Grading Top NHL Rookies 1 Month Into 2024-25 Season
Evaluating NHL rookies is difficult.
You have to take into account not just point totals or how they look on-ice, but also the environments in which they're playing and how that might affect the former matters. A lesser-touted rookie on a great team might be cherry-picking plays off his teammates and have high point totals; a star rookie on a floundering team might be struggling under pressure to be The Guy and not scoring at all. (Don't read into those; they're not meant to be specific players, but rather a representation of two extremes.) And there's a whole host of options in between.
Every rookie on this list is having a different kind of season, and at the end of the day, we can only evaluate them against themselves and what our expectations of them were going into the season. (Well, I can only evaluate them that way—I don't get a Calder Trophy vote.) But that's what makes it so fun. If they're only competing against their expectations, you get to truly dig into what is making them thrive or struggle.
Let's slap some grades on their seasons so far.
Logan Stankoven, C, Dallas Stars
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At the start of the season, we called Stars forward Logan Stankoven our dark-horse Calder Trophy pick, and we stand by that—and not just because he's currently leading all NHL rookies in scoring with 14 points in 15 games. In fact, with this level of productivity, it's probably time to drop the dark-horse label and just call him an outright candidate.
Stankoven isn't a flashy player, but he doesn't need to be. He's quietly racking up the points averaging just over 15 minutes of ice time per night, and one of the ways he's doing it is by putting pucks on net. Stankoven leads all rookies currently with 46 shots. Between consistently creating chances around the crease and knowing how to make intelligent and creative decisions when he has the puck on his stick, he's building a style of play that he can maintain across a season rather than relying on luck or cherry-picking his plays. We're excited to see where his game goes from here.
Grade: A
Matvei Michkov, RW, Philadelphia Flyers
2 of 7Despite a recent healthy scratch by head coach John Tortorella, Flyers forward Matvei Michkov is right behind Stankoven in both the Calder race and the rookie scoring race with 13 points in 15 games played. Michkov's positive response to that scratch is, if possible, a better indicator of just what kind of NHL player he'll be than his point totals. In his first game back (against the San Jose Sharks, no less), he registered a goal and an assist and scored a crucial goal in that game's shootout. It shows not just commitment to the game, but drive to help his team and prove that he belongs on NHL ice.
Michkov has six goals to Stankoven's four. This comes as no surprise when you look at the strengths of Michkov's skill set, including a shot that some scouts were calling NHL-ready before he was even drafted. He's got a pretty high shooting percentage at 21.4% (second highest among rookies), and that's going to come down as the season progresses, but don't expect to see his overall production crater. If there's one rookie where a high shooting percentage doesn't concern me, it's Michkov.
Grade: A
Macklin Celebrini, C, San Jose Sharks
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It's always fun to start your NHL career off with a goal. It's not as much fun when you follow that goal up with a hip injury that keeps you out of the lineup for a few weeks. Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini is catching up with his fellow rookies, though, with four points, including three goals, in six games so far. He's doing it in an average of 19:25 of time on ice per game, good for third amongst rookies and first amongst rookie forwards.
One of Celebrini's biggest strengths is his vision—his ability to read the ice, and the intelligence and decision-making he pairs with it. It's what allows him to keep pushing the play forward, and it's the reason that he's looked like an NHL veteran on-ice since before he even entered the league. Give it time; if he can continue throughout the season uninjured, he'll rise in both point totals and Calder rankings alike.
Grade: A-
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Will Smith, C, San Jose Sharks
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The Sharks' other rookie forward, former Boston College standout Will Smith, is having a bit of a rougher time adjusting to the demands of the NHL. He's only got three points in 14 games, with two of those being goals—not exactly what you would expect from a player touted as being an extremely effective puck handler and playmaker. A report surfaced this week from THN that the Sharks might be considering loaning Smith to Team USA for this year's World Junior Championships.
Whether the Sharks choose to do this aside, I'm of two minds about whether this would be helpful for Smith or not.
Could going to the World Juniors and tearing apart the competition with his former Boston College linemates, Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perreault (both of whom will likely be back) be a possibly needed boost to Smith's confidence? Sure. A brief break from the environment where he's struggling is its own benefit, after all. Would it be good for Smith's overall development as an NHL player? Not necessarily. You don't ever want to see a young player struggle, but a lot of the time, the only way out is through.
The Sharks consider Smith a full-time NHLer, and with the skill he has—we've seen that playmaking ability at the NHL level, even when it doesn't translate to numbers on the board—he's going to get through.
Grade: B- (for now)
Cutter Gauthier, LW, Anaheim Ducks
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Anaheim Ducks forward Cutter Gauthier is seventh in points among rookies, tied with Carolina Hurricanes forward Jackson Blake with six points (though Gauthier's come in 16 games to Blake's 15). Gauthier has also been extremely snakebitten so far this season, only scoring his first goal this weekend despite being second among rookies in shots on goal, with 36. He's got something like a 2 percent shooting percentage.
Now, that shooting percentage is going to come up, particularly for a guy like Gauthier whose shot was mentioned as one of the best parts of his game and, in fact, one of the foundations of his game's projection to the NHL level. But it's got to be hard to swallow when you've been touted—partly by your own doing—as a guy who can be The Guy. Thankfully, more goals are likely to quickly follow the first, because Gauthier's college-level talent wasn't a fluke.
Grade: B- because we have sympathy for being snake-bitten, but it's time to shape up
Lane Hutson, D, Montreal Canadiens
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Much like Quinn Hughes, Lane Hutson hopped into the NHL and almost immediately began outplaying any concerns about his size.
Ten points in 17 games as a rookie defenseman is nothing to sneeze at, and the way that he moves the puck is a pretty good sign that his offensive production is going to continue. He's also doing it while averaging the highest time on ice (TOI) of all NHL rookies at 23:03 per game, which is good for second-most on the Canadiens. His tenacious nature is a big part of how he's adjusted so well; he doesn't give up if he gets beaten, instead looking for ways to jump right back into the play.
This isn't to say his game is without issues, but the way he can consistently create opportunities on the ice—and the fact that he's been able to translate that ability from the college level to the NHL—is a skillset that most NHL teams would kill to have in their defense corps. Those of us who saw this sort of potential in Hutson before his draft year aren't surprised—or if we are, it's the pleasant kind. There was always a chance he was going to take too many risks, or do too much, and you could argue that there are moments when he does. But the benefits far outweigh the negatives with this kid, and it's not too early to say that they will probably continue to do so.
Grade: A-
Jackson Blake, RW, Carolina Hurricanes
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Last but not least, a player who has caught everyone's eye—forward Jackson Blake of the Carolina Hurricanes. Blake, who was selected in the fourth round by the Hurricanes in 2021, is the only rookie on the roster and has made quite the impression as he makes the transition from college hockey to the pros. Snagging 60 points in 40 games last season with the University of North Dakota, Blake was a Hobey Baker Memorial Award Hat Trick Finalist along with fellow rookies Celebrini and Gauthier and was named National Collegiate Hockey Conference forward and player of the year.
Though Blake isn't racking up point totals like several other players on this list, he's quietly putting together a solid rookie season, and he's certainly holding his own on a powerhouse Hurricanes team. He's currently sitting at six points, including 4 goals, in 15 games, and the way he's playing, that will likely continue to increase. Blake is currently third amongst rookies in shots on goal with 28. Add that to his dynamic abilities with the puck and you've got a player to watch.
Grade: B
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