The Philadelphia Flyers have shown flashes of strong play in the past two seasons, but they're still not likely to make the Stanley Cup playoffs this season. Still, in this cover story from THN's 2023 "Prospects Unlimited" issue, longtime Philly scribe Wayne Fish profiled the Flyers' impressive-looking future:

A NEW ERA OF ORANGE

By Wayne Fish

Everyone connected to the team was holding their collective breath. This was going to be their moment of truth. Would the Philadelphia Flyers, a team steeped in tradition and historical success, actually use a high first-round draft pick on a prospect they knew would not be playing in the NHL for several years? Could they go against their usual conventional wisdom of selecting a player who figured to help them quite soon, the way 2015 first-rounders Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny did when they joined the NHL in 2016-17 as 19-year-olds?

This scene unfolded on June 28, the first night of the 2023 NHL draft at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, and new GM Daniel Briere had a big decision to make. Should he go for a prototypical Flyer such as, say, the rugged Ryan Leonard, who might be ready to compete in the NHL in a year or two? Or go with a prospect such as Russian-born whiz kid Matvei Michkov, who was already committed to playing the next few years in his native country?

The Flyers, mired in the second-longest non-playoff drought in their history – three years – knew choosing the second option would put their commitment to a total rebuild directly into the critics’ spotlight. Briere didn’t seem to care. With the blessing of new president of hockey operations Keith Jones, Briere decided to use the No. 7 overall pick on Michkov, a clear sign the Flyers are all-in on this franchise overhaul.

Further proof of this approach involved the trades, releases or departures through free agency of several other established veterans during the off-season. The Flyers parted with center Kevin Hayes by sending him to the St. Louis Blues, then shipped Provorov to Columbus in a three-way deal with Los Angeles.

They attempted to trade defenseman Tony DeAngelo, but when there were no takers, they simply bought him out from the second year of a two-year contract (he later signed with Carolina). And winger James van Riemsdyk, who had spent more than half of his career in Philadelphia, was allowed to leave via free agency and signed with Boston. Another defenseman, Justin Braun, retired from his NHL career to play a final year or two in Germany.

All these moves were made to open up bigger roles for some of the Flyers’ up-and-comers, such as defenseman Cam York, left winger Noah Cates, center Morgan Frost and right wingers Owen Tippett, Wade Allison and Tyson Foerster. Chuck Fletcher, the former president and GM of the team, was let go back in March. He had started this regeneration process, but the feeling seemed to be that things weren’t moving along quickly enough nor was there enough commitment to the rebuild. Briere, who had been a special advisor to Fletcher, was hired with a clear mandate to speed up and be more comprehensive with the process.

Plus, there were even changes at the very top of the organization. Dave Scott, former chairman of Spectacor and governor of the Flyers, decided to retire and was replaced by new CEO Daniel Hilferty at the end of the season. At a May press conference, Hilferty helped announce the team’s new motto, “A New Era of Orange.” The key word there being “new” for the team with the third-highest points percentage in league history.

Like many NHL teams, the Flyers were victims of enjoying one good season during the pandemic and then believing they were back to legitimate contender status. Back in the first shortened campaign of 2019-20, the Flyers finished the regular season on a hot stretch, having had a nine-game winning streak end just before all professional sports were shut down in March 2020. Somehow, they made it all the way to Game 7 of Round 2 before losing to the New York Islanders in a winner-take-all game. Things went downhill from there. Injuries and uncertainty behind the Flyers’ bench conspired to keep the team out of playoff contention since.

Veteran coach John Tortorella, an honest evaluator of talent young and old, was brought onboard last season to start the process of who should stay and who should go. He has helped to make some significant player-personnel moves, but there’s a sense there’s still more work to be done. While Flyers fans have a tendency to be impatient, the people in the organization insist there can be no shortcuts.

“I think patience is a key word,” Jones said. “It’s going to take some time. We have a plan. We (the leadership group) are going to get together and really work on that plan, and it’s probably going to take a little while. But we do have a little bit of time. The team made some strides last year. Two years ago, this was not a fun team to follow. I was in the same boat as the fans, covering it closely (as a TV analyst). I know our fans and have had many conversations with them. And that (failure) was not acceptable.”

