Welcome to NHL Star Power Index: A weekly gauge of players who command significant buzz in the league. When a player is on this list, it might not be a good thing – it means he’s getting a lot of the hockey world’s attention.
These players aren’t ranked in any particular order when it comes to the buzz they create. We will revisit the Star Power Index each week throughout the regular season.
Evgeni Malkin continues to perform at the elite level even in the latter stage of his career. NHL career. In fact, the Pittsburgh Penguins star reached a very important milestone in Wednesday’s 6-5 overtime victory over the Buffalo Sabers.
During the third period of Wednesday’s game, Malkin scored his 500th career goal and did it in spectacular fashion.
Malkin received the puck from Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and his initial shot was stopped by the pad of Sabers goaltender Ukko Pekka-Luukkonen. The Penguins forward stayed with the play and despite falling, he still managed to put the rebound in the back of the net.
It was a landmark night as Crosby became the 10th player in NHL history to record 1,600 points during his NHL career. Ironically, Malkin assisted on Crosby’s game-winning overtime goal to lead the Penguins to victory.
Malkin joined Mario Lemieux (690) and Crosby (593) as the third player in team history to total 500 goals. Additionally, Malkin became only the eighth player in NHL history born outside of the United States or Canada to score 500 career goals.
Aside from that milestone, Malkin was on fire to start the 2024-25 season. The Penguins star had 11 points (two goals and nine assists) through the first five games of the campaign and made even more history. Malkin became the first Penguins player to have 11 points in the team’s first five games in a single season since Lemieux had four goals and seven assists in the first five games of the 2002-03 season. .
As of Friday, Malkin is tied for the NHL lead in points with New York Rangers star Artemi Panarin.
After being held off the scoresheet in the season opener against the New York Rangers, Malkin has scored multiple points in each of the last four meetings. Malkin’s best game was Wednesday against the Sabres, in which he had four points (one goal and three assists).
The Penguins will need to rely on franchise cornerstones Malkin and Crosby if they want to make the playoffs this season. As a result, it’s a big deal to see Malkin off to such a start.
Sam Reinhart has always been an extremely productive player early in his career with the Buffalo Sabres. Since arriving in South Florida, Reinhart has become one of the NHL’s deadliest scorers.
The Florida Panthers star had a career year in 2023-24 in which he scored 59 goals and was rewarded with an eight-year contract extension worth $69 million over the course of summer. Reinhart picked up where he left off last season after helping the Panthers win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
As of Friday, Reinhart is currently tied for third in the NHL in points (9) with four goals and five assists. The Panthers forward has recorded multi-point performances in three of Florida’s six games thus far.
Reinhart’s most impressive performance came in a 4-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday. The 28-year-old recorded a goal and two assists in this particular competition and it was his first three-point performance of the young 2024-25 season.
Reinhart scored his fourth goal of the season at just the right time to help the Panthers overtake the Blue Jackets.
With just two seconds left in the second period, Reinhart tossed the puck behind the net to teammate Carter Verhaeghe and headed toward the front of the net. Reinhart was able to get the puck past Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins on a bang-bang goal when he put the puck back in front.
Reinhart continues to thrive as one of the Panthers’ top scorers. Florida will definitely need its scoring production in the coming games without Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk in the lineup.
The Calgary Flames have looked like one of the most impressive teams in the league through the first two weeks of the 2024-25 season. Defender Rasmus Andersson played a very important role in this success.
Andersson became Calgary’s leader on the back end and had points in three of the team’s first four games. The 27-year-old defenseman’s best performance to date came Sunday in a 4-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers when he had a goal and two assists.
Andersson showed his tremendous vision on the ice throughout Sunday’s game.
The Flames defenseman carried the puck into the offensive zone and weaved his way through the Oilers defense like he was Connor McDavid. Eventually, Andersson found his way into the slot and fired a shot past Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner to give the Flames a 2-1 lead at that point.
The veteran defenseman also provided secondary assists on goals from forwards Anthony Mantha and Justin Kirkland in the third period, which helped the Flames take a commanding advantage against the Oilers.
As of Friday, Andersson’s six points place him second behind Cale Makar (8) among NHL defensemen. Andersson has continued to develop into a very offensive defender in recent years, but seeing his vision on full display early in the season has been impressive to watch.
It’s safe to say that Colorado Avalanche goaltender Alexandar Georgiev has had plenty of struggles outside of the box this season.
In four starts to start the year, Georgiev went 0-3-0, along with a 5.79 goals-against average and .800 save percentage. The Avalanche goaltender has been scratched in two of those starts and has scored at least four goals in three of those games.
Georgiev started the season on a sour note allowing five goals in just two periods against the Vegas Golden Knights. He ended up not getting on the ice during the final period in a game the Avalanche ultimately lost 8-4.
The story remained the same in the team’s next game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on October 12, when he gave up three goals in just over one period of action. Georgiev was pulled just 1:56 into the second period after Blue Jackets forward Adam Fantilli found the back of the net in what was ultimately a 6-4 loss.
Most recently, Georgiev gave up four goals in a 5-3 loss to the Boston Bruins on Wednesday.
Georgiev’s rough start helped the Avalanche go 0-4-0 to begin the regular season. In fact, Colorado is one of only three winless teams in the league so far.
Clearly, the season is still long and Georgiev has plenty of time to right the ship. However, after putting up a 3.02 goals-against average in 62 starts last season, that’s a bit concerning for an Avalanche team expected to contend for a Stanley Cup in 2024-25.
