Who has the best wrist shot in the NHL?

The wrist shot is one of the greatest shots in the game of hockey.  While it is not the hardest shot in the game, it is the most accurate. With the technology of today’s carbon-fibre sticks, NHL players can generate wrist shots that are up to 80 or 90 miles per hour, some such as Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson, have been pushing wrist shots near 100mph.

Historically there has not been a lot of data around wrist shots. Teams have not tracked the speed or wrist shots as they do with the heavier, more velocity generating slapshot.

What is a wrist shot?

The wrist shot is simply a shot that a player uses were they flick their wrist when shooting on the puck. Extra weight is place on the lower part of the shaft generating greater velocity. When using a wrist shot its important to keep the puck on the stick blade throughout the whole process of the shot. With a wrist shot, you use your wrists and forearms instead of taking a wind up.

The benefits of the wrist shots are quick release and accuracy.

Benefits of the Wrist Shot

There are three main benefits of the wrist shot:

1. Accuracy – players can place the wrist shots better than with other types of shots.
2. Quickness of release – players can release a wrist shot quicker than they can over say a slap shot or backhander.
3. Energy Assertion – unlike the slap shot or one-timer, the wrist shot required less energy  as a wrist shot does not require any wind-up. It’s more of a fluid motion that propels the puck more accurately with decent volume.

Wrist shots are effective when players are in tight or need to get a shot off more quickly.

How to Take a Wrist Shot

As with any shot, wrists shots can take time to develop and master. For youth hockey players, it can take time to develop wrist strength, but the more wrist strength you have the harder (and better) your wrist shot will become.

A key part of the wrist shot is the transfer of your weight and the control of the puck on your blade. The basic mechanics of a wrist shot are:

1. Placement of your top hand – Your top hand is responsible for your shot accuracy. Ensure your fingers are wrapped around the stick, and your thumb points down. Exact placement of your top hand is based on personal preference but your want to ensure that you have proper placement to control your stick while you’re in motion with your shot.
   
2. Placement of your bottom hand – place your bottom hand 12-15 inches lower than your top hand (depending on age and size of the player). Placing your hands closer together (but not too close) helps provide you with more shooting control and accuracy as you release your shot.
   
3. Puck placement on blade – typically you will want to start with the puck near the heel or middle part of your blade. Until you have full control of your wrist shot, placing the puck further back can often meant that the puck may rise higher as you execute your shot.
   
4. While shooting, transfer your weight from back to your front foot – this is probably the most important step in the execution of a wrist shot as this will impact the amount of power you generate and the accuracy of the puck trajectory. This should be a fluid exercise meaning it should be a natural transfer of weight from back to front.
   
5. Follow through – Follow through with your hands as they should more forward and upward. Your follow through is key for shot accuracy and power.

So now that you understand more about the wrist shot and the mechanics of the wrist shot, let take a look at the NHLer’s with the best wrist shots.

2024/25: Players with the Best Wrist Shot in the NHL

With the technology of the sticks these days, it seems every player has a good wrist shot. Yet there are players who are a little better than the rest when it comes to tsking wrist shots.

Here is a look at the NHLers who possess the best wrist shot in the game today as selected by the Hockey Fanatics.

Top 20 NHL Players with the Best Wrist Shot

Criteria for this list is simple. Which players have:

• The quickest wrist shot release
• The most accurate wrist shot 
• The most powerful wrist shot

#20. Kirill Kaprizov – LW – Minnesota Wild

#19. Mikko Rantanen – RW – Colorado Avalanche

#18. Jason Robertson – LW – Dallas Stars

#17. Artemi Panarin – LW – New York Rangers

#16. Jack Hughes – C – New Jersey Devils

#15. Wyatt Johnston – C – Dallas Stars

#14. Cale Makar – D – Colorado Avalanche

#13. Patrik Laine – LW – Montreal Canadiens

#12. Tage Thompson – C – Buffalo Sabres

#11. Connor McDavid – C – Edmonton Oilers

Top 10 NHL Players with the Best Wrist Shot

#10. Filip Forsberg – LW – Nashville Predators. Going into the 2024/25 NHL season, the Swedish-born Forsberg has quitely amassed 287 goals in his NHL career. Last season the Preds forward potted 48 goals many of the wrist shot variety. The guy has a lethal wrist shot. Don’t take our word for it. Here’s a clip of Forsberg’s wrist shot in action.

