Ranking the top players in the 2026 Stanley Cup Final
The 2026 Stanley Cup Final has arrived, and it represents the central tension of the 2026 playoffs.
On the one hand, it’s not a surprise to see the Carolina Hurricanes skating for Lord Stanley’s Cup because they were the East’s best team by record all season. Then again, this team had a long streak of falling short of the Final before this year — a trend the Hurricanes finally defied.
The Vegas Golden Knights should be considered a major surprise because they lost more games than they won during the regular season, fired their coach in late March and got here by pulling off a stunning sweep over the heavily favored Colorado Avalanche. But is anyone really that surprised to see Vegas in the Final? This team won the Cup as recently as three years ago, and it still has plenty of talent.
In other words, this Final makes as much sense as you want it to — and as little as you need it to.
To help sort out which players have helped Vegas and Carolina cut through the chaos and contradictions, let’s consult the postseason goals above replacement rankings — my version of “all-in-one” metrics such as Hockey-Reference’s point shares. The core philosophy of GAR is to quantify a player’s total contribution (across offense, defense and goaltending) relative to a replacement-level player at the same position. To ensure the metric reflects reality, it also balances leaguewide value by position: 60% for forwards, 30% for defensemen and 10% for goaltenders.
Looking at GAR for the playoffs thus far, here’s a ranking of the skaters and goaltenders in the 2026 Final who have added the most value along the road to the Final. It’s important to note that these aren’t the best players in the series by pure talent — some of these players performed at much different levels during the regular season — but…
