John Matisz

Best since Gretz: Introducing our list of the top NHLers of the last 25 years

A quarter century has passed since Wayne Gretzky retired as the NHL's all-time scoring leader and undisputed top talent.

A quarter century has passed since Wayne Gretzky retired as the NHL's all-time scoring leader and undisputed top talent.

A quarter century has passed since Wayne Gretzky retired as the NHL's all-time scoring leader and undisputed top talent.

A quarter century has passed since Wayne Gretzky retired as the NHL's all-time scoring leader and undisputed top talent.

Four players. Two coaches. Two team executives. One league executive. And one expansion group spokesperson.The following isn't a comprehensive list of the people who'll define the 2024-25 NHL season (you'll notice commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL Players' Association executive director Marty Walsh are absent). But it identifies, in no particular order, 10 intriguing people who are tremendously influential, hold the key to a team's success, or find themselves in a high-pressure situation ahead of this weekend's season-opening games in Europe.Alex OvechkinTrailing by 41 goals, Ovechkin needs to stay healthy and average a goal every other game to tie Wayne Gretzky's all-time record. It's a monumental task for a 39-year-old trying to rebound from the least productive season of his career.Yet, this is the "Great Eight" we're talking about here. Ovechkin's incredible longevity - a 40-goal pace or better in 16 of 19 seasons - offers hope. If he's within striking distance of Gretzky down the stretch, the chase will evolve into the biggest story in the sports world. The NHL is happy to play hype machine."Some people have suggested that because Alex is Russian that somehow this should be marginalized in some way," deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in September at the NHL/NHLPA player media tour. "We couldn't disagree more with that. He's been a terrific ambassador for our game for 20 years now, and his enthusiasm for the game and passion for the game is infectious."The Capitals should be fascinating to track, in general. The front office turned over a third of the roster in the offseason, adding, among other things, two top-six forwards (Pierre-Luc Dubois, Andrew Mangiapane), two top-four defensemen (Jakob Chychrun, Matt Roy), and a solid goalie in Logan Thompson.Washington snuck into last year's postseason with 40 wins and a minus-37 goal differential but is an improved team on paper. Even with the changes, though, a 2025 playoff spot is far from guaranteed. Side plot: How much will Ovechkin's teammates defer to him? Will the chase affect the club's mindset?Anson Carter Dave Sandford / Getty ImagesCarter, the former forward turned broadcaster, is part of the Alpharetta Sports & Entertainment group that formally requested the NHL in May to open the expansion process to bring Atlanta into the fold for a third time. Another group of investors, led by billionaire Vernon Krause, has also expressed interest to the league and has dreams of building an NHL-caliber arena in Atlanta.NHL officials have repeatedly said expansion is not a front-burner issue. However, there's an understanding in league circles that expansion is on the horizon, with two teams being added relatively soon. Expansion fees are set to rocket past the $500 million Vegas paid in 2017 and the $650 million Seattle forked over in 2021 and land somewhere in the $1 billion-$2 billion range.The affable Carter is highlighted here because he's the most recognizable name associated with prospective groups in Atlanta, Houston, and Phoenix. Any new franchise will almost certainly reside in the United States. The NHL counts the Rangers, Islanders, and Devils (New York), and Kings and Ducks (Los Angeles) as two total markets, which means its presence stateside is less expansive than other sports (22 markets to the NFL's 30, for instance).Igor ShesterkinShesterkin is arguably the best goalie in the world. Fresh off another strong playoff run (.927 save percentage in 16 games), the 2022 Vezina Trophy winner is a swing player in 2024-25. If Shesterkin's performing at a high level at the right time, the Rangers can win the Stanley Cup.The 28-year-old Russian also wants to reset the goalie contract market, which has fallen off a cliff in an era of high scoring rates and tandem workloads. The seven-year, $84-million deal Montreal's Carey Price signed in 2017 still stands as the richest ever among goalies. Shesterkin, an MVP-level talent most seasons, is worth at least $11 million a year over seven or eight seasons. Anything above Artemi Panarin's $11,642,857 would set a franchise record.Shesterkin is reportedly uninterested in negotiating during the season. While that shouldn't set off alarm bells in New York, it does keep the door open for a potential exit next summer. He'd be a highly desirable unrestricted free agent.Jessica Campbell Christopher Mast / National Hockey League / GettyCampbell is the first full-time female assistant coach in NHL history. The Kraken announced in July that the former Cornell University forward would join Dan Bylsma's staff as an assistant following two seasons in the same role for AHL Coachella Valley. Campbell also previously coached in Germany.The 32-year-old is a trailblazer, and that label comes with additional attention and, unfortunately, extra scrutiny. Campbell will be involved in coaching Seattle's power play and developing its youngsters. The latter has been one of her specialties, and strong connections with ex-Coachella Valley players like Shane Wright, Tye Kartye, and Ryker Evans should ease her transition.When an NHL team hires a woman for a front-office role in 2024, barely anyone bats an eye. It's become commonplace to have the best candidate, regardless of gender, get the gig. The coaching ranks have some catching up to do, and by all accounts, Campbell is an ideal first woman in.Chris MacFarlandNobody's feeling bad for Colorado's general manager. MacFarland has two top-10 (top five?) players on the planet at his disposal in Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. Mikko Rantanen is, at minimum, a top-25 player. Those three stars are true franchise pillars - a trio of Cup winners still in their primes.But, man, has MacFarland been dealt a tough hand. Gabriel Landeskog and Artturi Lehkonen are expected to miss the first chunk of the regular season due to a knee