Under Tortorella, the Flyers appeared to take a step in the right direction last year, and Jones wants to continue on that path. That could involve the development and possible promotion of prospects such as Elliot Desnoyers and Emil Andrae. “But we have more work to do,” Jones said. “How quickly we can get that done, it’s ultimately going to be about the players. Having some players in good health is a major plus for us, (Sean) Couturier and (Cam) Atkinson. But we’re in a position where we want to build certain areas of our team and continue to keep the strengths that are there, but there are spots that need a lot of work.”

Like with any rebuild, there has to be a lot of help in the pipeline, and that’s what the Flyers have been working on. Officials insist there’s no timeline on when the team might return to legitimate contention. The Flyers’ AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, made the playoffs for the first time last season since 2018. The decision to endorse Cutter Gauthier, the 2022 draft’s fifth-fifth-overall pick, in his plan to return to Boston College for a second year of NCAA play was an easy one.

From a personal standpoint, Briere knows all about “bouncing back” from the depths of the NHL. He signed with the Flyers as a free agent back in 2007, just after the team suffered what was arguably the worst season in franchise history. It took only one year to turn things around, and the Flyers went to the Eastern Conference final in 2008, losing to Pittsburgh. Two years later, the Flyers were in the Stanley Cup final themselves.

Last season, the Flyers were operating without top players Couturier and Atkinson (both sidelined by major surgeries). That may have rushed players such as Cates and Frost. This year, barring any injury setbacks, the Flyers should be in a position to employ their prospects more prudently, allowing the youngsters to see how it’s done from a different perspective.

“On the ice, it’s a big change,” Briere said. “We put a lot of stress on guys like Noah and Morgan last year because of that. I’m sure it was great for their development having to face top-six players all year long. But it’s going to be nice to give them a little bit of help and strengthen that position a little bit. Let them breathe a little bit.

“Experience-wise, I think it’s going to be great for their growth as well. On the ice, adding those two guys (Couturier and Atkinson) in the locker room is huge. Last year, we had a lot of young guys. Those (veteran) guys are going to help.”

One of the big off-season signings was bringing in veteran defenseman Marc Staal. He’ll help with the transition by tutoring some of the younger players. “You want to give the young guys a chance, and ‘Torts’ did a tremendous job of that last year,” Briere said. “But at the same time, you don’t want to put them in a position to fail. That’s the part that we have to gauge. Put them in positions so that they can grow.

“That’s exactly why we added a guy like Staal. We felt to help some of our defensemen after losing Provorov, adding a good veteran who can help cool the temperature at times. Understanding where he fits in, but at the same time, helping out our young D-men. There’s a lot of change. A lot of young guys stepped up last year, mostly on offense. Hopefully, we can see that a little more on the defense. At the end of the day, the players are going to decide that. We’re not just going to force them back into the lineup. We’re going to give them a chance to get their confidence back.”

Oilers star winger Zach Hyman has been a great success in Edmonton. Leaving the Toronto Maple Leafs was a tough decision for Hyman, but in this feature story from THN's Nov. 26, 2021 edition, writer Matt Larkin drilled deep to provide a profile of Hyman in his first year as an Oiler:

DESTINY AWAITS

By Matt Larkin

"When hearts are high, the time will fly, so whistle while you work,” urges the famous song in Disney’s 1937 animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It’s a fitting mantra for an NHL player who pens children’s books. Zach Hyman doesn’t literally whistle while he works, as far as we know, yet he does everything but, according to those who toil alongside him.

Edmonton Oilers coach Dave Tippett calls Hyman “very positive, an energetic guy with a smile on his face, seems like he’s always in a good mood, just a genuine, very good person.” Defenseman Darnell Nurse describes Hyman’s upbeat personality and work ethic as “infectious.” So what gives Hyman such a spring in his step these days?

