Browsing: NHLs

If youâ€ve followed hockey with some attention in the past, youâ€re familiar with how the Atlantic Division usually ends up.

At the conclusion of the 2017-18 regular season, the division was led by the Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Florida Panthers. The next season Montreal finished fourth, but other than that little blip, itâ€s been nothing but the same four dominant teams until Ottawa climbed into fourth in 2024-25 and Boston finally took its long-awaited fall after an incredible run of success.

Heading into this season, I donâ€t think many people wouldâ€ve forecasted things too much differently, with the two Florida squads and Toronto hanging on to the top, some rising rivals in Montreal and Ottawa, and the potential for maybe, possibly, eventually, Detroit or Buffalo coming on to challenge.

Three weeks and about 10 games apiece into the season, and thatâ€s … not exactly what weâ€ve seen so far.

Just two of these Atlantic Division teams have a positive goal differential — a measure I value as much as anything so early in the season — and that’s Montreal and Detroit.

So, are we seeing a changing of the guard? Is it time for the rest of the division to chase Montreal and Detroit, while those who have had a sustained run of success slowly begin to drop, like Boston?

Letâ€s dig in to what’s real, and what’s not, in the Atlantic so far.

The Canadiens have, unequivocally, taken a step. The additions of Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov massively and immediately changed the course of the franchise in a way I canâ€t remember seeing from two players who are so young and werenâ€t No. 1 overall picks.

The addition of those two, plus trading for Noah Dobson, plus the development of Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki (and slowly Juraj Slafkovsky too), have taken the Habs from a scrappy worker team with a low ceiling to a talented group teams struggle to contain. They can beat you on pure skill now, which hasn’t been the case for a long time.

A lot has gone right that couldâ€ve gone either way thus far, and the Habs still have a ways to go to get into the class of the leagueâ€s elite. As we change our expectations of them from “Maybe playoffs?†to “Can they become a Cup threat?â€, there are some notes.

Theyâ€ve played the NHLâ€s softest schedule to date, or at least close to it, depending on which site you use. With that in mind, through 11 games theyâ€ve captured just four wins in regulation, which isnâ€t quite juggernaut status. Theyâ€re 22nd in expected goals percentage (5-on-5), but have the sixth highest “PDOâ€, which combines shooting and save percentages (simply trying to capture teams that have been on the luckier side).

Theyâ€re good, theyâ€re talented, theyâ€re a playoff team, and theyâ€re leading the division right now. But, realistically, they’re probably a team knocking on the door of the NHLâ€s top-10, or maybe have a toe just inside.

Detroit is maybe the most surprising team of the year, save for Utah. They sit second in the Atlantic at 7-3-0 and that doesnâ€t seem overly lucky, at least not by the numbers. Their schedule has been medium-to-hard, PDO is actually bottom-three in the league (they still canâ€t buy a save, even though they literally tried to), and they really work.

The biggest note for me is that Detroit’s young players, whether theyâ€re just OK or actually good, are a clear step up from some of the dead weight theyâ€ve had on the roster in past years. It feels like a lot of addition by subtraction, and Todd McLellan deserves credit for getting them on the right track in his first full season.

I donâ€t think theyâ€re as talented as a Montreal, but the underlying numbers look pretty good, and I wouldnâ€t be shocked if theyâ€re sniffing around the wild card chase in March and April. Maybe itâ€s a year they add at the trade deadline?

The Leafs have had an extremely soft schedule to start, so itâ€s not great they havenâ€t taken advantage of it. After a year where their power play was red hot and their goaltending was even better, those two things have abandoned them: Toronto’s power play is 27th in the league (below 15 per cent) and their team save percentage is bottom-five in the league. That’s not great when youâ€re on the wrong side of 50 per cent in expected goals to begin with.

While that sounds like a lot of doom and gloom, the Leafs havenâ€t played themselves into real trouble yet, and theyâ€ve got a very similar shape to teams thatâ€ve won a bunch in the past. If Joseph Woll can get healthy and help, if Scott Laughton and Chris Tanev can get right, and Auston Matthews can get back into his groove, theyâ€ll be competitive up to the trade deadline (where who knows what theyâ€ll do), lurking between the top-three spots and the wild card race. If teams in the division or conference struggle around them as it appears many may, it could go even better than that.

The Panthers are .500 in a year theyâ€ve lost Matthew Tkachuk, their captain Aleksander Barkov, and numerous others. Theyâ€re top-three in expected goals percentage, theyâ€ve had some bad luck to date, and theyâ€ve got a very recent history of being an excellent team.

The number one fascination this year will be: Will injuries derail them to the point of missing the playoffs as the teams around them in the Atlantic rise up, or do they have enough in the tank to just get in? If they do just get in, theyâ€ll be as scary as ever, assuming they get the big guys back.

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Perhaps the division’s biggest wild card, they could go in either direction, and fast. In a way, that’s a compliment, as not many teams could go up fast. But the Senators are a top-10 expected goals percentage team (via Natural Stat Trick), and are one of seven teams in the preferred quadrant of Sportlogiqâ€s expected goals for/against graph. So, they control play well. Unfortunately, theyâ€re getting terrible goaltending again (third worst team save percentage in the league), and have the leagueâ€s third worst PK.

Those are simple things, right? The Vezina-winning goalie stops playing like an AHLer, and the PK gets back towards its roughly 78 per cent kill from last year (theyâ€re below 64 per cent now), and theyâ€ll be better. They’ll eventually get their incredibly influential captain Brady Tkachuk back, and itâ€s not hard to see how they could win a pile of games from there.

Now, if Ullmark continues to play poorly, injuries and bad vibes pile up, the Senators could do the opposite. But with that defence core, led by Jake Sanderson, they should be OK.

The Sabres are not a punchline this year. Unfortunately, itâ€s tough to have faith in them making the right moves to climb into playoff contention, but theyâ€re not that far off. Theyâ€ve got talent and can look dangerous off the rush, a truth that has them seventh in expected goals for (via Sportlogiq).

Whatâ€s crazy is theyâ€ve got a ton of talent on their back-end, but itâ€s pretty heavily offensive talent, so they still give up way too much. They need those guys to commit to dominating the back-end by keeping the play in the offensive zone.

Josh Norrisâ€s injury obviously hurts, though some might call that self-inflicted since the Sabres traded for a player with such an injury history. In all, thereâ€s just not enough here to call them a playoff threat. They need a bigger, more direction-changing move.

Earlier I said Ottawa was the team with the biggest range of potential outcomes, strictly because itâ€s hard to see Tampa Bay being Actually Bad. The outcomes for the Lightning are mostly in the “theyâ€ll get better†direction. If you took Brayden Point, Brandon Hagel, Jake Guentzel, Nikita Kucherov, Anthony Cirelli, and Victor Hedman, and surrounded them with a dozen players from the Syracuse Crunch, you’d think theyâ€d make the playoffs. Add Andrei Vasilevskiy in there too. Theyâ€ve won three straight since their toe pick out of the starting blocks, but this is a good team.

Theyâ€ve been at the bottom of the division so far, and theyâ€re listed seventh here. But if I wrote this column again in a month, and they werenâ€t in the top three, Iâ€d be surprised. Tampa Bay is still controlling play, is well-coached, and have too much talent to miss the playoffs.

It ainâ€t happening, not yet anyway.

What a weird team. I just did the thing with Tampa where I listed good players and, well, the Bruins arenâ€t devoid of talent either. Prime David Pastrnak and Charlie MacAvoy sure donâ€t hurt, nor do Lindholms Elias and Hampus.

But so far this year they canâ€t control play, and theyâ€re getting the leagueâ€s fourth-worst goaltending, a position they thought they paid Jeremy Swayman to solidify for years to come.

The Bruins wonâ€t hand anyone any free wins, and will probably be better than they ought to be ahead of a draft where Gavin McKenna looms. I donâ€t know if theyâ€ll finish eighth in the division or not, but I do know they wonâ€t sniff the playoffs.

Whatâ€s fun is, I donâ€t know if this exercise answered a lot of questions. Any of Montreal, Detroit, Toronto, Florida, Ottawa, and Tampa Bay could very well make the playoffs, and in any order of finish. There are questions everywhere, as the long-time division leaders take a step back, and others climb for a step forward.

The Atlantic is no longer the NHL’s best division – it used to compete with the Central for that title – but itâ€s solid all the way through.

Points wonâ€t be easy to come by, and drama will remain high. Stay healthy and get saves, and youâ€re probably in.

Miss on either of those goals, and youâ€ll probably find yourselves on the outside looking in.

