1 Player on Every NHL Team to Get Excited About This Season
The talent in the NHL right now is as impressive as it has ever been with some legends still playing at an All-Star level, a new wave of superstars starting to hit their primes and some emerging superstars who are set to take over the league.
We continue to get you ready for the start of the 2022-23 NHL season with a team-by-team look at one player on each team who is worth getting excited about.
This, of course, is subjective and can mean a lot of different things on a team-to-team basis. Some of these players are established stars who can be the focal point of a Stanley Cup contender, while others are young guys ready to make a big impact on a rebuilding team and offer hope for the future.
Which players are we most excited about?
Let's take a look!
Anaheim Ducks: Trevor Zegras
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Forget limiting this to just the Anaheim Ducks: Trevor Zegras might be on the shortlist of the most exciting players in the league.
Is he the best player? No, he is not. But it has been a long time since we have seen somebody enter the NHL with the confidence and flare that Zegras displayed during his rookie season. He is also the type of player who can anger opponents because his style can be seen as showing off or showing up opponents, but he is simply a skilled player using his ability to make plays.
There is plenty of substance to go with the flash as well.
As a 20-year-old, Zegras registered 23 goals, 38 assists and 61 total points in 75 games to finish as the runner-up in the Calder Trophy voting a year ago. He is going to be one of the cornerstone pieces for the Ducks moving forward and one of the players who is going to rapidly accelerate their rebuild.
Arizona Coyotes: Jakob Chychrun
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The short-term prospects for the Coyotes are grim.
The roster is one of the least talented in the league on paper, and it is clear that this is a long-term rebuild with the primary focus being to stockpile draft picks.
That does not mean there is no talent on the roster, and Jakob Chychrun is the best player in this group. Even though it seems like he has been around forever, he is still only 24 years old, is signed to one of the most team-friendly contracts in the league and has the ability to be a top-tier offensive defenseman. Over the past three years, he has scored at an 18-goal pace per 82 games, which puts him near the top of the league's blueliners.
The only downside for Coyotes fans: how long will he remain with the team? The club's current rebuild makes pretty much every player on the roster open for a potential trade, and Chychrun would be an extremely attractive target for every team in the league given his age, ability and cheap contract.
Boston Bruins: Patrice Bergeron
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He is back for another year, and that alone should make Bruins fans ecstatic.
Not only does it keep the Bruins' window for contention open for another year, especially with the return of David Krejci following his one-year trek to Europe, but Patrice Bergeron is still one of the league's elite two-way players and its best defensive forward.
He has been a Selke Trophy finalist an incredible 11 years in a row, winning it five times during that stretch. No player in the history of the league has won the award more times, and there is every reason to believe he can do it again this year.
Add in his top-line offense and you have one of the most valuable players in the league, and Boston is getting him for a laughably cheap salary-cap hit of just $1.5 million for this season.
He is a Bruins franchise icon and gets at least one more crack at helping the team contend for a championship.
Buffalo Sabres: Owen Power
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Despite their strong finish to the 2021-22 regular season, the Sabres are probably not ready to become a playoff team this season. They still have a lot of holes, play in a tough division and conference, and several of the non-playoff teams around them also managed to get a lot better this offseason.
But there is still some hope here, and that begins with last year's No. 1 overall pick, defenseman Owen Power.
Power enters the 2022-23 season as one of the league candidates for the Calder Trophy and is going to bring massive expectations to the ice. He already had a cup of coffee in the NHL a year ago and scored two goals in his first eight games, displaying the type of explosiveness and playmaking that could make him a superstar on the blue line.
If the Sabres are going to turn this thing around, it is going to have to start with their two No. 1 overall pick defensemen, Power and Rasmus Dahlin. If both can reach their potential, it would be a hell of a blue-line duo to build a franchise around.
Calgary Flames: Jonathan Huberdeau
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The Flames lost two superstars during the offseason (Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk) and still might have come out of it better than they were before.
The biggest reason for that optimism: they acquired another superstar, Jonathan Huberdeau, for Tkachuk and signed him long term.
