2012 NHL Playoffs: 7 Players That Have Overachieved in This Year's Playoffs

People expect things out of certain players once they hit the playoffs. Guys like Brad Richards and Martin Brodeur are always expected to do great things for their teams.

Yet every year, there are the surprise stories—the guys that come out of nowhere to push their teams deeper into the playoffs.

Many of these players may have already been eliminated from the playoffs, but they overachieved nonetheless.

Braden Holtby

To call Braden Holtby the surprise of these Stanley Cup playoffs would be an understatement of massive proportions.

Holtby has played in a grand total of 21 regular-season games over the course of a couple of years with the Washington Capitals and was thrust into a starting role, thanks to injury issues, coming into a series against the defending Stanley Cup champions.

He's now gone save for save against two of the best goalies in the game today in Tim Thomas and Henrik Lundqvist, pushing both series to seven games.

An overachiever if ever there was one.

Dustin Brown

While Claude Giroux still technically leads the playoff scoring race, Dustin Brown is the leading scorer amongst players still active in the playoffs.

Brown is a great player that you expect a lot from, but the way that he is putting together so many dominating performances is truly amazing.

Brown has to be under consideration for the Conn Smythe Trophy at this point because he's doing everything. Not only is he scoring, but he's furious on the forecheck, unsettling opponents with his speed, playing great defensive hockey and inspiring everybody on his team with his play.

He's already considered a star in the NHL, but his outstanding performance throughout these playoffs is elevating him to superstar status very quickly.

Travis Zajac

It's hard to tell how a guy is going to perform upon returning from a long injury in the regular season, but Travis Zajac has done it better than anybody could have possibly hoped.

Not only has Zajac not lost a step as a result of his injury, but he has shown virtually no rink rust from being out for so long.  

The benefit of this is that Zajac has needed very little time to readjust to the speed of the game and now has fresher legs than pretty much anybody else in the playoffs.

The results have spoken for themselves, as Zajac is second on his team in scoring in the playoffs—only behind Ilya Kovalchuk.

He's also brought a ton of energy to the Devils and helped create a relentless forecheck that gave the Philadelphia Flyers fits.

Mikkel Boedker

For a guy that only had 11 goals and 24 points all season long, Mikkel Boedker is totally over achieving.

He's currently second on the Coyotes in scoring in the playoffs with four goals and assists apiece, good for eight points. 

Boedker has tallied his points in only 13 games and already has matched one third of his output for the regular season, in which he played all 82 games.

Boedker has been a big part of the Coyotes' run to the conference finals and has produced more than most of us thought he would.

Bryce Salvador

Bryce Salvador had nine points during the regular season—all assists—and is currently sitting with eight points in the playoffs.

Salvador is a defensive defenseman that plays tough in his end and isn't known for his offensive touch.

During the Devils' run to the conference finals, Salvador's offense has been a much bigger part of the game than anybody would have expected.

Jonathan Quick

Now don't jump on me for Quick just yet here. Obviously, Quick is one of the best goalies in the NHL today, and his Vezina nomination proves that.

People expect Quick to play well, but it's safe to say that nobody expected the kind of amazing play that Quick has displayed.

Quick has only lost one game all playoffs long and is playing some seriously dominant hockey. Sure, he's getting help from his team, but he's also making everything stand up for his team by standing on his head.

Quick was expected to have a good playoffs, but I don't think anybody could have expected this.

Andy McDonald

The St. Louis Blues had a rather unceremonious departure from the second round, but it wasn't Andy McDonald's fault.

In the nine games that the Blues played in this postseason, McDonald posted 10 points.

McDonald only played in 25 regular-season games and managed 22 points, and you just don't know how a player who missed a large portion of the regular season is going to play in the playoffs.

He played pretty darn well.