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Top 100 NHLers 2025

Top 100 NHLers 2025

The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.

Top 100 NHL Players

TOP 100 NHL PLAYERS: 57-61

57 FILIP FORSBERG POS: LW AGE: 30 > Forsberg is one of the league’s highest-volume shooters, and he’s a perennial 30-goal threat thanks to his proclivity for finding lanes and putting pucks on net. But beyond Forsberg’s obvious talent, his heart-and-soul qualities set him apart from his peers. He plays with grit and guile and leads by example every shift. 58 JOHN CARLSON POS: D AGE: 35 > He doesn’t score goals as prodigiously as he did when he was younger – although it would help if he hadn’t had five goals overturned this season – but Carlson still produces, and he has enhanced his defensive game. And as he’s entered the twilight of his career, there’s an element of consistency that is comforting. 59 TIM STUTZLE POS: C AGE: 23 > He hasn’t returned to his 39-goal,…

OHL

SHOOTING HIS SHOT

FOR MOST YOUNG European players, making the journey to North America is difficult. Usually, it’s easier to stay home and develop – and possibly even get the chance to play pro – with the organization with which they’ve grown up. For many players, that makes the most sense. For a select few, though, committing to a club in North America can present new challenges that will help their development. This past year, Filip Ekberg made that jump, joining the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s after a promising junior career in Sweden and some highlight moments at the pro level. After a strong performance at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, Ekberg was set to play the majority of this season with Almtuna’s pro team in the second-tier Allsvenskan. But in a bit of a surprise move,…

Buzz

PUCK CULTURE

1 > SHORESY Comedy; 4 seasons, 24 episodes; 2022-present Shoresy, star of the eponymous show, is a foul-mouthed, hard-hitting team captain in this spinoff of the Canadian TV series Letterkenny. The Sudbury Bulldogs are last in the Northern Ontario Senior Hockey Organization – a.k.a. the NOSHO. When the Bulldogs’ owner threatens to fold the team, Shoresy promises that if he is given control, the team will never lose again. He then recruits players who hate losing as much as he does and are willing to drop the gloves when necessary…and even when it isn’t. Shoresy plays out like a modern-day Slap Shot, where a losing team uses fighting to win games and win back its fans. The show is rife with crass humor and violence, but that’s what makes Shoresy so much…

Top 100 NHL Players

TOP 100 NHL PLAYERS: 92. GUSTAV FORSLING

POS: D AGE: 28 WHEN YOU LOOK AT the body of work of the former bat boy for MLB’s Milwaukee Brewers, you think of a guy who steps in and takes his cuts. And they usually work out. Yes, Florida GM Bill Zito’s acquisitions of the likes of Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Brandon Montour, Sam Bennett, Vladimir Tarasenko and Seth Jones have indeed been works of art. But you don’t often think a waiver pick-up during the pandemic would turn out the way it did. That Gustav Forsling went from a castoff to a vital cog on the Panthers’ blueline and a $5.75-million-a-year player is one of the more inspiring stories in the NHL. The 28-year-old is with his fourth NHL organization, but the Panthers can’t envision life without the puck-moving stalwart,…