Huberdeau has been one of the league's most productive players over the past four years, with his 346 total points during that stretch placing him fourth in the league behind only Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Patrick Kane.
While he has some shortcomings defensively, there might not be a better playmaking winger in the league, and he should be the foundation of the Flames offense moving forward. Head coach Darryl Sutter already said this preseason that Huberdeau might be the best playmaker and passer who has ever played for the Flames organization. That's high praise from a coach who has a couple of Stanley Cup rings on his hand.
Carolina Hurricanes: Andrei Svechnikov
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Andrei Svechnikov is already an outstanding player, but it still seems like there is another level that he is capable of reaching.
He might get there this season with a little bit of shooting luck.
Svechnikov is a proven 30-goal scorer and one of the most creative players in the league with the puck on his stick, but if you dig below the box-score numbers, you can see how there is still a potentially monster season brewing.
He is an elite possession driver and has seen his shot volume increase each year, both of which are great signs, especially with a player whose shot is as wicked as Svechnikov's is.
Most players hit their prime scoring years between the ages of 23 and 26, and that is the window Svechnikov is in. Despite his possession-driving ability and shot generation, he has never been a high-percentage shooter. If he can see a little bump there this season, there might be a 40- or 50-goal season waiting to emerge.
That would go a long way toward helping the Hurricanes get over the hump in the Eastern Conference.
Chicago Blackhawks: Lukas Reichel
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This is probably the toughest situation in the league for finding excitement.
The rebuild is so deep that they did not have use for Alex DeBrincat. Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are probably on their way out at some point over the next year, and the team may be the worst in the league.
So this is all about looking toward the future, and the most exciting prospect who should play a role on this year's roster could be Lukas Reichel.
The No. 17 overall pick from the 2020 draft had a sensational debut in North America a year ago when he scored 21 goals and averaged more than a point per game in 56 games for the AHL's Rockford IceHogs.
The best hope for the Blackhawks this season is seeing young players develop and show they might have a future with the team. Reichel could be the poster child for that.
Colorado Avalanche: Bowen Byram
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There are so many options in Colorado, from superstar forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen to the league's top overall defenseman in Cale Makar.
But we are going to go in a different direction here and look at another of their rising stars with Bowen Byram.
While their forwards get the bulk of the attention, it is Colorado's defense that really separates it from the other contenders and makes the club such a powerhouse. The Avalanche already have an elite group of established stars in Makar, Samuel Girard and Devon Toews, and they are about to add another one in Byram.
Byram does not have a long track record of work in the NHL just yet, but what we have seen has been spectacular, and he looks poised to have a breakout year that will add him to the Avalanche's already impressive core. It is an embarrassment of riches on defense for this team.
The Avalanche picked Byram with the No. 4 overall pick in 2019 with a draft pick acquired in the Matt Duchene trade.
Columbus Blue Jackets: Johnny Gaudreau
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Honestly, how can it be anybody other than Johnny Gaudreau?
For years, the Blue Jackets were the team that star players could not leave fast enough, and then this offseason they came out of nowhere as the mystery team to land the top free agent on the open market.
That is a huge win for Columbus, and along with Patrik Laine (who also re-signed long term), the Blue Jackets now have two bona fide stars to build around.
Gaudreau, 29, is still at an age where he should have several high-end years ahead of him, and he is an extremely gifted passer and playmaker with superb vision. Those skills should translate well into the future.
Dallas Stars: Jason Robertson
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Jason Robertson is already well on his way to being a superstar for Dallas and is coming off a brilliant sophomore campaign that saw him eclipse the 40-goal mark and tally 79 total points in only 74 games.
Along with the elite production, he is also one of the must-see young talents in the league and is worth the price of admission every night.
The Stars are an extremely top-heavy team, and their top line of Robertson, Joe Pavelski and Roope Hintz was one of the league's best a year ago. There are no real weaknesses to Robertson's game, and do not be surprised if he takes yet another step forward this season.
The Stars have not had a 50-goal scorer since Mike Modano in 1993-94, but Robertson could be the guy to eventually get there.
Maybe even this season.
Detroit Red Wings: Moritz Seider
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If Steve Yzerman's rebuild ultimately pans out in Detroit, Moritz Seider is going to be one of the players most responsible for it.
Every contending team and every Stanley Cup champion needs to have a true No. 1 defender who can play big minutes in every situation, in every role, provide scoring punch and shut down other teams' top players.
A Cale Makar. A Victor Hedman. A Kris Letang. A Zdeno Chara. A Nicklas Lidstrom.
Seider could be that player for the Red Wings, and based on what we saw from him during his rookie season (which resulted in a Calder Trophy as the league's Rookie of the Year), he is already well on his way to being that player.
Seider leads a talented Red Wings core that also includes Lucas Raymond, Jakub Vrana, Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi. Yzerman attempted to give that group some major help with a busy offseason, but it is going to be the young core that makes or breaks the rebuild. No one player will do more to impact that than Seider.
Edmonton Oilers: Connor McDavid
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Connor McDavid is the type of megastar and generational talent that you can pencil in for the scoring title as long as he stays healthy.
The list of players who had that sort of power is laughably short and includes legends such as Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr. McDavid is already on that tier. He has won the league's scoring title in four of the past six years and is coming off a 123-point season a year ago.
Aside from the production, there is not a more captivating player in hockey with the puck on his stick than McDavid. When he flies through the neutral zone at full speed, there is nothing like it in the NHL, and he can make even the best and fastest defenders look slow and hopeless.
The big question for this season: could he top the 130-point mark?
Florida Panthers: Matthew Tkachuk
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Matthew Tkachuk is a perfect addition to the Panthers, and he should help keep them as one of the league's top Stanley Cup contenders while also forming a dominant top-line duo with Aleksander Barkov.
There is nothing that Tkachuk can't do.
He is an elite scorer, he drives possession, he defends, he is an agitator and a pest, and he brings a nasty edge that fits in well with a Panthers team that already has players such as Patric Hornqvist, Sam Bennett and Radko Gudas.
The Panthers have some question marks on defense and in goal, but their forward group is scary good, and adding Tkachuk to it will only make it better. If you add a player like this, you better be expecting to compete for a championship immediately.
Los Angeles Kings: Quinton Byfield
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There are a lot of reasons to love the Kings' chances this season in the Western Conference.
They already had a strong team that took a massive leap forward a year ago in making the playoffs, and then they added to it with the trade for Kevin Fiala.
The true X-factor for this season will be the development of Quinton Byfield, the 2020 No. 2 overall pick in the NHL draft.
He still has superstar potential, and if he can become that player, the Kings would have a championship-caliber trio down the middle with him, Anze Kopitar and Phillip Danault.
He figures to open this season on the Kings' third line next to fellow youngster Arthur Kaliyev, who already looks like a potential top-line winger. If those two pan out, this team suddenly becomes a Stanley Cup contender in the Western Conference. Not in the future, not in a couple of years. This season.
Minnesota Wild: Matt Boldy
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The buyouts for Zach Parise and Ryan Suter have sabotaged the Wild's salary-cap situation for the next few years. That is going to put a premium on the team's ability to develop cheap, young talent from within to maintain a competitive roster.
Fortunately for the Wild, they have that sort of pipeline that can help.
Matt Boldy leads that group.
The 21-year-old was an instant star for the Wild a year ago and figures to be one of their top players during the 2022-23 season.
Minnesota lost a lot this offseason by having to trade Kevin Fiala and Cam Talbot because of the cap constraints without having the ability to meaningfully replace them, but players such as Boldy, Marco Rossi and Calen Addison are going to help fill that gap.
Boldy especially could be in line for a breakout year as he gets top power-play time in place of Fiala.
Montreal Canadiens: Cole Caufield
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Cole Caufield's career to this point has been fascinating to watch.