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  Ryan S. ClarkOct 21, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

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  Ryan S. Clark is an NHL reporter for ESPN.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Everyone has a story about the pingpong table at the San Jose Sharks’ practice facility.

That includes the franchise players, role players and those who just got called up from the minors. Even the coaches and support staff members have stories about the piece of recreational equipment.

This includes second-year Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky. One day, while outside his office, he discovered Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith playing an unconventional style of pingpong.

“They’re playing pingpong with their shirts off, whacking each other with balls, having welts on them,” Warsofsky recalled. “That was kind of my first moment where I’m like, ‘Oh my God, these kids are 18 and 19 years old.’ But then you talk to them about hockey — and you talk to Mack and Will. They’re very mature kids for where they are at and being in the National Hockey League.

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“And so when you see those things like the pingpong balls, as funny as it is, how do you handle that as a coach? Because on one hand, you want players to be who they are. But on the other, you’re also going, ‘I’m sorry, what?'”

Moments like this are reminders that, for all the excitement, expectation and promise of a Sharks rebuild, Celebrini is still 19, and Smith is 20. These two could become the next NHL super-duo, and they’re having fun in the process.

That’s what makes them so endearing to everyone in the Sharks’ organization, because of what it represents: belief.

Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin. Those are all duos who won the Stanley Cup. Although their organizations built around them in order to win, the point remains that they were the cornerstones in the first place.

With Celebrini and Smith in place, are the Sharks the next organization to follow that path?

REBUILDS ARE LIKEmachines, in that there must be specific parts in place for everything to work. But even with those parts, there must be cohesion. A rebuild that has the parts and the cohesion could eventually turn into a dynasty — while a rebuild lacking that continuity is likely not headed anywhere close.

This is why the Sharks have brought in veterans like Dmitry Orlov and Tyler Toffoli, because they have played for teams that have developed strong cultures around their young players. It’s why they hired Warsofsky: He knows how to develop players, and has the drive to develop himself as a head coach. This is why everyone around the organization is so cautiously optimistic.

Celebrini, background, and Smith, foreground, have shown off the talent that makes many in the organization believe the rebuild will be coming to a close soon. Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

None of this is lost on Celebrini and Smith. For as grateful as they are to be in the NHL at such a young age, they know that even if they improve on their last-place finish (52 points) in 2024-25, the Sharks will likely be in the draft lottery again.

“We have so much talent and guys that could make this roster and make it better in the future,” Celebrini said. “But at the same time, we can’t just wait around for guys to develop or guys to come in. I think we want to be greedy right now and we want to start changing things right now.”

EVERY DUO HASan origin story. It’s just that San Jose isn’t where it first began for Celebrini and Smith. It actually started in Switzerland at the IIHF U18 World Championships in 2023. Celebrini represented Canada while Smith played for the United States. Smith led the tournament in points, helping the U.S. win the gold medal. A year later, they played against each other at the World Junior Championships; Smith led the tournament in points (again), as the U.S. won gold (again).

College was no different. They played in the same city but were on opposite sides of one of the most storied rivalries in the collegiate game; Celebrini skated for Boston University while Smith played at Boston College. They played against each other four times, with Smith and BC winning three of those meetings; the final one was the Hockey East Championship.

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Smith led the nation with 71 points as a freshman, while Celebrini was third with 64. However, Celebrini won the Hobey Baker Award as the nation’s top collegiate player. They each made it to the Frozen Four — where both lost to national champion Denver.

Drafting Smith with the fourth pick in 2023 was a significant addition for the Sharks. After winning the 2024 draft lottery and landing Celebrini, it led to a conversation about where the Sharks could be heading with their newfound duo.

“We never said a word to one another, and then, we came here for development camp,” Smith said. “And we really haven’t gone many days without each other. We talk about it sometimes that we’re [fighting for] the scoring title together. I’d check the box score and he’d light it up one night or I’d do the same and he’d get pissed off about it.”

Neither Celebrini nor Smith can pinpoint the exact moment that their friendship started. They both just said it happened naturally. They shared common interests like playing golf, playing cards on the team plane and — you guessed it — playing pingpong.

They also watch movies. Like, quite a few movies. On the day Smith spoke to ESPN, he said that he got Celebrini to watch “Horrible Bosses 2.” Just as he said that, Celebrini walked past him and yelled, “Rex! Rex!” in reference to the film’s antagonist, played by Chris Pine.

Another thing they have in common is that last season was the first time either of them played on a team that didn’t have a winning record or reach the postseason. They both admitted it was challenging to make that transition.

Smith and Celebrini have a lot of fun with one another off the ice as well, including Celebrini having to wear a Boston College jersey after Smith’s alma mater won a game against Boston University this past January. Kavin Mistry/NHLI via Getty Images

CELEBRINI SHOWED THAThe can handle the demands of being a top-line center last season, leading the Sharks with 63 points in 70 games and finishing second in the voting for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie. Smith finished tied for fourth on the team in points, with 45 in 74 games.

Facing the tough grind of a rebuild together allowed Celebrini and Smith to develop their own community, and it expanded beyond the duo. Veterans like Tyler Toffoli and teammates closer in age such as Ty Dellandrea and William Eklund are part of that community. So are all-time Sharks greats such as Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton; Smith lives with Marleau while Celebrini lives with Thornton.

But to believe their first seasons were defined by their point totals or any other metrics tells only part of their story.

What they learned through the losing was more than the need to improve as a team. They learned how to rely on each other, while showing others that they can be relied upon, too. Instead of keeping to themselves with their goofiness, they wanted others to be part of the fun.

This is how Celebrini and Smith are starting to make their mark on the Sharks.

Some of this has made its way to the public. The most prominent example being the sleepover that happened in March. Celebrini and Smith made a bet with Toffoli that if all three scored in the same game, Toffoli would sleep in Celebrini and Smith’s hotel room. They each scored in the Sharks’ 6-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres, which led to the Sharks posting a picture of Celebrini and Smith smiling in their beds while Toffoli was on a cot with his back turned to the camera.

“I think it’s kind of funny but surprising at the same time,” Toffoli said of how people reacted to the sleepover. “We’re in a smallerish market here in San Jose, but the way it kind of blew up — that’s just us, and it wasn’t like it was just us in that room. There were six or seven of us in that room, which is definitely pretty funny.”

Naturally, the Sharks made their home-opening giveaway this season a Celebrini and Smith bobblehead, with the two of them in their beds and an option of purchasing Toffoli in a separate bobblehead to complete the set.

“It’s definitely pretty ridiculous,” Toffoli said.

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Then there are the stories nobody knows about that speak to everything that embodies what it means to be Celebrini and Smith.

With the NHL hosting the 4 Nations Face-Off, it gave those players who weren’t playing a chance to get some rest. Celebrini and Smith were part of a group of Sharks players who organized a five-day golf trip to Arizona.

Everything was planned out, down to the courses they’d play, but there was one detail they overlooked: Celebrini and Smith were too young to rent an Airbnb and needed Dellandrea, who is 25, to book their accommodations.

“You forget how young they are sometimes,” Dellandrea said. “I think we forget that because they’re good people and as good hockey players as they are, they’re still that young.”

FOR ALL THATthey have done to foster a community, the Sharks have also created the sort of community around Celebrini and Smith that could have a long-term impact.

That includes the homegrown talents who are on this year’s roster like Eklund, Sam Dickinson and Michael Misa, along with prospects they’ve acquired in trades, such as Yaroslav Askarov and Shakir Mukhamadullin.

It also includes players such as Dellandrea, Toffoli and Dmitry Orlov, who were brought in from elsewhere and who know what it means to have an organic team culture.

“It’s important because your team is your second family and you spend a lot of time with them and you have to have trust and believe in them in the tough times,” said Orlov, who was part of the core the Washington Capitals built around Backstrom and Ovechkin to win a Stanley Cup in 2018. “But it’s also a lifestyle, too. We have a fun life, and it can be up and down. Everybody can handle that differently, but it’s why you have teammates, you have a family that can support you.”

Orlov and Toffoli said where that support becomes even more crucial for young players in today’s game is when it comes to social media. They shared how both the criticisms and the praise are easily accessible, to the point that it can become too much for one person to handle without the right support system in place.

Toffoli said part of building that support system is to consistently “do the right things,” with the hope that young players feel the traits they are seeing are ones worth replicating.

Veterans like Tyler Toffoli have been critical as the Sharks build up their foundation and culture around Macklin Celebrini and the other young, homegrown players. Jonathan Kozub/NHLI via Getty Images

Although Dellandrea might not have Orlov and Toffoli’s experience in terms of games played, he does have an experience that lends itself toward helping the Sharks’ young players in a different way. After starting his career with the Dallas Stars, Dellandrea knows what it’s like to be one of the youngest players on the roster, because there is a difference.

“I think no matter who it is, young or old, you want good seeds in your locker room,” Dellandrea said. “I think [Sharks GM Mike Grier] and Warzo have done a good job in that there are good people to be around.”

Making sure that Celebrini, Smith and the rest of the Sharks’ homegrown core are surrounded by strong-minded individuals is an objective that Warsofsky takes personally and seriously.

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Part of the reason Grier hired Warsofsky was his ability to develop, teach and win at the AHL and ECHL levels. The principles that allowed Warsofsky to reach the NHL have also made him want to get better at his craft.

Coaching in the minors has given him the chance to work with young players. But Celebrini and Smith were the first teenagers he ever coached.

“That was a big adjustment,” Warsofsky said. “They’re very mature kids and they’re smart hockey players. But at the end of the day, they’re still 18 and 19 years old. You try to build a relationship, and it takes time. You see certain things that make them kids, and they’re both mature kids. But there’s a little side of them that lets you know they are teenagers.”

Warsofsky said seeing Celebrini and Smith whack each other with pingpong balls, while jarring, reminded him that it was important to let them grow up so they can develop the personalities that will someday be the voices that guide the franchise.

“I’m a big proponent of wanting personalities in our room,” Warsofsky said. “I want energy in the room. I think that’s important and that can be contagious. The more of that we have, the more swagger we’d be having with our hockey team. It translates to the ice.”

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Matthew Schaefer has had quite the debut in the NHL, hasn’t he? He’s scored a point in every game he’s played — including a fun first NHL goal. ESPN analyst John Tortorella noted that he reminds him of Hall of Famer Chris Pronger with his skating … that’s not bad at all for the New York Islanders’ first overall pick from the 2025 draft.

The debut has also been historical. Schaefer started his NHL career with a five-game point streak (and counting). That’s the second longest point streak by any defenseman from the start of their career, behind only Marek Zidlicky (six games) in 2003-04. He is the first 18-year-old defenseman in NHL history to achieve that (every other 18-year-old on the list was a forward).

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His first NHL goal was electric. There was a big scrum in front on an Islanders power play, amid the chaos the puck is lost, and Schaefer barges in from the blue line and pokes the puck that was barely visible under Logan Thompson’s pads into the net in a seamless motion. Among his many other traits, the hockey IQ is quite high.

Schaefer turned 18 on Sept. 5; yes, just over a month ago. He is the youngest defenseman to make his NHL debut, to record a point in his NHL debut, the youngest NHL player on record to score his first goal on the power play, and the youngest player to play 25-plus minutes in a game.

He’s also garnering a lot of early “Isles franchise player of the future” nods from the Islanders faithful. It might be a bit early to be doling out accolades like that. But Matthew Schaefer is definitely fun to watch, and the best is yet to come.

Jump ahead:
Games of the week
What I liked this weekend
Hart Trophy candidates
Social post of the week

Biggest games of the week

7:30 p.m. ET | ESPN

Obviously the biggest game of the week from a storyline perspective is Brad Marchand returning for his first game in Boston. He was injured the last time the Panthers visited Boston, so all of the pomp and circumstance will come during this game.

Marchand is a banner- and statue-level guy in Beantown, without question. I expect an extended ovation, then the fans booing him when he levels David Pastrnak in a scrum.

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Two playoff teams from last season. Star power aplenty, with Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt on one side, against Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares on the other.

But there’s another wrinkle to this one. Greg Wyshynski and I created a brand new “North American Hockey Championship” title belt for our digital show “The Drop,” and it’s currently held by me thanks to the Canadian victory in last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off. This is how title defenses work: for every Canada vs. USA international game, men’s or women’s, the title is automatically on the line. In addition, the challenger can choose any NHL game with any sort of Canada vs. USA connection for the belt to be up for grabs.

In this case it’s easy — an American team visiting a Canadian one — and it’s the team for which Wysh grew up rooting against the one for which I grew up rooting. If the Devils win, then the U.S. is the new North American hockey champion. If the Leafs win, Canada retains.

Other key matchups this week

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What I liked this weekend

Friday was a big day for college hockey. On paper, Boston University vs. Michigan State was already a heavyweight matchup — 34 NHL prospects with 20 NHL teams were represented in the game. The game was broadcast on ESPN2, which is terrific for a matchup so early in the college hockey season. This is the dawn of a new era of NCAA on the ice, with the rules surrounding CHL players changing, and the continued growth and interest in the college game.

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The Spartans led 2-0 through two periods, but BU fought back and the game went to overtime tied 3-3. BU’s Cole Eiserman (Islanders prospect) appeared to win it, but MSU’s Shane Vansaghi (Flyers) swept the puck away before it crossed the goal line. The Spartans brought it back the other way, and Matt Basgall (undrafted) scored off a feed from Ryker Lee (Predators).

Also, count me in as a fan of the NHL’s newest mascot, Tusky. I like Tusky’s overall look, and particularly his dark blue mohawk. I thought the introduction of breaking through blocks of foam ice was cute, and the name is easy for kids to say. I’m a massive fan of mascots — they are critical to game presentation and in-arena fun, to social content, and especially to helping kids and new hockey fans make core memories. I look forward to seeing what fun things the Mammoth have planned for Tusky.

Tusky is here, and he’s perfect! @TuskyNHL pic.twitter.com/APOr2NnYGG

— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) October 16, 2025

MVP candidates if the season ended today…

Vegas center Jack Eichel leads the league with 15 points. He had some support for the Hart among our ESPN hockey crew this preseason, and could remain a top candidate all season (particularly if the scoring keeps up).

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Jack Eichel nets goal for Golden Knights

Jack Eichel lights the lamp for Golden Knights

Speaking of lighting up the scoreboard, Ottawa Senators forward Shane Pinto has seven goals through six games, with all seven of them at even strength. The Senators will need to find other sources of scoring while Brady Tkachuk is out.

Given that goaltender Connor Hellebuyck won the Hart last season, we can’t forget the netminders this season either. You’d have to take a long look at New York Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin. Despite going 2-2-1, he boasts a .962 save percentage and is allowing only one goal per game on average. Scott Wedgewood might win out among goalies, however, as he’s started the season 5-0-1 with a .938 save percentage, saving 136 of 145 shots for the first-place Colorado Avalanche.

And hey, if the season ended today, I’d even toss Matthew Schaefer’s name in the mix based on all the ridiculous stats I highlighted earlier.

Hockey social media post of the week

One of my favorite people on social media is “Kickball Dad” — especially when the Miami Dolphins do something to annoy him, or he’s zipping around the backyard on his mower. He might also be the first person in recorded history to shoot hockey pucks on the beach in the Bahamas.

He’s also a massive Devils fan, and made a video going to the home opener:

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The Utah Mammoth unveiled their new mascot, Tusky, during Wednesday night’s home opener against the Calgary Flames.

The Mammoth—formerly the Arizona Coyotes before the organization was transferred to the expansion franchise Utah Hockey Club—have started the season 1-2.

“We named the Utah Mammoth mascot Tusky to lean into our team’s ‘Tusks Up’ rallying cry,” Utah owners Ryan and Ashley Smith said in a statement. “Tusky is going to be a big part of our community, creating memorable experiences in and out of the arena. Fans can expect to see Tusky everywhere—from Mammoth games and team events to community gatherings, schools and hospitals.”

Tusky stands at 6’5″ and wears No. 00. The team has said he’s a great skater, shoots left-handed and his position is the center… of attention.

The team’s nickname, the Mammoths, is a nod to the prehistoric animal that lived in Utah during the last Ice Age.

“Tusky embodies the strength, momentum and earth-shaking presence of the herds that once roamed Utah more than 10,000 years ago,” the team said.

And listen, while Tusky might look a bit aggressively angry, you’d probably be a bit perturbed as well if you emerged from a block of ice in the middle of a hockey arena—like Tusky did on Wednesday night—and learned that the rest of your species was extinct.

Perhaps he’ll reach out to Gritty for consolation, who is assuredly is the only member of whatever his species is to ever exist.

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As part of the new collective bargaining agreement, the NHL and NHLPA agreed to formalize that the players don’t have to get dressed up in suits ahead of their games, a long-standing tradition that many fans appreciated as society increasingly dresses down.

Per the NHL, “Clubs are not permitted to propose any rules concerning Player dress code,†adding that, “Players are required to dress in a manner that is consistent with contemporary fashion norms.â€

This is an update on the expiring CBA, which required players to wear “jackets, ties and dress pants to all Club games and while traveling to and from such games unless otherwise specified by the Head Coach or General Manager.â€

The looser dress-code rules were expedited to take effect before this season, ahead of the new CBA kicking in for the 2026-27 season.

“Guys can wear whatever they want,†Maple Leafs forward William Nylander told the Canadian Press. “What they feel comfortable wearing into games.â€

So, as the NHL season gets rolling, we got our first glimpses of what the players would actually wear before the games. Would it be all shorts and hoodies? Close.

The Toronto Maple Leafs social team documented the walk-in kits of their players ahead of Wednesday’s season opener against the Montreal Canadiens, and it was fairly revealing.

Has a trend arrived for good?

If what Leafs captain Auston Matthews wore is any indication, suits are on their way to being a thing of the past.

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  Ryan S. ClarkOct 9, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

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  Ryan S. Clark is an NHL reporter for ESPN.

IRVINE, Calif. — “My first few years, this place was a nightmare.”

Any set of eyebrows that are within earshot of what Chris Kreider has just said are immediately raised, because this is his response to a question about what allowed the Anaheim Ducks to become more of a desired destination now than they had been in the recent past.

“I mean, the whole Cali trip was awful,” Kreider said.

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This is when Kreider becomes a storyteller and a comedian, sharing what it was like to play the Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks and the Ducks three times over the span of a four-day California misadventure.

The Kings were filled with “monsters” — because all but three players on their roster were taller than six feet, while weighing an average of 210 pounds. The Sharks were their own special kind of hell because they had Brent Burns, Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton.

“Burns pinned me against the boards and I thought, ‘I’ll move my feet, the refs will see I can’t go anywhere and I’ll draw a penalty,'” Kreider said. “That’s when I looked down and my feet weren’t touching the ice. I’m 6-3, and I was playing at 230 pounds. Brent Burns just lifted me off the ice.”

Then there’s what happened in Anaheim.

“I don’t think I ever touched the puck when I was in this building,” Kreider said. “It was [Corey] Perry and [Ryan] Getzlaf and whoever they were playing with at the time. … I got the ‘honor’ of matching up against them a few times, and I was called into the coaches’ room after that trip. I got told that my game wasn’t where it needed to be.”

Reliving such fun times is what makes Kreider point toward the stalls that belong to teammates like Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier and Jackson LaCombe.

“You look at those guys,” Kreider said. “There’s going to be a day in the near future where [opponents] are saying the same thing about them.”

That, in Kreider’s mind, is why the Ducks are a destination again. But are they a playoff team?

“From my perspective, the expectation is to make the playoffs,” Ducks GM Pat Verbeek said. “So, your answer to that is yes.”

AFTER MISSING THE PLAYOFFS for seven straight seasons, there were questions about the Ducks’ trajectory. However, they’ve developed one of the NHL’s best farm systems through strong drafting — and are now answering those questions. They missed the playoffs last season, but finished with 80 points — their highest total in six years.

This past offseason was one of the most pivotal in franchise history. Verbeek and his staff traded John Gibson and Trevor Zegras — two players who at separate times were the face of the Ducks. They added veterans like Mikael Granlund and Kreider, while signing members of their young core to long-term contracts.

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Verbeek also fired coach Greg Cronin after two seasons, and hired three-time Stanley Cup winner Joel Quenneville, who had guided the Chicago Blackhawks to those three titles but hadn’t coached in nearly four seasons. Quenneville resigned from coaching the Florida Panthers in October 2021 and was banished from the league in the wake of an investigation that concluded the Blackhawks mishandled sexual assault allegations raised by former player Kyle Beach against video coach Brad Aldrich during the team’s 2010 Stanley Cup run. The NHL lifted Quenneville’s ban in 2024.

Trading Gibson and Zegras. The decision to add more veterans. The belief that their young core is ready to do more. The entirety of what it means to hire Quenneville, a decision that has led to criticism in some circles.

Verbeek is not alone in thinking that this could be a pivot point in the team’s arc of contention.

“The last couple years, we’ve gone into it like, ‘We might have a good team. It’s going to be this young guy’s first year or that young guy’s first year.’ It was almost a question of, ‘If this guy steps up, we could have a good team,” Ducks winger Troy Terry said. “I think this year we still have some young players but they’re experienced now and we’ve seen what they can do now. There are less questions of ‘If this and this happens, we should be a good team’ and know we should be a good team.”

Troy Terry has soldiered on through the Ducks’ recent lean years, and is optimistic on the team’s direction moving forward. Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire

MARTIN MADDEN IS the Ducks’ assistant GM and director of amateur scouting. He’s overseen the team’s amateur scouting setup since 2008, and has drafted 56 players who’ve reached the NHL. That includes their entire seven-player class from 2011 that included Josh Manson, William Karlsson, Rickard Rakell and Gibson.

All those homegrown players that make up the Ducks’ young core — including Lukas Dostal, Mason McTavish, Olen Zellweger, LaCombe and Terry — were all drafted by Madden. Following Verbeek’s hiring in 2022, they added Pavel Mintyukov and Carlsson to that list of draftees, while trading for Gauthier, selected fifth overall by the Flyers in 2022.

“We came up with a philosophy on the players that we want to draft and we proceeded to try and execute that as closely as possible given the fact there are variables like if a guy is there and if not, you might not have a choice,” Verbeek said. “That’s how we’ve gone about it. The other part is making sure you get to pick high. You know you’re going to find some gems later in the draft. But you have a better chance of finding them if you’re picking high.”

Leo Carlsson was selected second overall in the 2023 NHL draft. Danny Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Madden and Verbeek outlined that they wanted prospects who were competitive, smart and had a strong work ethic. They found those players, while acknowledging that every prospect would develop differently.

For every player like LaCombe, who played four years of college hockey, there were others like Carlsson who played against professionals in Sweden or McTavish who played in the OHL and the AHL in the same year they reached the NHL.

There was also a game plan on finding the right players with experience to fill out the roster. Verbeek went after veterans who had either won Stanley Cups, such as Alex Killorn, or those who’ve made numerous deep playoff runs such as Granlund, Radko Gudas, Jacob Trouba and Kreider.

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Verbeek pitched those veterans on playing a significant role in building something substantial, establishing a foundational culture with a homegrown core that has a chance to be special.

“I was an older player too, and you can see it and feel it when you play with those [young] players,” Verbeek said. “So I feel that was something that was attractive for those players.”

One example of that is the dynamic between Carlsson and Granlund. The Ducks drafted Carlsson with the No. 2 pick in 2023, with the expectation he could become a two-way, top-line center. They signed Granlund this offseason so they could have a proven two-way, top-nine anchor down the middle.

The Ducks placed Carlsson’s stall next to Granlund’s at the practice facility — a place where teams spend the most time of any venue. It allowed the duo to foster a relationship, and has allowed Carlsson to get instant feedback or seek immediate advice.

“It’s pretty simple. [The Ducks’ veterans] just want us to play our game and they’re giving us awesome tips,” Carlsson said. “Sitting next to Granny [in the dressing room], he gives me tips too and I just listen and take it all in. Then you take it into your game and it’s knowing you’ll be fine.”

Mikael Granlund was signed this offseason, adding another veteran voice — and scoring option — to the roster. Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

Like anything, there is a balance. Kreider and Trouba, who were part of a rebuild with the New York Rangers earlier in their careers, each explained what it means to be a veteran. Trouba said it’s about passing down what you’ve learned, while also being a sounding board because there is so much to learn about how to navigate the NHL.

Kreider added how while it’s important for those veterans to have a voice, they also want those young players to speak their minds.

Yet the player with the firmest grasp on what this means for the Ducks is Terry, the 28-year-old who is the team’s longest serving member. Terry said watching the front office continue to draft and develop homegrown talents proves the organization is more than committed to building a long-term winner. Adding those veterans amplifies that belief.

“It sends the message that we do have the guys here now that can make that push and at minimum, fight for a playoff spot,” Terry said. “I think just the moves that were made help our team a lot but it helps send the message internally that it’s time to really take that next step.”

That also includes another move that Verbeek and the Ducks’ front office made that could be a defining decision in more ways than one.

THERE ARE ON-ICE QUESTIONS that Quenneville must answer given that he hasn’t coached for four seasons. There are off-ice questions, too, about what he says he’s learned from his role in the Blackhawks sexual assault scandal.

The second-winningest coach in NHL history said when he took the Ducks job in May that he is a changed man. How has he actually changed? What are he and the Ducks doing to make sure they don’t land themselves in a situation like the Columbus Blue Jackets who acknowledged in 2023 they made a mistake in hiring Mike Babcock?

Quenneville and Verbeek were asked about it multiple times in the early portion of Quenneville’s introductory news conference. Months later, the Ducks continue to face questions.

Joel Quenneville has faced a number of questions since being hired by the Ducks, and that may continue at least through the early part of the 2025-26 season. Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire

A team source told ESPN that the organization believes in being transparent when it comes to anything related to Quenneville, including their process for choosing him along with what they did in the years before hiring Quenneville to make the organization a safe environment for all employees.

“A lot of the people I worked with were very helpful in how to deal with, how to be aware and how to address these situations,” Quenneville said. “We talked about this on the first day of training camp, about what my takeaways were from the last four years. A lot of people taught me important things … and the one thing I want to apply is that it’s not going to happen on our watch.

“The awareness factor — be it staff, players, one another. Let’s make sure that we’re all aware that any instances of bad behavior are addressed and identified and that accountability is there and that trust and support is there. I think that the most important thing for me and for us is that your safety is the priority.”

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Verbeek said that the education and programming that Quenneville went through over the last three years in his work with advocacy groups is something that the Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli, who have owned the team since 2003, have also done for several years. Verbeek said that the Ducks are providing “constant education,” while adding they’ve done education refreshment every two years.

Verbeek said that the training the Ducks provide has created practices and protocols that are in place which allow them to recognize warning signs as a preventative measure.

Quenneville said the time he spent talking to sexual assault survivors about their experience reinforced why those situations can “never happen again.”

“I can’t be in a position to even think about letting it happen again,” Quenneville said. “I learned I should have done more things. I should have asked more questions. I should have been tougher in some meetings to find out more. I’ll take ownership of that and I know that it won’t happen again.”

The NHL determined that Quenneville along with then-Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman and then-executive Al MacIsaac were ineligible to work for other teams, and the Blackhawks were fined $2 million for having inadequate policies in place. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman lifted the ban in July 2024. The league noted the “sincere remorse” by Bowman, MacIsaac and Quenneville for their “unacceptable” response to the allegations.

Bowman was the first of the three to return to the NHL in summer 2024 when he was hired as the GM of the Edmonton Oilers.

ON THE ICE, there were several items that allowed Quenneville to succeed with the Blackhawks. Among them were how he found ways to consistently elevate the team’s young core, led by Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Jonathan Toews.

Seeing what the Panthers had with Aleksander Barkov, Aaron Ekblad and Jonathan Huberdeau reminded him of the Blackhawks, which is what made South Florida appealing. The Panthers have built around Barkov and Ekblad, before trading Huberdeau to get Matthew Tkachuk en route to winning consecutive Stanley Cups in 2024 and 2025.

Although Quenneville was eligible to return in 2024-25, he didn’t land a job but still closely followed the NHL. Quenneville said he was living in Florida when Verbeek, who was his former teammate back with the Hartford Whalers, reached out to pitch him on the possibility of coaching the Ducks.

“Before that, I was looking at, ‘Where could I go if there was an opportunity?'” Quenneville said. “From what I saw and from what everyone told me, that this is the place to come. This is a team that’s ready. They got a lot of the right pieces.”

The Ducks could very well be on the precipice of playoff contention again. Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

Quenneville enters this season 31 wins away from 1,000 for his career. He’s second on the NHL’s all-time wins list behind Scotty Bowman, with 1,244. The games and Stanley Cups he has won makes him one of the greatest coaches in league history, and easily the most high-profile coach the Ducks have ever employed.

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Part of the reason why Quenneville has succeeded is his ability to teach and connect with young players. During his first season with the St. Louis Blues, defenseman Chris Pronger set a career high in points, and did so while operating as a 22-year-old captain. In his first season in Chicago, several players — like Kane, Keith, Toews and Seabrook — also set new career highs. It was a similar pattern in Florida with Barkov and Ekblad.

Could he do the same thing with the Ducks’ young core in 2025-26 and beyond?

“It’s exciting, but obviously, it’s all on me though when it comes to playing better,” Carlsson said when asked about the prospect of improving under Quenneville. “The thing is he’s proven to younger guys that he’s about giving us a fair chance, and I’m excited for that. He’s just a coach that makes your game better, which I love.”

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SUNRISE, Fla. — NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman isn’t the biggest fan of taking a nearly three-week break in the middle of the season so players can participate in the Milan-Cortina Olympics.

That said, he obviously sees the value.

Bettman spoke at the season-opening game Tuesday between the Florida Panthers — who raised their second consecutive Stanley Cup championship banner — and the Chicago Blackhawks. He made clear again that he knows what having NHL players back on the Olympic stage can do for the game.

“I think it’s going to be great,” Bettman said between the first and second periods. “It’s important to our players. That’s why we’re doing it. Listen, there are lots of reasons that I’m never thrilled about taking a couple of week break in the season. Changes a lot of things.

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“But on balance, I think it’ll be worth it, A) for the exposure, B) for the fan engagement, but C) and most importantly, this is and has always been very important to our players. And that’s why we’re doing this.”

The NHL got tons of exposure and engagement during last season’s 4 Nations Face-Off event, and the Olympics are obviously going to be bigger than that tournament.

“We came off of 4 Nations on a high,” Bettman said. “It shows you what our players can do representing hockey and what we think is the best best-on-best in international competition.”

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Before the 2025-26 campaign begins in less than a week, weâ€re breaking down the most dominant players in the NHL at this moment, the all-world talents who figure to move the needle most this season.

To do that, we turned to our Sportsnet Insiders for their insight, asking them to rank the top 50 players in the NHL right now. Not the top scorers or the top defenders, the top two-way talents or the top netminders — simply the gameâ€s best at this moment, across all positions and all skill-sets.

There was only one rule: As with last yearâ€s list, this ranking is forward-looking. It doesnâ€t factor in legacy or past performance, it considers only how the leagueâ€s best are expected to stack up against each other in 2025-26.

The overall ranking below is an amalgam of the Top 50 lists from Insiders across the network. For each individual list, players were assigned points based on how high they finished in that particular ranking — the higher they ranked on an Insiderâ€s list, the more points they accrued.

Each playerâ€s position on the overall ranking is a result of how many total points they collected across all our Insiders†lists.

Down to the last crop of stars before the top 10 is revealed, this next group is highlighted by a few Stanley Cup champions, one of the gameâ€s most underrated talents, and the NHLâ€s ageless wonder.

Here is Sportsnetâ€s ranking of the Top 50 Players in the NHL, continuing with Nos. 20-11.

Rewind to the first half of his NHL career and William Nylander was the most maligned member of the Toronto Maple Leafs†young core. Now, after four straight seasons of undeniable growth and career highs — culminating in a 45-goal campaign last year that saw him finish as the Rocket Richard Trophy runner-up — the wingerâ€s evolved into one of the most dynamic offensive talents in the game. And while the playoffs have become a sore point in Toronto, Nylanderâ€s been the Maple Leafs†steadiest performer when the pressure ramps up — pacing the club in scoring during last yearâ€s run, No. 88 has amassed more post-season goals and points than any other Leaf over the past five years, overall and at even-strength. The blue-and-white are still Auston Matthews†squad, but with the captain navigating a return to form after an injury-plagued 2024-25, John Tavares in the back half of his 30s, and Mitch Marner now out of the picture, Nylander enters the new season as Torontoâ€s best bet for high-end offence.

For a brief moment back in 2022-23, we got the full Jack Hughes Experience. Four years into his big-league career, the 2019 first-overall pick came out of the gates flying, racked up a career-best 43 goals and 99 points, and led the New Jersey Devils back to the post-season, past the rival New York Rangers, and into the second round. But since announcing himself on the NHL stage with that banner campaign, injuries have stymied Hughes†attempts to progress. The 24-year-old is coming off two straight years of seeing his season cut short by injuries — he suited up for only 62 games in both those campaigns, finishing in the 70-point range each year. The chances of New Jersey making any legitimate playoff noise without Hughes firing on all cylinders seem slim — luckily, the clubâ€s talisman enters the new season injury-free and looking to get back on track. Both he and the Devils faithful are surely hoping for a healthy season and a return to form in 2026.

