NHL plus minus leaders are the relative who walks into Thanksgiving uninvited, starts one argument, and lands one clean point. Nathan MacKinnon sits at plus 48 in the last official snapshot before the Milano Cortina pause, and that prehistoric number still grabs the first glance in too many rooms. Cold air spills off the rink tunnel and bites your hands, while the glass holds a thin haze of breath from the last shift. Hours later, a coach flips through the stat sheet and stops on the plus minus column like his eyes found a bruise. A winger taps his plus three. The coach taps the one goal against that happened during a lazy line change.
The stat that refuses to leave the meeting
Years passed, and hockey learned to measure what used to live inside instinct. Expected goals turned shot quality into a nightly fight. NHL EDGE tracking turned skating bursts and lane maps into broadcast graphics. Video coaches started cutting shifts into tiny verdicts that end with a freeze frame and a pointed finger.
However, the raw plus minus column never left the table. Coaches still hate goals against with a pure, old fashioned disgust. General managers still care about goal differential because the salary cap punishes teams that pay for offense while leaking at the other end. The trade deadline still turns on trust, and trust still gets described in blunt language.
At the time, plus minus felt like accountability. In 2026, it works more like a trigger. A big plus can start praise. A big minus can start a demotion. That reaction is human. It is also dangerous, because raw plus minus does not isolate the player from the environment that shapes him.
What plus minus counts and where it lies to you
The official definition stays clean. Skaters earn a plus when their team scores at even strength or while shorthanded while they are on the ice. Skaters take a minus when the opponent scores in those same situations while they are on the ice. Power play goals do not change a skater’s total.
Suddenly, the edges start doing damage. Empty net goals can swing totals late. Score effects can warp ice time, because teams protecting leads start choosing safety over risk. A player can do everything right for forty seconds, then take a minus because a teammate loses coverage at the back post.
On the other hand, a player can do nothing special and still collect pluses because his goalie erases mistakes and his linemate finishes at an unsustainable rate. That is why the number starts arguments. It looks precise. It rarely is.
Because of this loss of clarity, analysts built better tools years ago. Brian Macdonald’s work on adjusted plus minus used regression to control for teammates and opponents, trying to separate a player’s impact from his surroundings. The academic point was simple: raw plus minus can describe what happened, yet it struggles to explain why it happened.
Three checks before you trust NHL plus minus leaders
Usage comes first. Watch who starts in the defensive zone after an icing. Track who plays the final minute with a lead. Notice who gets stapled to the bench when the coach wants one clean shift. Those minutes tell the truth behind the number.
Environment comes next. Goaltending can rescue a bad night. Finishing can turn ordinary shifts into goals. Team strength also matters because great clubs play from ahead, and playing from ahead changes everything about how a game feels and how coaches deploy their benches.
A second opinion comes last. Expected goals can show whether a player wins the chance battle even when the puck does not go in. Tracking can show whether he closes space early or arrives late. Evolving Hockey style regularized adjusted plus minus work can estimate impact without letting linemates do all the talking.
Before long, those three checks give you a practical way to read the leaderboard without worshipping it. Now comes the harder part: applying the checks without slowing the story down.
The handoff from theory to names
Here is the move. Treat the leaderboard like a tip line, not a verdict. Run each name through the three checks, then see who still looks convincing when the spotlight gets harsher.
That is where the Olympic pause helps. The stat race stopped moving on February 6, so February 12 gives you a clean snapshot of what the season looked like right before the league went silent. The list becomes a neat lab sample, frozen mid reaction.
Per the Covers plus minus leaderboard for the 2025 26 season, updated in February, Colorado and Tampa Bay dominate the top tier, with Utah’s John Marino sitting near the top as a reminder that strong structure can travel. With that context locked in, the cases below go 10 to 1, and each one points back to usage, environment, or the second opinion.
The leaderboard cases from 10 to 1
10. Brandon Hagel, Tampa Bay Lightning
Hagel plays like he owes the ice money. He hunts the first touch and refuses to glide. His best shifts begin with a forecheck that forces a rushed rim, then they end with the puck still trapped deep because he wins the next race too.
The snapshot shows plus 29 in 50 games, with 27 goals and 54 points. Environment matters here because Tampa Bay’s structure and goaltending can make an honest winger look cleaner than he would elsewhere.
Despite the pressure, his tape earns its own credit. Hagel becomes the first forward back below the goal line when a defenseman pinches, and he takes a cross check to the ribs just to clear a lane for the breakout. That habit keeps goals against off the sheet, even when the puck bounces wrong.
9. Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
Kucherov makes risk look normal. He threads passes through lanes that do not exist for most players. His offense invites the usual accusation that defense must suffer.
Hours later, you notice the quiet part. He reads the middle early and kills plays before they become scrambles. His stick lives in the seam, and the steal happens before anyone in the building realizes the pass was even available.
The frozen line reads plus 30 in 51 games, with 29 goals and 91 points. A second opinion belongs here because stars can ride heaters, and heaters can make plus minus look like destiny.
8. Sam Malinski, Colorado Avalanche
Malinski wins two seconds at a time. He retrieves a rim, shoulder checks, then moves the puck before pressure arrives. That tiny timing advantage turns chaos into a clean exit.
The numbers show plus 30 in 55 games, with 25 points. Environment clearly helps any defenseman on Colorado because the team spends so much time attacking.
At the time, the usage check tells the real story. Watch his defensive zone starts when the game tightens. If a coach trusts him after an icing, the plus starts to mean more than team glow.
7. Anthony Cirelli, Tampa Bay Lightning
Cirelli looks like trust on skates. He stays inside the dots. He tracks back through the middle. He closes passing lanes with his stick instead of chasing hits.