He arrived in the NHL with much fanfare and immediately looked like he was going to be a superstar for the Canadiens at the end of the 2019-20 season.
Then he got off to a miserable start during the 2020-21 season and was one of the Canadiens' many young players to struggle under head coach Dominique Ducharme.
When Martin St. Louis was brought in to run the show, everything started to click for Caufield under the new system that freed him up and allowed him to make plays and play to his strengths. There should be some real excitement for what he might be capable of under a full season of St. Louis' system.
Given how poorly he started last season (just one goal in his first 29 games through the end of January), it is remarkable that he still ended up finishing the season with 23 goals. It would not be out of line to set an expectation for 30 or more goals this season.
With Nick Suzuki and No. 1 overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky joining Caufield at the top of the roster, there is some talent here for the Canadiens to rebuild around.
Nashville Predators: Filip Forsberg
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The big challenge for the Predators this offseason was always going to be figuring out a way to keep Filip Forsberg from getting away.
They did that, re-signing him to an eight-year, $68 million contract.
Forsberg is coming off a massive year that saw him (along with Matt Duchene) become the first 40-goal scorer in franchise history.
The Predators made the decision to keep him at the trade deadline in a push for the playoffs despite his pending unrestricted free agency. Losing him for nothing would have been a devastating blow to a team that still intends to be a playoff team this season. Fortunately for them, they avoided that, and now they have their most explosive forward under contract for the next eight years.
New Jersey Devils: Jack Hughes
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The Devils may not be good enough to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference this season, but they are going to have one of the league's most dominant offensive players with Jack Hughes.
The 2019 No. 1 overall pick has shown steady improvement every year and was having a breakout season in 2021-22 until injuries sidelined him for half of the year. He was still averaging over a point per game and looking like a menace to opposing defenses when he was on the ice.
If he can stay healthy this season, there is no limit to his potential.
The Devils have needed a superstar to build their team around, and they have exactly that in Hughes. Do not be surprised to see his name in the top 10 of the league's scoring leaderboard by the end of the season.
New York Islanders: Ilya Sorokin
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Given their painfully quiet offseason, the New York Islanders seem to be content on gambling that a new coach and voice is all they need to turn things around.
They may not be right in that gamble.
But if it does work out, Ilya Sorokin is going to be the single biggest reason for it.
In his second NHL season and first year as the Islanders' main starter, Sorokin proved to be one of the league's best and most productive goalies and was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal season on the Island.
The bad news for the Islanders is with the state of their roster, they might need a superhuman performance in goal to get them into the playoffs.
The good news is they have the type of goalie who can be capable of such a performance.
New York Rangers: K'Andre Miller
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Igor Shesterkin and Artemi Panarin are the Rangers' best and most important overall players, but it is going to be the young talent on the roster that is going to make or break their season.
There is immense pressure on forwards Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko to play like the top-two picks that they are, but the one guy who might be sneaking under the radar a little bit is K'Andre Miller.
He showed signs of being an All-Star-level blueliner a year ago and is poised for a big year during the 2022-23 season.
The Rangers already have one of the league's best overall defensemen in Adam Fox, and if Miller can reach his full potential, they would have a dynamic and dominant one-two punch with those two leading the way.
He is still only 22 years old and oozes talent and confidence every time he steps on the ice. He has looked fantastic this preseason and should have high expectations when the regular season begins.
Ottawa Senators: Alex DeBrincat
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After years of jettisoning talent in the name of rebuilding, the Senators finally reversed that trend this offseason and made a real effort to get better.
The focal point of their offseason was the trade for star winger Alex DeBrincat, and they surrendered only three draft picks (just one of which was a first-round pick) to the Chicago Blackhawks.
It was a no-brainer move for Ottawa because anytime you can land an elite goal scorer (which DeBrincat is) who is still in the prime of his career (which DeBrincat also is), you have to jump at it. Alongside free-agent signing Claude Giroux and a returning core of young talent, the Senators should have one of the best top-six forward groupings in the NHL.
