Every NHL Team's Most Surprising Player During the 2022-23 Season
As we wind down the NHL season, it's a time to reflect on where things sit now compared to where we thought they would back in September.
That's a long way of saying we're looking at who surprised us throughout the 2022-2023 season.
These surprises can be players who went well above expectations or came out of the blue to be key contributors to their team's successes. A surprise can also mean a player didn't meet what was expected of them.
We'll take a look at a player from every team, and we'll go through it by division to make it easier to find them on our list. Whether you agree or disagree with our choices, we want you to tell us about it in the comments.
Atlantic Division
1 of 5
Boston Bruins: Linus Ullmark
We saw last season that Linus Ullmark could be a good goalie, but what we didn't know was he would become the second coming of Martin Brodeur or Dominik Hašek. Ullmark is the consensus favorite to win the Vezina Trophy, with his .938 save percentage and 1.89 goals-against average both leading the league by wide margins. His 39 wins are also just about still best in the league, but his 39-6-1 record is ridiculously good. He's never come close to putting up numbers like this, and the fact that he is it might be the biggest surprise in the NHL.
Buffalo Sabres: Casey Mittelstadt
The Sabres are teeming with super young talent and future star players, but the biggest surprise is the breakout of Casey Mittelstadt. The No. 8 pick in 2017 set career highs in points, besting his previous mark by 29 points (and counting), and goals (13) this season. On a team with so many breakout stars like Tage Thompson, Dylan Cozens and Rasmus Dahlin, Mittelstadt is the pick here after taking a giant leap this season as a playmaker. Injury interfered with his past two seasons, but the work he's put in gives the Sabres an even deeper offensive attack.
Detroit Red Wings: Ville Husso
The Red Wings spent $14.25 million over three years last summer to bring Husso into the fold as their No. 1 goalie, and it looked like it would be a bargain for the first month or so of the season. Since the Christmas break, however, it's been rough. He's got an .887 save percentage (he was .912 before that) and the lack of consistent goaltending prevented Detroit from making it back to the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Husso had a brilliant season with St. Louis last year, which led to the deal with the Wings, but his first season in Detroit could've gone a lot better.
Florida Panthers: Brandon Montour
There's a pretty good chance you never would've guessed Montour to be one of the top five defensemen in scoring this season. He entered this year coming off a career high 37 points last season and was a strong puck-carrier and shooter from the blue line. That he's got 16 goals and 73 points (both career highs) is an incredible turn of events for the Panthers. He's been a monster on their power play (30 assists) while still carrying and possessing the puck in a big way. The depth he's added to Florida's attack from the back end with Aaron Ekblad and Gustav Forsling has helped them get back into the playoff picture.
Montréal Canadiens: Kirby Dach
When the Canadiens traded for Dach last summer, it left a lot of people scratching their heads about why Chicago moved on from him (apart from gaining more draft picks). Who trades a 22-year-old center!? Chicago's loss is Montréal's gain, as Dach put up career highs in goals and points in fewer games than his previous standard set last season. A lower-body injury cost him games this season, but he's shown the Canadiens have another potential young star to join Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky to bring them back to glory.
Ottawa Senators: Cam Talbot
The Senators entered the season with big hopes of getting back to the playoffs, and one of their key offseason additions was Talbot to solidify their goaltending. But Talbot battled injuries and inconsistency when he did play. His .898 save percentage is below league average (.904), and he's just below zero when it comes to goals saved above expected in all situations and minus-4.9 at 5-on-5, per MoneyPuck.com. With Talbot due to be a free agent this summer, it's a bitter pill to swallow that the 24-year-old goalie Ottawa traded to Minnesota to acquire him, Filip Gustavsson, has performed well for the Wild.
Tampa Bay Lightning: Brayden Point
When you think about the players you expect to put up gaudy numbers in Tampa Bay, it's Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos that come to mind at first, but now we'll have to put Point into that conversation prominently. He's scored 49 goals and has 91 points, levels he hasn't hit since 2018-2019, when he had 41 goals and 92 points. Having a full schedule and being healthy have returned Point to where he was four years ago, so perhaps it's not a huge surprise to see him have such a big season, but his scoring rates—while still good—were down each of the past three seasons.
