Players Most Likely to Have Breakout Performances in the 2017 NHL Playoffs
We're just days away from the beginning of the 2017 NHL playoffs. The race is shaping up to feature plenty of intrigue.
Sidney Crosby and his cronies with the Pittsburgh Penguins have had a good season and will be trying to become the first team in nearly 20 years to repeat as Stanley Cup champions. The Columbus Blue Jackets are coming into the postseason as one of the top teams in the league, looking to win the first playoff series in the history of their franchise.
Also, Canada's back in the mix. After failing to qualify a single team for the playoffs in 2015-16, five Canadian squads have reached this year's postseason, including the long-suffering Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs.
With the shake-up in the standings this year, this year's playoffs carry a healthy dose of unpredictability. Here's a look at some players who could break out this year—whether it's by enhancing their growing reputations or stepping out of the shadows.
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
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2016-17 Regular-Season Stats: 79 GP, 29-66-95, first in points in NHL
Career NHL Playoff Stats: none
Why He's Poised for a Breakout
This year's playoffs are the next challenge awaiting sophomore Connor McDavid, who has proven himself to be completely worthy of the hype that surrounded his selection as the first overall pick in the 2015 NHL draft.
McDavid lost out on the Calder Trophy in his rookie season because he missed 37 games due to a broken collarbone. He has used the 2016-17 campaign as his coming-out party—he's on track to win the Art Ross Trophy as the league's top scorer and captain of the first Edmonton Oilers squad to secure a playoff berth since 2006.
The Oilers aren't just squeaking in, either. With three games remaining, a late push could still earn them the Pacific Division title.
Playoff experience is at a premium in the Oilers lineup, but McDavid's winning pedigree does include gold medals at the 2013 Under-18 Championship, 2015 World Junior Championship and 2016 World Championship, where he scored the tournament-winning goal. Still just 20 years old, he's poised to add to his already loaded resume in his first NHL postseason.
Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
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2016-17 Regular-Season Stats: 79 GP, 39-28-67, first in goals and points among NHL rookies
Career NHL Playoff Stats: none
Why He's Poised for a Breakout
Where Connor goes, Auston follows. The first overall pick from the 2016 draft has wasted no time in proving himself as one of the top players in the game. His 39 goals are good enough to tie Sidney Crosby as the second-best rookie goal scorer of the last 20 years, behind only Alex Ovechkin (52 goals in 2005-06). With three games to go, Matthews still has a chance to best Crosby and grab sole possession of second place.
Matthews has also acted as the ringleader of a brash bunch of youngsters that have catapulted the Toronto Maple Leafs from last in the league in 2015-16 into just their second playoff appearance of the last 12 years. Like the Oilers, they're short on NHL playoff experience. Matthews' pedigree includes gold medals with Team USA at the 2014 under-17 tournament and the 2014 and 2015 U18 tournaments, as well as a bronze at the World Juniors in 2016.
More than just a two-way forward, Matthews has shown an impressive nose for the net in his rookie year. His first stint in the postseason in the hockey epicenter of Toronto will put him under his brightest spotlight to date.
Jannik Hansen, San Jose Sharks
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2016-17 Regular-Season Stats: 41 GP, 8-11-19, 13 GP with Sharks, 2-4-6
Career NHL Playoff Stats: 64 GP, 7-11-18
Why He's Poised for a Breakout
After the San Jose Sharks were outskated by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2016 Stanley Cup Final, the Sharks acquired winger Jannik Hansen from the Vancouver Canucks at this year's trade deadline in an effort to improve their team speed up front.
The 31-year-old Dane has great wheels. He also plays a responsible two-way game that endears him to his coaches and has developed a scoring touch during his 10 years in the NHL. Moving into a top-six role for the first time, Hansen put up a career-high 22 goals in Vancouver in 2015-16.
In San Jose, Hansen has found a nice fit on the Sharks' second line, with equally speedy fellow Dane Mikkel Boedker and sharpshooter Tomas Hertl. That group will add a new dimension to the Sharks' potent attack as they look to go deep in the playoffs for the second straight year—and this time, hope to win it all.
When the Canucks were challenging for a Stanley Cup in 2011, Hansen was used primarily as a penalty-killer and checking forward. His new situation with the Sharks will be his first chance to show himself as an important offensive threat in a postseason situation.
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Shea Weber, Montreal Canadiens
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2016-17 Regular-Season Stats: 78 GP, 17-25-42
Career NHL Playoff Stats: 59 GP, 13-15-28
Why He's Poised for a Breakout
Like Jannik Hansen, Shea Weber is a 31-year-old veteran who has accumulated some NHL playoff experience but will be in a brand-new situation with a new team this year.
Weber's on-ice role with the Montreal Canadiens isn't much different from what was expected of him in Nashville—play big minutes, hit everything that moves and use that lethal slap shot to score power-play goals.
Two big changes will affect Weber's playoffs this year. There's the scrutiny, as he performs under the obsessive and sometimes hypercritical glare of Montreal's English and French media. There's also the supporting cast—with a healthy Carey Price back in net, Montreal has clinched top spot in the Atlantic Division and has been built to take a serious run at the Stanley Cup this year.
During Weber's 11 years in Nashville, the Predators made the playoffs eight times but never won more than one round. Their best run was last season, when they pushed the Sharks to the brink before dropping Game 7 of the second round.
The Habs are aiming higher this year. This could be Weber's moment to show that he's built for playoff hockey—and show why general manager Marc Bergeron was willing to deal P.K. Subban to bring him into the fold.
