The top 5 NHL left wingers of 2025
With the final days of 2025 ahead, what better way to celebrate the year than by highlighting some of the best performances that we’ve witnessed in the calendar year?
Over these last few days of the year, I’ll look at the best players at all five positions (goaltender, defense, right wing, left wing, and center) from 2025, which includes the January to April months of the 2024-25 season, the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the October to December months in the 2025-26 season, as well as some consideration from the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Today we’ll look at the left wingers. It’s a list that has become more chaotic over the years, largely due to the fact that wingers are becoming versatile and playing both left and right wing, which means there are plenty of surprises over which player is actually the opposite wing. In fact, you could easily make a list solely of players who primarily played at right wing this year, but NHL.com still classifies as a left winger.
First, a few honorable mentions:
Brandon Hagel, Tampa Bay Lightning – Hagel keeps getting better every season. He joined the Lightning as a middle-six power forward, and he’s since evolved into one of the game’s best two-way forwards. With 80 points in 81 games this year, he was seventh among left wingers in point production, and he also stepped up for Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off. The only thing hindering him from a top-five appearance was a poor showing in the playoffs, where he was held without a point.
Clayton Keller, Utah Mammoth – Keller continues to be one of the top playmaking wingers in the game, tied for seventh with 56 assists in 2025. It’s unfortunate timing for him that Utah’s in playoff contention during one of his slower starts to the season with 32 points in 39 games, which is what keeps him out of the top five. Hopefully this slow start doesn’t keep him off of the United States Olympic roster, especially after he was a glaring omission at 4 Nations.
Artemi Panarin, New York Rangers – Panarin was a staple in the top five for the past few years, even holding down second for the last two. But the 2024-25 season as a whole was a step back for the Russian, including the 2025 portion, and then he’s only recently picked up the pace after a slow start to the 2025-26 season. With the competition around him at left wing continuing to grow, it’s dropped him into the honorable mentions for the time being.
5. Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota Wild
Regular Season: 46 GP, 25 G, 27 A, 52 P
Playoffs: 6 GP, 5 G, 4 A, 9 P
Kaprizov normally finds himself on the higher end of this list, often times first, as he’s one of the most talented players in the game. In fact, he scored with the best of them, as he was third among left wingers in points per game. The problem with Kaprizov in 2025 was availability, as he only played seven games in the 2025 portion of the 2024-25 season. Health has always been a concern, and unfortunately it cut short a season that was worthy of Hart Trophy consideration.
Kaprizov picked up where he left off in the postseason with nine points in six games, including seven in the first three games as the Wild were putting the fear of god into the Vegas Golden Knights and taking a 2-1 series lead. So far in 2025-26, he’s still been productive with 46 points in 39 games, which is really good but not on the same level as 2024. A slight drop off in play plus the competition growing at the position played a role in his lower ranking, but injuries was the largest issue for Kaprizov in 2025.
4. Morgan Geekie, Boston Bruins
Regular Season: 82 GP, 50 G, 31 A, 81 P
Playoffs: N/A
If you went into a coma this time last year and just woke up, you’d wonder how Geekie found his way onto the top left wingers list of 2025. Heck, you might even wonder who Geekie is. But he is well deserving of a ranking this high after the performance he had this season. Sure, he’s benefitted from playing alongside David Pastrnak, but the underlying numbers indicate that he’s driving more than you’d think, and in recent weeks, he’s been on his own and keeping up the pace.
It wasn’t until late January that Geekie started scoring at the pace he was, but in a 2024-25 campaign where he had 33 goals, 25 of them came in 2025. Suddenly, he was unstoppable, and that carried over into the 2025-26 campaign where he was going toe-to-toe with Nathan MacKinnon in the goal-scoring race until a recent slump. On the year as a whole, he’s been the only player to score 50 goals this season (although MacKinnon and Jason Robertson are only one away themselves), so it was hard to deny him a spot this year.
3. Jake Guentzel, Tampa Bay Lightning
Regular Season: 85 GP, 39 G, 43 A, 82 P
Playoffs: 5 GP, 3 G, 3 A, 6 P
It always surprises me to see Guentzel on this list every year. It’s not that he isn’t a talented player, but it’s always felt like he’s been more of a complimentary player than a pure driver. But it says a lot about his play that he can distinguish himself as an impact player when most of your career has either been beside Sidney Crosby or Nikita Kucherov. Or at the very least, it’s good that he’s not holding them back.
Guentzel hasn’t been as productive as some of the other players on this list in 2025 with 82 points in 85 games, and is the only player besides Geekie to not score above a point per game (and Geekie had 50 goals as an excuse). What he does make up for it is his defensive ability, which has improved significantly since joining the Lightning, and for not seeing his play dip in either the playoffs (six points in five games) or the 4 Nations Face-Off (four points in four games). He’s fit like a glove in Tampa Bay with Kucherov and Brayden Point, proving more and more that moving on from Steven Stamkos to bring Guentzel in was the right play.
2. Jason Robertson, Dallas Stars
Regular Season: 85 GP, 49 G, 48 A, 97 P
Playoffs: 11 GP, 4 G, 2 A, 6 P
It’s been very nice seeing Robertson return to form this year. After a slow start in the 2024 portion of the 2024-25 season with just 28 points in the first 36 games, Robertson ramped up his play in 2025 with 52 points in 46 games. This wasn’t just because of the addition of Mikko Rantanen, as Robertson had 36 of them before the Finnish winger even arrived in Dallas. And that play has carried over into the 2025-26 season, where he’s had 45 points in 39 games, and sits tied for fifth in goals with 23.
The difference between Robertson and the player in first place is extremely close, but the difference ended up being that Robertson saw a significant fall off in his performance in the playoffs. Defensively he was fine, but offensively he had just four goals and six points in 11 games, a massive disappointment considering how well he played the rest of the season. If the Stars want to take the next step and not drop out of the West Final like the past three seasons, they’ll need better than that from Robertson.
1. Kyle Connor, Winnipeg Jets
Regular Season: 79 GP, 37 G, 54 A, 91 P
Playoffs: 13 GP, 5 G, 12 A, 17 P
I’ve discredited Connor in the past, not so much because he isn’t talented, but because he’s been brutal defensively, and some of his production has relied on the power play and empty net points. Those game states are obviously important, but if you can’t carry over that production to even strength on a consistent basis, that’s where I get concerned about their overall impact as a player. However, I can’t accuse him of that anymore, as his 68 even strength points in 2025 wasn’t only the most among left wingers, it was tied for the fourth-most among all NHLers.
Connor was one of the top producers in 2024-25, finishing seventh in points and tied for seventh in goals en route to the Jets’ first Presidents’ Trophy, and he was consistent throughout the entire season. That production has carried over into the 2025-26 season with 45 points in 36 games, and while the Jets haven’t seen similar success this year, that shouldn’t discredit his year. Perhaps most impressive was how he played in the playoffs, with his 17 points in 13 games being the most out of any player that only played in the first two rounds. In fact, he had more than double the points of Robertson, which was what put him ahead of the Stars winger in the end.
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