Stock Watch for Top NHL Rookies Early in 2017-18 Season

One of the most enjoyable parts of today's NHL is watching the evolution of the league's top rookies. Whether they are fresh out of the draft, emerging from the college ranks or taking the next step from the minor leagues, many young players have shown they don't need much transition time before becoming impact players at hockey's top level.

As the 2017-18 season began, I put together this article highlighting eight rookies I expected to see sticking with their teams this season. Through Tuesday, all eight are still on NHL rosters. Some are doing well, while others have not yet completed a smooth transition.

Here we will check in on the progress of the players in that group and make note of the other rookies who have started well this year.

Bubbling Under

Chris Szagola/Associated Press

Here are 10 rookies who came into the season flying under the radar who have made strong early impressions to earn "buy" ratings on our stock watch. In alphabetical order:

Anders Bjork, Boston Bruins: A fifth-round pick in 2014, Bjork cracked the Boston Bruins' opening-night lineup thanks to a banged-up group of forwards but has shown enough to stick around. The best game for the speedy winger was a three-point effort against the Vancouver Canucks, one day after he accidentally concussed starting goalie Tuukka Rask when he collided with him at practice.

Jesper Bratt, New Jersey Devils: Drafted in the sixth round in 2016, the 19-year-old Swedish winger not only cracked the New Jersey Devils' opening-night lineup, but he collected six points in his first three games. Bratt has not sustained his early success, however—he's pointless in five straight games at the time of publishing.

Will Butcher, New Jersey Devils: Signed as a free agent after winning an NCAA title at the University of Denver, the 22-year-old defenseman leads all rookies in scoring thanks to nine assists in his first six NHL games. Like his teammate Bratt, he has cooled off—he's pointless in the Devils' past two games.

Alexander Kerfoot, Colorado Avalanche: After co-captaining his NCAA team at Harvard last season, the 23-year-old has fit in well with Colorado Avalanche, with whom he has five points in seven games.

Adrian Kempe, Los Angeles Kings: He can be a bit of an adventure defensively and doesn't always show great discipline, but the 21-year-old Swede showed his game-breaking ability with a hat trick against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday.

Victor Mete, Montreal Canadiens: A fourth-round pick in 2016, Mete surprised with a strong training camp and cracked the Canadiens' opening-night lineup. The 5'9", 184-pound blueliner is fourth in ice time for Montreal through the team's first eight games, averaging 19 minutes, 57 seconds.

Sonny Milano, Columbus Blue Jackets: Milano's five goals lead the Columbus Blue Jackets but has seen his ice time cut by tough-love coach John Tortorella, who is trying to mold the 21-year-old first-round draft pick into a responsible NHLer.

Nolan Patrick, Philadelphia Flyers: Past injuries and offseason surgery clouded the immediate future for the second overall pick from 2017, but Patrick has been a steady two-way presence and shown some nifty playmaking skills in his first eight games with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Malcolm Subban, Vegas Golden Knights: Thrust into action after goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury suffered a concussion, the former Boston Bruins first-round draft pick stopped 88 of 94 shots and was on his way to securing his third straight NHL win when he went down with a lower-body injury in the third period of the Vegas Golden Knights' game against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. Subban is expected to be out of action until late November.

Kailer Yamamoto, Edmonton Oilers: The Edmonton Oilers are supposed to be past the point when their first-round draft picks are vaulting straight into the NHL, but the 5'8", 154-pound speed demon has been one of the few bright spots on this struggling team. Yamamoto has dressed in six games and collected three assists. Time is running out for the Oilers to decide whether they are going to return him to juniors or burn a year of his entry-level contract by keeping him with the big club. 

Clayton Keller, Arizona Coyotes

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Age: 19

Position: Center

2017-18 Stats: 8 GP, 6-2-8

Rating: Buy

The Arizona Coyotes are off to yet another woeful start, but speedster Clayton Keller is living up to his billing as one of this season's most exciting rookies.

Through his first eight games, Keller is leading his team in scoring at a point-per-game pace. Playing right wing on Arizona's top line with Max Domi and Derek Stepan, his six goals lead all rookies and account for a full one-third of the Coyotes' offensive output.

Keller's Calder Trophy chances might suffer because his team doesn't receive much media coverage—and that won't change as long as the losses keep piling up. But if he keeps up his scoring pace while being deployed as one of Arizona's top forwards, it will be tough to keep Keller out of the conversation surrounding this year's deserving Calder candidates.

Charlie McAvoy, Boston Bruins

Matt Slocum/Associated Press

Age: 20

Position: Defense

2017-18 Stats: 7 GP, 1-6-7

Rating: Buy

After his impressive NHL debut during last spring's playoffs, Charlie McAvoy has picked up where he left off during his official rookie season with the Boston Bruins.

Playing on the right side on a pairing with ageless captain Zdeno Chara, McAvoy ranks second on the Bruins with an average of 21:03 of ice time per game and is being used in all situations. With seven points, he's third in scoring among rookie defensemen. Not afraid to make life difficult for opponents, he has also accumulated 10 penalty minutes.

Like former Boston University teammate Keller, McAvoy came into the season as a Calder Trophy favorite. His early performance is more than enough to keep him in the mix.

Joel Eriksson Ek, Minnesota Wild

LM Otero/Associated Press

Age: 20

Position: Center

2017-18 Stats: 6 GP, 1-1-2

Rating: Sell

Not uncharacteristically, the Minnesota Wild are flying under the radar through the early part of the new season. They're the definition of .500 hockey—2-2-2 through six games, with 22 goals for and 22 against—which ranks them 13th of 15 in the Western Conference standings.

