The Washington Capitals will welcome a familiar face back to the lineup Sunday, with veteran pivot Nicklas Backstrom making his season debut against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Backstrom has been sidelined the entire 2022-23 season after undergoing hip resurfacing surgery in June. The 35-year-old has dealt with hip issues for a large portion of his career. He missed the opening 28 games of last season while recovering from an injury and had arthroscopic surgery in 2015.
His resurfacing procedure was considered much more serious than previous operations.
Backstrom has spent his entire 15-year career with the Capitals after he was drafted fourth overall in 2006. He's racked up 1,011 points in 1,058 games with the franchise but struggled last season with a career-low 0.53 points-per-game average.
The Capitals have been hit hard with injuries this season, playing half the campaign without Backstrom and top-six fixture Tom Wilson. They've overcome the key absences in spades, though, currently holding the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with 50 points.
Wright is fresh off captaining Canada to a gold medal at the world juniors in Halifax. He notched four goals and three assists - including a tally in the championship game - at the tournament.
"We're very proud of Shane's performance at the World Juniors, helping captain Team Canada to a gold medal," Kraken general manager Ron Francis said. "He has a bright NHL career ahead of him with the Kraken and now has an opportunity to lead his junior team as they compete for a Memorial Cup. We look forward to watching him the rest of this season and wish him well."
Kingston is likely to trade Wright to an OHL contender, according to TSN's Chris Johnston. The Frontenacs are currently fifth in the Eastern Conference with 36 points.
Wright put up 94 points in 63 games as Frontenacs captain last season, leading to Seattle drafting him fourth overall in 2022. The 19-year-old pivot has bounced around a fair amount in his rookie year. He started the season with the Kraken but played insignificant minutes and was often a healthy scratch. Wright was then assigned to the AHL on a conditioning stint in December and returned to the Kraken for one game before joining Canada's junior camp.
At the NHL level, Wright's managed one goal and one assist while averaging 8:29 per contest. Since he only played eight games, the first year of Wright's entry-level contract is eligible to slide into next season.
Welcome to the third in-season edition of theScore's 2022-23 Vezina Trophy Rankings. Only one goalie remains in the same spot as December's list, while a veteran debutant and a brand new No. 1 candidate shake things up.
Each of our candidates have been scorching hot over the past few weeks and are separated by the slimmest of margins. Here's how things stand as we wade into 2023.
Vasilevskiy cracked our preseason rankings based on his reputation as one of this generation's top goalies, but he hadn't made the cut since. Then the Lightning backstop officially threw his hat into the ring with a dominant stretch since our last list (Dec. 7) in which he went 6-1 with a .952 save percentage and 1.56 goals-against average.Vasilevskiy is now in the top five this season in all the stats in the chart above aside from GSAx, where he ranks sixth. The 2019 Vezina winner has proven capable of putting up eye-popping numbers for long stretches over the course of his Hall of Fame career, and he could easily wind up a finalist for the fifth time in six years if he stays close to his current form.
4. Jake Oettinger, Stars
Sam Hodde / National Hockey League / Getty
Previous rank: 4th
Record
GAA
SV%
GSAA
GSAx
17-6-3
2.39
.920
11.54
15.29
Oettinger has been a mainstay on our lists this season, but he comes in fourth once again because the Stars are far superior defensively to the teams featuring two of our other candidates. Oettinger's faced fewer expected goals than all but two goalies in our rankings and is last among our five netminders in GSAA. Both factors hurt his chances at hardware for the time being, but he's still the backbone of a division-leading team and is near the top of the list for all the key goaltending stats. The 24-year-old has half the season left to work his way into the top three, and even if he doesn't, Oettinger has proven he belongs in the conversation as one of the NHL's best between the pipes.
3. Connor Hellebuyck, Jets
Jonathan Kozub / National Hockey League / Getty
Previous rank: 2nd
Record
GAA
SV%
GSAA
GSAx
19-9-1
2.31
.928
21.41
20.83
Hellebuyck dropped a spot this month, but it's hardly his fault. He and our No. 2 have been practically interchangeable all season. The Jets superstar gets the short end of the stick this time mainly due to a ridiculous surge from our new No. 1. Hellebuyck is posting Herculean numbers on a Winnipeg team that ranks 20th in expected goalsand has better stats across the board than he did in his Vezina-worthy 2020 campaign. He's nearly matched his total GSAA (22.4) from the award-winning season in 29 fewer starts, and he should have no problem maintaining his stellar play.
