THE ROARING ‘20s
As the NHL enters the next decade, we look at the players who will define the league both on the ice and in the hobby.
The NHL was a very different place when the calendar flipped to 2010. A trio of youngsters named Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Alexander Ovechkin were establishing themselves as the game’s most promising forwards. Mike Green and Shea Weber were the emerging rearguards and Carey Price was the most exciting young stopper. Over the next 10 years, five of those six went to craft Hall of Fame careers, while four ranked among the biggest names in the hobby.
Now, as the NHL roars headlong into a new decade, Beckett Hockey takes a look at the six players who will remake the sport in their own image, and dominate the hobby in the process. Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers, Forward
It’s difficult to say what’s more astonishing: That, at 22, McDavid has virtually locked up a spot in the Hall of Fame with a Hart Trophy, two scoring titles and two Pearson Trophies or, that with just four seasons under his belt, his potential remains boundless.
Fair to say the NHL’s next decade will be defined by the play of the Oilers superstar.
“I’m a fan like anybody else. I can’t wait to see what he does. I just know we haven’t seen his best yet,” a scout told Beckett Hockey.“This is a player who is driven by his own standard of excellence. It’s going to be a lot of fun to watch...except when we’re playing him!”
McDavid is that rare hockey player whose fame transcends the sport.
Casual fans recognize him as the most dynamic and dominant player in the game today. Non-fans will stop down for highlights that show him embarrassing defenders with his blistering speed, silky mitts and a bottomless well of creativity. And hobbyists of every stripe have such unshakeable faith in his future that they’ll add him to collections dominated by other sports.
“I’m a baseball guy. I don’t collect hockey, I mean, at all,” says Dallas hobbyist Richard Ogle.“But I picked a couple [of McDavid’s] Young Guns [Rookie Cards] along the way. It’s easy to get swept up in the hype around the guy...but obviously it’s not just hype.
He’s the real deal.”
The stats bear that out. McDavid heads into the new decade riding a string of three consecutive 100-point seasons. If he manages a fourth, he’ll be the first to do so since Steve Yzerman and Brett Hull in 1993.
As an individual, he has no peer, but there are concerns that his prime years are being wasted by a painfully slow rebuild in Edmonton. The pressure’s now on the Oilers to build a meaningful supporting cast that he can lead into the playoffs and secure his legacy as one of the game’s alltime greats.
Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers, Forward
One of just two players to score at least 50 goals. One of six to top 100 points. A 50 percent jump in scoring over his previous career best.
From an individual perspective, things couldn’t have gone much better for Draisaitl last season, when he became one of just four players over the past 10 years to reach the 50/100 plateau (Crosby, Ovechkin and Malkin being the others). But it wasn’t just the numbers that caught everyone’s eye. It was the statement he made that he was more than simply an outstanding complementary player to McDavid. Now, he can legitimately be viewed as an MVPlevel player in his own right.
“He’s shown he’s self-sufficient,” said NHL Network analyst Mike Rupp. “Leon doesn’t need anybody else. He can do it by himself.”
Fortunately, he doesn’t have to. Playing alongside McDavid, he’s part of the most dangerous duo in the league, one that accounted for 40 percent of Edmonton’s goals last season. That should decline as the rebuilding Oilers add more significant pieces, but his impact on the team, and the league should only grow.
“Ovechkin’s getting older,” our scout said.“There’s going to be a changing of the guard in the Richard race. With his size and skill and knack around the net, Draisaitl could be the next guy.”
Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche, Forward
With 196 points over his past two seasons, MacKinnon is finally delivering on the vast promise that saw him drafted first overall in 2013. But it was when he found another level in the playoffs to lead the Avs past the topranked Flames in the first round that
Big Mac truly established himself as one of the players who’ll lead the league into the next decade.
MacKinnon is the perfect package: A body big enough to play a Cam Neelystyle power forward game combined with the speed and finishing touch of Pavel Bure in his prime. Outside of McDavid, he’s the game’s most dangerous player in transition, capable of taking a turnover in the Colorado zone, blowing by defenders and generating a premium scoring chance.
“You know he’s there. You know what he’s capable of. And he still beats you,” said Calgary’s Sam Bennett.“Sometimes you just have to tip your cap.”
MacKinnon is coming off a season in which he set career highs in goals
(41, tied for sixth in NHL), points (99, seventh) and power-play points (37, fourth). Tellingly, the 24-year-old has increased his scoring totals each of the past four seasons.