and shoulder injury, respectively. (Landeskog, who hasn't played since the 2022 Cup Final, has an especially foggy timeline.) Meanwhile, Valeri Nichushkin is suspended until mid-November after violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program. To recap, that's half of the Avalanche's best two lines unavailable for at least the first month and a half.Maybe all three return, look normal, and there's nothing to worry about. Or perhaps the returns don't go well. Or MacFarland opts to work the controversial LTIR loophole. Or this year becomes a write-off thanks to a rough start.There's such a wide range of possibilities with this Avs squad, which is a strange thing to type about a legitimate Cup contender. Complicating matters: Rantanen and starting goalie Alexandar Georgiev are pending UFAs.Connor McDavid Andy Devlin / National Hockey League / GettyMcDavid, 27, is in the prime of his career. He's coming off his seventh 100-point season, having recorded 32 goals and a career-high 100 assists in 76 games. At the player media tour, McDavid noted that he took a more measured approach to his offseason workouts this summer after arriving at the 2023-24 training camp too skinny from overtraining. He's feeling refreshed.McDavid, who's only 18 points shy of 1,000, is entering his 10th season. It feels like it's only a matter of time before he and the Oilers claim the Cup, and McDavid's understandably hungrier than ever following 42 points in 25 games and a crushing Game 7 loss in the final. He'll also represent Canada for the first time since the 2018 world championships when the finest Canadians, Americans, Finns, and Swedes battle in the 4 Nations Faceoff in February.All this while his contract winds down. Like running mate Leon Draisaitl this summer, McDavid is eligible to sign an extension ahead of the final year of his current deal. It seems inevitable he'll stay in Edmonton, with the AAV ($16 million?) and total money ($128 million?) most likely setting NHL records.Mitch MarnerThe Maple Leafs' postseason struggles stretched to one series win in nine tries following a seven-game Round 1 loss to the rival Bruins in May. Fairly or not, Marner's the poster boy for this era of demoralizing defeats and the punching bag for a not-insignificant portion of the NHL's largest fan base.Deep playoff runs require standout performances throughout the lineup, but let's face it, Toronto will go only as far as Marner, Matthews, and William Nylander take them. That means the issue is black and white ahead of the 2025 playoffs: Marner either redeems himself with an extended stretch of brilliant hockey or underwhelms again, providing his haters with extra ammunition.Marner co-headlines next summer's UFA class. If he chooses not to re-sign with Toronto and hits the open market, teams will be lining up for his services. For all the negativity surrounding him, Marner's an exceptional talent - a rare all-situations winger who, at his peak, can simultaneously challenge for the Art Ross Trophy (most points) and Selke Trophy (best defensive forward).Lindy Ruff Ben Jackson / Getty ImagesRuff, a Sabres defenseman in the 1980s and head coach from 1997-2013, is back for a third tour of duty in Buffalo. He's been brought in to be a savior as the Sabres try desperately to end an NHL-record 13-year playoff drought.The Sabres last made the playoffs in the second-last full season of Ruff's first tenure behind the bench. How bad were those years without him? Consider this: Only once did Buffalo's final record feature more wins than losses, and that one campaign - 2022-23 - barely qualifies, at 42 wins and 40 losses.The Sabres hope Ruff can bring greater accountability to the dressing room and push players to new heights. Captain Rasmus Dahlin, burgeoning star Owen Power, and 6-foot-7 sniper Tage Thompson lead a fairly balanced roster that, with decent coaching, should be in the hunt for an East wild-card spot.Kevyn Adams is entering his fifth season as GM. He won't necessarily lose his job if Buffalo again falls short of the postseason. But for Adams to keep it, the team must take an appreciable step forward in the standings.Don WaddellWaddell's transition from top executive in contending Carolina to top dog in rebuilding Columbus was never going to be easy. It got infinitely harder following the tragic death of Blue Jackets star winger Johnny Gaudreau.Waddell, named president and GM in May, has done everything he can to steer the organization through the early stages of mourning. The grieving process doesn't magically stop for the hockey season, so his work will continue in the coming days, weeks, and months. Remember, there's a handful of Jacket players who've lost two teammates in three offseasons, with young goalie Matiss Kivlenieks dying in a fireworks accident in July 2021.As for the hockey stuff, Waddell inherited a rich prospect pool, but the NHL roster remains very much under construction (and especially so with Gaudreau, the club's most talented player, gone). Waddell hired coach Dean Evason to stabilize an area that's been anything but stable. He traded Patrik Laine. He's talked openly about trying to fix a losing culture. The Jackets will miss the playoffs for the fifth straight season, but there's plenty to accomplish.Steve MayerAs the NHL's chief content officer, Mayer has been an influential figure for years. He's the creative, boundary-pushing voice in board rooms filled mostly with labor lawyers and former players. In 2023-24, he was the brains behind a revamped All-Star Weekend and the stunning draft inside Las Vegas' Sphere.Mayer was an executive producer on the six-part Amazon Prime Video docuseries launching Friday. Along with traditional producing duties, he helped convince players and teams to buy into the all-access style that's allowed auto racing, golf, and tennis to reach new audiences. Mayer will be tasked with building on the momentum of whatever buzz is created by Season 1 of "FACEOFF: Inside The NHL." Nobody at the league office pushes harder than him for players to loosen up and be authentic in front of the cameras.Also on Mayer's plate this season: the one-off, seven-game 4 Nations Faceoff tournament; outdoor games at Wrigley Stadium in Chicago and Ohio Stadium in Columbus; and a smaller, more player-focused "decentralized" draft event in which staffers for all 32 teams work from home, not the host city.John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore).