Toronto Maple Leafs: Ilya Samsonov
When the Maple Leafs added Samsonov in the offseason after the Washington Capitals didn't qualify him in restricted free agency, it was a lottery ticket kind of deal. Samsonov was a first-round pick in 2015 and struggled in three seasons with the Caps. But in Toronto, he's solodified a position that's had a revolving door on it for years. He had a .896 save percentage a year ago in 44 games and has posted a .919 mark in 42 games this year. It's a stunning turnaround, and at age 26 Samsonov just may have found a home for some time.
Metropolitan Division
2 of 5
Carolina Hurricanes: Martin Necas
When we think about the Hurricanes and their prolific offense, the first names that come to mind are Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teräväinen. Now we'll have to add Martin Necas to the mix. Necas leads the Hurricanes in scoring this season and has nearly doubled his career high in goals (28 from 16) and points.(69 from 41), all while helping lead the Hurricanes to being a top-five team in the NHL. If you predicted that would happen, you're going to need to show your work. That Necas has been doing this from the second line in Carolina makes it more impressive and shows how deep they are.
Columbus Blue Jackets: Elvis Merzlikins
It's hard to not have a lot of sympathy for goalies who bear the brunt of losses on bad teams. Elvis Merzlikins has had to eat a lot of Ls for the Blue Jackets all while they've had their defense take hits with Zach Werenski going down with injury and Vladislav Gavrikov getting traded. All that aside, however, Merzlikins hasn't been able to help himself much either. He has the fewest goals saved above expected this season at 5-on-5 (minus-20.2) and has the second-lowest save percentage among goalies with 20 or more games played (.876). He had a .907 last season. It's OK that he had an off year on a brutal team, but he turned out to be a major factor in why they've been so bad. He'll be forgiven if they get Connor Bedard in June.
New Jersey Devils: Lindy Ruff
We're going to bend the rules here. The Devils haven't had a really disappointing or pleasant surprise on their roster, which led us to coach Lindy Ruff. Fans were chanting "Fire Lindy" after they started the season 0-2-0 with losses at Philadelphia and at home against Detroit. Fast forward to now, and the Devils are a top-five team in the league and still have a shot to win the division, all while being sixth in goals scored and ninth in goals against, which has Ruff among the favorites for the Jack Adams Trophy. All of that is pretty stunning with the Devils coming off a 63-point season last year.
New York Islanders: Hudson Fasching
The Islanders just win games and are really good at preventing other teams from scoring. It makes it tricky to find someone who sticks out as a surprise, but Fasching took his opportunity and ran with it after being called up from AHL Bridgeport in December. He scored his first goal since the first game of his NHL career in 2016 with Buffalo and then added eight more. At 27, the 2013 fourth-round pick earned his way back to the NHL full-time, and that's not just a surprise but a feel-good story as well.
New York Rangers: K'Andre Miller
Miller's outstanding play defensively has come to be expected, but how he was able to jump into the offense this year makes him a surprise. Coming into this season, Miller had 32 career points, but he's posted 43 this season with a career-high nine goals. The Rangers needed better depth on defense, and Miller makes their second pair formidable and dangerous.
Philadelphia Flyers: Owen Tippett
Picking out a negative surprise on the Flyers could be a slideshow of its own because. There was one unexpected surprise this season, though, and it was the breakout of Owen Tippett. He's second on the team in goals (24) and third in points behind Kevin Hayes and Travis Konecny with 45. He's more than doubled his previous career highs across the board. Seeing the No. 10 pick in 2017 by Florida bust out after finally getting an honest opportunity over the past two years feels overdue, but it's a definite surprise to see him pop in more than 20 goals.
Pittsburgh Penguins: Jeff Carter
At 38 years old, the expectations for what Carter would bring the Penguins had to be tempered, but there was hope he could give the Penguins scoring depth after he posted 19 goals and 45 points a year ago. He signed a two-year, $6.25 million contract with a full no-move clause over the summer to stay in Pittsburgh but has responded with 14 goals and 29 points and the team's worst shot attempt percentage at 5-on-5 among regular players. It's not so much surprising as it is disappointing for a two-time Stanley Cup winner, but it's still surprising to see it happen almost overnight.