“He’s still at this point [of his career] where you can expect to see improvement in his game,” a scout said. “He’s already one of the fastest, one of the very best at driving the play...at creating scoring chances. He’s already among the NHL’s premier players and he’s driven to improve. Could he get to McDavid’s level? Yeah, I think so.”
Morgan Rielly, Toronto Maple Leafs, Defense Turns out Brian Burke was right.
The former GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs had the hockey world rolling its eyes in 2012 when he suggested that Rielly was his top-ranked prospect shortly after drafting him with the fifth pick. Seven years later, he’s matured into the consensus best player from that crop and is on the verge of establishing himself among the league’s elite defenders.
The process that led him to this point hasn’t been smooth, but the payoff for Toronto’s patience was evident last season. Not only did he lead all defenseman with 20 goals, but his assist total (52) equaled his previous career high for points. Rielly, who was a minus-70 for his career before last season, also
put up a plus-24 while playing heavy minutes with the aging Ron Hainsey.
It was the breakthrough the Maple Leafs desperately needed and one that signaled what lies ahead for both Rielly and the team that relies on him so heavily.
“He’s gone through the learning process,” a scout said of the 25-yearold blueliner. “It hasn’t been a straight line, but his development has been right where it was expected. He’s a legitimate No. 1 defenseman...he’s a player who can make an impact in all three zones...and [he can be] a leader off the ice as well.”
Starring in the league’s biggest media, and hobby, market will keep him front of mind with collectors as well.
Miro Heiskanen, Dallas Stars, Defense
Many of the greatest players in history were passed over for the Calder Trophy in their rookie season. Crosby didn’t win it. Neither did McDavid. But at least those two were recognized as finalists. Somehow, the voters overlooked Heiskanen, despite the fact that the 19-year-old from Espoo, Finland had the look of a fully-realized veteran from the moment he stepped on the ice last October.
Those who were paying attention recognized immediately that the Dallas Stars had something special on their hands.
“With young, offensive minded defensemen, there’s usually an element of risk in their game. It’s the trade-off that you accept for what they can accomplish with the puck,” an Eastern Conference scout said. “With Heiskanen, that risk isn’t there. He doesn’t try to force something just to make something happen. He reads the play like a 10-year vet.”
Heiskanen’s ability to quickly process and execute doesn’t simply set him up for success. It has an impact on his veteran teammates as well.
“He keeps things calm out there,” says Stars captain Jamie Benn. “We definitely feed off that.”
When projecting Heiskanen as a player who’ll be a perennial Norris contender, scouts point to his hockey sense and, of course, his skating. In a league
where speed is the most prized asset, Heiskanen is well positioned to dominate the coming decade.
“There’s an ease to his stride. It’s almost like he’s gliding rather than skating,” says coach Jim Montgomery, who has compared Heiskanen to Hall of Famer Scott Niedermayer. “It’s a beautiful thing to watch.”
Though he missed out on the Calder, Heiskanen earned an All-Star invite and was named to the All-Rookie Team, setting the stage for what promises to be an impactful career on the ice and in the hobby. John Gibson, Anaheim Ducks, Goalie
Predicting long-term goaltending success is next to impossible. No position is more subject to the whims of unforseeable circumstance such as injuries, drafting, coaching style or team construction. And yet, when the Ducks signed Gibson to the maximum eight-season extension during the summer of 2018, it was impossible to find criticism for the team’s commitment.
Gibson, after all, was coming off career highs for wins (31), save percentage (.926, a franchise record,) and games (60) in 2017-18 and was widely regarded not just as a premier goaltender, but one who was well positioned to be the game’s next great keeper.
It says a lot about the 25-year-old that few opinions changed after a “disappointing” 2018-19 campaign. Even as the team melted down around him in Anaheim, Gibson posted a reasonable 2.84 goals-against and a .917 save percentage while being left to fend for himself on most nights. His single-minded focus and excellence in the face of adversity was the highlight of a lost season. It was reminiscent of the situation his partner, Ryan Miller, suffered through in Buffalo while maintaining his status as a hobby hero.
Fortunately, the rebuilding Ducks are quickly assembling the pieces that could return them to contention. But that process will challenge his standing with collectors. The hobby loves winners and the Ducks will spend the first half of the decade paddling hard just to make the playoffs. Can Gibson’s individual brilliance supercede his team’s struggles? He’ll have to be a regular in the Vezina race every year...and he’ll have to win one or two of them along the way.
Gibson has enough of a track record to suggest he can, and that makes him the best bet to dominate the next decade.