#9. Patrick Kane – RW – Detroit Red Wings. Patrick Kane is the master of many shots. Even at 35 years of age he is still wracking up the goals. Here is a beauty as he bests Carey Price.

#8. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – C- Edmonton Oilers. Still one of the most underrated players in the National Hockey League, the Nuge has an absolute laser beam wrist shot. Nugent-Hopkins has taken some of the hardest wrist shots we have even seen. Remember this one vs. Connor Hellebuyck and the Winnipeg Jets?

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/video/nugent-hopkins-unleashes-huge-wrist-shot-game-tying-goal-jets/

“This thing goes in and out of the net so fast even the goal light was delayed”.

#7. Sidney Crosby – Pittsburgh Penguins. Going into the 2024/25 season Sid “The Kid” is only eight goals short of 600 in his NHL career (regular season). Crosby has one of the quickest releases in the NHL and very few have a better wrist shot. They say that the average wrist shot speed in the NHL is 70-90 mph, Crosby’s is near the higher end of that.

#6. Nathan MacKinnon – C – Colorado Avalanche. Nathan MacKinnon can do it all can’t he? He’s easily one of the top five players in the game and time and time again has unleashed his powerfully accurate wrist shot past many an NHL goaltender. Take a look at this beauty from MacKinnon.

#5. David Pastrnak – RW – Boston Bruins – Pasta is a treat to watch, lifting many NHL fans out of their seats with his creativity and nifty goals. When Pastrnak scored his 700^th point (a goal against the Seattle Kraken), he used a sneaky little wrister on a breakaway.  Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbcoW3aQpNM

#4. Alex Ovechkin – LW – Washington Capitals. Not much to say about the Great Eight. Going into the 2024/25 NHL season, the Russian phenom is only 59 goals behind Wayne Gretzky for the most ever in the NHL. Of his 835 career goals a number of them have been from hard wrist shots that have eluded the top goalies in the NHL. Even at age 38, Ovie is getting the job done with his elite wristers. He has hit 127 km/h wrist shots in warmups for crying out loud.

#3. Auston Matthews – C – Toronto Maple Leafs. One of the greatest shooters in the game today. Like many players on our list Matthews can bet you with many different types of shots including slapshots, snapshots, backhanders and yes a wrist shot. Here is a clip of Matthews demonstrating his snapshots and wristers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWNSfER929E. As Matthews enters his ninth NHL season he has already scored 368 goals including to sixty goal seasons. An elite shooter probably best known for his lethal snapshots, Auston Matthews also has a fantastic wrist shot.

#2. Nikita Kucherov – RW – Tampa Bay Lightning. Oddly enough Nikita Kucherov has never had a fifty goal season in the the NHL. His best season scoring was his most recent one in 2023/24 where he potted 44 goals. Nonetheless, the secret to many of the over 300 goals that Kucherov has scored is his crazy good wrist shot. Kucherov often like to use his hard wrister low blocker side making it challenging for goalies to react to it.

Here is an example of an outstanding wrist shot from Nikita Kucherov a few seasons back: https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/nikita-kucherov-unleashes-lethal-wrist-shot-beats-martin-jones/

#1. Connor Bedard – C – Chicago Blackhawks. Ok let’s get on thing straight… no one use the technology of a hockey stick as correctly as Connor Bedard. This guy has figured out how to use the whip and flex of a hockey stick like no one else. Bedard’s strong shot was developed, in part, by an injury he suffered in 2017. Bedard broke his right wrist and over the two months he was out he worked hard on strengthening his top hand (his left hand). He stickhandled with his left hand for the better part of twelve weeks. The results were amazing, the power he generates is unlikely anyone else. More on how he developed his arm strength here and here.

Connor Bedard is going to score a lot of goals in the NHL. Many of them will be from his lethal wrist shot. For our money, he’s the best in the biz when in comes to wrist shots in the NHL.