The Top 5 NHL left wingers of 2023
With the final days of 2023 ahead, I figured, what better way to celebrate some of the best performances that we’ve witnessed in the calendar year? Over these last five days of the year, I’ll look at the best players at all five positions (goaltender, defense, right wing, left wing, and center) from 2023, which includes the January to April months of the 2022-23 season, the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the start so far in the 2023-24 season.
Today, we’ll look at the best left wingers in the league. Some of them are dynamic and elite names, some of them benefitted from playing alongside top talent, and some of them are underrated stars in the making, but all of them thrived in 2023. But unlike the right wingers that you’ll see tomorrow, this year’s list saw a significant overhaul from last year’s list, so there are sure to be some surprises.
Let’s look at a few honorable mentions before kicking off the countdown:
Honorable Mentions
Jesper Bratt
Bratt has really stepped up his game in recent seasons, going from a solid top six winger to one of the best in the game. His 77 points this year rank fifth in the league, but just one goal and six points in the playoffs holds him back from cracking the list when there’s so many fighting for the final few spots.
Zach Hyman
Hyman is one of just five left wingers to score at above a point per game pace this year, and yet he’s the only one to not crack the list because it’s quite clear that he’s the only one who does so with the benefit of a superior teammate. You still have to put the puck in the net, and he does that well, but it does hold him back slightly compared to the others.
Kirill Kaprizov
Falling from second last year to an honorable mention this time around, Kaprizov has still been really good, but he just lacks the dynamic ability that we once saw from him, although some of that may be due to playing on the defensively minded Minnesota Wild. 33 goals and 63 points in 64 games in one year is still good, but it’s just not enough for a player that we’ve seen get 47 and 108 in a full season before (especially as a slightly disgruntled fantasy owner who took him in the first round of a keeper league in 2022).
5. Jake Guentzel
Regular Season: 37G, 41A, 78P, 79GP
Playoffs: N/A
Outside of their first few seasons where Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin played together and Bill Guerin in his final seasons in the league, Jake Guentzel has probably been the best player Crosby has regularly played with in his career. It certainly beats the endless years where Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis were seemingly inseparable from him. Some of Guentzel’s success comes from playing alongside Crosby, but make no doubt, Guentzel is more than capable of holding his own.
Since entering the league, Guentzel has only had one season where he hasn’t gotten at least 0.8 points per game in a season, and he’s basically hovered around a point per game since his first two seasons. That continued this year, as he had 78 points in 79 games, which was fifth among left wingers. Just as importantly, Guentzel has provided Crosby with a much-needed naturally-gifted finisher, as he was tied for fifth in goals among left wingers with 37 and just two off the lead. It’s a shame the Penguins’ playoff streak came to an end this year, because he’s lethal in the postseason, leading all left wingers in goals per game in the playoffs with 0.59. Pittsburgh may be off to a slow start this season, but that’s not on the stars like Guentzel.
4. Clayton Keller
Regular Season: 36G, 46A, 82P, 81GP
Playoffs: N/A
Clayton Keller almost missed out on making this list, not because I think there were a ton of players that could take his spot, but because I just didn’t initially consider him because the NHL’s website lists him as a right winger! He ranked sixth in points in the regular season in 2023 among right wingers, but once you correct one of many positional errors on the NHL’s website, he jumps up to third among left wingers.
There’s a reason why the Coyotes have gone from a perennial bottom-feeder to a team in the playoff hunt in 2023-24, and that’s because Keller has become the player the Yotes thought they were getting when he was selected seventh overall in 2016. Well, that and they aren’t a cap hit graveyard anymore, but we’re here to talk about Keller. A big reason for that is finally adding a scoring touch to his game, transforming him from a predictable playmaking winger to someone who can beat the goalie cleanly. Hopefully the Coyotes can get back into the playoffs, because Keller deserves a chance at shining in the spotlight outside of Arizona’s forgettable appearance in the 2020 bubble, although he did have seven points in nine games on that run.
3. Kevin Fiala
Regular Season: 20G, 45A, 65P, 61GP
Playoffs: 1G, 5A, 6P, 3GP
Remember when Paul Fenton traded Mikael Granlund to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Kevin Fiala, and everyone thought that the Preds were the clear winner in that deal? Since that trade, both players have seemed to tail off in opposite directions, and both the Wild and now the Los Angeles Kings have benefitted from having Fiala in their lineup.
Fiala has quietly become one of the best wingers in the game, and his injuries have masked the fact that he finished third in points per game among left wingers with 20 goals and 65 points in just 60 games. On top of that, he gave the Kings the offense they needed against the Edmonton Oilers when he was in the lineup with six points in only three games, even though it ironically came in the back half of the series when the Oilers won three straight to win the series. He provides the Kings with the ability to change up their offensive strategy on the fly, either loading up the top line with Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe, or moving him down the lineup to give Phillip Danault or Pierre-Luc Dubois some support. It’s a big reason why the Kings took another step last season, and it paved the way for them to be even better this year.
2. Artemi Panarin
Regular Season: 39G, 58A, 97P, 78GP
Playoffs: 0G, 2A, 2P, 7GP
No left winger had more points in the 2023 regular season than Artemi Panarin. In fact, no one was even close. He managed to finish 10 points clear of the next player (who ultimately beat him out at the top spot), and with only one extra game. With 39 goals and 97 points on the calendar year, he continues to provide offense for the Rangers, and all at 32 years old.
So what keeps him out of the top spot? Admittedly, a lot of that production comes from the power play, and while it is an important aspect of the game, his point totals are a lot closer to the rest of the field when you look at even strength. Also, he’s not as good of a play-driver as the other top wingers, so that will always lose a few points in my book. He’s still above water in that regard, but he’s not a dominant force like other players on this list. His playoff performance this year also left a lot to be desired, with just two assists in seven games when they needed him most against the New Jersey Devils comeback. He’s still one of the best wingers in the game, but when there are other players that are really close, that holds him back for me.
1. Jason Robertson
Regular Season: 32G, 55A, 87P, 77GP
Playoffs: 7G, 11A, 18P, 19GP
It might seem like a shock to some to have Robertson take the top spot. After all, this time a year ago, he was electric and only found himself in fourth, but this calendar year he seemed to cool off and take the top spot? It helps that the wingers in front of him either cooled off even more (Kirill Kaprizov, Johnny Gaudreau) or switched sides (Matthew Tkachuk), but even if Robertson hasn’t been as dominant as he was last year, he’s still been one of the best wingers in the game.
Despite his play seemingly falling off, he had 39 goals and 105 points in 96 games between the regular season and playoffs this year. Even when he had slowed down in the first couple rounds of the playoffs, he still had seven goals and 18 points in 19 games. In fact, it’s the playoffs that got him the top spot for me, as it was basically just between himself and Panarin, and the lone two assists for Panarin in the playoffs and Robertson seeing the Conference Final is more than enough for me to deem him more “successful” this year.
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