It probably starts with the seven-year, $38.5-million contract he signed this past summer to become the Oilers’ first-line left winger. He’s particularly peppy because he gets to share a line with the greatest hockey talent of this generation and perhaps any other: Connor McDavid, the superstar scoring at a rate not seen since Mario Lemieux ripped it up in the mid-1990s.

After Hyman signed his contract, did he start dreaming up scenarios of skating with No. 97? Of course. Wouldn’t you? “All the time,” Hyman said, adding a joking caveat to “not sleep on” superstar center Leon Draisaitl. “That was a major factor in why I chose Edmonton. Obviously Connor is special, and he’s doing things that are unheard of, and to be a part of his career and potentially play with him is definitely one of the reasons I chose Edmonton. Of course you get excited for the start of the year. In your head, you map out who you may play with.”

The pull of Edmonton was undeniable for Hyman, 29. But there was also a “push” at play. He’d reached a point in his career at which a divorce from his hometown team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, made a surprising amount of sense. Why?

First off: the on-ice anguish. He’d exited 2020-21 experiencing what most of the players on the team called the most devastating in a series of disappointments spanning half a decade. The Leafs had won the temporarily realigned North Division, which was guaranteed an entrant among the final four teams in the Stanley Cup playoff bracket. They opened the post-season with, unofficially, their best Stanley Cup odds in more than 15 years. Minutes into Game 1 of their first-round series against Montreal, Leafs captain John Tavares sustained a disturbing head injury, catching an errant knee from Habs right winger Corey Perry, and was stretchered off the ice.

Looking back on the horrific incident, which knocked Tavares out for the playoffs, Hyman admits Game 1 was a write-off. The Leafs’ hearts were with their captain, hockey became secondary and they lost that game. They fought back to take a 3-1 series lead but ended up choking it away on home ice in Game 7.

That meant Hyman was part of five consecutive first-round exits. None hurt more than 2021’s. “Last year’s loss for Toronto, for us, was the worst I’ve ever experienced,” Hyman said. “We were as close as we’d ever been, we had the chance to win the series, and the path for us to get to the final and potentially win was there. I thought we had a great team. The team was top in the North all year. I thought we could beat anybody. With the missed opportunities, just, I didn’t want to watch (the rest of the playoffs). It was too hard. But that’s hockey. You play that series over 100 times and I think it turns out in our favor more so than not.”

Hyman had spent most of last season wanting to remain a Leaf. The problem: he played too well in his UFA walk year. With 15 goals and 33 points in 43 games, he produced the best per-game stat line of his career while also playing an inspiring, hardnosed style in all situations. With a similarly aged, similarly skilled but less versatile Brendan Gallagher establishing a contract comparable with a six-year, $39-million deal signed in October 2020, it was clear Hyman could score a long-term deal more than doubling last season’s AAV of $2.25 million on the open market.

The Leafs, already spending more than $40 million on their star forward quartet of Tavares, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander, needed to squirrel away cap space to sign a goalie and extend defenseman Morgan Rielly’s contract. The crushing playoff defeat created an urgency to reshape the roster, and the Leafs gave permission for Hyman to speak with other teams, which he appreciated.

Rather than risk a Groundhog Day scenario in Toronto, he allowed himself to get excited about playing elsewhere. “I said this to my wife: change is good,” Hyman said. “When you’re in a place for so long, things remain stagnant from a personal standpoint. I know my role in Toronto, I know what I can do in Toronto, and then it’s like, well, what if I went somewhere else? How much can I develop my game? Can I be a better player in that situation? So you start to think about those things and, for me, the best hockey fit was Edmonton.”

Edmonton also represented an exciting personal fit for Hyman. That may come as a surprise given he was born and raised in Toronto, he met his wife, Alannah Mozes, there, most of their close family and friends live there and he usually considered that a wonderful blessing. But playing away from all the personal ties offers a better opportunity to immerse himself in the sport.

“It’s nice to go to a city where you don’t know as many people,” Hyman said. “You don’t have as many obligations. You can focus on your family and your hockey and your work and not being pulled in a million different directions. Even though those directions are nice, it can be tiresome sometimes. Obviously, there are benefits to playing in your hometown, but there are benefits to going somewhere else and being somewhere quieter with your family, focusing on your craft and going all-in on it.”

