New Jersey Devils gamers usually watch from the bench and marvel at a few of the issues Jack Hughes can do on the ice.
“Each sport, no less than just a few instances, I will be like, ‘Oh my God, that man is superb,'” ahead Michael McLeod stated. “He does it each night time.”
The identical is true in Buffalo, the place Rasmus Dahlin described the event of Sabers teammate Tage Thompson as “a ticking time bomb.” And in Dallas, the place coach Peter DeBoer lay awake dreaming of teaching Jason Robertson with the Stars.
Though being an All-Star is previous hat for the NHL’s previous guard, Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and even the undisputed finest participant on the planet, Connor McDavid.this weekend’s festivities in South Florida are a showcase for the league’s subsequent technology of stars, led by Hughes, Thompson and Robertson. Hughes is an All-Star for the second consecutive season, Thompson and Robertson every for the primary time, and their emergence might change the way in which the standings — and the standings — search for years to return.
“As soon as you’ve got established your self as an NHL participant, the following step is determining tips on how to attempt to win,” stated Corridor of Famer, two-time MVP and six-time Stanley Cup champion Mark Messier. “It has been fascinating for me to observe these gamers undergo that strategy of turning into not solely NHL gamers, however bona fide superstars, however extra importantly, making an attempt to determine tips on how to win on this league.”
With Thompson, Robertson and Hughes all within the high 10 in objectives and factors, it is no coincidence that every participant’s workforce is within the playoff race at halftime. So are the stunning Seattle Krakenthe one workforce with out an All-Star after rookie Matty Beniers was injured, however they will want him extra to make it to their second season.
The Devils are on observe to play playoff hockey for the primary time since 2018 and simply the second time in 11 years, thanks largely to Hughes, who trails solely Boston’s David Pastrnak behind McDavid.Mikko Rantanen from Colorado and Thompson within the scoring race. Mike Rupp, who gained the Cup with New Jersey in 2003, anticipated Hughes to provide at a 100-point tempo, however didn’t anticipate his scoring to grow to be so important this season.
“He scores within the massive moments,” stated Rupp, an NHL Community analyst who will see Hughes up shut this weekend at Dawn. “That is what he does. He carries his workforce at instances. He pushes his workforce, Jack and Tage (and). And I feel that is the unimaginable half is that they are not simply nice expertise: they’re nice expertise and so they appear to have nerves of metal.”
Thompson’s nerve and playmaking skill could possibly be on show within the playoffs if Buffalo can end sturdy and knock both Crosby’s Pittsburgh Penguins or Ovechkin’s Washington Capitals out of a wild-card spot. The Sabers have by far the longest playoff drought within the league at 11 seasons, and in the event that they snap it, Thompson can be an enormous a part of it earlier than even beginning a seven-year, $51 million contract that he was rewarded. final summer season.
Messier credited Thompson for getting stronger within the offseason, bulking up the fingers that made the 25-year-old a 38-goal scorer in 2021-22 and placing him on observe for greater than 50 this season. Norris Trophy-winning level guard PK Subban, who skilled Thompson’s rise firsthand, taking part in towards him a number of instances over the previous 5 years earlier than retiring and be a part of Messier as an ESPN analysthe sees him as a taller model of Hughes with the identical stage of talent.
“What separates him from a number of gamers within the league and can separate him from a number of gamers within the league going ahead is his skill at that measurement to do every thing at full velocity (with) his vary, his expertise. with the puck, his skating skill,” Subban stated. “He has all of the instruments to be a dominant participant on this league for a very long time.”
So is Robertson, who’s coming off a 41-goal season and like Thompson signed a profitable extension earlier than opening night time. The 23-year-old from California, who’s Filipino-American and hopes to be a task mannequin for gamers of Asian descent, has an enormous persona to match his sport and will quickly be one of many faces of the league.
Robertson has placed on a present this season with 66 factors in 51 video games.
“You get used to it and also you nearly have to sit down and give it some thought due to how particular what you are witnessing is,” DeBoer stated. “It is unbelievable. He makes it look simple.”
And together with Hughes and Thompson, he is making it simpler for the NHL to not lean on Crosby and Ovechkin, each of whom stepped in additional than 15 years in the past.
“Clearly they’re all-time greats, however it was simply them,” Rupp stated. “There have been a few guys who needed to actually carry the league. (Now) there’s a number of guys carrying it, so I feel that places the league in a really wholesome place with superstars.”
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Comply with AP Hockey author Stephen Whyno on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SWhyno
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports