Ranking the top 50 players in the NHL playoffs

At the beginning of every NHL season, we publish NHL Rank, a project where ESPN's hockey analysts vote to determine the best 100 players for the upcoming season.

Now that every team has completed its 82-game campaign and they've been whittled down to our 16-team Stanley Cup playoff bracket, it's time to redo the rankings, limiting the list to the top 50 players on playoff teams.

Here's the playoff edition of ESPN NHL Rank, which seeks to identify the top forwards, defensemen and goaltenders in the upcoming playoffs. Dozens of voters participated, choosing one winner in a series of head-to-head voting matchups created from the players on the 16 postseason qualifiers.

The following list features NHL award winners, previous Stanley Cup champions and stars who are seeking that first taste of championship glory. As you'll see, our voters made some interesting calls at the top regarding which players they believe are the best of the best in the 2023 NHL postseason.

2022-23 stats: 64 G | 89 A | 153 PTSPreseason rank: 1

How does the player considered to be the most dominant in the world further cement his place within the game? Simple: By leading the NHL in goals (64), assists (89) and points (153). Those career-high figures are why McDavid is the front-runner for his third Hart Trophy.

Last postseason, McDavid broke through for 10 goals and led the league with 33 points over a 16-game run that saw the Oilers reach the Western Conference finals. If McDavid carries his career regular-season exploits into this year's playoffs, we could see the Oilers go even further. — Ryan S. Clark

2022-23 stats: 42 G | 69 A | 111 PTSPreseason rank: 4

Everything MacKinnon achieved in last year's playoffs played a part in the Avs' winning their