It would be tough to put together a better two-year stretch than the one Sam Reinhart just enjoyed. In 2023-24, the former Buffalo Sabre potted a career-high 57 goals and 94 points for Florida, before helping the Panthers claim the first Stanley Cup in franchise history. In 2024-25, he followed that up by earning a Selke Trophy nomination and playing an even more pivotal role as the Cats won their second-straight title. Reinhart finished the post-season run tied for the team lead in points. He tied for the league lead in even-strength playoff goals too, and capped off the title march by scoring four times in the Cup-clinching Final-ender against Connor McDavidâ€s Edmonton Oilers. Heading into his fifth season in Florida, the 30-year-old has established himself as one of the most well-rounded offensive talents in the game and figures to be a crucial piece of both the Panthers†and Canadaâ€s hunt for hardware in 2026.

After years of questions about his future, years of navigating the pressure and chaos and tumult of being a Toronto Maple Leaf, Mitch Marner has moved on. For the first time in his career, the star winger will begin an NHL campaign without a hint of blue on his sweater. Instead, Marnerâ€s taken his talents to Vegas, trading the Eastern Conference for the West, longtime linemate Matthews for another starring American pivot in Jack Eichel, and Toronto’s fishbowl market for one that should bring far more off-ice calm. For the Golden Knights, itâ€s a franchise-altering move — Marner arrives fresh off a 100-point campaign, having earned Selke votes for the past seven years, and with a reputation as one of the most creative offensive minds in the game. In the regular season, his pedigree is clear — since debuting in 2016-17, Marnerâ€s amassed the eighth-most points of anyone in the league, and he figures to rack up a fair amount in 2025-26. The question is whether a new environment in Vegas allows him to tap into that all-world skill more consistently when the post-season arrives.

While his Tampa Bay Lightning mightâ€ve fallen off somewhat over the past three years — going from perennial Cup finalist to first-round fodder — Brayden Point has only gotten better. Already well-established as one of the most talented, well-rounded pivots in the game — an all-world scorer who can split defences just as easily as he can shut down the oppositionâ€s best — Pointâ€s coming off three straight years as one of the leagueâ€s most dangerous scorers. Over that span, the 29-year-old has collected the fourth-most goals overall, the sixth-most even-strength goals, the third-most power-play goals, and the second-most game winners. Unfortunately for him, his Bolts keep running into the Panthers in the post-season, meaning those sterling offensive campaigns have been followed by first-round exits. Tampa Bayâ€s all-world core is still rolling, still racking up individual hardware, but Father Time is coming — the central goal for 2025-26 will be recapturing some of the groupâ€s early playoff magic. Pointâ€s growth into an elite sniper will be a key part of that effort.

There was a lengthy stretch before Floridaâ€s back-to-back Cup runs during which Aleksander Barkov was routinely hailed as the most underrated star in the league. Ahead of 2025-26, that crown can safely pass to Kyle Connor. Nearly a decade into his big-league career, Connorâ€s made his name as a reliable scorer for Winnipeg, but last yearâ€s 97-point outburst proved just how dominant the Jets sniper can be. It wasnâ€t his first brush with all-world production — the veteran put up 47 goals and 93 points back in 2021-22, and 80 points the year after that — but it still seems the hockey world at large doesnâ€t fully appreciate what the Shelby Township, Mich., product brings to the table. Over the past four seasons, only Matthews, David Pastrnak, and Nathan MacKinnon have potted more even-strength goals than Connorâ€s 118. He’s collected the third-most game winners in the league in that time too, and the fourth-most overtime tallies. Now, after a career year that saw him finish seventh in the Art Ross Trophy race — just behind McDavid, just above Eichel — and lead the Jets in playoff scoring, Connor heads into a contract year with eyes on truly making his presence known.

Thereâ€s no doubt that at this moment Connor Hellebuyck reigns supreme as the best goaltender in the world. The Winnipeg Jets veteran enters the new season coming off two straight Vezina Trophy-winning campaigns. Overall, he has three career Vezina wins to his name and heâ€s finished top three in voting five times. So, thereâ€s no debating Hellebuyckâ€s greatness. Heâ€s already established himself as an all-time netminding talent. But thereâ€s also no denying the 32-year-oldâ€s playoff reputation has taken a hit. Hellebuyck put up quality numbers over his first four years in the playoffs, managing a .921 post-season save percentage between 2018 and ’21, but heâ€s coming off three straight years of subpar performances, and an .870 save percentage over that span. Winnipegâ€s run last year, in particular, was a rollercoaster. While the veteran had his moments, he finished with a tumultuous home-and-away split, putting up a .916 save percentage in seven home games (allowing 13 goals in those tilts) and an .809 in six road games (allowing a staggering 26 goals in those). The Jets have built themselves into a legitimate contender, but for them to realize that potential, they need Hellebuyckâ€s regular-season magic to carry onto the playoff stage.

Few scorned stars get the chance to carry out the type of score-settling Mikko Rantanen did this past May. Traded away from Colorado in January, after becoming a franchise icon and helping the Avalanche claim a Stanley Cup in 2022, Rantanen wound up back in the West as a Dallas Star on trade deadline day — setting up a first-round meeting with none other than his former club. If there were any doubts about Rantanenâ€s status as a proven playoff performer, he quashed them with his efforts against the Avs, putting up 12 points in the series and ultimately eliminating Colorado with a wild third-period hat trick in Game 7. He collected 22 points over the Stars†three-round run, and finished top 10 league-wide in both points and goals in the post-season. That was precisely the reason the Stars went out and added the six-foot-four scoring machine — he brings the type of undeniable star power their lineup lacked of late. Now, Dallas heads into the new year ready to see what the 28-year-old can do with a full season in Stars colours and a healthy Miro Heiskanen out there with him. Coming off three straight trips to the Conference Finals, Dallas remains a bona fide contender, and Rantanenâ€s potential should have them dreaming big.

If this latest chapter of Sidney Crosbyâ€s career has taught us anything, itâ€s that the Pittsburgh Penguins captain simply seems incapable of providing anything other than greatness. Even as the team around him has descended into mediocrity, even as his general manager has traded away his star linemates and pushed his club into a rebuild, Crosby has remained elite. The 38-year-old is coming off his third-straight 90-point campaign in black and gold, putting up 91 last season despite playing his first campaign in nearly a decade without 40-goal threat Jake Guentzel on his wing. The dominance of Crosbyâ€s heyday is well-established — for the first 12 years of his career, he was the class of the league, amassing three Stanley Cups, two scoring titles, two Rocket Richard Trophies, and a slew of MVP nods. But since turning 30, the Pens captain has remained among the gameâ€s best — heâ€s collected the ninth-most points in the league since his age-30 season, and the ninth-most league-wide over the past three seasons alone. Regardless of where his Penguins finish in the standings in 2026, expect No. 87 to remain a top-tier scorer — and a key piece of Canadaâ€s Olympic dream.

Speaking of the past three seasons, while No. 87â€s taken a back seat to the gameâ€s younger talents, Bostonâ€s No. 88 has taken over. After making his name as one of the most skilled, dynamic scorers in the league through the first eight years of his Bruins tenure, David Pastrnak has found a new gear over the past three campaigns — no other NHLer has collected more goals than Pastrnakâ€s 151 in that span, nor the 112 heâ€s potted at even-strength. And the Czech phenom has been elite in overall scoring, too, with only McDavid, Mackinnon, Nikita Kucherov, and Leon Draisaitl besting the 329 points Pastrnakâ€s amassed in that span. But even after three straight 100-point campaigns and three 40-goal efforts — highlighted by a dominant 61-goal season in 2022-23 — Pastrnak and his Bruins enter the new campaign after an off-season of soul-searching. Once among the Eastâ€s most feared contenders, the Bruins missed the playoffs last year for the first time in nearly a decade. That fall from grace also paved the way for the clubâ€s heart-and-soul leader, Brad Marchand, to leave town and link up with the rival Florida Panthers. With a leadership void to be filled and a proud fanbase desperate for a return to the post-season, the 2025-26 campaign figures to be a pivotal one for Pastrnak, the 29-year-old sure to be leaned on heavily as the Bruins look to get themselves back on track.

Check back Friday for the top 10.

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  Rachel KryshakOct 2, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

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  Rachel Kryshak is a professional data consultant specializing in data communication and modelling. She’s worked in the NHL and consulted for professional teams across North American and Europe. She hosts the Staff & Graph Podcast and discusses sports from a data-driven perspective.

The NHL preseason is close to finished, and the regular season is approaching on Oct. 7.

Last season, there were plenty of opportunities for regression, given what occurred during the 2023-24 season. Almost every player in last year’s article regressed in a meaningful way. Auston Matthews, Sam Reinhart, Jonathan Marchessault, Zach Hyman and the Vancouver Canucks regressed in their own significant ways from the previous season. That’s not to say they won’t bounce back this season.