It can be easy to forget that Nathan MacKinnon, a consensus top-three hockey player on the planet, was once a young NHLer searching for answers.MacKinnon, the first pick in the 2013 NHL draft, burst onto the scene as an 18-year-old, recording 63 points in 82 games. But the Calder Trophy winner's production dipped to an average of 54 points per 82 games over the next three seasons.Now 29 and entering his 12th year, MacKinnon has enough space between then and now to grasp what happened. In short, the Colorado Avalanche superstar fell off from ages 19-21 because he thought he had it all figured out. He failed to progress as a player and the league caught up to him."When you have a good rookie year, there might be less fear going into your second year. Fear can drive you," MacKinnon said in September at the NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas. "You don't know what to expect. You're worried you won't even be good in the NHL, and then once you think you're a little good, it can go downhill. It definitely happened to me."!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;rMacKinnon's wavy career arc is a reminder that player development is rarely linear, even among the super talented. "Sophomore slump" is part of the pro sports vernacular for this exact reason. It's incredibly difficult for second-year players of all kinds to meet heightened internal and external expectations.Chicago Blackhawks sniper Connor Bedard and Minnesota Wild workhorse Brock Faber finished first and second in 2023-24 Calder voting. What can we realistically expect from each player in their second acts? What potential challenges might the sophomores face? Let's dig in, with help from pro hockey analyst Jack Han.Connor BedardEverybody wanted a piece of Bedard ahead of and during his rookie season. He was the shiny new toy - a fresh face of the league with enormous upside."Macklin will be dealing with all of that instead," Bedard said recently with a laugh, referring to media and fan interest inevitably shifting toward Sharks super prospect and Vancouver-area buddy Macklin Celebrini. Bill Smith / Getty ImagesBedard's on-ice impact last season mirrored the hype - 22 goals, 39 assists, and a 0.90 points-per-game rate that ranks third this century among 18-year-old NHLers, behind only Sidney Crosby's 1.26 and Connor McDavid's 1.07. The shoot-first center led or co-led 31st-place Chicago in goals, assists, and points, despite missing 14 games with a broken jaw and skating alongside serviceable yet unremarkable veterans. (Bedard's three most common linemates were Philipp Kurashev, Nick Foligno, and Ryan Donato.)The 2023-24 Hawks were so deprived of firepower that Bedard was the central focus for opposing teams from his debut onward. "You didn't need to game-plan against anybody else," is how Han - a former AHL assistant coach who writes the popular Hockey Tactics newsletter - put it.Chicago brass was well aware of this and got to work in the offseason. Puck hound Tyler Bertuzzi, playmaker Teuvo Teravainen, and speedster Ilya Mikheyev were all added to the forward group. Meanwhile, former MVP Taylor Hall has recovered from the ACL tear that shelved him for most of last season.Better support will reroute some pressure away from Bedard, making the explosive trigger man more dangerous. The righty scored on 10.7% of his shots last year, which is very good for an average NHL forward but a tad low for someone with Bedard's elite, deceptive wrist and snap shots."If you have a good shot and you're a player who can consistently get to dangerous areas of the ice, there's nothing wrong with shooting 10%," Han said. "The difference between a 10% shooter and a 13% or 15% shooter is often not so much you and your talent as it is your teammates and their talent. Why is it that Auston Matthews or Steven Stamkos can shoot 15%? It's because they've got Mitch Marner and Marty St. Louis setting them up." Icon Sportswire / Getty ImagesDefensive play and faceoffs were Bedard's main weaknesses as a rookie. (He won a ghastly 38.9% of his 532 faceoffs.) Also part of the learning curve - realizing how smart NHLers are relative to junior players. "Everyone's always in the right position. That was something I wasn't used to at the start," said Bedard, who played two full seasons in the WHL. "I was making plays, predicting a guy would move, and I'd just give (the puck) right to them."Bedard, who focused on improving his speed and power