NHL players get up to about 20 or 22 miles per hour while playing normally, or 32-35 km per hour. The best-skated players in full stride get up to 23-25 miles per hour, which is 37-40 km per hour. The fastest speed that has been recorded in the NHL with their tracking system is 24.82 miles per hour, achieved by Miles Wood on April 10, 2025. This is all possible thanks to technology that is only five years old now, and this is usually the part that articles neglect. So here is the information, the fastest players, and why no one can give an exact answer about Pavel Bure’s speed.
NHL Skating Speed at a Glance:
The headline numbers, in both miles and kilometres per hour.
| The numbers | |
|---|---|
| Typical NHL top speed in a game | Around 20 to 22 mph, which is 32 to 35 km/h |
| Elite players | 23 to 25 mph, or 37 to 40 km/h |
| Fastest speed ever tracked | Miles Wood at 24.82 mph, 39.9 km/h, on 10 April 2025 |
| Fastest by Connor McDavid | 24.61 mph, 39.6 km/h, against Calgary on 8 October 2025 |
| How it is measured | NHL EDGE puck and player tracking, using sensors in the puck and in every jersey |
| When tracking began | The 2021-22 season, so there is no comparable data before then |
| Fastest Skater event record | Dylan Larkin, 13.172 seconds for a lap, set in 2016 |
| Most Fastest Skater wins | Connor McDavid, with four |
| Fastest defenceman | Quinn Hughes, reported at around 24.56 mph in 2024-25 |
| For comparison | Usain Bolt’s peak sprinting speed was about 27.8 mph, or 44.7 km/h |
The Fastest Recorded Speeds:
Every figure below comes from NHL EDGE, the league’s player and puck tracking system. Each is a single peak burst rather than a sustained speed.
The fastest individual bursts since tracking began in 2021-22.
| # | Player | Top speed | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Miles Wood | 24.82 mph | 39.9 km/h. Set on 10 April 2025 while with Colorado. The fastest speed of the tracking era |
| 2 | Connor McDavid | 24.61 mph | 39.6 km/h. Set against Calgary on 8 October 2025, his personal best since tracking began |
| 3 | Quinn Hughes | 24.56 mph | 39.5 km/h. Reported as the fastest by a defenceman in 2024-25 |
| 4 | Mattias Janmark | 24.36 mph | 39.2 km/h. Recorded on 30 November 2024 against Colorado |
| 5 | Jaccob Slavin | 24.19 mph | 38.9 km/h. Among the quickest defencemen in the league |
| 6 | Brayden Point | 24.15 mph | 38.9 km/h. Recorded on 27 December 2023 |
| 7 | Nathan MacKinnon | 24.05 mph | 38.7 km/h. Recorded on 23 December 2023 |
That’s the name you don’t expect to see there. Miles Wood is an excellent NHL player but no star, and yet he has the record, beating out McDavid, MacKinnon, and all of the others. Speed in itself is a talent, and doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with who is the most talented player. One can also point out just how narrow the range of speeds is. The gap between first and seventh on that list is less than a quarter of a mile per hour. At the elite level of the game, everyone is fast.
Top Speed Is Not the Same as Being Fast:
It is this difference that makes tracking stats actually meaningful, and almost no article analyzing speed in the NHL would mention it. A max speed is just one instance of speed on one shift. What really makes the difference is the frequency of such events and how long a player is able to maintain this pace. The NHL EDGE uses speed bursts, which means the moments of hitting 20+ mph.
20+ mph speed bursts in the 2024-25 season. It is the measure of endurance not peak.
| Player | Bursts over 20 mph | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Nathan MacKinnon | 547 bursts | Led the league. His pace does not drop when games tighten, which is why Colorado plays fast deep into spring |
| Connor McDavid | 442 bursts | Second, while also holding one of the highest top speeds in the league |
| Brayden Point | 422 bursts | Sustains high speed across a full shift as well as anyone |
| Tim Stutzle | 380 bursts | Among the most relentless skaters in the Eastern Conference |
| Martin Necas | 370 bursts | Combines an elite top gear with repeated acceleration |
| Roope Hintz | 363 bursts | Rounds out the group of players who live above 20 mph |
MacKinnon’s 547 bursts is the stat that needs to be looked at. This is not one single amazing burst. This is a player surpassing 20 miles per hour more than five hundred individual times during a single season, both in October and May, both in front and behind. One caveat to be aware of concerning this stat: The time frame makes a difference in the leaders. Season totals and yearly totals come out to be very different numbers, and often the source does not specify which way they are measuring.
How the NHL Measures Skating Speed:
Before the 2021-22 season, no one actually knew anything. Speed was a guesswork of scouts and stopwatch. That all changed with the NHL EDGE technology. This technology relies on sensors placed in the hockey puck and in the jerseys of all players. Antennas have been installed at all 32 rinks to track the movements of these sensors, allowing for the calculation of speed, distance covered, shot speed, zone time, and much more.
All this data has been made available through the website NHL.com and thus became an object of discussion beginning from around 2022. Prior to that, the only measurement that could be used was All-Star Fastest Skater Lap time.
