Most surprising, disappointing players of the NHL season

Before joining the expansion Vegas Golden Knights William Karlsson had scored 18 goals in 183 NHL games with the Anaheim Ducks and Columbus Blue Jackets. In his debut season with Vegas he topped the 40-goal mark and was one of the league’s top goal-scorers. He also helped secure the Pacific Division crown with a between-the-legs goal that was one of the top goals of the year.

Saad’s performance has to be seen as a huge disappointment in Chicago for two reasons: First, the Blackhawks’ attempt to put the band back together turned out to be a pretty big failure, with Saad’s down year playing a big role in that. Second, the player he was traded for – Artemi Panarin – showed he could carry a line by himself and has been absolutely brilliant for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Just a bad year all around for this trade. 

A year ago the Colorado Avalanche were one of the worst teams the NHL had seen in decades. They returned to competitiveness this season thanks in large part to a breakout season from Nathan MacKinnon that saw him become one of the most dominant offensive players in the league. Had he not missed a handful of games due to injury he would have had a great shot at winning the scoring title. 

For three years, Scott Darling was one of the best backup goaltenders in the NHL and whenever he was called on by the Chicago Blackhawks proved to be an adequate starter. The Carolina Hurricanes were so confident he could continue that as a full-time starter and finally solve their long-time goaltender woes that they signed him to a four-year, $16.6 million contract. It has not worked. Darling has been one of the least productive starters in the NHL this year and goaltending has once again sunk the Hurricanes.

Always one of the league’s top defensive forwards, Couturier took a massive leap forward this season offensively and doubled his previous career highs in goals and points. That offensive outburst combined with his Selke-trophy caliber defense has made him one of the top two-way players in the league and a big reason why the Flyers were able to return to the playoffs after falling short a year ago.

It is not that Oshie has had a bad season, but he is never going to come close to duplicating the goal-scoring output (or offensive output in general) that he had a year ago, and the Capitals are going to be paying him to produce at that level for the next seven years. After scoring 33 goals – including 25 at even-strength – in only 68 games a year ago he came back this season and has just nine even-strength goals and only 18 overall. 

The surprise here isn’t that Hall is good (he has always been one of the best left wingers in the league), but that he is having a season like this where he has been the single biggest driving force behind the Devils’ first return to the playoffs since the 2011-12 season. His first year with the Devils was probably seen as a bit of a disappointment (it was the worst offensive showing of his career) but he has more than made up for this season with an MVP-worthy performance. 

His production isn’t that far off from what it was a year ago, but given the hype that surrounded Drouin upon his arrival in Montreal the fact that he has regressed is a pretty massive disappointment. He is at a point in his career where he should be on the verge of a breakout (and it could still happen in the coming seasons!) but the exact opposite happened in 2017-18. On a disappointing team Drouin’s performance was probably one of the biggest disappointments.

As a first-round pick in 2016 the Bruins obviously had high hopes for McAvoy and his career got off to a very promising start when he was thrust into action in the playoffs a year ago. In his first full season as an NHLer McAvoy has immediately become an impact player and one of the top defenseman (and most important players) on one of the best teams in the league. He was supposed to be good. He maybe was not supposed to be this good, this fast. 

This was always going to be an unfair situation for Strome. Traded to Edmonton in a one-for-one swap for Jordan Eberle, he was set up to fail in Edmonton as Peter Chiarelli’s latest trade blunder. His total point output barely tops Eberle’s goal output. Given what Strome has done throughout his career that is unlikely to change in the future. 

The Islanders had high expectations for Barzal entering his rookie season but there couldn’t have been anyone that expected him to have a rookie season quite like this. All he has done is put together one of the finest rookie seasons in recent memory highlighted by his three — three! — five-point games. MacKinnon is the only player in the league to have more than one this season.

The disappointment here is the Islanders still have to pay Andrew Ladd $5.5 million per season for the next five years (with no trade clauses every year) and there was absolutely nothing to indicate that his disappointing debut season with the Islanders was a fluke. This is probably just the new normal for Ladd’s career, and that is a very, very, very bad sign for the Islanders. 

Over the past five years Dustin Brown had become an offensive blackhole for the Los Angeles Kings, topping the 30-point mark just one time during that stretch. His high point during that stretch: 36 points a year ago. All he did this season was put together one of the best offensive seasons of his career. Given how much money the Kings are paying him they really needed that sort of performance.

The key to the Brayden Schenn-for-Lehtera swap for the Flyers was always going to be the draft picks involved, but they still probably still expected more out of Lehtera. At the very least double-digit points would have been nice. Given how well Schenn played in St. Louis it looks like a pretty bad deal for the Flyers, but the draft picks will determine how it turns out in the long run. The Flyers just better hit on them. 

The Florida Panthers did a lot wrong this offseason (like giving up Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith to the Vegas Golden Knights) but one thing they did right was bringing Evgeni Dadonov back to the NHL. After playing overseas since 2012, Dadonov came back to Florida this season and was instantly one of their best players, finishing with the best possession numbers on the team and averaging close to a point-per-game. 

Trading for a 35-year-old Alex Burrows as a rental when your team has a chance to make a run in the playoffs is perfectly acceptable. Signing him to a multi-year contract extension that runs through his age 37 season is not. Burrows’ level of play this season showed why. There is very little to suggest his decline is going to reverse itself next year. 

Goaltending has been the Achilles heel of the Winnipeg Jets for the better part of the past decade. Hellebucyk has really helped to solidify the position this season. His play (a huge improvement from his performance a year ago), combined with one of the league’s most dynamic offenses, has made the Jets one of the top teams in the league and a Stanley Cup favorite entering the playoffs.

As recently as last season Spezza was still a 50-point forward (in only 68 games) and an extremely productive top-six center. This season his play has completely fallen off of a cliff. Whether it is the result of not being a fit in Ken Hitchcock’s system, or Hitchcock being unwilling to trust him, or just the fact that Spezza is another year older is certainly up for some level of debate, but he clearly regressed in a big way this season for a Stars team that once again failed to meet expectations. 

Eric Staal topped the 40-goal mark two times in his career before this season, so it is not really a surprise that he is capable of such a performance. What is surprising is that he is still capable of it at age 33. A couple of years ago he looked like he was a shell of his former self. He arrived in Minnesota a season ago and had a huge bounce back season. He came back in 2017-18 season and was even better. 

The Lightning have built one of the league’s best offensive teams because they are not afraid to take undersized, but highly skilled forwards. Yanni Gourde has been the latest success story. In his first full-season in the NHL the 26-year-old Gourde emerged as one of the team’s top offensive weapons in all situations. He is one of only five players on the team to record at least one even-strength, power play and shorthanded goal this season.