The snapshot credits plus 30 in 49 games, with 35 points. Usage matters more than flash here because his value lives in hard matchups and ugly shifts.
However, the environment check still applies. Tampa Bay can protect its centers with structure, and structure can inflate any tidy profile. The tape needs to show him taking the hard minutes, not just finishing the easy ones.
6. Artturi Lehkonen, Colorado Avalanche
Lehkonen earns his money where the ribs hurt. He sets screens. He wins second pucks. He takes cross checks and stays planted anyway.
The line sits at plus 34 in 55 games, with 19 goals and 42 points. Team strength helps, yet his habits drive the result too.
Because of this loss of glamour, people underrate him. Coaches do not. Lehkonen turns loose pucks into extended pressure, and extended pressure turns into goals for, which is the only language plus minus understands.
5. Martin Necas, Colorado Avalanche
Necas turns neutral zone space into panic. His first cut forces a defender to pivot early. His next burst pulls a gap open. Suddenly, the puck lives in the other end and the opponent looks tired.
The snapshot shows plus 35 in 52 games, with 22 goals and 62 points. Environment helps because Colorado’s transition game creates chances that look unfair.
On the other hand, usage and a second opinion keep this honest. If his minutes come against softer matchups, the number loses punch. If his expected goals stay strong while facing top pairs, the stat starts to look earned.
4. Josh Manson, Colorado Avalanche
Manson changes the temperature of the crease. He clears bodies with purpose. He ends cycles with a shove. He also makes the safe play when a risky play would put his goalie in trouble.
The numbers land at plus 37 in 55 games, with 24 points. Usage gives his case weight because coaches do not hide players like this. They send them out when the game gets mean.
Despite the pressure, his impact sits in what he prevents. He stops second chances. He kills net front chaos. Raw plus minus rewards that kind of work because the reward shows up as silence, not as a highlight.
3. John Marino, Utah Mammoth
Marino looks like a clean notebook. He keeps his feet under him. He backs off at the right time, then closes at the right time. His stick lives in the lane and stays there.
The snapshot lists plus 37 in 57 games, with 28 points. Utah’s environment does not offer the same automatic boost as Colorado or Tampa Bay, which makes the number more interesting.
Years passed, and Mammoth fans learned what calm defense looks like. Marino supplies it nightly. That consistency matters in a market that now expects structure instead of chaos.
2. J.J. Moser, Tampa Bay Lightning
Moser shows up on tape as an absence. Odd man rushes die early. Slot passes disappear into his stick. Rebounds get boxed out before they become scrambles.
The freeze frame reads plus 39 in 53 games, with 19 points. Environment helps because Tampa Bay can protect defenders with team structure and elite goaltending.
Consequently, the second opinion check matters most here. A huge plus can hide a defender who simply survives. Tracking and expected goals can reveal whether he drives suppression or just shares the ice with winners.
1. Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
MacKinnon skates like he wants to rip the game in half. The first three strides hit like a slapshot. The cut pulls defenders into bad angles. The next touch turns into a controlled entry that makes the defensive zone feel smaller.
The snapshot places him at plus 48 in 55 games, with 40 goals and 93 points. Usage strengthens the case because Colorado does not protect him from top competition. He sees the best. He still drags play toward the other net.
On the other hand, environment still matters. No player controls every bounce or every save. Volume paired with differential still tells a story, though, and NHL plus minus leaders keep starting arguments when a star posts both.
What it all means when the season resumes
The NHL built sharper tools, and those tools keep getting sharper. NHL EDGE can show skating bursts and spatial trends. Expected goals can separate process from finishing. The salary cap can force teams to value impact over reputation because one bad deal can ruin an entire window.
However, hockey remains emotional, and emotion loves blunt accountability. A goal against feels like a public mistake. Coaches hate public mistakes. Players hate them more.
That is why NHL plus minus leaders still matter, even now. They matter as prompts. They matter as warning lights. They matter because they push you toward the tape and toward better questions.
Before long, the smartest way to treat NHL plus minus leaders in 2026 becomes simple. Start with usage, because minutes tell you what the coach believes. Check environment, because goalies and score effects can bend the number. Bring in the second opinion, because process matters more than a stanchion bounce.
NHL plus minus leaders will keep clustering around elite teams as long as elite teams keep tilting goal differential. The lingering question sits deeper than the frozen February snapshot: when the Olympics end and the league wakes up again, will NHL plus minus leaders still match the players you would put over the boards with your season on the line, or will that uninvited relative keep talking loud while the real story sits somewhere else?
Read More: The Evolution of the Goalie Mask: Best Designs of the 2026 Season
FAQs
Q1: Do NHL plus minus leaders actually prove who plays good defense?
A: Not by itself. Use it as a clue, then check role, minutes, and what happened on the shifts.
Q2: Why does plus minus spike for players on elite teams?
A: Great teams spend more time attacking. That tilts goal differential, so their regulars collect pluses even on normal shifts.
Q3: Does the Olympic break change how we should read the leaderboard?
A: Yes. The pause freezes the numbers, so the leaderboard feels like a snapshot instead of a moving race.
Q4: What matters more than raw plus minus in 2026?
A: Usage and environment. Then use a second check like expected goals or adjusted models to see if the results match the play.
Q5: Is plus minus useless now that tracking exists?
A: No. It still flags something real sometimes. The mistake is treating it like a verdict instead of a warning light.
I bounce between stadium seats and window seats, chasing games and new places. Sports fuel my heart, travel clears my head, and every trip ends with a story worth sharing.
