NHL players who are making the leap this season

The current NHL is full of superstars covering multiple generations.

You have future Hall of Famers in Joe Thornton and Roberto Luongo still hanging on and making an impact in San Jose and Florida respectively, with Thornton still trying to break through and get a Stanley Cup.

You still have the established all-time greats like Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin at the top of the league.

Then you have the young generation of superstars, led by Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine, Jack Eichel and Nikita Kucherov, starting to climb. And they are not the only young players worth watching or who are taking big steps this season.

Here we take a look at 15 players in the NHL who are making a leap forward this season.

Brayden Point, Tampa Bay Lightning -  As if the Lightning needed another All-Star-level player on their roster, Brayden Point has emerged this season as one of the team's most dominant offensive forwards and has taken a massive leap forward in his development. During his first two years in the league, he was a really good young player on an entry-level contract who could complement Tampa's stars. This season he has become one of those stars and is closing in on all of his previous career highs with still nearly half a season to play. He is not just one of the Lightning's best players, but he also has been one of the best players in the NHL.

Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks - The Canucks needed a young player to provide the type of spark that could change the course of the franchise. Rookie forward Elias Pettersson has done that and so much more this season. Even though he's missed some time due to a couple of unfortunate injuries, he is still the team's biggest game breaker and one of the most exciting rookies to hit the NHL over the past few years. The Calder Trophy, awarded to the league's most outstanding rookie, seems to already be his.

Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs - The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to have a couple of more contract headaches this summer, as they try to deal with the restricted free-agent status of two of their top players: Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. Matthews is the foundation on which the current organization is now built, but Marner is one of its key building blocks and has been having an absolutely incredible season that has seen him emerge as one of the top playmakers in the league. He is on pace to shatter all of his career highs from the previous two years and has taken a giant leap forward for a Toronto team that could finally be the one to, eventually, end its Stanley Cup drought.

Jake Guentzel, Pittsburgh Penguins - At this point Jake Guentzel already has a pretty strong resume that includes a Stanley Cup ring and being one of the top postseason goal-scorers in the NHL over the past two years. He has still managed to get even better this season. The 2017-18 season was an interesting one for Guentzel because it ended with solid numbers, but he still seemed invisible at times. That has not been the case this season, as he skates alongside Sidney Crosby and has filled the net like a legitimate top-line goal-scorer. He has also been used on the team's penalty killing unit (alongside Crosby) where he has made an impact.

Timo Meier, San Jose Sharks - After a promising season in 2017-18 that saw him score 20 goals in his first full-time duty in the NHL, Timo Meier has spent the first half of this season playing like the player the Sharks expected him to be when they used the No. 9 overall pick on him in the 2015 draft. He has been close to a point-per-game player for a Sharks team that is starting to emerge as one of the top Stanley Cup contenders in the Western Conference.

Thomas Chabot, Ottawa Senators - With Erik Karlsson now playing in San Jose, the Ottawa Senators needed someone to step up on their blue line. Enter 2018 first-round draft pick Thomas Chabot who has been one of the few bright spots for the rebuilding Senators this season, averaging a point-per-game from the blue line through the first half. With the team tearing down its roster to the bare bones and starting from scratch, it is going to need new young stars to emerge, and Chabot has been a great one so far.

Alex DeBrincat, Chicago Blackhawks - With an aging, expensive core and not a lot of depth around them, the Chicago Blackhawks need some new, young faces to step forward. Alex DeBrincat has been the best of the bunch for them and is starting to emerge as the leader of their next generation of talent. He was a steal in the second round of his draft class and had he been a few inches taller probably would have been a top-10 pick. Always take the undersized forward who can fill the back of the net.

Miro Heiskanen, Dallas Stars - It is rare to find a defender this young who can step right into the NHL and play the type of role that No. 3 overall 2017 pick Miro Heiskanen has for the Dallas Stars. He is already a top-pairing defender — and a darn good one — for a Stars team that seems to be headed to the playoffs. He and John Klingberg are going to run this blue line for the next decade.

Pierre-Luc Dubois, Columbus Blue Jackets - When the Columbus Blue Jackets took Pierre-Luc Dubois No. 3 overall ahead of Jesse Puljujarvi, they received a lot of second-guessing from draft analysts who said they were "reaching." No one is questioning the pick today, as Dubois is developing into an outstanding top-line center for a Blue Jackets team that is in serious contention for the Metropolitan Division crown. He is on pace to double all of his production from his rookie season and is averaging nearly a point per game.

Elias Lindholm, Calgary Flames - For the first four years of his career with the Carolina Hurricanes, Elias Lindholm was a solid, if unspectacular, player. He wasn't quite a bust of a top-five pick, but he also wasn't a franchise-changing player. He was just...good. This past summer he was traded to the Calgary Flames as part of the Dougie Hamilton trade and has seen his game take off to a level he has never been close to reaching before. He is one of the big reasons the Flames are the top team in the Western Conference at the halfway point and are one of the surprise Stanley Cup contenders in the NHL.

Alex Tuch, Vegas Golden Knights - Alex Tuch was one the big expansion draft steals for the Vegas Golden Knights when they snagged him and Erik Haula away from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for not taking one of the team's defenders. Both played a key role in the Golden Knights' surprising run to the Stanley Cup Final and Tuch, who is only 22 years old, has come back in Year 2 and has really taken a big leap in his development. It took him only half a season to match what he did in his rookie campaign

Max Domi, Montreal Canadiens - After a promising rookie season in Arizona, Max Domi's career stalled so much that he tallied just 18 goals over a two-year stretch, with only 12 of those coming with a goalie in the opposing net. (He scored six empty-net goals.) That is why it was so surprising to see him be the only return for the Montreal Canadiens when they sent forward Alex Galchenyuk to the Coyotes over the summer. Domi, however, has probably been better than even the most optimistic Canadiens fan could have expected. He is once again looking like the top-line player the Coyotes thought he was going to be when he first made his NHL debut.

Blake Coleman, New Jersey Devils - There have not been many bright spots for the New Jersey Devils this season, but third-year forward Blake Coleman has probably been the biggest one. He is on track to score at least 25 goals this season and maybe even make a push for 30. Considering that he scored only 14 goals over his first two years in the league, that is a nice development for him and the Devils.

David Rittich, Calgary Flames - The one big question mark for the Flames has to be in goal, where Mike Smith hasn't been what they were hoping he would be when they acquired him a year ago from the Arizona Coyotes. Enter David Rittich, who has come out of nowhere to help solidify the position and give the Flames exactly what they have needed in goal. Whether or not he is somebody a team can go on a deep playoff run with remains to be seen, but he has at least given the Flames a chance.

Mikko Koskinen, Edmonton Oilers - This is kind of a weird one. Mikko Koskinen had not played in the NHL since the 2010-11 season, and even then he appeared in only four games for the New York Islanders. Despite that, the Edmonton Oilers still signed him to a seven-figure contract this offseason and pretty much guaranteed him a spot on the roster as the team's backup goalie. With Cam Talbot struggling in net, Koskinen has probably received more playing time than anyone expected him to get, and he has been a huge surprise for the Oilers with a .915 save percentage through his first 24 appearances. Not bad for a goalie who had not played in the NHL in nearly a decade.