Where do NHL teams get their best players? What Player Tiers data tells us about team building

Every year, the Player Tiers project highlights the top 150 players in the NHL heading into a new season.

While it’s not a definitive ranking from 1-150, this project sorts the league’s biggest stars into five tiers based on impact: MVP cornerstones, franchise pillars, All-Star candidates, the true stars and elite support. We blend traditional hockey wisdom, data-driven analysis and input from a deep panel of insiders from around the game.

The project teaches us a few things each year: who the league’s strongest stars are and which teams are richest, with all 32 teams getting represented at varying levels. The league’s best contenders tend to have core players at the top of the hierarchy, with support sprinkled across the lower tiers. The reigning back-to-back champion Florida Panthers appear in this year’s 150 ten times, at every level. And that’s who the rest of the league has to try to emulate.

But how do teams get those top players? That is one more piece of the team-building puzzle the Player Tiers project can shed light on.

Two days on the hockey calendar generate a ton of attention: the trade deadline and the start of free agency. But despite all of the buzz and excitement these days generate, this isn’t when teams do their best building or find their biggest stars.

Teams like the Vegas Golden Knights, Panthers, and Dallas Stars show it’s possible to add franchise players through trades. That’s how Vegas acquired Jack Eichel (2A) and (technically) Mitch Marner (2B), the Panthers landed Matthew Tkachuk (2A) and Sam Reinhart (2C), and how Mikko Rantanen (2B) made his way to Dallas.

Those deals are a key reason why teams like the Golden Knights and Panthers are so competitive. Vegas is in a unique position as an expansion team that took an aggressive approach from Day 1 rather than building a foundation with a deep prospect pipeline. Florida, on the other hand, has 10 players in the top 150, five of whom were brought in via trade (Tkachuk, Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Seth Jones, and Brad Marchand).

A few teams spotted rising talent and traded for players before they made their NHL debuts, like Adam Fox (2C), Nick Suzuki (3A), Filip Forsberg (3C) and Brock Faber (4B). Others found up-and-coming All-Star talent on the trade market, such as Tage Thompson and Brandon Hagel, who had some experience at this level.

But for most teams, this isn’t the strategy for team-building. Just 40 of the top 150 players were traded to their current teams — none of whom fall in Tier 1. Six of those 40 make up the 22 Tier 2 players; in Tier 3, it’s five of 31.

Instead, the trade market is the ideal way to complement a roster with Tier 4 and 5 talent. That’s what Mikhail Sergachev and Noah Dobson, two star-caliber defenders, have done for their respective teams. The same goes for Martin Necas, Bo Horvat and Linus Ullmark.

This doesn’t really project to change anytime soon because there aren’t a lot of players in the upper tiers on the market (unless Sidney Crosby changes his long-time stance and demands a way out of Pittsburgh, or another big name shakes things up). Right now, the biggest names who could go on the trade block are Rasmus Andersson, Bryan Rust and Alex Tuch, who are all basically fringe Tier 5ers. With new restrictions on salary cap retention, the trade market could slow even more and lessen the chances of a star player moving in-season.

While traded players make up just one quarter of this year’s Top 150, there are even fewer free-agent signings.

Since the Toronto Maple Leafs traded Marner to Vegas before the market opened, Artemi Panarin stands as the lone free-agent signing in the top two tiers. Slide down to Tier 3, and Sergei Bobrovsky joins the list. In Tier 4, the group expands to four: Nikolaj Ehlers, Carter Verhaeghe, Zach Hyman and John Tavares. There are nine others in Tier 5.

It’s becoming increasingly true that most high-end players don’t make it to July 1. Instead, free agency is generally just a way to bolster a supporting cast.

Just look at the 2025 class. Rantanen and Crosby both extended early. So did Leon Draisaitl, Travis Konency, Victor Hedman, Shea Theodore, Jaccob Slavin, Igor Shesterkin and Jake Oettinger, among others.

