Winning important face-offs, leading rushes up the ice, and setting up teammates are the hallmarks of an elite center. NHL Network producers and analysts on Wednesday revealed their list of top 20 centers in the League right now in the fifth of a nine-part series. Here is the list:
Bennett set NHL career highs in assists (26) and points (51) last season and had a career-best seven-game point streak (four goals, four assists) from Nov. 25 to Dec. 7. His 15 goals led the Stanley Cup Playoffs, helped the Panthers repeat as Stanley Cup champions and he won the Conn Smythe Trophy voted as most valuable player of the postseason.
The No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft was a finalist for the 2025 Calder Trophy given to the NHL rookie of the year, won by Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson. Celebrini had a goal and an assist in his NHL debut, a 5-4 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues at SAP Center on Oct. 10, and finished with 63 points (25 goals, 38 assists) in 70 games. His three goals and two assists in an 8-7 loss to the Minnesota Wild on April 9 made him the first Sharks rookie and seventh different player in franchise history with at least five points in one game.
Thompson’s 25 goals after Jan. 20 led the NHL, a 36-game stretch that included two hat tricks, three two-goal games and eight goals during Buffalo’s five-game winning streak from March 30 to April 8. His 37 even-strength goals were the most by a Sabres player since Alexander Mogilny had 49 in 1992-93. His total of 44 were three behind his NHL career high set in 2022-23 and tied Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin for third in the League. Thompson scored the golden goal 2:02 into overtime to give the United States a 1-0 victory against Switzerland in the gold-medal game at the 2025 IIHF World Championship; the first time the United States won the tournament since 1933.
Hintz had 67 points (28 goals, 29 assists) in 76 regular-season games, and 12 points (six goals, six assists) in the playoffs, third on the Stars behind Mikko Rantanen (22) and Thomas Harley (14). Hintz and Rantanen became the first pair of teammates in NHL history with four points in a playoff period, each getting the total in the second period of 7-4 loss to the Colorado Avalanche in Game 6 of the Western Conference First Round at Ball Arena, a series Dallas won in seven.
The No. 3 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft made his Stanley Cup Playoff debut with five points (two goals, three assists) in a six-game loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Eastern Conference First Round, Ottawa’s first postseason appearance since 2017. Stutzle’s 55 assists led the Senators in the regular season, which included an 11-game assist streak from Jan. 26 to March 3 that broke the team record of 10 shared by Mark Stone (Feb. 17 to March 8, 2018) and Sergei Gonchar (March 3-23, 2013). He was named as one of the first six players to Team Germany’s preliminary roster for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.
