Welcome to the NHL Star Power Index: A weekly gauge of the players who are controlling substantial buzz around the league. When a player is included on this list it may not be a good thing — it means that they are capturing a large amount of the hockey world’s attention.
These players are in no particular order when it comes to the amount of buzz that they’re creating. We’ll revisit the Star Power Index every week throughout the regular season.
It was quite the homecoming for William Nylander as he thrived during the 2023 NHL Global Series in Sweden over the weekend. The Toronto Maple Leafs winger racked up two goals and three assists during his team’s two games in Stockholm. Nylander even scored the game-winning goal in overtime to lift the Maple Leafs to a 4-3 win against the Minnesota Wild on Sunday.
Nylander’s game-winning goal was his 10th career overtime goal, which is the second-most in Maple Leafs history. Nylander is currently on a five-goal streak and has registered at least one point in every game this season. He is tied for the sixth-longest season-opening point streak in NHL history with Connor McDavid, Henrik Zetterberg and Dave Andreychuk.
The Vancouver Canucks have absolutely taken the NHL by storm throughout the early portion of the 2023-24 season. With a ton of offensive producers, center J.T. Miller has become the latest to play at an elite level.
Miller has been one of the top offensive options across the NHL through the first two months of the campaign. In the last four games, he registered three goals and three assists, embarking on a nine-game point streak.
Theodore has already tallied 18 points (four goals and 14 assists), putting him on pace for 74 points (17 goals and 57 assists) this season. To put that pace into perspective, Theodore registered 41 points (eight goals and 33 assists) all of last season, and he has never recorded more than 52 points in a single campaign.
Ilya Sorokin has established himself as one of the top goaltenders the NHL has to offer over the past few seasons. However, it’s been a lackluster start to the campaign for the New York Islanders netminder. Sorokin currently has tallied just four wins to go along with a 3.21 goals-against-average and a .909 save percentage. Over his last five games, the Russian goaltender has accumulated a hefty 3.43 goals-against-average, and the Islanders have lost four of those contests.