Candidates for regression this season include those most likely to see a 10+% drop in production, be it goals or points, based on their situations. The biggest regression factor is shooting percentage; many players featured on this list shot well over their expected paces. Other factors include players projected to be in different situations, team environment and elevated matchups.

LW, Boston Bruins

Prior to last season, Morgan Geekie’s career high in shooting percentage was 13%. His shooting percentage in 2024-2025? 22%!

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Playing on Boston’s top line, that led to a goal total of 33, nearly doubling his previous career high of 17. Suffice to say, that is highly unlikely to occur in back-to-back seasons.

Geekie’s goal production exploded, his role increased with the Bruins and he saw his offensive zone starts increase from 12.1% to 19.1%. According to MoneyPuck, his 5-on-5 on-ice goals percentage was 58% against an expected percentage of 52.7%. Given the state of the Bruins, it is reasonable to expect those numbers to regress as well.

If Geekie continues to play on the top line, it is reasonable to expect his goal total to be in line with a complementary player on a top line, skating with an elite goal scorer (David Pastrnak). That is to say, Geekie is more likely to total between 22 and 26 goals, than he is to hit 30 again.

He will continue to be a key piece for the Bruins, getting those top-line minutes, but with that comes more difficult matchups. There is nowhere to “hide” when you play on the top line, he will have less time and space to maneuver, and it is fair to expect a drop in goal production.

C, Winnipeg Jets

Scheifele’s 2024-2025 season was incredible, notching 39 goals and 87 points. During the campaigns in which he tallied 38, 39 and 42 goals, his shooting percentage was around 20%, which is three percentage points higher than his career shooting percentage. He also scored more than 10 power-play goals in each of those seasons, which is likely where the regression is going to come from.

Last season, Scheifele had a career-high in power-play points, with 25, and while he should score around 20 again, the loss of Nikolaj Ehlers on the top power-play will impact a power play that ranked as the best in the NHL. It is unlikely the Jets would repeat a 29% success rate on the power play if the playmaking Ehlers was retained; it becomes less likely without him.

A regression in power-play success, combined with some expected shooting percentage regression should see Scheifele score around 30 goals and 77 points. While that is still top-line center production, a regression of more than 10% and nearly 25% in goal scoring would be a step back after a tremendous 2024-2025.

LW, Washington Capitals

Many Capitals players had eye-popping statistical seasons in 2024-2025, perhaps none more so than Protas.

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The 6-6, 247-pound forward broke out in a major way last season, more than doubling his point total from the season prior, and notching 30 goals, following a previous career high of six! Protas’ career-high shooting percentage was 8.8% … until last season, when it jumped to 21.1%. According to MoneyPuck, he scored 8.3 goals above expected in all situations.

There is no question his shot improved dramatically, but shooting 21% is not sustainable. The greatest shooter in the history of the sport, his teammate Alex Ovechkin, shot 18.6% last season. On that stat alone, you can expect significant regression. If Protas is a true 11-12% shooter, a more plausible goal output for him would be around 20 goals, 33% less than last season’s mark.

Adding to this, Protas scored zero power-play goals, and as long as Ovechkin is playing, the 24-year-old is unlikely to get many shooting opportunities on the power play. In fairness, no one on the Caps is.

Protas is tremendously talented and caught many teams by surprise last season. That will not be the case this season, and he will face tougher matchups as teams will be more aware of him as a scoring threat. He’s more likely to be a 55- to 60-point power winger than a 65-plus-point player.

LW, Tampa Bay Lightning

Hagel’s profile was raised an order of magnitude higher after his performance at the 4 Nations Face-Off, despite have three consecutive seasons of quality offensive production in Tampa Bay.

He’s a menace for the Lightning, and a shorthanded threat, notching seven points on the penalty kill last season, accounting for nearly half of his career output while a man down (16). While Hagel is one of the league’s most dangerous penalty killers, he is unlikely to have a repeat performance of shorthanded offensive production.

A 90-point season raised a lot of eyebrows around the NHL, but Hagel’s shooting percentage was a relatively sustainable 15.4%. Hagel is slated to play on the second line with Anthony Cirelli, another excellent two-way player. While he is still likely to be near a point-per-game pace, Hagel is unlikely to notch 90 points playing in that role, without meaningful time skating on a line with Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov. His true talent is more indicative of a 75-80 point player, which is elite for a second-liner, but almost a 15% drop in production should be expected.

RW, Vegas Golden Knights

One of the best two-way wingers in the NHL has a few things working against him this season.

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First and foremost, he’s played more than 60 games just three times in the last 10 seasons. Yes, there was COVID, but no one following the NHL is going to make the argument that Mark Stone’s health is something to be relied upon. He was uncharacteristically healthy last season, and yet managed to play in only 66 of the 82 games, tallying 67 points. Stone is 33, and has dealt with more than his fair share of back injuries; those do not go away with age.

Adding to that, Stone has rightfully lost his spot next to Jack Eichel because, in case you haven’t heard, Mitch Marner is now with the Golden Knights. That will dimmish Stone’s opportunity alongside one of the past centers in the NHL, though Stone should still get opportunities on the top power-play unit.

The regression boils down to Stone’s injury history, a decreased role on the second line, and that the drop from Eichel to William Karlsson is significant enough to warrant a 10% drop in offensive production at even strength. When all of those factors are considered, it is difficult to see Stone having a second consecutive season of 65-plus points. However, if he stays healthy and plays 82 games for the first time in his career, he is projected for 68 points.

C, Dallas Stars

Duchene is expected to be the third-line center for the Stars this season, and I cannot think of a single third-line center who notched 82 points.

He should continue to get power-play time, but a third-line role behind Roope Hintz and Wyatt Johnston will limit his ice-time and opportunities to create offense. Further to that, Duchene shot 19.7% last season, the second highest mark of his career, which carries an average shooting percentage of 13.6%. With decreasing opportunity, it is not a guarantee that Duchene tallies 150 shots this season. Combined with expected regression on his shooting percentage, his projection of 21 goals and 40 assists is excellent for a third-line player, but a drop from the point-per-game season he authored in 2024-2025.

Age is not in Duchene’s favor, either. Given age curves, it wouldn’t be surprising to see his production fall by more than 20% regardless of ice time or offensive opportunity afforded to him. The 34-year-old is highly talented; however, Father Time catches everyone not named Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, it seems.

He’ll be one of the best bottom-six players in the NHL, but it is difficult to envision how he matches last season’s production.

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Ahead of the 2025-26 campaign, weâ€re breaking down the leagueâ€s most prolific game-changers, the ones most likely to swing things in their teamâ€s favour by the new seasonâ€s end.

To do that, we turned to our Sportsnet Insiders for their insight, asking them to rank the top 50 players in the NHL right now. Not the top scorers or the top defenders, the top two-way talents or the top netminders — simply the gameâ€s best at this moment, across all positions and all skill-sets.

There was only one rule: As with last yearâ€s list, this ranking is forward-looking. It doesnâ€t factor in legacy or past performance, it considers only how the leagueâ€s best are expected to stack up against each other in 2025-26.

The overall ranking below is an amalgam of the Top 50 lists from Insiders across the network. For each individual list, players were assigned points based on how high they finished in that particular ranking — the higher they ranked on an Insiderâ€s list, the more points they accrued.

Each playerâ€s position on the overall ranking is a result of how many total points they collected across all of our Insiders†lists.

With that, here is Sportsnetâ€s ranking of the Top 50 Players in the NHL, continuing with Nos. 30-21.

Itâ€s been a meteoric ascent for Brandon Hagel. Rewind half a decade to his days in Chicago, and the Saskatoon product seemed a dutiful depth contributor, good for 20 goals and 40 points. Then came the move to Tampa Bay and Hagelâ€s evolution into one of the most lethal scorers in the game. The 27-year-old enters the new season fresh off a career-best 35-goal, 90-point campaign. But perhaps the most impressive aspect of Hagelâ€s game is how much damage he does when the ice isnâ€t tilted in his favour. At even-strength, he amassed the fifth-most points in the league last season. The only NHLers to collect more? David Pastrnak, Nathan MacKinnon, Nikita Kucherov, and Leon Draisaitl. Not bad company. An elite scorer who earns Selke Trophy votes every year, Hagel announced himself to the wider hockey world with his sterling performance for Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Heâ€s a good bet to be back in red-and-white as Canada vies for hardware in 2026, and will be a key part of the Bolts†pursuit of a trophy, too.

