Welcome to Star Power Index: A weekly measure of the players making big splashes around the league. If a player is included on this list, it might not be a good thing – it means he's getting a lot of the hockey world's attention.
These players are in no particular order when it comes to how much buzz they generate. We will review the Star Power Index every week during the regular season.
The Winnipeg Jets have looked like an absolute juggernaut and star winger from the start this season Kyle Connor was instrumental in this success.
Connor started the season on a 10-game point streak and scored a goal in seven of his last eight games. With a goal and two assists in Wednesday's 6-2 win against the Detroit Red WingsConnor became the fourth American-born player The story began a season with a 10-game point streak as he joined Kevin Stevens (1992-93), Pat LaFontaine (1992-93) and Darren Turcotte (1990-91).
Connor also scored his 500th career point during Wednesday's contest, becoming just the third player in franchise history to reach the milestone.
Wednesday's performance was the fourth straight game in which Connor scored multiple points. He also scored all three points in the opening stages of this particular competition.
After setting up Winnipeg's first two goals of the game, Connor started the rush in his own zone before passing it off to his teammate Gabriel Vilardi in the attack zone. Vilardi connected with Connor around the net, and Connor shot the puck into the net with an impressive backhand shot.
After Wednesday's performance, Connor currently sits second in the NHL with 9 goals. Connor was even tied at the top of the league on points before Nico Hischier scored against him in Wednesday's game Vancouver Canucks.
Although it's still early, Connor is currently on pace to score 139 points this year.
It's hard to find anyone in the entire league who plays as absurdly fast as Connor. After picking up a single point in each of the first six games, the Jets forward has now picked up multiple points in four straight games to boost his offensive output.
Nico Hischier goes up and down New Jersey Devils This could cause quite a stir in the Eastern Conference so far. In fact, the Devils captain is tied at the top of the table with 10 goals Montreal Canadiens Winger Cole Caufield until the opening month of the season.
In Wednesday's commanding 6-0 win over the Canucks, Hischier scored a goal and two assists, and the goal ended up being his 10th of the season to pass the NHL lead in that department.
Hischier reached the 10-goal mark in just 13 games, which is a historic milestone in itself. Only Paul Gardner (nine games in 1977–78) and Pat Verbeek (ten games in 1986–87) scored 10 goals in fewer games than it took Hischier to accomplish the feat.
Hischier wasted no time getting on the scoresheet, as his goal came just 53 seconds into Wednesday's game. Devils forward Dawson Mercer gained control of the puck in the neutral zone and began a two-on-one with Hischier going into the offensive zone. Mercer remained patient as he entered the Canucks' zone before passing the puck to Hischier, who lifted it over the Vancouver goaltender's blocker Arthur Silovs.
While it was pretty impressive to score so quickly, Hischier's night was far from over.
Just 1:35 minutes into the second period, Hischier had the opportunity to get revenge on Mercer. Hischier was able to take the puck away from the Canucks defender Quinn Hughes in the defensive zone and it was off to the races. The Devils star deflected a shot that Silovs was able to stop, but Mercer was in just the right position to fire the rebound into the goal.
Hischier also scored the first assist Timo Meiers Goal less than two minutes later.
The Devils captain puts the puck into the net at extremely high speed, but Hischier is also only four points away from the league lead (19). After being plagued by injuries fairly frequently in his first few NHL seasons, Hischier has shed that label and developed into a tremendous two-way contributor for the Devils.
Alex Pietrangelo was a big part of it Vegas Golden Knights Despite being in the later years of his career, Pietrangelo has continued to provide incredible stability on the Golden Knights' blue line early in the season.
Pietrangelo has a goal and 11 assists in the first month of the season, ranking second among defensemen in the entire NHL with 12 points. The veteran defenseman, who starts Friday, also ranks third on the Golden Knights in points (12) while also ranking third on the team in assists (11).
Pietrangelo recently scored his first goal of the new season in a 5-0 win against the Calgary Flames on Monday.
Just 6:39 minutes into Monday's contest, Golden Knights forward William Karlsson was able to get the puck free behind the net and get it to his teammate Alexander Holtzwho was in the faceoff circle and surrounded by a defender. Holtz immediately fired the puck to a wide-open Pietrangelo, and the Vegas defenseman uncorked a snap shot that went over the Flames goaltender's blocker Dan Vladar.
Pietrangelo has shown truly spectacular vision on the ice in recent weeks. He has one goal and eight assists in his last few games, including multiple assists in three of those games.
The Golden Knights are off to a strong start with the second-most points (15) in the Western Conference, and Pietrangelo's play on the blue line has a lot to do with the team's offensive prowess. If Pietrangelo can continue to showcase his playmaking abilities on the team's best defensive pairing, Vegas could certainly be a Stanley Cup contender once again.
One of the biggest storylines of the 2024 offseason was the Boston Bruins come to terms with it Jeremy Swayman for a lucrative contract extension. Swayman signed an eight-year, $66 million ($8.25 million AAV) contract in early October just before the start of the season.
As the new season begins, Swayman hasn't quite lived up to the huge contract extension he received.
Swayman has posted a 3-4-1 record, 3.57 goals against average and an .884 save percentage in eight games this season. The Bruins goaltender has conceded at least four goals in four of those starts.
Most recently, Swayman conceded six goals in an 8-2 defeat against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, and it didn't even last two periods before it was pulled back in favor of Joonas Korpisalo. During Thursday's game, the Bruins goaltender was only able to stop 16 of the 22 shots he faced during his time in the crease.
Swayman has given up 13 goals in his last three starts, resulting in the Bruins going 16-8 over that span.
Obviously, Swayman wasn't the team's starting goaltender early in the season when he got into game shape. That could certainly explain the difficult start. Still, the Bruins will definitely need Swayman to get back into form if they have any hope of challenging this Florida Panthers for the top spot in the Atlantic Division this season.
