Labar: Early Season NHL Surprises (and Not-So Surprises)

By Abby Labar
Sportmoney Columnist

With the temperature falling below 60 this week in New York, the more frigid temps coupled with a recent trip to Prudential Center to take in a matchup between the Devils and Canadians have got me really in the hockey spirit. A little over a month into the season, I figured we could have some fun with early season surprises and not-so surprises. I broke down the top-5 point getters among skaters (sorry Cale Makar fans) in the NHL (as of Nov. 13th).

I started working in the NHL in 2017, so I’ve followed a chunk of these guys over the years as they’ve gone from rookies to now essentially entering or playing in their prime. I’m going to use a rating scale that you can decide whether you agree or disagree with – that’s part of the fun!

1-10 rating scale: 1 being we are not surprised in regard to their production and success, 10 being very surprised that this player is producing so well to start the year. 

Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche (30 points)
Rating: 3

Look, I don’t want to start this thing off as a pessimist, but at the ripe age of 29 years old, fresh off of a peak season (all 82 GP and 140 points) winning the Hart Trophy, you often start to wonder when the decline begins. That’s a heck of a season to top if I’d say so. But a healthy MacKinnon reminds us that age is just a number. With a few missing pieces to start the season, we knew that MacKinnon would have to take on the responsibility of carrying quite a load for the forwards – which he has done seamlessly to remind us he’s not slowing down anytime soon when it comes to production and handling a heavy workload. Per statmuse, he currently leads all active forwards in average time on ice per game (23:21). Surrounded by weapons at even strength and on the power play, it’s not a surprise that a bulk of his points come from being the NHL’s assist leader. The momentum is solid right now for the Avs superstar.

Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota Wild (28 points)
Rating: 5

This was a tough one to rate because his ceiling is so high and I feel like he improves in some way every year. So you could say it’s not a huge surprise that Kaprizov has come out of the gates the way he has, especially considering his history of starting off the season on a productive note. There is something however, that makes this start feel more impressive and slightly different. After not making the postseason for the first time in his NHL career, you could argue there is extra motivation stemming from that. He recently strung together a streak of 8 straight multipoint road games, where he notched 18 goals and 14 assists, tying the longest streak by an active player. Over the years, we’ve heard players express how challenging it is to play against him. It’ll be fun to see what the opposition says about him as his game progresses with the season because he has laid quite the foundation to start. 

Martin Necas, Carolina Hurricanes (24 points)
Rating: 7

Okay, I tried to take personal bias out of this one because quite frankly I’m not surprised. Necas has always been this dynamic player with this unbelievable elite skating ability that I’ve had the joy of witnessing and covering for years, dating all the way back to his NHL debut. A player that I have had the pleasure of getting to know on and off the ice, I personally always knew through his work ethic and talent what he was capable of. It was only a matter of time before it truly went on display. With an offseason that was headlined by roster turnover and retooling, many looked at this Hurricanes group with pessimism and lower expectations to start the year. Joke’s on them. The retooling opened up a huge opportunity for Necas to unleash his full potential. After Carolina let go of some of the more popular and productive forwards, Necas now has an expanded role that has allowed him to really contribute in ways that he was restricted before due to all of the depth the Hurricanes have had for the last few years. Fresh off a new contract, it’s clearly a fun time to be Marty Necas. 

Jack Eichel, Vegas Golden Knights (24 points)
Rating: 4

Health has been and will be the X-factor for Jack Eichel. A plethora of lower body injuries have caused setbacks for the 2nd-round pick throughout his career, but the bounce backs have been impressive. So entering this season, our predictions on how he would produce started and ended with the injury conversation, but everything else is always a positive. Last season, despite only playing in 63 regular season games, he still strung together a 30-plus goal season. With the way he’s looked out of the gates, we’re not completely shocked since he’s fresh and healthy from the offseason. Not to mention, injuries to key guys like Mark Stone and William Karlsson have piled on more of a workload for the top-line stud that goes to show nothing can knock him down. We’re going to have fun following this one. 

Sam Reinhart, Florida Panthers (24 points)
Rating: 7

I personally don’t think enough people were talking about Sam Reinhart prior to the season after what he did last year. Combined with the fact that we knew he was going to be good, but we didn’t know he would be THIS good, is why I’m going further up on the surprised scale. It feels like Sam Reinhart is on another planet right now. Coming off of a 94 point season, 57 goals and a Stanley Cup is hard to top, but he’s averaging 1.5 points per game points, which has him on pace for a 100+ point season. Not to mention his +13 rating, excuse me? The 29 year old was clearly not planning to take a step back and get comfortable with that production and success from a year ago. He’s showing us that there is more. That’s the type of athlete that any sports fan wants to watch.