2. Ilya Sorokin, Islanders
Norm Hall / National Hockey League / Getty
Previous rank: 1st
Record
GAA
SV%
GSAA
GSAx
14-12-1
2.29
.926
17.7
25.93
Sorokin and Hellebuyck have produced very similar campaigns, and their teams are in very similar positions in the standings, but the Islanders stalwart gets the razor-thin edge due to playing in a better division and besting Winnipeg's No. 1 in a few key stats. Sorokin's GSAx on the season is tops in the NHL, and in 10 games played for both goaltenders since our last edition - where Sorokin also earned a slight edge - Long Island's backstop has slightly better numbers than Hellebuyck in each of the stats we rely on to form our rankings. Both goalies are clearly among the best in the league, and they're likely to keep battling for position near the top of our list for the remainder of the season.
1. Linus Ullmark, Bruins
Joe Sargent / National Hockey League / Getty
Previous rank: 3rd
Record
GAA
SV%
GSAA
GSAx
21-1-1
1.86
.939
23.29
18.98
It's gotten to the point where we can't place Ullmark anywhere but No. 1. Sure, he may play for the best team in the league, but he's only lost a single game in regulation this season while leading the NHL in save percentage, goals-against average, and goals saved above average. If voting was held today, he might win unanimously - and definitely would if he'd converted his empty-net attempt at the Winter Classic. We've wondered all season when, and how severely, Ullmark and Boston may regress, but at nearly the halfway mark, there's no indication of an impending decline. The netminder's play would have to fall off a cliff for him to relinquish the top spot on our list.
Edmonton Oilers superstar Leon Draisaitl returned to the lineup during Tuesday's clash against the Seattle Kraken after missing two contests with an undisclosed injury.
Draisaitl said Monday that his ailment healed sooner than expected.
"I think it recovered pretty well and pretty quick, maybe a little quicker than I thought it would, but I'm happy (with) the way it's feeling."
Draisaitl only missed two games since 2018-19 before his latest absence. The Oilers went 1-1 without the 27-year-old; their win came against Seattle last Friday.
Draisaitl is in the midst of another outstanding season, ranking second behind Connor McDavid in league scoring, with 57 points through 36 games.
Vrana has yet to play in the NHL this season and was reinstated from the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program Dec. 16. He was subsequently assigned to the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins for a conditioning stint, which Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said Monday would be extended for its full two weeks.
The Red Wings needed to clear a roster spot to accommodate Robby Fabbri's return to action Wednesday. Fabbri hasn't played this season due to recent ACL surgery.
Vrana carries a $5.25-million cap hit for this season and next before hitting unrestricted free agency. Detroit acquired him from the Washington Capitals in a blockbuster deal at the 2021 trade deadline, but he's only appeared in 39 games since because of injuries and his time in the assistance program.
He's been productive for Detroit when healthy, though, recording 22 goals and 10 assists.
Vrana was the 13th overall pick in 2014. He's collected 189 points in 323 career games and helped Washington win the Stanley Cup in 2018.
O'Reilly will be reevaluated in six weeks due to a broken foot while Tarasenko will be on the shelf at least four weeks with a hand ailment, the team announced.
The Dallas Stars signed veteran forward Joe Pavelski to a one-year contract extension with a base salary of $3.5 million and potential for up to $2 million in performance bonuses, the team announced Sunday.
The 38-year-old was bound for unrestricted free agency this summer. This marks the second consecutive year Pavelski has inked a midseason pact, having signed a one-year, $6-million extension last March.
"Joe continues to prove why he is one of the best players in the NHL, and we are fortunate that he will be part of our group for another season," general manager Jim Nill said. "He embodies what it means to be a professional hockey player with his approach to the game both on and off the ice. Joe's leadership in the locker room is invaluable and the level of respect that he has throughout the entire league speaks volumes to the man that he is."
Pavelski joined Dallas as a free agent in 2019 after 13 years with the San Jose Sharks. He's been one of the Stars' best players since arriving, putting up 200 points in 243 games, including a career-high 81 in 2021-22.
The Wisconsin native is third on Dallas in scoring this season with 12 goals and 25 assists and is closing in on the 1,000-point plateau for his career, sitting at 961.
Pavelski was the Stars' most prominent pending unrestricted free agent. Dallas was projected to have over $12 million in available money for 2023-24 before his extension, according to Cap Friendly, but the league hasn't finalized next year's salary cap yet.
The Stars lead the Central Division with a 23-9-6 record.
We're counting down the top 10 NHL players of the 2022 calendar year. Our list is forward-heavy, and the margins between our chosen few are slim, but we factored regular-season and playoff stats along with individual achievements into our criteria.
