Typically, NHL rookies don't reach their full scoring potential for several years. Even No. 1 draft picks often have trouble getting used to the ferocity and pace of the NHL.
The main reason for this phenomenon is that the competition — aside from being the most skilled group of hockey players in the world — is much stronger and faster than anything rookies have ever seen before. Hockey truly becomes a game of men against boys until the young athletes can acclimate themselves to their new environment. However, there have been several exceptions to this norm in the past few years.
During the 2005-06 season, first-year Alexander Ovechkin scored 52 goals for the Washington Capitals en route to a 106-point season. At the end of his rookie campaign, Ovechkin trailed only Joe Thornton and Jaromir Jagr for the league lead in points. That same year, Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins posted 102 points in his rookie season. These totals marked the highest numbers since Teemu Selanne's NHL rookie-record 132 points in 1992-93.
Clearly, it is possible for first-years to break through the traditional learning curve and become a star almost immediately. This summer brought the 2009 NHL Entry Draft in Montreal and along with it came a fresh batch of rookies determined to capture roster spots right out of training camp.
Most players must succumb to fate and get ready for a year in the minor league system, postponing their big-club dreams for another year. On the other hand, some players with impressive enough training camps will cement their names into their team's opening-night lineups. This year, a particularly plentiful group of draft picks and prospects started the season in an NHL team uniform.
Among these players were the first three picks in the 2009 draft: the New York Islanders' John Tavares, the Tampa Bay Lightning's Victor Hedman and Matt Duchene of the Colorado Avalanche, respectively.
Tavares has enjoyed the most success of the three thus far. Although his team struggled early — losing nine of its first 10 games — the top pick in the draft has shined, scoring five goals and dishing out eight assists so far.
Tavares has also displayed his ability to come through in the clutch, particularly when notching the game-winning shootout goal in the Isle's first win of the season, a 4-3 victory on Oct. 21 over the Carolina Hurricanes. The Islanders, who finished dead last in the NHL last year with an abysmal 61 points, are thankful to have Tavares in the lineup and have earned points in seven of their last 10 games. In addition, the Islanders are 5-2-3 when Tavares' name has appeared on the score sheet.
Though Hedman and Duchene haven't matched Tavares' offensive production through early November, they have shown that they belong in the NHL. Hedman, a 6-foot-6, 220-pound defenseman, has logged an average of 24:00 minutes on the ice per game for a rebuilding Tampa Bay team. Duchene has also shown flashes of his prodigious abilities this season, including a timely short-handed goal in a loss against the San Jose Sharks last week.
But while the top three draft picks have all shown serious promise, the most impressive rookies have been young forwards Ryan O'Reilly and James Van Riemsdyk.
While it's awfully hard to consider a second-round pick a sleeper, the Colorado Avalanche struck gold when they picked O'Reilly 33rd overall in the 2009 draft. The 18-year-old from Clinton, Ontario, who is tied for the rookie lead in points at 14, spent the past two seasons with the OHL Erie Otters.
O'Reilly has excelled on Colorado's shorthanded unit while posting a very respectable 48.8 percent faceoff percentage to boot. The 18-year old center continues to be a crucial part of the Avalanche's success this season, scoring two goals against the Chicago Blackhawks last Friday to help lift his team to a shootout victory.
Tied with O'Reilly for the rookie lead in points is Van Riemsdyk — the Philadelphia Flyers' left winger — who was the second overall pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. A New Jersey native, Van Riemsdyk played two years of college hockey at the University of New Hampshire before making the Flyers squad straight out of training camp this fall.
Van Riemsdyk has flourished alongside superstar center Jeff Carter, who finished with 46 goals last season. Considered a high-powered goal-scorer before entering the NHL, Van Riemsdyk has found the passing touch playing with Carter, leading all NHL rookies with 11 assists in only 12 games.
Before the season started, critics believed Van Riemsdyk, who stands at a lofty 6-foot-3, wouldn't make the Flyers' roster because he would have trouble matching the intensity of players at the NHL level. Thus far, Van Riemsdyk has made believers out of hockey fans and experts with his physicality and playmaking ability.
The ability of young athletes like Tavares and O'Reilly to score key goals for their teams, as well as the surprising efforts of Van Riemsdyk, exemplify how important these players have become to their clubs. Once considered longshots to even make their teams, these rookies have superseded expectations and made their presence known in the NHL.