Why Historical Comparisons Are Impossible:
There have been articles rating the best fast skaters in the NHL’s history where Bure, Fedorov, Coffey, and Bondra have been pitted against present-day skaters. You should regard these ratings as opinions and not measurements. There is tracking data available only from 2021/22 season onwards. There is no data on the top speed of Bure, no burst data of Coffey, and no way to compare the two skaters to McDavid apart from watching game footage and guessing. Anybody quoting numbers on 1990s skaters must be guessing.
The All-Star Fastest Skater Competition:
The other way the league has measured speed is the Fastest Skater event, where players complete a timed lap of the rink from a flying start.
Winners and times from the modern era of the event.
| Year | Winner | Time | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Dylan Larkin | 13.172 sec | Still the fastest time ever recorded in the event |
| 2017 | Connor McDavid | First of his four wins | |
| 2018 | Connor McDavid | Second consecutive | |
| 2019 | Connor McDavid | Third consecutive, matching Mike Gartner’s career total | |
| 2020 | Mathew Barzal | 13.175 sec | Beat McDavid by four thousandths of a second |
| 2024 | Connor McDavid | 13.408 sec | A record fourth win, ahead of Barzal at 13.519 |
Larkin still holds the record at 13.172 seconds set back in 2016, with Barzal coming very close to breaking his record, missing out by just four thousandths of a second in 2020 compared to McDavid. McDavid has the most wins at four wins, breaking Mike Gartner’s three win record through the 1990s. In the latest tournament in 2024, McDavid won in a time of 13.408 seconds.
The Fastest Skater competition has not happened in the last two years because the 2025 All-Star game has been replaced by the 4 Nations Face-Off, and the 2026 break has been allocated for the Winter Olympics in Milan. Thus, the most recent Fastest Skater competition was in 2024. There is one point to keep in mind when using it as a measurement: The fastest skaters in the league might not participate in the competition, so it does not tell you who is the fastest in the NHL but who is fastest that day.
How That Compares to Other Sports:
A little less than 25 mph seems like a lot, but it all depends on the comparison. The fastest recorded time Usain Bolt reached while breaking the world record for the 100 meters run was around 27.8 mph or 44.7 km/h. Therefore, the world’s fastest runner on the planet has been almost three miles per hour faster than the world’s fastest hockey player.
What is different here is that Usain Bolt has maintained that speed for a few seconds in a controlled sprinting process. A professional hockey player has to be at that speed holding a stick, following the puck, being knocked down, and changing directions.
Why the Game Keeps Getting Faster:
Speed is the hallmark of the contemporary NHL, but there have been a number of factors that led to this. After the 2004-05 lockout season, rules were introduced limiting obstruction, hooking, and holding, thus depriving slower players of the possibility of using these techniques to nullify the speed of their opponents. Removing the center red line for two-line passes facilitated the possibility of making stretch passes and made the neutral zone free zone.
As a result of all of the above factors, the composition of rosters was also affected – smaller, speedy forwards that would not be considered owing to lack of size in the ’90s became first-round selections, and defencemen were expected to bring the puck out of their end.
Final Take:
Between 20-22 mph during regular play, 24-25 mph at maximum flight, and 24.82 mph being the highest recorded burst speed in history. McDavid is the fastest star player, Miles Wood is the record holder, while MacKinnon gets into top speed more frequently than any other player. What it is more important for everyone to remember is that maximum speed is a record and repeat speed is what wins hockey games. That is precisely what has been learned from the tracking data since 2021.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How fast do NHL players skate?
Around 20 to 22 mph, or 32 to 35 km/h, in normal play. Elite skaters reach 23 to 25 mph, which is 37 to 40 km/h.
Who is the fastest skater in the NHL?
Miles Wood holds the fastest tracked speed at 24.82 mph, set on 10 April 2025. Connor McDavid is the fastest of the league’s superstars at 24.61 mph and has won the All-Star Fastest Skater competition four times.
What is Connor McDavid’s top speed?
24.61 mph, or 39.6 km/h, recorded against Calgary on 8 October 2025. It is his fastest mark since tracking began.
How does the NHL measure skating speed?
Through NHL EDGE, which uses sensors in the puck and in every player’s jersey, tracked by antennas in all 32 arenas. It began in the 2021-22 season.
Who was the fastest skater in NHL history?
Nobody can say with any certainty. Tracking data only exists from 2021-22, so players such as Pavel Bure, Sergei Fedorov and Paul Coffey have no recorded speeds. Any number published for them is an estimate.
What is the Fastest Skater competition record?
Dylan Larkin’s 13.172 seconds, set in 2016. Mathew Barzal came closest in 2020 at 13.175 seconds.
Are NHL players faster than Usain Bolt?
No. Bolt’s peak sprinting speed was around 27.8 mph, roughly three miles per hour faster than the quickest NHL skater. He was also running in a straight line without a stick, a puck or an opponent.
Who is the fastest defenceman in the NHL?
Quinn Hughes, reported at around 24.56 mph in 2024-25, with Jaccob Slavin close behind.
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