10 NHL players who will rise and fall in 2016-17
By Alli Baker
The 2016-17 NHL season is right around the corner, and with the start of hockey comes the start of thousands of bold predictions about the upcoming year.
Who will win the scoring race this year? Which team will win the Cup? Which blockbuster trades will pay off, and which will backfire? Among these questions, we ask: which players will surprise, and which will disappoint in the coming months?
Well, I’m no hockey psychic, but before the season officially starts, I’ll share my predictions for five NHLers that will surprise and five that will disappoint this year.
Let’s begin with the positives, shall we?
Surprises
Connor McDavid – Edmonton Oilers
Okay, so this might not come as a surprise to anyone, but Connor McDavid is good at hockey. Like, really good. This season, he’s only going to get better.
Last season, a fractured clavicle limited the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft to a mere 45 games. Despite the setback, McDavid still managed to score 16 goals and tally 32 assists throughout the remainder of the season, giving him 1.07 points per game – the third-highest in the NHL (and the highest points per game by a rookie since Evgeni Malkin in 2006).
This year, if he can stay away from injuries, the Edmonton Oilers captain is going to be a force to be reckoned with.
Erik Haula – Minnesota Wild
Haula’s no McDavid, but he is a young player with a ton of talent.
After two fairly mediocre seasons with the Wild, Haula broke out last year under the guidance of Minnesota’s interim coach John Torchetti. With his newfound freedom, the 25-year-old native of Pori, Finland, scored a career-high 14 goals and 20 assists. That’s more points scored (34) in a couple months than his entire first two seasons combined (29). Haula was also a team-best plus-21 throughout the 2015-16 season.
With the leadership of Minnesota’s new, more offensively-minded coach Bruce Boudreau, watch for Haula to have a breakout season in 2016-17.
Matt Murray – Pittsburgh Penguins
With only 13 regular-season NHL games under his belt, Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Matt Murray already has his name on the Stanley Cup. Last spring, the backup goalie helped lead the Penguins to their second Championship win in seven years, posting a 15-6 record, a 2.08 goals against average (GAA) and .923 save percentage (SV%) along the way. You can’t get much better than that, right?
Wrong.
Murray, at only 22 years old, has a long and successful career in front of him. It seems like the Stanley Cup was only the beginning for this young goalie.
Artemi Panarin – Chicago Blackhawks
Last season, Artemi Panarin took the hockey world by storm, leading all rookies in goals (30), assists (47), points (77) and game-winning goals (7). He topped off his insanely impressive rookie season by taking home the Calder Trophy.
His stellar season was certainly not a one-time thing. Panarin is here to stay, and despite having a seemingly unbeatable season last year, I’d predict the 24-year-old to only get better in 2016-17.
Phil Kessel – Pittsburgh Penguins
Phil Kessel is one of the most polarizing players in the league, but whether you love him or hate him, you can’t deny he’s got some skill. I mean, come on, even the President of the United States knows Kessel is a champion.
Kessel has a remarkable ability to score goals and produce consistently. In each of his previous eight seasons in the league, including the lockout season of 2012-13, the former Golden Gopher managed to score 20-plus goals. Last season with Pittsburgh, he totaled 26 goals and 33 assists throughout 82 games in the regular season. He then added 10 more goals over the course of the Pens playoff run.
Now that he’s finally out of Toronto and with a team he seems to feel a lot more comfortable with, I’d expect Kessel to kick it up a notch this season.