Every week throughout the 2020-21 season, we’re highlighting a handful of rookie performances and milestones from around the league.
Robertson looks ready to challenge for rookie scoring title
The Dallas Stars debuted a line Thursday night against Tampa Bay so fun and so productive that Stars writer Saad Yousuf of The Athletic dubbed it the “SuperLine.”
The line was the result of head coach Rick Bowness putting his top three forwards together: Joe Pavelski, Roope Hintz, and rookie Jason Robertson, who’s been a revelation in Dallas and should get serious Calder Trophy consideration as this season progresses.
So super was this line that it produced three of Dallas’ goals in a 4-3 win over the reigning Cup champs. The Lightning simply had no answer for the trio, which left the rink Thursday with a combined eight shots on goal and eight individual points. Robertson registered a goal and an assist in the matchup, marking his third straight game with at least one point.
In 25 games this season, Robertson has tallied five goals and 15 assists for 20 points, which has him sitting second only to Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov (27 points) in the league’s rookie scoring race. Among his Dallas teammates, he has the second-most assists and third-most points (tied in both categories with defenceman John Klingberg).
Perhaps the funnest thing about Robertson’s game right now is that you can see him getting more and more comfortable, shining brighter and brighter as the season goes on. Take the past week, for example, which saw him average nearly 20 minutes of ice time and put up 19 shots over five games — much more than during any other stretch.
A lot of his success is thanks to his undeniable chemistry with Hintz, with whom he’s been paired a lot this season. His growing confidence was evident Thursday night, when the duo was joined by an elite veteran like Pavelski.
“If you watch them, Roope is skating well and Robo [Robertson] has found his game and found his confidence with the puck and they are smart players,” Pavelski told reporters following Thursday’s game (quote via Yousuf). “So it was just inserting myself and keeping up.”
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Smith has Devils poised for bright future
It hasn’t been an easy season for the New Jersey Devils, but there are bright days ahead thanks to a young core that’s really beginning to blossom. A huge part of that is defenceman Ty Smith. The 2018 first-rounder just turned 21 on Wednesday and is celebrating his birthday week with five points (all assists) in five games, in addition to a current three-game point streak he’ll look to extend Friday against Washington.
He leads the Devils in assists (16) and ranks second in overall points (18 — just one shy of Pavel Zacha’s team-leading 19). The top rookie rearguard in the league by a pretty wide margin at this point, Smith is tied with Kaprizov of the Wild for the most assists by a rookie, and is tied with Senators centre Josh Norris for the fourth-most points.
Wahlstrom bringing spark to Islanders’ offence
Winners of three straight and eight of their last 10 games, the New York Islanders are sitting atop the powerful East Division and show no signs of slowing. While solid goaltending, shot suppression, a masterclass in coaching and lockdown defending are so often their keys to victory, they’ve got a rookie jump-starting things on offence: Oliver Wahlstrom.
The 20-year-old got nine games worth of experience last season, but ultimately didn’t stick. This time, he’s clearly here to stay and a point streak has him climbing up the rookie scoring race. A five-game point streak that began March 16 has seen him score four goals and add a pair of assists. This is actually his second five-game point streak this season — he registered three goals and three assists over a handful of games from Feb. 22 to March 2.
Wahlstrom’s nine goals on the season marks the third-highest total for NHL rookies right now, and his 16 points in 27 games rank him sixth.
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Sorokin keeping streak alive
Of course, we cannot talk about the Islanders without also highlighting the performance of rookie goaltender Ilya Sorokin. It’s tough to stand out amongst this strong crop of rookie netminders we have this year, but Sorokin is doing just that with his stellar win streak.
Considering the strong play of Semyon Varlamov (14-6-3, 2.20 GAA, .923 SV% in 23 starts), New York can afford to be conservative with Sorokin and set him up for success, and that approach has clearly been working incredibly well. After losing his first three starts, all in January, the 25-year-old has put up eight consecutive wins, six of which have come this month as he sees more and more time in the blue paint.
Among rookie netminders with at least 10 appearances, Sorokin has the best goals-against average (1.97) and second-best save percentage (.922).
The goalie with the best save percentage? He’s over in Carolina…
Nedeljkovic emerges at right time for Hurricanes
Between Kevin Lankinen in Chicago, Vitek Vanecek in Washington, and the Ottawa Senators’ rookies, we’ve had no shortage of great surprise goaltending performances this season. Currently in the midst of a remarkable run with the Carolina Hurricanes, we can officially add Alex Nedeljkovic to that list.
While Nedeljkovic hasn’t exactly emerged out of nowhere — he’s a second-rounder, after all — he’s been in the Hurricanes’ system since 2014 and it felt unclear at times if he would in fact step into an NHL role. The 25-year-old had a combined six appearances across three seasons prior to this one, and this time around he’s really looking NHL-ready.
Twelve games into his 2020-21 campaign, Nedeljkovic has an 8-2-2 record, a 2.05 goals-against average, .929 save percentage, and two shutouts. He hasn’t lost in regulation all month (seven starts in March), and is quickly climbing the leaderboard. That save percentage is the best among all rookie netminders with 10-plus starts this season.
After his eighth win Thursday night, he’s now wanted in Columbus for robbery:
The Hurricanes are looking poised for a post-season run, and they might just have the right combination in the crease this time around.
Senators’ Gustavsson the latest to seize the crease in Ottawa
When it comes to unlikely heroes seizing the crease, the Ottawa Senators are basically writing the book on that. Following the incredible performance (and unfortunate injury) of Joey Daccord earlier this month, the Senators brought in another rookie netminder: Filip Gustavsson. The 22-year-old got his first career NHL start Monday against the Flames, and stopped 35 of 36 shots for his first career win.
Two nights later, he backstopped the Senators to yet another victory over the Flames — again, letting just a single puck past him for another victory.
Can the rookie make it three?
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