The Stanley Cup Playoffs are always when the underrated stars step up and deliver. It’s when casual fans see someone playing a pivotal role on a team making a deep playoff run and say, “Wait, they’re good? and then all the fans who have watched the league at large come out of the woods and claim they’ve known that for years.
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In recent seasons, those players were Sebastian Aho and Jason Robertson, two top-20 players who didn’t get nearly enough recognition. Now, it’s a given that Aho and Robertson are elite players who have helped the Carolina Hurricanes and the Dallas Stars make deep playoff runs.
With the Second Round around the corner, it’s a good time to look at the next batch of under-the-radar elite players to pay attention to. Who knows, maybe there will be a watch party where you can proudly say you knew one of the players on this list was good before it was cool.
6. Nikita Zadorov
Talk about a trade deadline acquisition! The Vancouver Canucks added Nikita Zadorov in a trade with the Calgary Flames to solidify the defense, and the 28-year-old did just that. In 54 games, he had 2.1 defensive point shares, 49 blocked shots, and 124 hits to fill the void in the middle of the unit.
In the playoffs, he’s already playing at a higher level and taking on a bigger role with the Canucks. He scored two goals and added an assist against the Nashville Predators and constantly forced turnovers to allow the Canucks to control the puck in a slow and defensive-minded series. The splash addition the team made at the deadline was acquiring Elias Lindholm, but Zadorov is proving to be the type of player needed to fuel a Cup run.
5. Artturi Lehkonen
Artturi Lehkonen is the type of player who garners a lot of attention in the playoffs. It makes sense, considering his history of scoring in the clutch. In 2021, he scored the game-winning goal in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Semifinal against the Vegas Golden Knights to send the Montreal Canadiens to the Stanley Cup Final. One season later, he sent the Colorado Avalanche to the Final with his overtime goal in Game 4 and was a key part of the offense in the team’s Cup run, scoring eight goals and six assists in 20 games.
He’s always a reliable forward in the middle of the unit and it shows with his consistent production in the regular season. Lehkonen has scored 15 goals or more in each of the past…
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