This ranking is separate from our preseason top 100 countdown and doesn't factor in career-long pedigree. For example, Victor Hedman, a consensus top defenseman for several years now, sat ninth on our list in October based on his sterling reputation but didn't qualify here after a pedestrian calendar year by his standards.
Marner was one of the league's most productive players in 2022, ranking fourth in total and even-strength while leading all players with 3.63 points per 60. The Maple Leafs star also averaged the sixth-mostice time among forwards, as key roles on Toronto's power play and penalty kill supplemented his minutes. There's no question Marner is one of the league's most electric game-breaking talents, but his play over the past few seasons has proven he belongs in the conversation of best all-around right-wingers as well, evidenced by back-to-back first-team all-star nominations at his position. Marner is in tough to win individual awards considering his most frequent linemate hogged a good chunk of them last year - more on him later - and needs to have sustained playoff success, ideally beyond a seven-game first-round series, to ascend the ranks on this list.
Kucherov missed all but three games in the 2021 portion of last season, but when the 29-year-old returned to the ice after the calendar flipped, he reminded everyone how special he is, finishing 2022 ranked second behind only Connor McDavid with 1.49 points per game across 78 contests. He's also top 10 among his peers in primary assists and points per 60 at five-on-five. But the playoffs are when Kucherov has really earned his stripes, as he led the Lightning in scoring for the third postseason in a row with 27 points in 23 games as they fell two wins short of a three-peat this past spring. A run of serious injuries since he captured the 2019 Hart Trophy and Art Ross have made some forget just how prolific Kucherov is, but he's still here and as good as he's ever been.
8. Kirill Kaprizov, Wild
David Berding / Getty Images Sport / Getty
2022 stats: 86 GP, 55 G, 62 A Accolades: N/A Signature moment: Playoff hat trick
Some questioned whether Kaprizov was worth a $45-million extension after his 55-game rookie season in 2020-21, and just over a year later, it's easy to argue he's underpaid. The Wild winger has blossomed into a bona fide superstar, finishing 2022 ranked fifth in goals and thirdin points. He also put up a team-leading seven tallies in six games as Minnesota bowed out in the opening round of the playoffs. Kaprizov is equally capable of scoring or setting up teammates, and his underlying numbers at both ends of the ice are terrific, slotting 11th in goals above replacement (GAR) - a metric developed by Evolving-Hockey to encapsulate a player's on-ice contributions in a single number - over the past two seasons.
7. Igor Shesterkin, Rangers
Jared Silber / National Hockey League / Getty
2022 stats: 61 GP, 39 W, .928 SV%, 2.19 GAA Accolades: Vezina Trophy, First-team all-star, Hart Trophy finalist Signature moment: Stunning assist in Game 6 vs. Penguins
Shesterkin was the easy choice to represent goaltenders on our list. The reigning Vezina winner leads all at his position for the year save percentage (.929) while sitting second in goals against average (2.19) and goals saved above average (25.43), and third in shutouts (6).His 2021-22 campaign was an all-timer between the pipes, and it's no wonder he earned all but three first-place votes for goalie of the year on top of getting some love in the MVP race. Shesterkin's heroics masked the Rangers' major defensive deficiencies through the regular season and all the way to the Eastern Conference Final - an improbable playoff run featuring a .929 save percentage in 20 contests and two Game 7 victories from the Russian netminder. Shesterkin has taken a slight step back in the opening third of 2022-23, but his overall contributions for the calendar year were more than enough to make our list.
Missed time due to injuries places MacKinnon 19th in points for 2022, but the Avalanche dynamo jumps up to fifth on a per-game basis at 1.38. Although he's one of the game's top regular-season producers, 2022 was all about the playoffs for MacKinnon, and he delivered in spades. The Nova Scotia native led the postseason with 13 goals and added 11 assists to help Colorado steamroll its competition and capture its first Stanley Cup since 2001. With MacKinnon on the ice at five-on-five across 20 playoff games, the Avalanche owned 63% of shot attempts, 61% of expected goals, and a plus-10 goal differential - dominant numbers that back up the eye test on how badly he wanted to win hockey's biggest prize.
5. Matthew Tkachuk, Flames/Panthers
Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire / Getty
2022 stats: 86 GP, 46 G, 75 A Accolades: Second-team All-Star Signature moment: Goal in Panthers debut
Some may be surprised to see Tkachuk listed - especially in the top five - but the numbers don't lie: The 25-year-old issecond to McDavid in points in 2022, sits fourth in GAR over the past two seasons, and boasts off-the-charts defensive metrics. Tkachuk also gets bonus points for being a content goldmine. Whether he's chirping opponents, dropping the gloves, or scoring between the legs, the Panthers' unicorn winger can draw attention in a wide variety of ways and is one of few players across the league with an off-ice personality to match his often brash on-ice antics. While he may have crushed the dreams of many Flames supporters when he commandeered a trade out of Calgary, that sort of player movement creates a palpable buzz for fans of other fanbases and can help the game's popularity grow.