The Oilers were all-in on him, too. As Tippett explains, they “did a lot of homework” on Hyman. Oilers assistant coach Brian Wiseman was an assistant coach at the University of Michigan for Hyman’s four-year career there and knew firsthand what he could bring to Edmonton. Facing the Leafs nine times last year in North Division play, the Oilers also had many looks at the NHL version of Hyman.

“We had a really good idea of what we were getting,” Tippett said. “When you’re watching from afar and coaching against him, you understand he’s in a lot of situations. He gives the coach such versatility with what he can do: penalty kill, power play, key times in the game, just work ethic on certain situations. As a coach, you really appreciate all the attributes he has to have an impact on the game.”

Added Nurse: “Every time we played him, it was just battle, battle, battle. We just go at each other the whole time. So it’s funny, when we picked him up, he was like, ‘Finally we don’t have to battle each other.’ I’m like ‘Yep, it’s nice.’”

Hyman’s tenacious game, punctuated by fast and fearless puck retrievals and absorbing net-front punishment, batters his body. In his final three seasons as a Leaf, ankle and knee injuries cost him 40 of 208 games (he missed three more via suspension or illness), meaning he missed around 20 percent of Toronto’s schedule. When he signed a seven-year pact that takes him to 36, skepticism over whether he could deliver full value for the entirety of the deal was warranted. Players of his ilk commonly deteriorate in their early 30s.

But the Oilers probably weren’t worrying about that when they signed him. They understand they need to make deep playoff runs in the next couple seasons, while McDavid and Draisaitl are peaking like no teammates since Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr. Few if any pundits expressed doubt Hyman could seriously help the Oilers short term, and he did exactly that to start 2021-22. In the season’s first fifth, he was on pace for his first 40-goal season. He led NHL forwards in individual high-danger shot attempts per 60 minutes at 5-on-5.

Did it help that Hyman was playing on a dominant line with McDavid and Jesse Puljujarvi? Sure, but not all players can excel alongside sublime talents. Hyman was extremely effective with Matthews and Marner in Toronto, too, and prides himself on his ability to keep up with superstars. “I’m comfortable playing with elite talents,” Hyman said. “I’ve seen in the past, when guys get placed with guys of elite caliber, you try to change your game and over-pass or get the puck to them too much. But playing with Auston or playing with Mitch, playing with ‘JT’ or Willy, I’ve had the experience of playing with guys that always want the puck, and Connor’s no different.”

It’s a disservice to Hyman, however, to portray him as some fortunate passenger who keeps stumbling onto lines with superstars. There’s a reason he can stick with them. As Tippett sees it, there’s also more than one way to define skill. “You can have high-skill guys that have great hands and grab the thing, and they look like they can dangle and shoot it quick, but Hyman’s skill is really a by-product of his work ethic, because he uses his skill in small spaces, he controls pucks in small spaces,” Tippett said.

“He reminds me very much of a player I had for years in Dallas: Jere Lehtinen. I used to marvel at…there’d be a puck bouncing around, and there’d be four guys whacking at it, and somehow Lehtinen would always end up getting it under control and bringing it out of the pile, and that’s what Hyman does. He gets in those scrums. It’s not pure ‘skill’ like when you see a guy flying down the ice, but there’s a skill to (controlling) the puck in small areas under pressure, and that’s where he’s very good.”

So Hyman is every bit the fit the Oilers hoped he’d be. Will his personal success translate into the greatest team success of his NHL career? He’s yet to get past the first round, but the Oilers were Pacific Division frontrunners through late November, with McDavid and Draisaitl tracking for the greatest single-season numbers of any NHLers this millennium. The team still had to work on allowing fewer 5-on-5 chances, and, with greybeard Mike Smith hurt, it was vital GM Ken Holland start thinking about a major goalie upgrade. But Edmonton undoubtedly has its deadliest team in the McDavid era, its best chance for a deep playoff run.

