It is summer after all and hockey is the furthest thing from our minds. So, we thought picking the best players from the best hockey country in the world seems like a fun thing to do. Last time we looked at defencemen, but today we jump up front. We have put together a top-ten list of the best wingers available for a best-on-best Team Canada as it stands going into the 2024-25 season.
Wingers are a bit of a different beast, as for the most part, with a couple exceptions no doubt, wingers are focused on offence. As we analyzed the top candidates, one thing we found was the uncanny similarities across theses players. Many of the players have very similar points per 60 minutes values as well as above average shooting percentages. Also, as a note, before we get overly critical, wait until the centremen list comes out to start questioning who’s a winger or a centreman truly. It’s not a perfect science, but we did our best to go by moneypuck’s alignment of the best team lines. Moreover, if a player appeared as a winger on the line they played the most with, then we used them for our list here.
Top Ten Team Canada Wingers
The Best of the Current Team Canada Wingers Selection Sam Reinhart
The first on our list is one of the entire league’s most efficient forwards. Furthermore, he was on the best team, none other than the 2024 Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. Just listen to these stats for a minute from the 2023-24 campaign. Sam Reinhart was first in the NHL in power play goals (27), first in shooting percentage (24.5%), and second in goals (57). Not only is he extremely reliable and responsible, but he is an excellent finisher too. Reinhart is the complete package as a hockey player. The West Vancouver, British Columbia native turns 29 in November so will likely have another year or two left at his current, peak career levels.
2. Mitch Marner
Marner is seen as one of the best two-way forwards and at the same time, best playmakers in the sport. Neither of those distinctions are easy to attain in themselves, not to mention being recognized as both of them. Marner is ninth among active NHLers in points-per-game at 1.11, which is good for 30th all-time in fact. As a note, the standard is a minimum 500 games played. In addition, over the past five seasons, he was been consistently around 21 minutes a game. He is one of the mainstays on the top power play unit and plays very regularly on the penalty kill for his Toronto Maple Leafs side. His abilities to create plays with the puck with his small turning radius and soft hands, make him an absolute magician.
3. Mathew Barzal
Next up is another absolute wizard in the sport and Barzal has speed to burn as well. According to NHL.com speed stats, Barzal ranked seventh in the entire NHL in 2023-24 with 338 speed bursts of 20 mph or more. Additionally, Barzal’s numbers don’t necessarily jump off the page for his high standing on such a prestigious list. However, his New York Islanders team plays a tight-defensive structure, and do not have high-end, offensive talent supporting Barzal, for example on the top power play unit. Still, Barzal’s stats speak for themselves. In 2023-24, he had 23 goals and 57 assists good for exactly a point-a-game with 80 in 80. Playing primarily with Bo Horvat on his line, he helped Horvat achieve near career season with 33 goals and 35 assists. Barzal’s offensive command of the game earns him the third spot of best Canadian wingers.
4. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ inclusion on this list and this high, will face some scrutiny. First of all, you might think, isn’t he a centre? Well yes, but his main line from the 2023-24 season with the Edmonton Oilers saw him slot in as a winger. And when your centreman is the best player in the NHL, Connor McDavid, then it does make sense. Also, another source of scrutiny could be Nuge’s down season offensively. However, when your coach, Kris Knoblauch, describes you as the ‘Most Complete Player’ on the team that came within a goal or two of the Stanley Cup Championship this past year, sometimes stats aren’t everything.
That stat that does back it up, is moneypuck’s line rating. The stat where Nugent-Hopkins was apart of the best line in hockey was according to xGoals% (if we filter on lines 250 minutes and above) which was at 66.6%. And still even though he only had 67 points in 2023-24, he was coming off a year he had 104. Therefore, the offence is there unquestionably. The surprise discrepancy can, at least partly, be attributed to his shooting percentage which went from 18.4 to 9.8 over those two years.
Nuge plays a lot of high-pressure situations including top power play time and lots of time on the penalty kill. He is tasked with being a two-way player in defending against the opposition’s attack. And yes, he does take a lot of important faceoffs. Both his defensive and offensive zone star percentages, 22.1% and 17.9%, respectively, are fourth on the team. The defensive zone percentage only being behind those players who play a primarily defensive role with the club.
5. Carter Verhaeghe
Verhaeghe might be seen as an underwhelming choice for this list, especially this high on it. However, if you are looking for a proven winner, a goal-scoring sniper, and the model of consistency, you can bank on Verhaeghe making your team. In five NHL seasons, Verhaeghe has 330 career games, with 127 goals and 122 assists for 249 points. His combined 76 goals in 157 games over the past two NHL regular season campaigns has really established himself. Furthermore, his career shooting percentage is a terrific 14.9% and CF% Rel of 9.1. His intangibles includes his excellent playoff record. He has two Stanley Cup victories to his credit, and appeared in the finals an additional time. He’s scored 26 goals in 69 career playoff contests. Verhaeghe is the ultimate clutch performer, and is position is well-earned on this list.
6. Zach Hyman
Zach Hyman is one of the best role players, and his role is scoring goals. With the Oilers, he plays the flank with McDavid and one of Nugent-Hopkins or Leon Draisaitl. Therefore, as we already referenced the best line in the NHL, he is apart of it with Nugent-Hopkins and McDavid. In 2023-24, he scored 54 goals, behind only his former Toronto Maple Leaf linemate, Auston Matthews (69), and Reinhart.
In addition, he is excellent at digging the puck out from the corners, and generating offence. He led the league in expected goals (52.5), and the fact he still scored more (than was calculated to be expected to) speaks to his efficiency. His shooting percentage at 18.6% is also extremely efficient. The reasoning for him not being higher on the list, is his lack of a complete game, even though he really doesn’t need to be one. When we are taking about best, we are trying to consider completeness as one of the criteria. Therefore, the reasoning behind Hyman not being higher on the list includes that he doesn’t kill penalties and only had 23 assists in 2023-24. But with 90 goals over the past two seasons, make no mistake Hyman belongs on this list where he finds himself.