Washington Capitals: Evgeny Kuznetsov
The Capitals aren't going to the playoffs, and that's a surprise on its own after Alex Ovechkin has had another huge season scoring goals. Injuries ravaged the team and really busted their chances at making a run at the postseason, but Kuznetsov hasn't stepped up in the absence of fellow veterans. He's got 12 goals and 55 points, both far cries from his 24 goals and 78 points last season. None of that is what you want to see for a 30-year-old on an aging team looking to hang on a little longer to make another run at a Cup.
Central Division
3 of 5
Arizona Coyotes: Clayton Keller
Over the first few seasons of Keller's career, he's shown himself to be a very steady point-scorer and solid goal scorer. But this season he's taken it to another level, scoring 37 goals and 85 points. It's an incredible breakout season that's seen him pick up what he started doing last season, and his scoring rates show that. That he's doing it after recovering from a broken leg on what's still a bad (but improving) team makes for a pleasant surprise.
Chicago Blackhawks: Alex Stalock
It was meant to be bad in Chicago this season, and it is absolutely no surprise to anyone that their season has met that expectation and then some. But there's a bright spot in this miserable season, and it's goalie Alex Stalock. He's returned to action full time after he dealt with myocarditis due to COVID-19, and he also suffered a concussion and a separate eye issue this season. But he's got a .910 save percentage, and while his record is 9-15-1, the nine wins are tied for most on the team. At 35 years old and coming back from a myriad of health issues while playing for one of the worst teams in the league, it would've been easy for him to have a terrible season. Instead, he's shown that perseverance is a great thing to watch.
Colorado Avalanche: Mikko Rantanen
We know Rantanen is one of the elite players in the NHL. He's piled up points like mad and has been a regular 30-plus goal scorer. But his performance this season on an Avalanche team that's had to contend with injuries and a Stanley Cup hangover has been otherworldly. He's broken the 50-goal barrier and the 100-point mark for the first time in his career. Rantanen jumping to third in the league in goals has come out of the blue, and his play is a big reason why the Avalanche have been scorching hot in the second half, just in time for the playoffs to begin.
Dallas Stars: Jamie Benn
You could be excused for thinking the Stars captain was on the downside of his career the past few seasons. Ever since the 2017-18 season, his scoring rates dipped and his total point and goal numbers fell off. This season, however, the Jamie Benn of old reappeared in a big way. His 32 goals and 74 points are the most he's had since '17-18. He's been a big factor on their power play, and with younger stars like Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz getting the attention from opposing top defenses, Benn has taken full advantage.
Minnesota Wild: Filip Gustavsson
Having to back up Marc-Andre Fleury can be a tough job. Fleury is the de facto starter, for one, and he's one of the most beloved players in the league. To unseat him would take other-worldly play and for a rookie like Gustavsson, that was a tall order before the season. This is why we don't assume anything. While Fleury struggled during the middle part of the season, Gustavsson stepped in and commanded the Wild net and became one of the best goalies in the NHL. He's posted a .933 save percentage this season, second only to Linus Ullmark, and has gone 22-9-6 much in due to his team scoring an average of 2.75 goals per game for him. The Wild have surged in the second half of the season to compete for the Central Division title. What's more is Gustavsson's play fired Fleury up to perform better as well.
Nashville Predators: Thomas Novak
The Predators have dealt with some brutal injuries on offense with Ryan Johansen and Filip Forsberg going down for the season. With that kind of void to fill, they needed someone to step up, and Thomas Novak has done just that. Novak was called up just ahead of Christmas, and since then he's put up 17 goals and 41 points. He was a third-round pick in 2015 and got a cup of coffee last season, but he's been phenomenal since joining the Preds this season. To say this breakout was a surprise is putting it lightly. He scored at a decent rate in the AHL and was a point-per-game player there this season, but turning into a 0.85-point-per-game player in the NHL was completely unexpected.
St. Louis Blues: Colton Parayko
The 6'6" defenseman has been a major part of St. Louis' blue line corps since he emerged in 2015. He's got size, he's physical, he's got a booming slap shot. He's basically everything everyone wants in a defenseman...which is what makes his play this season so upsetting to see. At 5-on-5 this season, Parayko been on the ice for 73 goals against, second-worst among Blues defensemen (Justin Faulk has been out for 76 against). The difference between them, however, is the Blues have scored 75 goals with Faulk on the ice and 49 with Parayko. Coaches can live with goals against if players can help get them back and Parayko has not done that at all while leading the team in minutes played at 5-on-5. It's a stunning development, and worse yet it'll make Blues management sweat because Parayko is in the first year of an eight-year, $52 million extension.