Given Edmonton has also struggled to escape the early rounds of the playoffs, Hyman sees a similar hunger there as was present in Toronto. He has the chance to exorcise those old demons, in a way, while simultaneously trying something new. He does so with an energy that seems to have spread rapidly in the Oilers room, fostering a more positive tone than has been customary in the McDavid Era.

“There are certain people that you bring into your organization and they just bring something that can’t be taught,” Nurse said. “That’s the work, coming each and every day. It’s not even a question: he practises the same way, works out the same way, he’s going to play the same way. It doesn’t matter what kind of day he’s having away from the rink. It doesn’t matter if he scored 20 goals or two goals. He’s going to bring the same work ethic every day. He’s going to be around a long time, and we’re lucky to have him around a long time.”

Calgary Flames star left winger Jonathan Huberdeau has had a stellar season this year. But in this cover story from THN's 2022 Trade Deadline Preview, writer Matt Larkin covered Huberdeau's ascent as an elite competitor with the Florida Panthers:

APPRECIATION VALUE

By Matt Larkin

A 1999 Saturn Station Wagon? Really?

Imagine being an impressionable teenager, thrilled to pass your driver’s test and own your first car. Better yet: mom and dad run a used-car dealership. You’re not getting driven onto some dusty lot to buy the cheapest thing on wheels; you have your pick of the family fleet. This will be sweet.

But…nope. You get that ’99 Saturn, the blandest, most forgettable vehicle on the lot.

Alain Huberdeau has run Prev-automobiles Inc. in Prevost, Que., for more than 30 years, and even he admits the car he gave his youngest son, Jonathan, was second-rate. “It was not a nice car,” said Alain with a laugh. “Five-speed nowhere nothing.”

But that car did exactly what it was supposed to. It was an intelligent, efficient purchase. It got great gas mileage. It was affordable. It smoothly transported 16-year-old Jonathan to and from Saint John, N.B., where he began playing for the QMJHL’s Sea Dogs in 2009-10. It forced him to learn how to drive a stick shift. It also instilled a brainy sensibility in young Jonathan.

Rather than feeling entitled to the fanciest sports car on the lot, he learned the value of making the most out of what he had. He learned he would have to work harder than everyone around him if he wanted to make it as an NHL hockey player with ordinary skating ability. Even when he earned his first NHL contract and signing bonus after the Florida Panthers drafted him third overall in 2011, he made the sensible choice of another used car from the Huberdeau family dealership, this time a Honda Civic. He wanted to think his way to success – behind the wheel and on the ice.

Everything in Huberdeau’s life was a slow build to progress – tracing back to his early childhood. Ironically, one of the greatest current puck wizards in hockey got his start on ice without a puck, without a stick and almost without hockey skates. Huberdeau pushed back on the latter when his parents enrolled him in speed skating as a five-year-old. That’s not to be confused with power skating, which many future hockey players try before starting organized hockey.

We’re talkin’ actual speed skating, the kind you see in the Olympics, consisting of athletes with tree-trunk legs in bodysuits zooming along the track on flat blades. Huberdeau refused to wear those, so he took speed skating in his hometown of Saint-Jerome, Que., as the only kid in the class wearing hockey skates. But he wasn’t the typical youngster yawning his way through each session, complaining of frozen feet and wishing he was playing real hockey. “I was OK with it,” Huberdeau said. “It was actually better for me to start doing speed skating because you got to learn how to skate without a stick.”

Once he got a stick in his hands, speed skating had granted him the mobility to play keepaway with other kids – particularly when playing on ponds with far more people than are allowed in a regular game. “You do learn a lot of things when you play with 40 kids who want to keep the puck for themselves,” Alain Huberdeau said. “You have to work hard to keep it, so that’s probably where he learned a lot of hockey.”

Jonathan, his older brother Sebastien and their younger sister Josiane also learned a lot about the game watching their beloved Montreal Canadiens and, more specifically, the Canadiens facing the Panthers in Florida. The Huberdeaus dabbled in the snowbird life. Every Christmas, they’d head down to South Florida in an RV, and they’d catch games whenever the Habs and Panthers overlapped on the schedule. And after beach days, the kids played for hours on end at a local roller rink.