If Draisaitl played anywhere but Edmonton, he'd be a short-list candidate to challenge McDavid for the notion of best player in the world. Instead, they're Oilers teammates - and often linemates - so Draisaitl is stuck playing second fiddle. We'll give him his due here, though, as he was unquestionably one of the league's best players in 2022 in any circumstance. The German playmaker has grown into a perennial 100-point lock and scored the seventh-most goals (52) from Jan. 1 onward while logging a whopping 22:06 per night. Draisaitl entered a new echelon of superstardom this past postseason, putting up Herculean numbers while battling a major ankle sprain. Even while having his injury targeted, Draisaitl managed 32 points - the sixth-highest playoff total in the post-lockout era despite not even reaching the final.
3. Auston Matthews, Maple Leafs
Eliot J. Schechter / National Hockey League / Getty
Matthews comes in third on our list after authoring the NHL's first 60-goal season in a decade. The Maple Leafs pivot was particularly dominant during his Hart Trophy campaign from January through April, registering 40 goals and 73 points in 46 games before putting up nine points in yet another first-round exit. But Matthews' collection of trophies from the NHL Awards makes up for the playoff disappointment in our eyes, and it's nearly impossible to argue he doesn't deserve a top-three spot on this list when he ranks first in goals, even-strength goals, and GAR in 2022 while sitting sixth in points per game and eighth in points overall.
2. Connor McDavid, Oilers
Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire / Getty
2022 stats: 85 GP, 56 G, 82 A Accolades: Art Ross, Hart Trophy finalist, Second-team All-Star Signature moment: Overtime series winner vs. Flames
We all know McDavid is the world's best player and a transcendent talent on a fast track to becoming one of the all-time greats. We aren't arguing any of that by placing him at No. 2 on our list - our No. 1 candidate simply accomplished more in 2022. McDavid was still sensational, capturing his fourth scoring title at the end of the regular season before racking up 33 points in the playoffs. He's carried his blistering pace into 2022-23 and is by far the leading point-getter over the past 12 months with 138 - 17 clear of second place.McDavid has reached a LeBron James or Mike Trout-esque level of excellence where he has to do something otherworldly for fans to feel like he's done something above the absurd standard he's set, but hockey lovers should rejoice in watching him try night in and night out.
1. Cale Makar, Avalanche
Mark LoMoglio / National Hockey League / Getty
2022 stats: 88 GP, 24 G, 70 A Accolades: Stanley Cup, Conn Smythe, Norris Trophy, First-team All-Star Signature moment: Unstoppable solo effort vs. Blackhawks
No player achieved more than Makar in 2022. He's only the third defenseman in history to win a Cup, Norris, Conn Smythe, and Calder Trophy - joining legends Bobby Orr and Brian Leetch - reaching the remarkable feat at 23 years old. Makar also became the fastest blue-liner to record 200 regular-season points, besting Sergei Zubov's mark by 12 games. If those accomplishments weren't enough, Makar led all rearguards in goals, points, average ice-time, power-play points, and GAR over the past year. It's difficult to tab any player a future Hall of Famer after just four seasons, but Makar's 2022 was so impressive it may have sealed the deal.
The Ottawa Senators and defenseman Artem Zub to a four-year contract extension worth $4.6 million per season, the team announced Wednesday.
He was set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2022-23 campaign. When his new deal kicks in next season, he'll be Ottawa's second-highest-paid blue-liner behind Thomas Chabot, who earns $8 million per campaign.
"Artem's transition to North American hockey has been remarkable," general manager Pierre Dorion said. "He has worked hard to establish himself as an excellent NHL player and a strong defender. He consistently helps make us a better defensive team while he's on the ice."
Zub has only appeared in 14 games this season due to injuries. He managed two goals and two assists while averaging over 22 minutes per night. The 27-year-old is most valuable in his own end and posted solid defensive metrics this season.
Artem Zub, signed to a 4x$4.6M extension by OTT, is a second-pair defensive defenceman who doesn't do much with the puck but also isn't asked to. Particularly good rush defender, although he takes more penalties than you'd like. #GoSensGopic.twitter.com/7Rhc6WDchf
The Senators signed Zub to a one-year contract in 2020 after he played seven seasons in the KHL. After a strong debut campaign in the NHL, Ottawa inked the Russian to a two-year deal featuring his current $2.5-million cap hit.
