The 2025-26 season is well underway, the teams are getting ready to come back from the Olympic break, and we have gotten a great look at the talent all across the league. Centres are often looked at as the most important skater for a team, and it takes a lot to be in the top 10.
There are plenty of players who deserve to be in the conversation for this list, but of course, it is just limited to 10. These players all make their team significantly better, they all produce plenty of points, and they are all integral parts of what makes the NHL exciting.
10. Jack Hughes
Jack Hughes has got to stay healthy. When he is healthy for a lengthy stretch, he shows that he is one of the best players in the game. The problem with that is that he has missed 61 games over the past three seasons.
Looking at all-around skill, Hughes could certainly be higher on this list; however, he hasn’t been able to do it over the course of a season, and to be frank, the ability to stay healthy is an asset. Whether it be a freak accident or not, he hasn’t been available enough over the past three seasons.
9. Connor Bedard
Connor Bedard has come into his third NHL season and is living up to the sky-high expectations that were on him when he was drafted. Off to a blazing hot start with 23 goals and 53 points in 44 games, Bedard was sidelined with a shoulder injury for close to a month, but he came back and stayed hot.
Though he was left off the initial Team Canada Olympic roster, Bedard has been very impressive and has entered the top 10 list for centres at just 20 years old.
8. Auston Matthews
After scoring 60 and 69 goals, nobody knew what Auston Matthews would do next, but he ended up with just 33 goals in 2024-25, and while on pace for 40 goals, is scoring at under a point-per-game, and hasn’t been as strong defensively as he has been in previous seasons.
His play has fallen off along with the entire team, who sit seventh in the Atlantic Division. While it could be coincidental, and nobody will ever know the real answer, this is the first season Auston Matthews has played without Mitch Marner.
7. Macklin Celebrini
Macklin Celebrini had an outstanding rookie season, flirting with the point-per-game mark and playing strong defensively, and has done nothing but build on all of that as a sophomore. Not only that, but he has dominated at the Olympics for Team Canada.
What Celebrini is doing as a teenager is on par with the likes of Sidney Crosby. With 81 points in 55 games, he sits fourth in league scoring and is the main reason the San Jose Sharks are within striking distance of the playoffs during the Olympic break.
6. Sidney Crosby
Crosby is, without a doubt, one of the greatest players in NHL history, and even at 38 years old, he is a top-10 center in the league. The Pittsburgh Penguins were supposed to be in the running for the top 2026 draft pick, and many anticipated a disappointing season without Crosby in the playoffs, again.
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Scoring at a 40-goal, 90-point pace, again, is unbelievable. Adding in the fact that he is still a defensive masterclass and the team around him, it is undeniable that he is on this list still
5. Jack Eichel
Since joining the Vegas Golden Knights, Jack Eichel has taken his game to a whole new level. He has been playing at well over a point-per-game pace in the last three seasons. With 94 points last season, he finished eighth in league scoring and found himself finishing in the top 5 in voting for both the Hart Trophy and Selke Trophy.
Eichel has such a complete game. There are no knacks on his play, with the only concern being his ability to stay healthy.
4. Aleksander Barkov
Aleksander Barkov has taken over as the top two-way center in the NHL now that Patrice Bergeron has retired, and on top of that, has found strong offensive consistency over the past three seasons. During the 2024 and 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Barkov had some of the toughest matchups possible and did an excellent job shutting down the top players on all of the teams he faced on the path to winning back-to-back Stanley Cups. If it hadn’t been for McDavid’s outrageous scoring pace, Barkov would have won the 2024 Conn Smythe Trophy, as he received second-place votes on 15 out of the 17 ballots.
Barkov is set to miss the entirety of the 2025-26 season, which could end up with him being lower on this list next year if some players above have strong seasons, but in his absence, don’t forget how dominant a two-way player Barkov is.
3. Leon Draisaitl
On pace for yet another 40-goal, 100-point season, Leon Draisaitl continues to be a major factor in the Edmonton Oilers’ success. There is a reason he was the highest-paid player in league history prior to the Kirill Kaprizov extension.
Draisaitl does anything you could ask for. He led the league in goals, he is a perennial Hart Trophy candidate, he has been in the top spots for the Selke Trophy, and he just does everything at a superstar level.
2. Nathan MacKinnon
Nathan MacKinnon is doing the impossible by closing the gap as the best player in the NHL. While he is still in second here, there is a very good argument for him to be at the top. With 93 points in 55 games, MacKinnon is chasing down Connor McDavid, looking to take home his first Art Ross Trophy.
MacKinnon is one of the hardest-playing players in the league. He sits at the top of most offensive stat lists and is the number one reason the Colorado Avalanche are such a powerhouse.
1. Connor McDavid
Connor McDavid still stands as the top center and the best player in the NHL. Winning the Conn Smythe, Hart Trophy three times, and the Art Ross five times, nobody has an individual resume as good as his, but he is still looking to add to it, and continues to hunt for his first Stanley Cup.
McDavid has dominated throughout the regular season, playoffs, Stanley Cup Final, 4 Nations, and now the Olympics. There is little doubt in saying he is the most talented person to ever play the sport of hockey.