With each passing year, the trade that sent Nick Suzuki to Montreal looks like more of a steal for the Canadiens. The young pivot has raised his level every season heâ€s worn a Canadiens sweater, and the 2024-25 campaign was no exception. Potting a career-best 89 points while reaching the 30-goal plateau for the second time, Suzuki was the catalyst that fuelled Montrealâ€s return to the playoffs for the first time in four years. But beyond his offensive production, itâ€s the totality of Suzukiâ€s game thatâ€s allowed the rebuilding Canadiens to find tangible progress — the 26-year-old has established himself as a premier two-way talent in the game, taking on more defensive responsibilities than most elite scorers with the type of offensive gifts he possesses. Only just entering his prime, thereâ€s plenty more to give for the young Habs captain, and his recent history suggests 2025-26 will bring yet another step forward.

If you want a sense of the tumult Rasmus Dahlin has navigated in Buffalo over his seven years in the league, just go back and take a gander at the squad he debuted with. Only one other member of that roster remains in a Sabres sweater. And yet, even amid an ever-changing locker room and with four different head coaches manning the Buffalo bench, Dahlin has still managed to deliver on the expectations placed on him when he was tabbed with the No. 1 pick back in 2018. After two sterling campaigns — a 73-point effort in 2022-23 and 20 goals in 2023-24 — Dahlin kept pace and collected 17 goals and 68 points in 73 games last season. The 25-year-old has become one of the most prolific blue-line scorers in the game. Case in point: over the past three seasons, only Cale Makar has amassed more goals than the 53 Dahlinâ€s posted. His 68 points last season ranked fourth overall among blue-liners, the only three in front of him being the trio nominated for the Norris Trophy (Makar, Quinn Hughes and Zach Werenski). As Buffalo remains in search of stability and a path back to the playoffs, the only certainty is that Dahlinâ€s continued growth will be crucial to both.

Much was made of the potential heights Igor Shesterkinâ€s new contract would hit when the goaltender was waiting to ink a new deal. And the predictions were correct: Midway through 2024-25, he put pen to paper on the most lucrative pact a goaltenderâ€s ever received — eight years, $92 million, with an average annual value of $11.5 million. Then the former Vezina Trophy winner and Hart Trophy nominee put up some of the worst numbers of his career. To be fair, youâ€d be hard-pressed to pin the New York Rangers†troubles on Shesterkin alone. The clubâ€s lacklustre defence didnâ€t offer him much help and there were issues in all corners of the lineup. And while the 29-year-old finished with the worst save percentage of his career — .905, a far cry from the .935 he posted in his Vezina year — a deeper look at the numbers is more forgiving to Shesterkin, MoneyPuck ranking him seventh league-wide when it came to Goals Saved Above Expected. Still, entering the 2025-26 campaign as the highest-paid goalie in the game, and one of the highest-paid players in the league overall, the onus will be on Shesterkin to find success regardless of how the group in front of him performs.

Injuries robbed us of the chance to see Miro Heiskanen at his best in 2024-25, the smooth-skating defender missing a third of the season while recovering from a knee injury. But it also proved just how essential Heiskanen is to the Dallas Stars†cause. While the club remained among the leagueâ€s best overall after their star defender was sidelined in late January, collecting the seventh-most points in that span largely on the back of their sterling offence, they also became one of the leagueâ€s most porous defensive groups. Heiskanen returned by the end of the year, jumping back into the fray in Game 4 of the second round and making his presence known, but it was a tumultuous campaign overall for the rearguard. Now, the 26-year-old heads into the new season healthy and ready to reclaim his place as one of the best defencemen in the game. And with Thomas Harley emerging as a viable No. 1 option in his absence, Heiskanen should have some help carrying the blue-line load for Dallas this season.

The injury bug came for Matthew Tkachuk last season, too. After two dominant seasons in Florida, and a Stanley Cup banner hung in 2024, Tkachukâ€s 2024-25 campaign was derailed when he was injured playing for Team USA during the 4 Nations Face-Off. The Panthers†skilled agitator was sidelined from late February through to the end of the season. Then he returned for Game 1 of the first round, put up two goals and an assist in that playoff opener, and went on to produce at a point-per-game pace as Florida claimed its second-straight title. Even if heâ€s not operating at 100 per cent, Tkachuk remains an essential piece of the Panthers†identity, and the former Calgary Flame has been pivotal in guiding the Cats to the first two championships in franchise history. Now navigating recovery from off-season surgery, Tkachuk is expected to miss the first two months of the season, leaving his 2025-26 performance up in the air. The hope for the Panthers is that the star winger can once again hit the ground running when he returns, as they hunt for the elusive three-peat.

Like much the rest of the New York Rangers†squad, it was middling campaign for Artemi Panarin in 2024-25. The 33-year-old still put up 37 goals and 89 points, but after a 49-goal, 120-point effort a year prior that had him in the Hart Trophy conversation, it seemed a step backwards — particularly given it came as his Rangers stumbled and fell out of the playoff race. While he’ll no doubt be expected to recover his top form in 2025-26, thereâ€s also the matter of what happens with the wingerâ€s contract situation. Panarin joined the Blueshirts back in 2019 on a hefty seven-year, $81.5-million deal, his $11.6-million AAV making him one of the highest-paid players in the league throughout his Rangers tenure. Four seasons above 90 points, including that 120-point breakout, suggest heâ€s made good on that price tag. But now, heading into the final year of that deal, with Panarin approaching age 34, the Rangers are reportedly less willing to shell out top dollar this time around, putting even more pressure on the winger to perform in 2025-26.

It was an interesting season for Brady Tkachuk. In one sense, the campaign saw the Ottawa Senators captainâ€s production take a step back — after a 37-goal, 74-point effort in 2023-24, Tkachuk put up 29 goals and 55 points last season as he navigated injuries. On the other hand, the 2024-25 campaign seemed like the first year we truly got to see what the younger Tkachuk is all about. First came the 4 Nations Face-Off, where the 26-year-old had an undeniable impact with three goals in four games for Team USA, despite picking up a hip injury. Then came a long-awaited return to the post-season for his Senators, ending a seven-year playoff drought. Sidelined for two weeks with an upper-body injury right before the post-season began, Tkachuk returned in time to reclaim his place as the Sens†emotional compass, guiding Ottawa through a rollercoaster Round 1 series with the rival Toronto Maple Leafs and putting up a team-leading four goals and seven points through the six-game bout. Fresh off receiving Hart Trophy votes for the first time in his career, all eyes will be on just how much Tkachuk can raise his level in 2025-26, and how far he can push the young Sens.

Even Father Time cannot seem to get the better of the steady, unflappable Victor Hedman. At 34, the veteran Tampa Bay Lightning defender remains one of the gameâ€s best. Playing his first season as the Bolts captain in 2024-25, following the departure of Steven Stamkos, Hedman produced the fourth-most points of his decade-and-a-half-long career, posting 15 goals and 66 points from the Lightningâ€s blue line. That sum was good for sixth-best among all NHL defenders, Hedman keeping pace with the young high-flyers now dominating his position. The campaign also marked the 10th straight season the Bolts icon received Norris Trophy votes, Hedman finishing fifth overall in the race. Over that decade-long span, no big-league blue-liner has amassed more points than Hedmanâ€s 612. And given what he did last year, thereâ€s little doubt the two-time champ will continue to be a force from the backend in 2025-26 as his Bolts look to find a path back to the playoffs†latter rounds.

Thereâ€s little else you couldâ€ve asked of Zach Werenski this past season. Beginning the campaign under incredibly difficult circumstances, he and his teammates forced to navigate the loss of a beloved teammate, the Columbus Blue Jackets defenceman put his team on his back and produced the most prolific season of his career — and perhaps one of the greatest campaigns from a Blue Jacket in the franchiseâ€s history. The 27-year-old collected 23 goals and 82 points by the yearâ€s end, finishing second only to Cale Makar in both categories among all NHL rearguards. Werenski finished second to the Colorado blue-liner in Norris Trophy voting too, beating out the likes of Hedman, Quinn Hughes, and Josh Morrissey. But the Blue Jackets leaderâ€s performance is even more impressive when you take into account the team around him; the lack of all-world scorers to feed off on the man-advantage. In fact, at even-strength, Werenski was the most productive defenceman in the league last season, pacing the rest of the pack with 17 goals and tying Makar with 54 points, while finishing near the top of the league in game-winning goals and overtime winners, too. Leading the Blue Jackets to within a stoneâ€s throw of a playoff berth last season, the goal for 2025-26 is surely a repeat performance, a few more points earned, and an end to the Jackets†post-season drought.

Check back Thursday for Nos. 20-11.

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