NHL Fastest Skaters 2026: Speed Rankings

NHL fastest skaters 2026 start with a number that still feels rude: Connor McDavid touched 24.61 miles per hour against Calgary on October 8, 2025. A few months earlier, Miles Wood set the tracking era benchmark at 24.82 mph in a game that Vancouver won 4 to 1 in Colorado on April 10, 2025. Between those two bursts sits the modern NHL, a league that no longer treats speed like a party trick.

Fresh ice helps. Tight gaps hurt. The neutral zone now punishes hesitation more than bad ideas. One stride late and the play dies.

So the question changes in 2026. Who owns the top gear. Who lives there all night. Who keeps the puck when the game turns mean.

When speed stopped being a luxury

At the time, hockey people praised speed the way they praised grit. They nodded. They moved on. Coaches trusted their eyes and scouts trusted their gut.

Before long, systems started asking for separation on every line. A winger needed to win the first race. A center had to close space on the backcheck. Defensemen had to pivot like forwards, then defend like adults.

The effect shows up in the corners. Fast forechecks arrive earlier and hit harder. Quick retrievals save shifts before they turn into panic. Slow decisions now look like slow legs.

Hours later, the third period tells the real story. The legs fade. The air thins. That is where speed becomes a job, not a highlight.

NHL fastest skaters 2026 matter because they make the game feel smaller. They shrink time. They erase your plan.

What the tracking era actually reveals

Years passed, and the NHL finally gave arguments a receipt. NHL EDGE tracking now logs max skating speed, distance, and bursts at specific thresholds. The numbers do not replace the eye test. They tighten it.

However, top speed alone can lie. A player can hit a peak once and spend the rest of the night chasing. Repeat speed tells you more, especially the bursts over 20 mph and 22 mph that keep stacking up in real shifts.

On January 1, 2026, NHL EDGE’s year end storylines made the separation brutal. McDavid posted 756 bursts over 20 mph across the regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs in the 2025 calendar year. Nathan MacKinnon sat second with 513, which meant McDavid cleared him by 243 bursts.

That gap frames this entire list. Speed has levels. Volume creates the highest level.

So NHL fastest skaters 2026 rewards three things, blended together in one question. Can the player hit a peak that bends spacing. Can the player repeat that gear through a game and through a season. Can the player convert the rush into something that counts.

The speed ladder that shapes 2026

Despite the pressure, rankings still need context. A depth winger can sprint once and still lose his minutes. A top defenseman can skate forever and still avoid true top end sprints.

Consequently, this list leans on measurable game speed and repeat bursts, then checks for usefulness. The best skaters create clean exits, controlled entries, and recoveries that kill odd man rushes before they breathe.

One more detail belongs here, because fans always ask. Dylan Larkin’s 13.172 seconds from 2016 remains the NHL All Star Fastest Skater record. McDavid won the 2024 event at 13.408, while Mathew Barzal clocked 13.519 that same night. The record stands because the rink still demands perfection at full speed.

Now the list turns to game speed, not spotlight speed. NHL fastest skaters 2026 live in shifts that start messy and end decisive.

10 Luke Hughes

Suddenly, Luke Hughes made defense look like a race without a finish line. His feet stay quiet until he decides they should not. A clean pivot becomes a breakout before the forecheck even settles.

NHL EDGE tracked Hughes at 24.19 mph as a defenseman in the 2023 to 24 season. That number matters, but the style matters more. He attacks retrievals with confidence, then turns the first touch into open ice.

On the other hand, his cultural impact already spreads. Young defensemen now train like wingers, because Hughes proved the league will reward it.

9 Brayden Point

Brayden Point rarely advertises his speed. The game reveals it for him. A loose puck becomes a clean breakaway. A backcheck becomes a stolen chance.

NHL EDGE listed Point at 24.15 mph in late 2023. Bursts tell the deeper story. He ranked among the league leaders in 20 mph speed bursts in his peak tracking seasons, which fits how Tampa keeps playing fast in tight games.

Because of this loss, opponents do not only defend his shot. They defend the moment he turns a glide into a sprint.

8 Owen Tippett

Owen Tippett skates like he wants the wall to move. His routes stay direct. His legs do not waste steps.

In the 2023 to 24 tracking data, Tippett reached 24.21 mph and sat near the top of the league in 22 mph bursts. The value shows up when contact arrives. He can drive wide at speed, keep his hands alive, and still protect the puck through the reach.

At the time, Philadelphia needed identity more than elegance. Tippett gave them pace, and pace changes the tone of a rebuild.

7 Jake Sanderson

Jake Sanderson skates like a player who hates being late. His first three strides look urgent, even when the play looks calm. The recovery speed changes Ottawa’s risk tolerance.

NHL EDGE tracked Sanderson with 263 bursts over 20 mph in 88 games across the regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs during the 2025 calendar year, which led all defensemen. That number does not compete with the elite forwards. It does not need to.

Yet still, it signals something important. The modern top pair defenseman now needs repeat speed, not just clean edges.

6 Martin Necas

Martin Necas carries sprinter speed in a league that now treats sprinters as standard. His stride stays long and smooth, then sharp when he turns the corner. A routine regroup becomes a rush because his legs force a defender to back off.

NHL EDGE’s 2024 to 25 season coverage placed Necas among the fastest skaters by both peak and burst volume. The cultural note feels obvious when you watch teams shop at the NHL trade deadline. Clubs chase this kind of winger because he changes matchups without changing lines.

