B/R NHL Position Rankings for the 2023-24 Season: Top 10 Left Wingers

We've been counting down to the start of the 2023-2024 NHL season by ranking players position by position, and today we're going to fill your minds up with goals and points from the top 10 left wings in the league.

All across the NHL, left wingers are picking up passes from their centers and ripping shots past goalies or crashing nets and creating havoc to create opportunities to score. Sometimes they're ornery enough to cause a kerfuffle anywhere on the ice, which adds a bit of spice to the game.

Left wings can be snipers, power forwards, danglers, net-crashers or all-around menaces for opponents to handle. Ranking the 10 best left wings isn't as easy as sorting them by points and counting down the top scorers. There are subtleties to consider as well as not-so secret intangibles.

Positions can be fluid, so we're using NHL.com's designations. We're keeping our list to 10, but there are roughly 30 or 40 who deserve serious consideration. Be sure to let us know where you think we nailed it or blew it in our app comments.

Also check out our goaltender and defensemen rankings.

Johnny Gaudreau, Columbus Blue Jackets

"Johnny Hockey" is still a dynamite player, but his first season in Columbus was a rough introduction to heading back East. He posted 74 points and 21 goals with the Blue Jackets, and the hope is rookie Adam Fantilli will help spark Gaudreau (and Patrik Laine and the rest of the team). Giving Gaudreau someone to create plays with should go a long way for Columbus.

Jamie Benn, Dallas Stars

Very few players in the NHL work as hard as Benn up and down the ice. He's a playmaking power forward who won't hesitate to mix it up. The Stars captain regained his goal-scoring touch last season with 33 tallies—his first 30-goal season since 2017-2018 when he had 36. At 34 years old, that return to goal-scoring glory was a welcome sight in Dallas. Counting him out is the quickest way to make sure he beats you.

Jake Guentzel, Pittsburgh Penguins

It might be easy to look past Guentzel when he plays with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but do so at your own risk. Though an ankle injury is going to cut into his time to start this year, he's piled up 76 goals the past two seasons. All he does is take care of business in the offensive end and give the Penguins a winger who can fill the net with their future Hall of Fame centers and defensemen.

Andrei Kuzmenko, Vancouver Canucks

Kuzmenko's first season in the NHL was a brilliant one in Vancouver. His 39 goals and 74 points let fans in North America know there's a new import from Russia capable of lighting up the scoreboard. At 27 years old, he's here with a ton of experience abroad, but the Canucks' need for more scoring was addressed immediately with Kuzmenko's addition. Another big year in Vancouver will put him on everyone's radar in a big way.

Jesper Bratt, New Jersey Devils

With the rise of the Devils in the Eastern Conference, we've seen Jesper Bratt emerge as one of the game's most solid, consistent point producers. He's put up 70-plus points in each of the past two seasons, and now with a new contract extension under his belt, he's got a lot more to live up to. That shouldn't be a problem for the 25-year-old Swede because playing on the wing with Jack Hughes or Nico Hischier, and having Timo Meier and Tyler Toffoli to work with, should make scoring far more frequent in New Jersey.

Kevin Fiala, Los Angeles Kings

Fiala's first season with the Los Angeles Kings showed why they made the move to acquire him. He joined Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe in helping light the lamp last season with 73 points, but it was as an assist man that Fiala did his best work. Now with Pierre-Luc Dubois joining L.A., Fiala should have another big-time offensive weapon to work off of. He's been a steady scorer through his career, but the past two seasons with the Kings and Wild showed he's hitting his stride in a big way.

Brad Marchand, Boston Bruins

It's always unwise to underestimate the Bruins. At age 35, thinking Brad Marchand isn't the guy he used to be is a good way to wind up on the wrong end of what's made him such a great player. He irritates and pushes the limits of legality at times, but he scores goals and generates opportunities at any given time. Even strength, power play or short-handed, Marchand makes an impact. And now that he's Boston's captain, expect the best of him to come out offensively and in driving opponents mad.

No. 10: Zach Hyman, Edmonton Oilers

When Hyman arrived in Edmonton in 2021 and earned his spot on a line next to Connor McDavid, he turned out to be the dependable winger No. 97 has been waiting for his whole career. His straight-forward game and ability to be right where he needs to be has turned him into one of the top scoring left wings in the NHL. He's netted 63 goals the past two seasons with the Oilers and set a career high with 36 last year.

Even though it might seem like putting high-skill players next to guys like McDavid is what will turn the game into a circus of goals, being dependable and having touch around the net can take those elite players even higher up the stat boards. Hyman is proof positive of that.

No. 9: Jeff Skinner, Buffalo Sabres

Now that the Buffalo Sabres are a goal-scoring juggernaut of sorts, veteran Jeff Skinner has taken advantage of that. Over the past two seasons he's scored 68 goals, and he has Sabres coach Don Granato to thank for that after his two years previous were the worst of his career.

What Skinner has done with the Sabres in recent years, however, is learn how to best be an opportunist, to be dangerous in the slot and around the net and to get under the skin of every player in the opposing sweater. His mix of elite skill and irascible trolling make him hated around the league and beloved in Western New York.

No. 8: Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals

Pretty wild to have, perhaps, the greatest scorer of all time who continues to fill up the net like mad this low, but here we are. Ovechkin can still score like very few can, and his slap shot from the faceoff circle on the power play is still a breathtaking sight to behold.

As he counts down toward potentially catching Wayne Gretzky for the all-time goals record (73 away), he'll be worth watching, as he's one of the most incredible talents the NHL has ever seen. At 38 years old, he continues to play at 100 miles per hour, or at least as close to that as a 38-year-old can.