They have some major questions on defense and in goal, but the forwards should make all of their games worth tuning in for. That is not something we have said about the Senators very often over the past five years.
DeBrincat will be a restricted free agent after the season, so that is how much time the Senators have to show him that they mean business and are ready to contend.
Philadelphia Flyers: Joel Farabee
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Joel Farabee's status for the start of the regular season is not known yet, but he is still the most intriguing young player on the Flyers roster.
Even though he had what was probably considered a down year during the 2021-22 season, Farabee still has enticing potential and can be a long-term building block.
The Flyers are stuck in an interesting situation this season. The roster is not very good, but they seem to be under the impression they can compete, especially after the hiring of new head coach John Tortorella. Serious contention or the playoffs seem like a long shot, but they can get some positives this season if players such as Farabee or Carter Hart become the cornerstones they were expected to be.
Pittsburgh Penguins: Jake Guentzel
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The easy answers here would be the Big Three of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. Of course, they are still excellent players and future Hall of Famers, and despite some rocky contract negotiations, the Penguins were able to keep Malkin and Letang (along with Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell) on the roster for the 2022-23 season.
When it comes to players to be excited about this season, there is another name Penguins fans should be jumping for joy over, and that is Jake Guentzel.
He has become one of the league's best all-around wingers in the past few years, and even though he gets a significant amount of playing time on Crosby's line, it should not take away from the player that he is. He is a legitimately great player on his own merits and has pretty much been a 40-goal scorer per 82 games over the past four years.
Do not be surprised if he gets close to a 50-goal performance this season.
San Jose Sharks: William Eklund
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The Sharks are in that murky middle ground between contention and rebuilding that nobody wants to be in.
But with a new front office and coaching staff, it seems like a true rebuild is on the horizon at some point.
In the short term, the team is not very good and looks to be headed for another non-playoff season in the Western Conference. But there are some reasons to watch them. They still have Tomas Hertl at the top of the lineup after re-signing him to a long-term deal, while William Eklund is one of the best prospects the Sharks have had in years. Maybe ever. He only appeared in nine games a year ago, but he is one of the best prospects in the NHL.
He is a superb playmaker who also knows how to handle himself without the puck on his stick.
Seattle Kraken: Matty Beniers
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Seattle's debut season in the NHL was a massive disappointment thanks to some missteps in the expansion draft and a lot of bad goaltending.
The Kraken rebounded in a big way this offseason with the additions of Oliver Bjorkstrand and Andre Burakovsky. But the real optimism comes from their first two first-round picks, Matty Beniers (2021) and Shane Wright (2022).
Beniers should be entering this season as one of the Calder Trophy favorites, and he has the potential to be a franchise-changing player. We only saw him play 10 games a year ago, but they were an impressive 10 games as he scored three goals and had six assists following a dominant two-year career at the University of Michigan.
Assuming the Kraken can get better goaltending, there should be some optimism for a bounce-back year for the organization in year two of its existence. Beniers should be one of the players leading that surge.
St. Louis Blues: Robert Thomas
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Over the past couple of years, the Blues have transitioned from being one of the league's most dominant and suffocating defensive teams to becoming one of its best offensive teams.
Robert Thomas is at the center of that offensive surge.
He may not get as many headlines as some of the league's other top players, but he is already one of the best playmakers and just now entering his prime at 23.
The Blues made significant commitments to him and Jordan Kyrou this offseason with long-term contracts, and there is little reason to believe they will not continue to be cornerstone players at the top of the lineup.
After all, Thomas had 77 points in 72 games last season.
Tampa Bay Lightning: Steven Stamkos
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Steven Stamkos is one of the great "what if" players of this generation.
The "what if" being, what if he had not missed so much of his prime years because of injuries and lockouts?
Stamkos missed significant time between the ages of 22 and 26 when he was on top of his game, and he would probably already be closing in on 600 career goals with better injury luck.
He is the second-best goal scorer of this era (behind only Alex Ovechkin) and is coming off his first 100-point season.
I will not go as far as to call him underrated, but he is definitely the type of player who might be appreciated more after his playing days than he was during them.
As long as he is still playing, and playing at a high level, you should take advantage of the opportunity to see him because there are only a handful of guys who can shoot it the way he does.
Toronto Maple Leafs: Auston Matthews
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The Maple Leafs still have to prove they can win in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and until they do there is going to be a healthy dose of skepticism around them every season.
But they do have some magnificent players who provide a lot of fireworks during the regular season, and Auston Matthews is at the top of that list.
He is currently the top goal scorer in the league and has won the Rocket Richard Trophy two years in a row and is coming off a season that saw him hit the very rare (at least for modern times) 60-goal mark in only 73 games. That comes out to a 67-goal pace over 82 games. It was one of the best goal-scoring seasons of the era.
It is worth asking if he could potentially hit the 70-goal mark.
Assuming he stays healthy, it might not be out of reach.
Vancouver Canucks: Elias Pettersson
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Elias Pettersson is the Canucks' best overall player, and he really took off following the in-season coaching change that saw Bruce Boudreau take over behind the team's bench. After recording just 24 points in his first 45 games through the end of January, he finished with 44 points in the team's final 35 games.
He seems like the type of talent who can excel within Boudreau's system, and it is going to be fun to watch what he can do over a full season playing in it.
The Canucks nearly sneaked into the playoffs a year ago after Boudreau took over, and they have enough talent to seriously contend for a playoff spot in the Pacific Division this season with Pettersson leading the way. For his career, he has been a remarkably consistent 30-goal, 70-point player with sensational skill and playmaking ability.
He is still only 23 years old at the start of the season and can be the type of player who can put the team on his back and lead it to a playoff spot.
Vegas Golden Knights: Phil Kessel
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It's unclear how much Phil Kessel has left in the tank, but there is a lot to like about his presence in Vegas this season.
For starters, Kessel is always enjoyable to watch because he is a gifted playmaker and a fan (and teammate) favorite everywhere he goes. Even though his goal scoring has dipped in recent years, he remains a great passer and should excel with more talent around him than he had in Arizona the past couple of years.
He should also surpass Keith Yandle's all-time consecutive games played streak early this season and become the NHL's new ironman. It is a remarkable streak that has seen him play in 982 consecutive games. He is only seven behind Yandle and barring injury should surpass 1,000 consecutive games played this season. That is a sensational accomplishment and commands respect.
Vegas lost a lot this offseason with Max Pacioretty and Evgenii Dadonov being traded in salary-cap moves, and it needed another playmaking winger to come in and help replace their production. Kessel was a strong addition for a low price. There is little risk and at least a decent potential reward.
Washington Capitals: Alex Ovechkin
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It defies logic and everything we think we know about aging curves to see Alex Ovechkin still scoring 50 goals into his late 30s. But here we are, and there is no reason to believe that he is going to slow down anytime soon.
Ovechkin is the Capitals' most impactful player and one of the league's biggest draws, and that is only going to continue as he continues to chase down Wayne Gretzky's all-time goal-scoring record.
He is already No. 3 on the NHL's goal list and is just 22 goals away from surpassing Gordie Howe for the second spot.
He is also only 20 goals away from becoming just the third player in league history to score at least 800 career goals.
Barring injury, he should pass Howe sometime in the first half of the season.
Winnipeg Jets: Kyle Connor
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Kyle Connor was one of the few bright spots for the Jets during the 2021-22 season, continuing to show why he is one of the league's most productive goal scorers.
He is the type of player who would be easy to call "underrated" because he plays on a team that is mostly mediocre and does not typically get a lot of eyeballs on it, but he is only underrated if you are not paying attention.
He scored 47 goals (and 93 total points) for the Jets this past season in 79 games. If he gets 82 games in a season, you could always pencil him in for 40 goals. He has some shortcomings away from the puck, but there are only a handful of players who do a better job of putting the puck in the net. It is the most valuable skill a player can have, and he is one of the best at it.
He is a sleeper for a potential 50-goal season at some point in his career.
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