Hours later, the replay always looks the same. A defenseman reaches once. Necas keeps going.

5 Cale Makar

Cale Makar does not skate fast the way most players skate fast. He hides it until the instant it matters. A small gap turns into nothing. A forechecker slides past air.

In the 2024 to 25 tracking era snapshots, Makar led defensemen in high speed bursts at the 22 mph threshold and stacked elite volume over 20 mph. That repeat speed matters because it shows up in both directions. His rushes create offense. His recoveries erase danger.

Despite the pressure, his legacy already reads like a blueprint. He proved a defenseman can drive a system with feet first, then finish the job with a decision.

4 Quinn Hughes

Quinn Hughes built a career on edges that make opponents second guess physics. The puck rarely sits still on his stick. His feet keep moving, even when his shoulders look relaxed.

NHL EDGE tracked Hughes at 24.56 mph on March 22, 2025, the top skating speed by any player that season and the fastest max skating speed by a defenseman in the tracking era since the 2021 22 season. That number fits the eye test. His game speed creates passing lanes that should not exist.

Then the league delivered a plot twist. Vancouver traded Hughes to the Minnesota Wild on December 13, 2025, in a blockbuster deal reported by Reuters. The move reshaped both teams and changed the context around his skating. He no longer drives Vancouver’s identity. He now hands Minnesota a defenseman who can turn retrievals into exits before the forecheck arrives.

3 Miles Wood

Miles Wood owns the peak speed headline, and the record deserves respect. He hit 24.82 mph on April 10, 2025, the fastest max skating speed of the NHL puck and player tracking era since 2021 to 22. One burst like that can tilt a night, because it forces a defense to retreat and it forces a bench to react.

However, the ranking cannot stop at the peak. Repeat speed separates the top tier. NHL EDGE’s Wood tracking page shows 134 bursts over 20 mph in that same 2024 to 25 season view. That number sits well below the volume monsters at the top of this list.

So Wood lands at three. He holds the single loudest sprint, but he does not live at that pace every shift. The top two do.

Consequently, his cultural role stays specific and valuable. He proves depth speed can change games, even without star volume.

2 Nathan MacKinnon

Nathan MacKinnon skates like he wants to win the race and the argument. His stride carries weight. His turns carry anger. The speed does not fade when the game tightens.

NHL EDGE’s January 1, 2026 storylines tracked MacKinnon at 513 bursts over 20 mph during the 2025 calendar year, second only to McDavid. That is elite repeat speed. It also explains why Colorado keeps playing fast deep into spring.

On the other hand, his legacy note stretches beyond any single stat. He made relentless pace fashionable again for superstars, the kind who refuse to coast even with a lead.

1 Connor McDavid

Connor McDavid turns speed into a defensive crisis. His first step forces a retreat. His second step forces a mistake. The third step ends the conversation.

NHL EDGE tracked McDavid’s 24.61 mph on October 8, 2025, as his fastest mark of the tracking era and the fastest by any player in the 2025 calendar year. The peak matters. The volume matters more.

McDavid posted 756 bursts over 20 mph across the 2025 regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs, which led the league by a wide margin. That is why he sits first in NHL fastest skaters 2026. He does not visit top gear. He lives there.

The next test arrives in spring and in Italy

Playoff hockey always tries to slow the sport down. Coaches shorten benches. Defensemen hold the red line. Forwards finish every check they can reach. Yet still, the league keeps trending toward speed on speed, because the puck moves too fast for anything else.

NHL fastest skaters 2026 will feel the real audit when the Stanley Cup Playoffs punish sloppy routes. A single burst means nothing if the next touch dies. Repeat speed, then decision making, wins series.

Another stage arrives soon. NHL players will participate in the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 for the first time since 2014, with the men’s tournament set to run from February 11 to 22. In that moment, the sport will put its fastest skaters in unfamiliar lanes, on international ice, under a different kind of pressure.

McDavid will headline that conversation, because he always does. NHL fastest skaters 2026 will also include defensemen like Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar, who turn skating into structure. The next question sits right under the surface.

Does the future belong to the player who hits the highest peak. Or does it belong to the player who stacks bursts, shift after shift, until the opponent breaks.

NHL fastest skaters 2026 already hint at the answer. The record sprint grabs the highlight. The repeat speed holds the crown.

Read more: https://sportsorca.com/nhl/nhl-trade-deadline-players-on-the-block/

FAQs

Q1: Who is No. 1 in NHL fastest skaters 2026?
A: Connor McDavid tops the list. He hit 24.61 mph and led the league with 756 speed bursts over 20 mph.

Q2: What is the fastest recorded top speed in the NHL tracking era?
A: Miles Wood holds the peak at 24.82 mph from April 10, 2025.

Q3: Why is Miles Wood ranked third if he owns the top speed?
A: Wood owns the loudest sprint, but his burst volume sits lower. McDavid and MacKinnon repeat top gear far more often.

Q4: What does a speed burst over 20 mph mean?
A: It counts each time a skater hits at least 20 mph in game tracking. The total shows repeat speed, not just one peak.

Q5: Does Dylan Larkin still hold the NHL All Star fastest skater record?
A: Yes. Larkin’s 13.172 seconds from 2016 still stands in the All Star Fastest Skater event.