As star-studded as the 2026 class once looked, it’s already dwindling. Connor McDavid, Kirill Kaprizov, Kyle Connor and Eichel extended early. So did Jake Walman, Thatcher Demko and Anthony Stolarz. Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky are the only two members of the 2026 free agent class in the top three tiers; below that, the list includes a couple of scorers (Adrian Kempe and Necas), along with others on the downswings of their careers (John Carlson, Alex Ovechkin and Ryan McDonagh). As much as general managers could have hoped to use their expanded cap space next July, the talent may not be there for it.

That’s why teams can’t operate on the assumption that players like Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, Nikita Kucherov and Nico Hischier will actually be available when their contracts expire in 2027, either.

So, while there can be oddities — like Gustav Forsling on waivers, gems added through expansion (Theodore and Vince Dunn) and the Offer Sheet Boys in Tier 5 — those are supplemental ways to add to a roster. While teams like the Panthers and Golden Knights have leaned on free agency and the trade market more than most, that isn’t a blueprint every team can follow, either.

Instead, the Player Tiers project emphasizes the importance of drafting, developing and retaining star players.

That’s especially true at the top of the hierarchy. The best way to acquire MVP-caliber talent in the NHL is through the draft, as all 10 members of Tier 1 were picked by their current clubs. Eight of those 10 players were selected in Round 1; six (McDavid, Draisaitl, Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews and Barkov) were top-five picks. Kucherov, who was drafted 58th, is a reminder there can be gems outside of Round 1; Kaprizov drives that point home even more as a fifth-rounder.

Fifteen of the 22 players in Tier 2 were drafted — 10 in the first round (five in the top five), one in the second, one in the third and one in Round 5. Tier 3 is also primarily composed of drafted players — 17 first-rounders (seven in the top-five), three second-rounders and two picks selected later than that.

Across five tiers, it adds up to 91 players in total — 29 selected in the top five, with another 32 later first-rounders.

The value of those first-round picks should be eye-catching to teams outside of the contenders’ circle. While teams in their most competitive windows can afford to trade picks for players who will solidify their Stanley Cup chances, others shouldn’t just be throwing away one of their best chances of bringing in a potential star player.

Then there’s the developmental factor. While players picked early are expected to have higher ceilings (which can be reached sooner), it’s not a perfect science, either. Top picks can fail and later-round picks can emerge as difference-makers. But investing in that process can be the difference between having a game-breaker versus a secondary player.

And after years of helping a player reach their ceiling, there’s the retention element of it all that has come to the forefront again with some recent contract trends.

Kirill Kaprizov and Kyle Connor were both paid above their market values. And while it’s easy to compare that to the fact both Eichel and McDavid signed at discounts, it makes sense why these teams paid up.

Kaprizov is just one of 10 MVP-caliber players. If the Wild were to lose him, this team would have to draft, develop and retain someone else to fill that void. But the chances of that happening are slim considering how few players are truly at his level.

In Connor’s case, a 3B player is a lot different from Kaprizov in 1C. Still, only nine of 31 Tier 3-caliber players weren’t drafted by their current clubs. So, as easy as it is to point out the fact that Rantanen and Marner are a full tier ahead and were both acquired via trade, the context of the available talent pool and the fact Connor is the Jets’ highest-ranked forward helps justify that $12 million AAV.

When teams move on from those highly drafted players, they often still shine elsewhere. There are 55 players in this year’s Tiers who were drafted by a different team than they are currently on; nine of them went in the top five (from Reinhart and Marner in Tier 2 down to John Tavares and Seth Jones in Tier 4). Another 23 were selected later in Round 1; that list includes Tkachuk and Rantanen, along with Ehlers, Necas and Dobson.

The Panthers show a team’s draft history doesn’t necessarily have to define their future — as long as they can get creative elsewhere. And while that’s a lesson for the rest of the league to study, Player Tiers still points to the draft as the best way to construct a roster. That’s what every rising team should keep in mind as they try to become the next contender to beat.