No two people have the same opinion regarding hockey’s greatest stars and how they all fit in the league’s hierarchy. Certain factions can overlap — traditionalists love big, fast, toolsy players; analysts love actionable impacts regardless of attributes —but even cliques can have internal differences.Those differences are a major part of what the annual Player Tiers project is all about: Finding common ground and consensus, while embracing that no two lists are identical. That’s where the intrigue lies. The goal is to mix cold, hard data with the intuition and wisdom of those inside the game to create a definitive record of who matters most in the NHL going into the 2026-27 season.Who matters at certain levels can be so different depending on who you ask, so this is a tiered list. Below you’ll find the 150 best players in hockey, separated into five groups: MVP cornerstones, franchise pillars, All-Star candidates, the true stars and elite support. Within those groups are sub-groups for further separation, but the overarching ideal remains: At a certain level, there’s no need to split hairs. That’s the beauty of a tiered ranking; it celebrates the difference in opinions across the league by bringing the players most closely debated together.