Winnipeg Jets: Josh Morrissey
The Jets on their own have been a bit of a surprise this season, and while goaltending helped put them into position to make the playoffs, the play of Morrissey on defense enhanced that immensely. Morrissey is having a career year offensively with 15 goals and 72 points, making him one of the top scorers in the league on defense. He's almost doubled his previous career high in points set last season (37). That he's become a dangerous scorer from the back end is a very pleasant development for Winnipeg. If this is the kind of defenseman he's going to be moving ahead, it will make the Jets a much more dangerous team to deal with.
Pacific Division
4 of 5
Anaheim Ducks: Ryan Strome
It's been a brutal year for the Ducks, and while expectations were low this season, Strome hasn't lived up to the five-year, $25 million contract he signed in the offseason. He's worked mainly with Trevor Zegras and Frank Vatrano, and his raw point totals are similar to what he did in New York, but he's gone from being close to a point-per-game play to a half-point-per-game guy. You'd have to think the Ducks were expecting a lot more.
Calgary Flames: Jacob Markström
Last season, Markström was one of the best goalies in the NHL. He was a Vezina Trophy finalist and a major reason why the Flames were one of the best teams in the league. With that in mind, it was expected he would be able to play close to that level again and get the Flames back into position to challenge for a spot in the Stanley Cup Final. It has not worked out that way. Markström has gone from a .922 save percentage last season to .892 this season. A 30-point difference like that is startling, and it opened the door for backup Daniel Vladar to earn more starts down the stretch.
Edmonton Oilers: Jack Campbell
When Campbell signed a five-year, $25 million contract with Edmonton in the offseason, it put the spotlight squarely on him to be the guy to steady the net behind Connor McDavid. After all, Campbell was coming off two straight seasons of solid play in split duty with Toronto in which he tossed up a .916 save percentage. While he has a 21-9-4 record thanks to the Oilers scoring 4.2 goals per game for him (best in the NHL), his .888 save percentage has been a most unpleasant surprise. If ever there was a shining example of why wins don't best show how well a goalie performs, there it is. Campbell's play opened the door for rookie Stuart Skinner to earn the No. 1 job, which was a surprise development of its own.
Los Angeles Kings: Pheonix Copley
For most of the season, goaltending was a major concern for the Kings. Cal Petersen played so poorly he was sent to the AHL, and Jonathan Quick struggled terribly. Copley took Petersen's place in the Kings tandem and performed well enough for Los Angeles to get right in the mix for the division lead. Copley has posted a perfectly league average .904 save percentage but has gone 24-6-3, which shows the Kings didn't need elite goaltending to get by. While L.A. added Joonas Korpisalo at the deadline to steady things with Copley, Copley's play earned him a one-year extension worth $1.5 million. Even though Korpisalo might be their starter in the playoffs, the Kings wouldn't have reached the postseason with ease without Copley.
San Jose Sharks: Erik Karlsson
Raise your hand if you thought Erik Karlsson would score 100 points this season. If your hand is up, your pants are on fire. It was known the Sharks would be pretty rough this season, and Karlsson had 97 points the previous three seasons combined. Even in his prolific scoring days with Ottawa, he topped out at 82 points in a season in 2015-16. He's set new career highs across the board this season with 25 goals, 75 assists and 100 points on the nose, and the Sharks have two more games to play. Mind you, he's also done this at age 32. It's a wonderful surprise to see one of the league's great players not just get back on the scene but make it virtually automatic he'll win his third Norris Trophy and first since 2015.
Seattle Kraken: Daniel Sprong
Very few players get to travel around as much as Daniel Sprong has and then not only find a home but also excel when they get there. Before he landed in the Pacific Northwest with his fourth NHL team in seven seasons, he had 40 goals and 24 assists in 186 games. He had six goals in Seattle last season after being acquired in March, but this season he has his first 20-goal season and is over 40 points. His previous career high in goals was 14. Sprong has taken advantage of Seattle's approach of using four lines to attack opposing teams. With how Pittsburgh, Anaheim and Washington have performed this season, they might be regretting moving on from him.
