NHL Star Energy Index: Cale Makar showcases his elite playmaking potential, Nikita Kucherov paces Lightning

Welcome to the NHL Star Energy Index: A weekly gauge of the gamers who’re controlling substantial buzz across the league. When a participant is included on this checklist it will not be a superb factor — it signifies that they’re capturing a considerable amount of the hockey world’s consideration.

These gamers are in no explicit order relating to the quantity of buzz that they are creating. We’ll revisit the Star Energy Index each week all through the common season.

Cale Makar has already completed a lot early in his profession. The 25-year-old has began this season at an absurd charge, too.

Coming into Friday, Makar presently leads the NHL in factors (15), and one of many largest causes for that’s that he has been an help machine over the primary two weeks. The Avalanche blue-liner has registered two objectives and 5 assists over his final 4 video games, together with racking up two assists apiece in two of his final three contests.

Makar tallied two assists in Colorado’s 3-2 win towards the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday. The Avalanche defenseman is presently on a seven-game level streak to start the season. He has additionally recorded a number of factors in 5 of these video games.

On the 14:56 mark of the second interval, Makar was trying to put the puck on web when his preliminary shot was blocked. Nonetheless, the puck ricocheted proper again to Makar, and he was capable of hearth a shot in direction of the online. Happily for the Avalanche, ahead Joel Kiviranta occurred to be screening Kraken goaltender Philipp Grubauer, and redirected the puck into the again of the online.

Kiviranta’s purpose ended up giving the Avalanche a 2-1 lead on the time, and so they finally received the competition 3-2.

Makar additionally continued to thrive on the Avalanche’s prime power-play unit. Simply 5 minutes later, the 25-year outdated earned one other main help on a purpose by Avalanche ahead Nathan MacKinnon.

In simply eight video games, Makar has been a pressure on the power-play with a power-play purpose and 6 power-play assists. The truth is, the Avalanche defenseman has tallied a power-play help in 5 of the workforce’s eight video games. His six power-play factors lead the NHL as he holds the respect over Ottawa Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson in addition to Avalanche teammates Mikko Rantanen and MacKinnon.

Makar supplies such a dynamic presence at each ends of the ice as he already has registered 12 blocked photographs on the season. Whereas it is extraordinarily early within the season, if Makar can sustain anyplace near this sort of an offensive tempo, one other Vezina Trophy because the league’s prime defenseman actually might be within the playing cards.

It is onerous to seek out anybody throughout the NHL that’s extra locked in than Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov. 

Kucherov finds himself close to the highest of the checklist relating to factors leaders as he has racked up 13 factors (eight objectives and 5 assists) within the early going. That is not precisely stunning contemplating that Kucherov registered a four-game purpose streak to start the 2024-25 calendar.

Kucherov has begun the 12 months on a seven-game level streak, whereas additionally tallying 4 multi-point video games throughout that span. The Lightning ahead has additionally scored a purpose in 5 of Tampa Bay’s seven video games to start the brand new marketing campaign.

In Thursday’s 4-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild, Kucherov added one other purpose to his early season complete. 

On the 11:31 mark of the second interval, the Lightning had been capable of hold the puck within the offensive zone and defenseman Nick Perbix bought it over to Kucherov close to the slot. Kucherov slid the puck over to ahead Nick Paul, who slid it again to Kucherov. The veteran proceeded to get a scorching one-timer into the online from the face-off circle to present the Lightning a 2-1 benefit.

With Thursday’s purpose, Kucherov strikes right into a tie for the second-most factors (13) within the league as he is knotted with the likes of Avalanche ahead Nathan MacKinnon, New York Rangers ahead Artemi Panarin, and Florida Panthers ahead Sam Reinhart.

Kucherov compiled the most important level complete of his NHL profession through the 2023-24 marketing campaign as he put collectively 144 factors (44 objectives & 100 assists). Whereas it is early, the Lightning standout is on tempo for 152 factors in 2024-25, and will actually win his second-career Hart Trophy as league MVP if he retains up together with his sensational performances.

Well being has been a deterrent all through Mark Stone’s tenure with the Vegas Golden Knights as he is by no means logged near a full season. Nonetheless, Stone is off to fairly a formidable begin out of the gate in 2024-25.

Stone has tallied a purpose and 5 assists in his final 4 video games, and presently has the third-most factors (12) throughout the NHL to date. The Golden Knights captain is coming off of a spectacular three-point efficiency by which he racked up a purpose and a pair of assists in a dominant 6-1 win towards the Los Angeles Kings.

Stone recorded his second power-play purpose of the younger season on the 13:51 mark of the opening interval.

Foward Tomas Hertl was capable of dig the puck out from alongside the boards, and finally bought it again to defenseman Noah Hanifin close to the blue line. Hanifin ended up letting a shot go from the purpose that Hertl deflected on its solution to the online. Nonetheless, earlier than the puck bought to Kings goaltender David Rittich, Stone redirected the puck as soon as once more for the purpose in an incredible show of hand-eye coordination.

Whereas Stone’s purpose was eye-popping tally, he is actually thrived as a facilitator early on this season. 

Stone additionally recorded the first help on two different Vegas objectives all through Tuesday’s win. Sarcastically sufficient, the Golden Knights captain tallied the first help on Hertl’s purpose to open the season after Hertl helped make Stone’s purpose attainable a short while later. As well as, Stone additionally assisted on ahead Ivan Barbashev’s third-period purpose that continued to place the sport out of attain at a 6-1 deficit.

If Stone is ready to have a clear invoice of well being all through nearly all of the 12 months, it is really a game-changer for the Golden Knights. In spite of everything, Vegas needed to combat and claw to clinch a spot within the Stanley Cup Playoffs final season, and ended up drawing the hardest first-round matchup conceivable within the Dallas Stars.

Stone makes the Golden Knights’ prime six very extra harmful, and he is showcasing that reality as he is taking part in at an elite degree to start the season.

An NHL goaltender in all probability could not dream of a greater begin to a brand new season than what Filip Gustavsson has managed to place collectively.

Earlier this month. Gustavsson scored a goalie purpose towards the St. Louis Blues, which is among the most spectacular feats {that a} goaltender can obtain. As great as that was, Gustavsson has proved to be a brick wall of types in between the pipes for the Minnesota Wild.

In 5 begins, Gustavsson has compiled a 4-0-1 file, a 1.40 goals-against-average, and a .952 save share. The Wild netminder hasn’t allowed greater than two objectives in any of these outings, and likewise has yielded only one purpose apiece in every of his final three contests.

Most not too long ago, Gustavsson turned apart 24 of the 25 photographs that he confronted in a 5-1 win towards the Florida Panthers on Tuesday. The Wild goaltender allowed a purpose to Panthers ahead Sam Bennett on the 11:19 mark of the second interval, and was capable of hold the defending Stanley Cup champions off of the scoreboard for the rest of the competition.

Gustavsson has been the Wild’s main goaltender as he is began 5 of the workforce’s first seven video games. The star goaltender is proving to be the recent hand for a Wild workforce that’s tied for the second-most factors (12) within the NHL to begin off the season.