7. Travis Konecny
Travis Konecny has put himself together a strong career for the Philadelphia Flyers. Moreover, his past two seasons have been very successful, suggesting that he should also have strong 2024-25. There’s no reason that at 27, he can’t continue a positive linear regression career development curve. In just 136 games in those two seasons, he has 64 goals and 65 assists for 129 points. He’s at right around 20 minutes of ice a game as well. In addition, Konecny has always been a successful shooter during his career posting a value of 12.5%, which has been up to close to 15% these past two campaigns. He’s a dependable player on the Flyers, and kills penalties when called upon as well.
8. Jonathan Marchessault
Marchessault is another player who just seems to tick the boxes you need to in order to win. Case in point, he took home the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP as his Vegas Golden Knights captured the 2023 Stanley Cup Championship. Also, he tied the lead in the NHL in goals those playoffs with 13. He’s a very reliable forward and has maintained consistent offensive numbers. In 2023-24, at the age of 33, he just hit his high-water mark with 42 tucks.
Looking at his stats back to 2016-17, he’s proven his value as a regular contributor skating around 17-18 minutes a game. Over that span, he has 222 goals in 589 games, which works out to 31 goals over an 82-game average. He maintains a very high Corsi rating over his career, with a CF% Rel of 10.5. ‘Marshmallow’ as his name hints, is a great all-around player, and the Nashville Predators are hoping, as we suspect he will, to have another steady, but productive, 2024-25.
The Defensive Leader of the Best Current Team Canada Wingers Mark Stone
Winnipeg, Manitoba’s own, Mark Stone, is one of the best two-way players on our list of best Canadian wingers. At 32, Stone is still one of the best at dispossessing you from the puck. Despite never winning the Selke Trophy as league’s top-defensive forward, four times he finished sixth or better in voting. Stone has been the captain in Vegas going back to 2020. Also, he won the cup, along with his former teammate, and number eight of our list, Marchessault in 2023.
Moreover, along with the defensive acumen and extra leadership qualities Stone brings, he has always been a consistent offensive producer. In 640 career games, he has 567 points and is a seven-time 20-goal scorer. And he’s not one to waste opportunities, with a career shotting percentage of 15.4%. Despite injuries slowing him down over the past few seasons, he performs when its needed most, and is just off a point-per-game rating during his time in Las Vegas at 0.93.
10. Alexis Lafreniere
Now we come to the 2020 first overall draft pick of the New York Rangers left wing Alexis Lafreniere. There have been growing pains with Lafreniere’s development but only because he was the first overall pick. That meant expectations were sky-high, including forecasting to be a big time point producer. After all, the year he was drafted, he was coming off a season with 37 goals and 68 assists for 105 points in just 61 games for the Rimouski Oceanic of the QMJHL. However, his game was more of an all-around one, but he was able to score in junior regardless.
Now there are some varying reasoning behind his lack of NHL success thus far in his career, but he might just being finding his stride. One challenge for him in the NHL with the Rangers, and the fact he was supposed to be more offensive, has been his lack of power play time. Regardless of all the back story, Lafreniere is ready to look ahead.
It seemed Lafreniere has arrived reflecting on his 2023-24 season. So first of all, one number that stands out, is power play ice time. Lafreniere has 104.8 minutes of ice time on the power play for the Rangers in this most recent NHL campaign. Conversely, as a comparable, one of their top power play unit stars, Mika Zibanejad, was up at 280.3 minutes. As a result, Lafreniere would miss out on accumulating power play points, given the lack of opportunity there, which was not related to performance.
Despite this, he had his best statistical season offensively. 28 goals, 29 assists, 57 points, 17:16 average time on ice, 217 shots on goal, 9.8 CF% Rel, were all personal bests. He was fourth on the Rangers in expected goals (26.9) and fifth in offensive start zone % (17.7). That does show he is getting the opportunities to do what he does well, help generate offence. His skating, strength, and intelligence allows him to control the game in the offensive zone, and set himself up for success. Even if he may lack some of the offensive talent typical big point producers have, like creativity. In contrast, his work ethic and determination are the type of attributes that help him generate goals.
Honourable Mentions or Interchangeable Pieces for the Best Team Canada Wingers
As we briefly discuss some of the honourable mentions for this list, we can really see how even the players are in terms of statistics and results. Some of the attributes that have helped different players have been their intangibles. For example, Brad Marchand proudly showcases the ‘C’ on his black and gold Boston Bruins sweater. If it weren’t for his dip in production, possibly due to his age (36), he would’ve been on this list. He scored 29 goals and added 38 assists in 2023-24, which was down from his 82-game average throughout his career at 32 goals and 42 assists, good for 74 points.
Another player, one who is coming off his breakout season for the Carolina Hurricanes, Seth Jarvis, was very close to inclusion. He scored 33 goals and added 34 assists for 67 points in 81 games played, playing 18:45 a night. His goal rate was a result of his elevated shooting percentage at 18.8%. However, given his team lead with an expected goals of 33.4, his goal total actually might be around exactly where it should be around. It is possible he is able to generate high-danger opportunities for himself when attacking. Also, he was very opportunistic with nine game-winning goals. From our list, only Reinhart had more with 11, which was good for a tie for second in the entire NHL last season. One more possible winger in our top-ten is Brandon Hagel. Hagel had 26 goals and 49 assists for 75 points in 82 games.
Main photo: Dennis Schneidler-USA TODAY Sports