“We’d take a break to eat dinner quick, and we’d go play a big game,” Huberdeau said. “And I feel like, in Florida, there weren’t a lot of people playing with rollerblades and playing roller hockey, so we’d have the rink to ourselves.”

Being drafted by Florida, then, constituted a homecoming for Huberdeau. By the time the Panthers called his name in 2011, he was considered a star in the making, having led Saint John to a Memorial Cup weeks earlier. But he never viewed himself as a can’t-miss prospect. He wasn’t the child phenom who had video-game stats and agents sniffing around when he was barely starting puberty. Even in bantam, he was only playing BB. His parents didn’t sense he had NHL potential until he began to excel in U-18 AAA.

The speed skating had Huberdeau’s footwork at an acceptable baseline when he started hockey, but he was no burner. He never even felt he stood out on his own teams as a kid. “I was a good player, but I wasn’t the best player,” he said. “I wasn’t the fastest guy, so it wasn’t all pretty what I was doing out there. I had good vision, and I liked to pass the puck. When you’re young and you’re not that fast, you think you’re not special. I feel like special players are fast, and they’re really skilled, and that’s not what I was. But my hockey sense brought me to where I am right now, and that’s what I had when I was younger. I tell kids sometimes, no need to give up if you’re not always the best at everything. Sometimes you just get better when you get older.”

Huberdeau carried that modesty with him into the NHL, where he embarked on what was trending toward a good-but-not-great career. He won the Calder Trophy in the shortened 2012-13 campaign but with a mere 31 points in 48 games during a down year for rookies. Across his first five seasons, he amassed 198 points in 303 games, amounting to an average stat line of 18 goals and 54 points per 82 games. He played in one playoff series over the span. No one would’ve characterized him as a bust, but he wasn’t dominating in the same way he did in his final major-junior years.

Even if he was too humble ever to see himself as that player, he did believe he could evolve himself into that player. “His biggest ability was to persevere,” Alain said. “He had some tough years in Florida, but he wanted to stick there, and he really believed in that organization. They always treat him well. He could see that one day, they would be better.”

Slowly, the Panthers surrounded Huberdeau with talent. They selected center Aleksander Barkov with the No. 2 overall pick in 2013, and defenseman Aaron Ekblad with the No. 1 pick in 2014. They stole defenseman MacKenzie Weegar in the seventh round of the 2013 draft. The company Huberdeau kept began to improve, and something started to change in his game.

He could always rag the puck, but he started to pile up points once he had teammates who could finish his setups. In 2017-18, he had a career-best 69 points. The following season, he leaped to 92. Then it was 78 in just 69 games, then 61 in 55 games, and then, by the 2021-22 all-star break, 64 in 47 games, good for the NHL scoring lead. Was it simply a natural progression of talent causing his numbers to explode? Was it the influx of high-quality teammates? GM Bill Zito has peppered the Panthers lineup with effective forwards since he took over in September 2020. Zito’s additions – from right winger Anthony Duclair to left winger Carter Verhaeghe to center Sam Bennett to right winger Sam Reinhart – have been difference-makers.

In Huberdeau’s mind, the steady incline of his play came from understanding what he did best and what gaps in his game needed filling once he reached his mid-20s. He feels he’s transitioned from support player to star-caliber by improving his play without the puck and becoming more involved in every aspect of the game, whether it’s physical play, general intensity or killing penalties. He cites defensive play as the area of his game in which he’s least confident, and he’s worked to improve it.

He has shown an innate ability to rub off on his linemates – who may have more raw physical skill – and use his brain to make them better. According to Bennett, who came over in a trade in April 2021 and has been Huberdeau’s most common linemate this year, Huberdeau has a massive influence on the team because he works so hard that he spurs others to follow him. Add in the playmaking skill and it’s no wonder Huberdeau’s linemates are always over the moon to have him on their left wing. The sense of humor doesn’t hurt, either. “He does a really good job of bringing life to our room, and he’s pretty much in the middle of every joke or every friendly chirp that’s going on,” Bennett said. “He’s always involved. He really is a leader off the ice. Of course, on the ice, too, but he really is one of the main leaders off the ice as well.”

