a monster 109-point season in 2022-23, but he got back up to 45 goals and 96 points last season for the Stars. The more seasons like that he can have, the better his case becomes.<\/p>\nIgor Shesterkin:<\/strong> We considered bumping the New York Rangers goalie up a tier from last year because of his 2021-22 Vezina win and a recent run of goalie inductions. But Shesterkin has only one other top-five Vezina finish (fourth in 2023-24), and there\u2019s no way to know how the Hall of Fame committee will view goalies when he\u2019s up for election. So he probably needs another season at least around Vezina finalist-level to move into \u201cOn track.\u201d<\/p>\nIlya Sorokin:<\/strong> If Sorokin had won the Vezina for the New York Islanders in 2025-26 instead of finishing second for the second time in his career, his case might’ve taken an even greater step. But his body of work through six NHL seasons is still good enough to warrant first-time inclusion in the tiers this year and monitoring going forward.<\/p>\nNick Suzuki:<\/strong> Last season Suzuki won the Selke, finished fifth in Hart voting, topped 100 points, represented Canada at the Olympics, and captained the Montreal Canadiens to the Eastern Conference final. Having just turned 27, he\u2019s done enough to vault from omission into this tier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the third consecutive year, The Athletic is looking at the top tier of NHL players, examining which…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":992943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[42],"tags":[3103,1720,3107,2995,3110,1320,2997,1323,2081,3112,3104,3111,1301,1302,293,1334,62,3106,1304,67,132,68,3116,3109,292],"class_list":["post-992942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-boston-bruins","tag-buffalo-sabres","tag-carolina-hurricanes","tag-colorado-avalanche","tag-columbus-blue-jackets","tag-dallas-stars","tag-edmonton-oilers","tag-florida-panthers","tag-los-angeles-kings","tag-minnesota-wild","tag-montreal-canadiens","tag-nashville-predators","tag-new-york-islanders","tag-new-york-rangers","tag-nhl","tag-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-sports","tag-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-toronto-maple-leafs","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-vegas-golden-knights","tag-washington-capitals","tag-winnipeg-jets"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=992942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/992943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=992942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=992942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=992942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}