Viktor Arvidsson, Nashville Predators
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2016-17 Regular-Season Stats: 78 GP, 29-28-57
Career NHL Playoff Stats: 14 GP, 1-1-2
Why He's Poised for a Breakout
When it comes to breakout stars from the Nashville Predators, Filip Forsberg is yesterday's news. Now in his third full NHL season, Forsberg has proven himself as a consistent 60-point player who tends to get hot in the second half of the season.
Viktor Arvidsson is in just his second full campaign and has seen his production explode from 16 points in 56 games in 2015-16 all the way to 29 goals and 57 points in 77 games this season. He's not being gifted with easy ice time, either. Arvidsson leads the NHL with five short-handed goals but has scored just four times on the power play this year.
An unheralded prospect who was picked 112th overall in 2014, Arvidsson currently sits just two goals and one point behind Forsberg in the Predators' team scoring race. He has also outscored the second-half sizzler Forsberg since February 1, putting up 17-10-27 in 30 games while his countryman has gone 16-10-26.
Under the radar due to his pedigree, his team affiliation and being overshadowed by a better-known star, Arvidsson's poised to have a major moment in this year's playoffs.
Ron Hainsey, Pittsburgh Penguins
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2016-17 Regular-Season Stats: 68 GP, 4-12-16, 12 GP with Penguins, 0-2-2
Career NHL Playoff Stats: none
Why He's Poised for a Breakout
Last season, the Pittsburgh Penguins' run to the Stanley Cup was built off a stellar goaltending performance from 21-year-old Matt Murray, who had played only 13 regular-season NHL games before embarking on his championship Cup run.
This year, Pittsburgh is hoping that 36-year-old veteran Ron Hainsey will be able to help steady what is once again a banged-up blue line.
Hainsey's a known entity to Pittsburgh general manager Jim Rutherford, who was running the show for the Carolina Hurricanes when he brought in Hainsey during the summer of 2013, then signed him to a three-year contract extension in 2014.
That extension is running out now, which is why the non-playoff Hurricanes were willing to part with their veteran defender at the trade deadline in exchange for a minor leaguer and a second-round pick.
Depth is always an issue for teams that go on long playoff runs, especially in consecutive seasons. Pittsburgh has played its stretch run without three key blueliners—Kris Letang, Olli Maatta and Trevor Daley have all been out since February. Extra reinforcements were definitely needed.
After he joined the Penguins, Hainsey suffered an upper-body injury that caused him to miss seven games, but since his return, he has jumped back into Pittsburgh's top four with Justin Schultz, Brian Dumoulin and Ian Cole.
Though he has been in the NHL for 14 years, Hainsey has never before been part of a playoff team. He's about to get a taste of the most intense hockey of his life—and even though he's a low-wattage defensive defenseman, he'll get more attention that he has received in his entire hockey career once the playoffs begin.
Patrick Eaves, Anaheim Ducks
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2016-17 Regular-Season Stats: 77 GP, 31-18-49, 18 GP with Ducks, 10-2-12
Career NHL Playoff Stats: 76 GP, 9-10-19
Why He's Poised for a Breakout
Talk about a late bloomer! At age 32, veteran Patrick Eaves has lived up to the expectations that made him a first-round draft pick—in 2003.
Before this season, Eaves had scored 20 goals just once in his career—in his rookie year with the Ottawa Senators in 2005-06. Last year, he had 17 points in 54 games with the scoring machine that was known as the Dallas Stars.
This year, when the Stars struggled, Eaves tallied 21 goals in 59 games in Dallas, allowing his team to convert him into a second-round draft pick in a trade-deadline deal.
Eaves was scoring a solid 0.36 goals per game in Dallas and he has boosted that number to 0.56 goals per game since joining the Anaheim Ducks. Eaves' 10 goals since his trade on February 24 ranks him among the league's top 10 scorers during that time.
Eaves is an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season and is setting himself up for a huge raise from the $1 million, one-year deal he signed for 2015-16. His underdog story will get him plenty of media attention in the playoffs, where a strong showing could spike his market value even more.
Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus Blue Jackets
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2016-17 Regular-Season Stats: 62 GP, 41-16-5, 2.02 goals-against average, .933 save percentage, seven shutouts
Career NHL Playoff Stats: 13 GP, 2-6-0, 3.49 goals-against average, .890 save percentage
Why He's Poised for a Breakout
Sergei Bobrovsky isn't exactly an unknown entity. He did win the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's best goaltender in 2012-13.
Now 28, Bob has flown under the radar for much of his hockey career—originally undrafted because of the difficulty of signing players from Russia at that time, then traded from the Philadelphia Flyers to the Columbus Blue Jackets after just two NHL seasons for a handful of draft picks.
Bobrovsky shone in his first season in Columbus in 2012-13, but not even a Vezina performance could propel the Blue Jackets into the playoffs that year. He has previously seen action in two playoff series—with the Flyers in 2010-11 and with the Blue Jackets in 2013-14—but was unable to do enough to help his team advance past the first round in either situation.
This year, Bobrovsky is playing arguably the best hockey of his career. He's also working with a solid supporting cast that includes a strong group of blueliners, plenty of scoring up front and an effective blend of young players and veterans. The Blue Jackets have a real chance to go on a Cinderella run.
If Columbus is able to not just win its first playoff series in franchise history but to advance deep—say, to the Eastern Conference Final—you can bet that Bobrovsky will be the linchpin of that success story. His reputation will skyrocket if the Blue Jackets can prove in this year's playoffs that it's time for the franchise to finally be taken seriously.
All stats courtesy of NHL.com, current through games completed Tuesday, April 4. Salary and contract information from CapFriendly.com.
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