Over the past five seasons, Huberdeau, 28, ranks sixth in the NHL in assists, seventh in points and 14th in points per game. Those are hardly the types of numbers that make a player invisible. And yet he’s played in two All-Star Games, has one second-team post-season all-star selection to his name and has received Hart Trophy votes in only one season, though that will surely change after this one. 

You know he’s been cloaked in obscurity when a new linemate is surprised to learn how good he is. “When I got to actually play with him every day and see what he’s like, it’s pretty remarkable,” Bennett said. “I had no idea how talented he really was, his vision, the way he can make plays. He makes plays that I don’t think anyone else would even attempt. So it’s been really cool to actually see how gifted he is and get the chance to play with him so much.”

Has Huberdeau taken the unofficial crown from Mark Stone to become the NHL’s most underrated player? Yes, if we judge him based on how those around him evaluate his skills. “He’s deceptively fast,” said Panthers coach Andrew Brunette. “If you asked me which skill of his is underrated, it’s his puck protection and ability to hang onto the puck. It’s a little bit like Sidney Crosby, a little like Pavel Datsyuk, where they get it on a string, they get it in their feet, and you just can’t get it off him when he gets on that roll.”

There’s no clichéd chip on Huberdeau’s shoulder, no indication he feels he deserves more acknowledgment. He’s aware of the “underrated” label but unfazed. “We’re in a market where we don’t get talked about too much, playing in Florida, but I don’t care,” he said. “I know what I’m worth. I know what I can do, and that’s all that matters for me. Obviously, I think I’ve stepped up my game, but I don’t care if I’m the most underrated player. I know I’m a good player, and I know I can make a difference out there.”

Fulfilling his duty like pretty much every Canadian hockey player when asked to sing his own praises, Huberdeau prioritizes the team instead. There’s something to it in this case, however. The Panthers have achieved such strong group chemistry that, in another recent interview with The Hockey News, Zito expressed reticence over making any major trades that might upset the vibes. Huberdeau says 2021-22 is the most fun he’s had as a Panther, that the team operates like a family, that he’s never felt closer to his teammates.

The harmonious atmosphere shows in the standings, too. As of Feb. 16, Florida held the Eastern Conference’s highest points percentage at .734. How dominant were they? Not only was it by far their highest mark in franchise history, but only 21 teams in NHL history have posted a higher points percentage over a full season – out of 1,599 teams total. That puts the Panthers’ current pace in the 98th percentile of every NHL team, ever. Now it makes more sense that Huberdeau would turn the attention toward team goals.

Florida has easily the best team in its 28-season history. Through the all-star break, it averaged an incredible 4.09 goals per game, the most of any NHL team since the 1995-96 Pittsburgh Penguins. The Panthers are a clear Stanley Cup threat. But they must conquer the chore of sharing a division – and, woof, a playoff bracket – with the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning.

We should know better than to bet against Huberdeau’s crew by now, though. Their improvement in recent seasons, from .524 to .565 to .705 to .734 hockey, has been steady and methodical, just like the improvement in his personal play – and to his car collection. No more Saturns or Civics for Huberdeau now.

He earned his way to a two-year bridge deal on a $3.25-million AAV coming off his entry-level contract and is now five seasons into a six-year contract with a $5.9-million AAV. According to capfriendly.com, his estimated career earnings exceed $36 million. So, yes, he can afford the sexy cars now. Lots of them. Among his favorites: a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, a Cadillac Escalade and a Tesla.

But Huberdeau’s most cherished automobile symbolizes everything he has accomplished to date: the Ferrari. It personifies loud, flashy success. It’s everything Huberdeau wasn’t for so much of his career, but it’s what he’s becoming. He’s a superstar now, and he can’t hide from that, even if he still feels like a 1999 Saturn on the inside.