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.
Related: 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1 Hub
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 three seasons, and on a top-heavy Avalanche team, he’s a key skater who adds much-needed depth to the offense. Now that it’s playoff time, he’s kicked it into another gear. In the five-game series against the Winnipeg Jets, he scored five goals and three assists to help the Avalanche win the series with ease and his scoring presence will be pivotal for the team to make another deep playoff run.
4. Evan Bouchard
It’s hard to call Evan Bouchard underrated at this point in his career. In his third full season at the NHL level, he’s made his mark as one of the best young defensemen in the league. However, on a team with more than enough star power, Bouchard is a glue player who often goes unnoticed and is the two-way player capable of putting the Edmonton Oilers over the top.
Bouchard scored 18 goals and 64 assists this season and added eight assists in the First Round against the Los Angeles Kings but he’s also stepped up defensively. His 5.8 defensive point shares this season were second-most on the team, and his 23:00 ice time led all skaters. In the playoffs, he helped shut down a Kings offense with his ability to close in on skaters and play the shooting lanes, resulting in 12 blocked shots in the five-game series. The Oilers will need a two-way defenseman who can continue to open up the offensive while also locking down potent offenses if they hope to make a deep playoff run, and Bouchard can do that.
3. Charlie Coyle
The Boston Bruins were expected to take a step back when Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci retired in the offseason. Without strong play up the middle, there was no way they’d make the playoffs and be in a position to compete for the Stanley Cup. Sure, the Bruins had Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak leading the top six, but they didn’t have the centers capable of stepping up. That was how many fans and experts saw them heading into this season, one where they were poised to take a step back.
That belief turned out to be wrong, as the Bruins finished the season with the second-best record in the Atlantic Division. Why? Because of Charlie Coyle. As the top-line center, he scored 25 goals and 35 assists while also stepping up on the defensive end of the ice and doing what Bergeron did for years: control the middle of the ice and turn defense into offense. Coyle was a key part of the Bruins season and remains a focal point of their roster as the team looks to compete for the Cup.
2. Gustav Forsling
Not only is Gustav Forsling the top defenseman on the Florida Panthers, he’s one of the best defensive defensemen in the league, a title previously owned by Jaccob Slavin. He led the league with 8.0 defensive point shares and blocked 102 shots while delivering 111 hits to help anchor one of the best defenses. As a bonus, he also led the defense in both goals (10) and assists (29) in a breakout season from the point. While Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov garner the spotlight on the Panthers and Brandon Montour is regarded as the scoring defenseman on the team, Forsling is the straw that stirs the drink.
The Panthers win with their defense. They allowed only 2.41 goals per game this season and only 14 goals in the five games against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the First Round. As a team anticipating a deep playoff run, they will rely on Forsling to play a key role and remain that top-pair defenseman to give them an edge throughout the playoffs.
1. Seth Jarvis
Seth Jarvis is a star in the making. He’s only 22, but this season, he scored 33 goals with 34 assists, the second-most on the Carolina Hurricanes behind only Aho. Jarvis has reached the level of elite play, where it’s debatable whether he’s underrated or a star that many fans are just starting to take note of.
The argument for him being underrated is that he’s often buried on a deep Hurricanes team. Who is the first player on the Hurricanes you think of? After Aho, who else comes to mind? When it comes to naming the five best skaters on the team, does Jarvis make that list? If not, then he should. On a team with elite players across the board, he’s establishing himself as one of the best forwards in the NHL.
Jarvis hasn’t slowed down in the playoffs, either. In the First Round against the New York Islanders, he scored three goals and four assists to lead the Hurricanes in points in the quick series. His scoring instincts were on display, particularly in Game 2, a game where the team trailed 3-0 and came back to win 5-3, and in Game 5, where the Hurricanes closed things out with a decisive 6-3 victory.
Jarvis will be a restricted free agent (RFA) after the season ends, and his remarkable play drove up his price tag. He won’t field the same contract as Aho, which has a $9.7 average annual value (AAV) as of next season, but he will be paid like an elite skater and close to that price. That said, he’ll be a Hurricane for life, and the hope is that he’ll be one of the skaters who leads them to a Stanley Cup title.
Other Under-The-Radar Players to Keep an Eye on
It’s hard to say he’s underrated, but Valeri Nichushkin has become a regular contributor to the middle of the Avalanche forward unit. He scored 28 goals in the regular season, and his shooting made him a constant threat in the first round as he tacked on seven goals (without recording an assist) in the series.
An overlooked player on the New York Rangers, the Presidents’ Trophy winner, is Vincent Trocheck, who has been a key part of their offense since signing with the team in the 2022 offseason. The interesting part of Trocheck’s playoff experience is that the last time he was in the Second Round, he was one of the Hurricanes and saw his team lose in a seven-game series to the Rangers. So, he’ll have a mini-revenge series against his former team while his former team looks to avenge that 2022 playoff exit.
Bouchard is the Oilers’ headline defenseman, but Mattias Ekholm might be more underrated in terms of recognition and value to the defensive unit. He’s the player on the unit who won’t make an impact from the point per se (his 11 goals and 34 assists say otherwise), but he blanks opposing skaters in the defensive zone and is one of the reasons the unit has improved in recent seasons.
Which players are the most underrated remaining in the playoffs that we missed? Let us know in the comments section below!
