Best NHL Wingers: Cole Caufield in the Top 10, Juraj Slafkovsky Left Off the List

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Best NHL Wingers: Cole Caufield in the Top 10, Juraj Slafkovsky Left Off the List
Credit: Vincent Ethier/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Right now, the Montreal Canadiens have four key offensive players in their top six: Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Ivan Demidov.

The first is a center, but the others are wingers.

So last night, we were keeping an eye on the three wingers, as the NHL unveiled its list of the top 20 best wingers (right now) in the entire National Hockey League.

Just like last year, Nikita Kucherov, David Pastrnak, and Kirill Kaprizov make up the top three, in that order. Mitch Marner and Mikko Rantanen are still in the top five for 2026.

Matt Boldy and Jason Robertson have moved up the rankings, while Matthew Tkachuk remains in his usual spot.

It's worth noting that these are, in order, the only eight wingers ranked ahead of Cole Caufield. The young Canadiens player, who reached the 50-goal mark in 2025–2026 and wasn't invited to the Olympics, is ranked ninth.

Is that high enough for a Caufield, who wasn't even in the top 20 last year?

At the bottom of the NHL rankings, we find players like Lucas Raymond, Cutter Gauthier, Brady Tkachuk, Clayton Keller, and Jake Guentzel, for example.

The question we're asking is: Could Juraj Slafkovsky have outperformed these players to earn a spot in the top 20?

The same question could be asked about Ivan Demidov, but he didn't have as strong a season as Slaf, who is more dominant than the Russian heading into the summer of 2026.

I don't think this is a steal for Slaf. That said, I think that if he has a good season in 2026–2027, he has a good chance of making the list a year from now.


Extension

Nick Suzuki should rank highly among centers, and I also expect Lane Hutson to secure a strong position in the defensemen rankings.

Will any other players from the team be recognized? Jakub Dobes, for example?

facebook icon Share twitter icon Tweet linkedin icon Share
Copied!