in offseason workouts, was understandably tight-lipped about his personal performance goals heading into Year 2. But in early September, the 19-year-old mentioned emphasizing overall consistency and finding a way to impact each game on a deeper level.Assuming good health, simply being on a team with a respectable supporting cast should boost Bedard's numbers. Han believes an 80-point pace (30-35 goals and 45-50 assists over 82 games) is a "reasonable" bet. While nobody's immune to the sophomore slump, No. 98 on Chicago is an unlikely victim."I've been very motivated since I was 4 or 5 years old," Bedard said. "I'm not overly concerned about that. Maybe I have a slump, maybe I play really well. You don't know the future."!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;rBrock FaberFaber was the only other player to receive a first-place vote for last year's Calder, with an excellent first full season in Minnesota convincing 42 of 194 voters to slot him ahead of Bedard.His supporters were enamored by an abnormally hefty workload and relatively polished game. Faber, who was usually pitted against other teams' best forwards, logged 2,047 total minutes, the most by a rookie since the NHL began tracking individual time-on-ice numbers in 1997. Minnesota, a team that missed the Western Conference playoff cutline by 11 points, fared much better at five-on-five with Faber on the ice (plus-one) versus off (minus-17)."I learned a lot. It's stuff you can't really learn in the offseason," Faber said of the rookie grind. "You can't learn how to take a two-on-one against McDavid and (Leon) Draisaitl. When you're thrown into the fire, that's how you learn. When you make mistakes, that's how you learn. I made plenty of mistakes, and I learned a lot from those mistakes, offensively and defensively." Ronald Martinez / Getty ImagesHan likes the player - "Faber's ahead of the curve for a young defenseman" - and believes there's a strong chance the eight-year, $64-million contract extension Faber signed this offseason will age gracefully as the salary cap continues to rise. Still, he's worried about the gap between Faber's top-pairing reputation and the underlying performance markers of his rookie year.HockeyViz's isolated impact heat maps suggest Faber was essentially a net-negative offensive player and net-neutral defensive player at five-on-five. Also, it's often overlooked that he contributed to the NHL's third-worst penalty kill."If you're talking about sophomore slumps, unfortunately, Faber's got a perfect storm brewing," Han said. "For the first time as a pro, he's coming into a season with something to lose. That's a very dangerous mindset. You're now in a no-win situation and the game can get away from you very quickly." HockeyVizKraken forward Matty Beniers found himself in a similar situation last season. He set the bar high with a Calder-winning 2022-23. Then, in Year 2, his puck luck leveled out, his defensive responsibilities increased, and opposing teams targeted his weaknesses. Beniers was issued the "sophomore slump" label by midseason - even though he didn't actually take a tangible step backward.Helping the expectations around Faber? He played the final two months of 2023-24 with two cracked ribs. That might partially explain the wonky stats.Not helping Faber? He's a subtle player, far from the flashiest on the Wild. He's a strong skater, puck mover, and distributor (47 points as a rookie), but stick-checking and blocking shots are his bread and butter. First and foremost, he wants to kill the opposing attack every time he steps on the ice."I can try to impact the game more than just point-getting and power-play time and ice time. I don't know. I feel ready. I feel prepared. I'm healthy. I'm confident. And I'm still learning. I'm still trying to get better," Faber said."But that's how I look at it, right? I'm not someone who hangs my hat on scoring or getting points. I never have been and I never will be, as I'm a defenseman. I look at it a little differently. I want to defend against the best players in the world better this year than I did last year. Everyone talks about how I played great, but also, there were games when I was playing against those guys when I was horrible and they were great. So that's how I kind of look it. Little things, little milestones like that."John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore).

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