Vancouver Canucks: Andrei Kuzmenko
While technically a rookie, the 26-year-old from Russia is in his first season in the NHL. Although he was a decent scorer in the KHL, it was unknown how well Kuzmenko would fit into the NHL with a new team and a rigorous schedule. There was also the part about the Canucks being a bad team for three-fourths of the season, but none of that affected Kuzmenko. He's fourth on the team in points with 71 and tied with Elias Pettersson for the team lead in goals with 38. It's an impressive debut for a player coming over from a new league, and it's hard to believe anyone would've anticipated it. For comparison, in eight seasons in the KHL, he scored 85 goals and had 200 points.
Vegas Golden Knights: Logan Thompson
When Vegas headed into the season, one of the biggest questions was about who would control the net with Robin Lehner done for the season after hip surgery. It was a toss-up between Laurent Brossoit, Adin Hill and Thompson, but it didn't take long into training camp for Thompson to claim the job. Once the season got started, Thompson showed he was the right man for the job and then some. Before he went out with an injury in early February, he was one of the top goalies in the NHL with a .914 save percentage and helped lead Vegas to the top of the Western Conference. While Hill, Brossoit and Jonathan Quick deserve credit for keeping the fortress guarded in Thompson's absence, the 25-year-old rookie returned for a start in late-March before going out of the lineup again with an undisclosed injury. Vegas is tops in the Pacific Division, and they would not be in that position without Thompson taking the starting job and running with it.
Honorable Mentions
5 of 5
Alex Lyon, Florida Panthers
Lyon has been a career No. 3 goalie or thereabouts. Occasionally an NHL backup, but usually an AHL starter. It's a solid career, and you can play forever being that good. But getting the call to pinch-hit for an NHL team fighting to make the playoffs is difficult, and Panthers goalie Alex Lyon has been sublime stepping in for Sergei Bobrovsky. Lyon has gone 9-3-2 with a .916 save percentage this season, but since he was recalled March 19, he's gone 6-1-1 with a .936 save percentage and has the Panthers on the brink of clinching a playoff spot. If the Panthers get back to the playoffs, they've almost got to stick with him despite Bobrovsky's decorated record.
Stuart Skinner, Edmonton Oilers
It was really a toss-up between Skinner and Jack Campbell as the most surprising player on the Oilers, and perhaps the fact that Skinner overtook Campbell relatively early in the season should've clinched it for him. Skinner has provided the steady hand the Oilers have needed in goal for years. Campbell's difficult start, despite the wins, was enough to cause preemptive agita in Edmonton, but Skinner has been solid in goal and, most importantly, consistent. No one position in Edmonton has more stress attached to it than goalie given the slip-ups in the recent past, but Skinner provides hope that this time it'll be different come playoff time.
Devon Levi, Buffalo Sabres
Call it recency bias if you want, but the rookie goalie fresh out of college has the Sabres still hanging on to the dream of returning to the postseason for the first time since 2011. He's made five starts since he signed out of Northeastern and gone 4-1-0 with a .908 save percentage, a number skewed by a wild 7-6 shootout win against Detroit. Goaltending has been an issue in Buffalo this season, and Levi came right in and started making big saves and beating teams that are going to the playoffs. Not many goalies come out of college and just take over the No. 1 job like this, but his play has made it impossible for the Sabres to start anyone else while they still have a shot at the playoffs. Sabres brass and fans alike hope this is the start of a long and prosperous career for Levi as the next great Buffalo goalie.
Pavel Zacha, Boston Bruins
When the Bruins traded Erik Haula for Zacha, the hope was the change of scenery for the Czech forward would do him a lot of good. Turns out it was the best thing to happen for him. After being a steady 25-to-35-point guy with the Devils, Zacha found a home on a line with fellow Czechs David Krejči and David Pastrnak and has put up career highs across the board in goals (21), assists (36) and points (57) with two games to play. Zacha's offensive blow-up is another example of everything the Bruins did the past year or so turning to gold in helping them to the best record in the NHL. Thinking Zacha would score this much after decent seasons in New Jersey would've been a somewhat hot take before the season, but it's turned out to be a great situation for him and the team.
Advanced statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick unless otherwise noted.
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