No. 7: Kyle Connor, Winnipeg Jets

If there's any way to be critical of Kyle Connor's game, it's that all he seems to do is pile up points. It's not so much criticism as it is saying he's so good at it you wonder what else he can do. In five of the past six seasons, he's scored 30 or more goals and has never scored fewer than 50 points in a season, apart from his rookie year, in which he played just 20 games.

Two years ago, he had a career-high 47 goals and 93 points and followed that with 31 goals and 80 points last season. He produces points at a high rate and is the kind of offensive player other teams dream of having. Fortunately for the Jets, Connor is all theirs, and all he'll continue to do is fill up the score sheet.

No. 6: Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators

Even though Brady doesn't score at the kind of rate his older brother Matthew does, he's not exactly a slouch. He had career highs in goals (35) and points (83) last season for the up-and-coming Senators, and he's also a key figure in the locker room.

Brady excels at the physical side of the game and carries all the leadership traits teams go ga-ga for. He takes charge of situations on the ice and will do whatever it takes to make a play to ensure his team has the best chance to win a play or the game. As the Senators look to improve, expect the spotlight to shine brighter on Tkachuk because he's the king of intangibles—but he also backs it up with the goals and points to match.

Even with the number of star scorers the New York Rangers have in their lineup, none do it better than Artemi Panarin.

The "Breadman" helps the Blueshirts rise in Manhattan with his ability to score goals at a steady rate, but it's his incredible talent to set up his linemates that makes him one of the best wingers in the game.

Since joining the Rangers, Panarin has 241 assists in 268 games, and when you add in the 100 goals he's netted, what you've got is an elite all-around scorer. Whether it's at even strength or on the power play, Panarin's ability to find the open man or make the right decision that leads to a goal makes him vital to the Rangers' success.

Panarin's setup ability helps drive goal scorers such as Chris Kreider and has helped Mika Zibanejad become more prolific. Although Panarin struggled in the playoffs last year, it should serve as a motivation to not only shave his head but to pop off in a more focused way this season.

Tim Stützle is one of the league's best players yet remains under the radar. Whether that's because he plays in Ottawa or because he scores bucket loads of points quietly, that's for you to decide. But he excels because he's versatile.

Stützle can line up at center, but he does a lot of his damage off the wing as well. Teaming up with Claude Giroux and Brady Tkachuk last season helped unlock his game for a breakout season that served notice the young German was about to cause a lot of problems for goalies across the league.

Stützle had 39 goals and 90 points last year to lead the Senators in scoring. At 21 years old, he's entering what should be the start of his peak years as a performer. With Tkachuk, Giroux, Joshua Norris, Drake Batherson and now Vladimir Tarasenko, goals should be prevalent for the Senators, and Stützle will be the guy to lead the charge there.

The way he is able to control the puck as well as score and distribute makes him arguably Ottawa's most valuable player. If that surprises you because of Tkachuk's presence, that's fine, but consider yourself informed because Stützle is about to become a household name around the NHL.

Kirill Kaprizov represents must-watch hockey.

He is a one-man highlight reel waiting to happen game in and game out. Since coming over from Russia, all he's done for the Wild is generate offense at a rate that hasn't been seen in Minnesota since Marián Gáborík ruled the ice there in the '00s. He's put up 234 points in 203 games, including 114 goals.

Kaprizov had 40 goals last season, seven fewer than he had two years ago, but he played in 14 fewer games (67). His rookie season three years ago was the only one of his three NHL seasons in which he didn't score more than a point per game, but 27 goals and 51 points in 55 contests was still impressive for his first in North America.

The next big step for Kaprizov will be to take over during the playoffs. He had one goal in the Wild's six-game series loss to Dallas last season, although he had eight points in six games against St. Louis two years ago.

Still, he's an elite scorer and an incredibly skilled skater, puck-handler and shooter and makes Wild games a treat to watch.

Jason Robertson's emergence has been incredible to watch.

Three years ago, he quietly posted 45 points in 51 games for the Dallas Stars in his first full season. He was second in rookie scoring that year behind Kirill Kaprizov, but Kaprizov had a couple years on him in age and in KHL experience. All Robertson did the next season was put himself right into the MVP discussion.

The past two years, he has been an offensive machine, scoring 87 goals and 188 points. The 24-year-old from California has helped make the Stars one of the best teams in the Western Conference.

Robertson took another step last season with career highs in goals (46) and points (109), and he put up 18 points in 19 playoff games in leading Dallas to the Western Conference Final. If he's capable of scoring more goals and points, it's scary to think of what that would mean to the exciting Stars attack.

With Dallas set to be one of the best in the West once again, the spotlight will be brightly shining on Robertson to take aim on a trip to the Stanley Cup Final.

Two Tkachuks in this countdown isn't a surprise, and Matthew Tkachuk taking our No. 1 spot is probably even less of one.

Tkachuk finished last season tied with Jason Robertson as the highest scoring left wing in the league with 109 points. His 40 goals were second-most on the Florida Panthers behind Carter Verhaeghe, but his team-leading point total helped send them to the playoffs, and that's where Tkachuk's true value came out.

He had 24 points in 20 postseason games and led the playoffs with 74 penalty minutes and four game-winning goals. He menaced all comers with his physical play as well as his clutch scoring and playmaking. Opponents may despise players who push and even cross the line with truculent play, but there's little doubt that the way Tkachuk went about it helped drive the Panthers to the Stanley Cup Final.

The 25-year-old has been an elite scorer for a few years now since his time with Calgary, but the impact he had in his first season in Florida showed exactly why he's the best in the league. The Panthers were a Presidents' Trophy-winning team without him two seasons ago, but they were able to battle through a difficult regular season to make the Stanley Cup Final with him.

Love him or hate him—and chances are good if you're not a Panthers fan you hate him—he's the best in the league at what he does from the left side.