NHLers That Didn't Make The Hockey News' Top-80 List, But Likely Will Next Year

As part of The Hockey News' 80th anniversary, we’ve put together a top-80 list of the best players entering the start of the 2026-27 season. But now that our picks for the best-80 players are out there [https://thehockeynews.com/news/latest-news/the-hockey-news-top-80-players-in-the-nhl-10-1], we’re going to make some educated projections as to which five players who didn’t make this year’s top-80 list would be in the top-80 at this time next year. With that said, in alphabetical order, here are five NHLers who should be in the top-80 at this time next October.