Even with a number of injuries to his scoring forwards, coach Bruce Boudreau has held back on giving rookie Joel Eriksson Ek an offensive role on his veteran team. Skating primarily on a third line with Matt Cullen and Daniel Winnik, the 20-year-old Swede has been limited to just two points as he averages 13:29 of ice time. It's a relatively low-profile role compared to many other rookie forwards around the league.

The Wild are close to the salary-cap ceiling and have been using the gaps in their light early-season schedule to move waiver-exempt players down to the AHL in order to accumulate cap space. Eriksson Ek has been spared the ax so far, but it wouldn't be surprising to see him assigned to Iowa once the team gets healthier. 

Nico Hischier, New Jersey Devils

Julio Cortez/Associated Press

Age: 18

Position: Center

2017-18 Stats: 8 GP, 2-5-7

Rating: Buy

The New Jersey Devils are the biggest surprise of the early going in the 2017-18 NHL season. Sitting in first place in the Metropolitan Division with a 6-2-0 record, the Devils are playing an exciting, speed-first game with a strong offensive component.

Early on, under-the-radar rookies Jesper Bratt and Will Butcher captured all the headlines surrounding the Devils. They have cooled off as Taylor Hall, Kyle Palmieri and 2017 first overall pick Nico Hischier have heated up.

The slick Swiss import recorded just one assist in his first four games, but Hischier followed up with six points in the next three as he started to develop chemistry with Hall, a reliable scorer. 

The Nico versus Nolan (Patrick) debate will be a quiet hum this season compared to what we heard with Auston Matthews versus Patrik Laine last season and Connor McDavid versus Jack Eichel in 2015, but there's every indication that Hischier has the talent and the hockey sense to stay in the mix for the Calder against older players despite being fresh out of the draft.

Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders

Adrian Kraus/Associated Press

Age: 20

Position: Center

2017-18 Stats: 8 GP, 1-2-3

Rating: Hold

An explosive skater with good puck sense, Mathew Barzal started quietly but has started to find his NHL stride during his past few games with the New York Islanders.

Barzal and Josh Ho-Sang are the talented rookies coach Doug Weight is integrating into his forward mix this season. Ho-Sang has four assists in six games but has been a healthy scratch twice, including on Saturday against the San Jose Sharks.

Meanwhile, Barzal has seen his ice time remain mostly steady and spike to a career-high 18:03 last Thursday, when he scored his first-ever NHL goal in the Islanders' 4-3 shootout win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

Barzal has points in three straight games and remains in the mix for a top-six spot. His Calder Trophy chances are on simmer but could start to bubble if he continues to trend in the right direction.

Logan Brown, Ottawa Senators

Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images

Age: 19

Position: Center

2017-18 Stats: 3 GP, 0-1-1

Rating: Sell

A 6'6", 220-pound 19-year-old, Logan Brown started the season on the Ottawa Senators roster and has stayed with the team because of a string of injuries to the team's forwards.

Just one year removed from being selected 11th overall in the 2016 draft, Brown has dressed for only three games and played limited minutes when he has been in the lineup.

But injuries continue to be an issue for Ottawa up front, which means Brown could end up staying with the Sens past the end of his end of his nine-game trial rather than returning to OHL champion Windsor for a fourth season.

Even if the Sens end up burning a year of Brown's entry-level contract, that doesn't guarantee that he will spend the full campaign with the big club. Injuries limited him to just 35 regular-season games with the Spitfires last season and kept him off the roster of the U.S. team that won gold at the World Junior Championship. If the Senators can spare him, he would be eligible for selection for the 2018 tournament.

Mikhail Sergachev, Tampa Bay Lightning

Chris O'Meara/Associated Press

Age: 19

Position: Defense

2017-18 Stats: 9 GP, 3-5-8

Rating: Buy

The Tampa Bay Lightning acquired an unproven commodity when they brought in 19-year-old defenseman Mikhail Sergachev as their primary return in the Jonathan Drouin trade with the Montreal Canadiens.

The conventional wisdom says defensemen take longer than forwards to develop, but in the early going, Sergachev has had no trouble at all jumping from the Windsor Spitfires to the Lightning—one of the most effective teams through the early stages of the new NHL season.

Known for finding ways to allow his young players to succeed, Lightning coach Jon Cooper slotted Sergachev onto his second defensive pairing with steady Swede Anton Stralman and has given him a limited amount of power-play time.

Third-pairing regulars Braydon Coburn and Dan Girardi kill penalties, so they are averaging more minutes, but Sergachev has made the most of the ice time he has received (12:36). He ranks second among all rookie defensemen with eight points as part of Tampa Bay's explosive offense, including three points on the power play.

Brock Boeser, Vancouver Canucks

Jeffrey T. Barnes/Associated Press

Age: 20

Position: Right Wing

2017-18 Stats: 6 GP, 2-4-6

Rating: Buy

After he scored four goals in nine games during a brief audition with the Vancouver Canucks at the end of the 2016-17 season, Brock Boeser served notice that he could be one of the premier snipers of this year's rookie class.

Boeser squeaked onto the Canucks' veteran-heavy season-opening roster, but after sitting out as a healthy scratch for the team's first two games before drawing into the lineup, it's unlikely he'll be scratched again anytime soon.

On a team that finished second-to-last in scoring last season, Boeser's sharp, accurate shot is a unique and important weapon. That shot can also be put to use on a power play that finished 29th in 2016-17.

In his first six games, Boeser is averaging a point per game, which should keep him in the Calder conversation. He has also shown impressive hockey sense on a Canucks team that has made out better than expected in the early going under new coach Travis Green.

All stats courtesy of NHL.com and current through games completed October 23.