One under-the-radar player for every NHL team

The Anaheim Ducks still have some big name players at the top of their lineup with Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and Ryan Kesler at forward, and Cam Fowler and Hampus Lindholm leading the defense. The defender on this team who slides under the radar, though, is Josh Manson. Manson has been one of the team's best defensive players over the past two years and last year took a big step forward offensively, earning a four-year contract extension to remain with the team. His combination of strong defense and newfound offensive skills could make him a tremendous value. 

After a strong finish to the 2017-18 regular season and an impressive young core of talent to go with some strong veteran additions over the summer, there is reason to believe brighter days are ahead for the Arizona Coyotes. While Clayton Keller, Dylan Strome and Jakob Chychrun are the young players whom everyone knows about, Brendan Perlini is quietly coming off a strong sophomore season that saw him score 17 goals (second best on the team). He may not be its best young player, but he is definitely someone who can be a part of the next playoff team in Arizona. 

One of the things that has made the Boston Bruins a Stanley Cup contender again has been a steady pipeline of young talent coming through the system. Perhaps one of the most intriguing is Ryan Donato after his promising debut during the stretch run of the 2017-18 season. He recorded nine points (five goals, four assists) in his first 12 games and should be expected to take on a bigger role this season. 

The Sabres have a couple of the NHL's top prospects ready to take regular spots in the lineup this season in 2017 first-round pick Casey Mittelstadt and 2018 No. 1 overall pick Rasmus Dahlin. But everyone knows all about them and is expecting them to make a big impact. We are going to take this in a different direction and bring your attention to Tage Thompson. Thompson was perhaps the most important piece the Sabres received in the Ryan O'Reilly trade from the St. Louis Blues and gives them another promising young player to insert into their lineup. He didn't have great numbers for the Blues in his debut season, but he should get a much bigger role and more opportunity this season. 

Derek Ryan was a late bloomer, not making his NHL debut until he was 29 years old. Since then he has managed to carve out a nice career for himself and turned it into a three-year contract with the Flames in free agency this summer. He is coming off a strong 2017-18 showing that saw him score 15 goals and 38 total points while also posting strong underlying possession numbers. He should be a strong bottom-six depth addition to a team that desperately needs that sort of forward. 

Carolina's big addition this summer was getting Dougie Hamilton from the Calgary Flames in exchange for Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin. It was a huge score to land a top-pairing defender. What is easy to get overlooked in that trade is the Hurricanes also got Micheal Ferland, and he is far from just some random throw-in. He is coming off a 21-goal season, which is not only more than Lindholm scored in Carolina, but would have also made Ferland the fourth-highest goal-scoring player on the Hurricanes this past season. He brings a physical edge to the lineup, has some talent and, along with rookies Andrei Svechnikov and Martin Necas, could help the team get back to some winning ways. 

The salary cap and increasing salaries for an aging, declining core have helped to rob the Chicago Blackhawks of their championship depth in recent years and put them in a tough position. That means it is time for some fresh faces to help lead the franchise into a new chapter, and they have a couple of intriguing young players who can help do that. Alex DeBrincat is obviously the one who has everyone excited, but do not overlook 2014 first-round pick Nick Schmaltz as he comes off of a promising, breakout season that saw him score 21 goals for the Blackhawks, one of the best marks on the team. 

After choosing not to sign with the New Jersey Devils, the team that selected him in the fifth round in 2012, Kertfoot became an unrestricted free agent last summer and ended up signing with the Colorado Avalanche. He immediately found a spot in their lineup and played a big role on what was one of the most surprising playoff teams in the league, finishing as the team's fifth-leading scorer (and fourth among forwards). He was also one of the league's most productive rookies. If the Avalanche are going to build on what they did a year ago and take the next step in their development, they will need continued development from players like Kerfoot. 

Bjorkstrand not only had a breakout season for the Blue Jackets a year ago, but he was one of the team's most efficient goal scorers and point producers based on ice time and usage. He did enough to convince the Blue Jackets to invest in him with a three-year contract this summer. He is still only 23 years old and has some room to develop into an even better player. 

After spending the past two years in the KHL, Nichushkin is back in the NHL this season with the team that made him a top-10 pick five years ago. He is still a big-time talent and only 23 years old, so there is some intrigue here as to what type of player he can be. 

It is going to be a long year in Detroit, especially after Henrik Zetterberg's career came to an end. The biggest thing for Red Wings fans to watch now will be the development of their young players. All eyes will be on Filip Zadina, the No. 6 overall pick this past June, while Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha are probably the best returning players. But Athanasiou is another intriguing young player whom the Red Wings will be leaning on this season. 

Klefbom probably shouldn't be under the radar, but it feels like he is because he is coming off such a down year. When he is healthy, he is Edmonton's best defender. But he struggled through an injury-plagued 2017-18 campaign that put him in the spotlight for criticism on what was a woefully disappointing Oilers team. With Andrej Sekera out and the Oilers not really doing much else to address their blue line, they are going to need a huge year from Klefbom. 

The Panthers picked up Frank Vatrano from the Boston Bruins just before the trade deadline and it was a great buy low, low-risk move. He has performed well at every level in his hockey career and just has not really gotten much of a chance in the NHL. He played extremely well for the Panthers down the stretch following the trade and could be a really solid depth player for a team that could use some secondary scoring after its top players. 

The Los Angeles Kings have been one of the NHL's dullest offensive hockey teams for several years now, and they attempted to address that this summer with the addition of Ilya Kovalchuk. He should still be able to help, even if he is in his mid-30s. It will also help if some of their younger players take a step forward, and perhaps their best chance for that will be second-year forward Adrian Kempe. The 22-year-old scored 16 goals during his rookie campaign despite playing under 14 minutes per game. 

Injuries limited Niederreiter to just 62 games last season, and it was a big loss for the Wild. He has quietly developed into one of the league's most underrated two-way players and has been one of Minnesota's best players since coming over in a trade with the New York Islanders a few years ago. Don't let an injury-shortened down year make you forget about him. He is still an impact player and can be a difference-maker for the Wild this season in what is setting up to be a tough Central Division. 

Quick question: Do you know who the only Montreal Canadiens player to top the 20-goal mark in each of the past two seasons is? Did you guess Paul Byron? No? Well, you should have because he is the correct answer. That's right. Not Max Pacioretty. Not Brendan Gallagher. Not Alex Galchenyuk. Paul Byron. Byron quietly has been one of the Canadiens' best offensive players (at least in terms of putting the puck in the net) the past two years, which says a lot about how productive he has been and, quite honestly, how much the Canadiens have struggled offensively. 

Pekka Rinne has been one of the foundational pieces of the Nashville Predators over the past decade, and he is coming off his best season in the league that saw him win his first-ever Vezina Trophy. But the backup goalie is the really intriguing player here because everyone knows his time in the Nashville net is going to be coming very, very soon. Rinne is 35 years old, is a free agent after this season, and there is already talk that Saros is going to start getting more playing time. And he is more than ready for it. All he has done when given a chance at the NHL level is produce, and it wouldn't be a shock to see him wrestle more playing time than expected away from Rinne this season. 

One of the surprising things about the New Jersey Devils' return to the playoffs a year ago is that they did it while getting next to nothing from Marcus Johansson, as his season was derailed by concussion issues. Johansson was one of the Devils' biggest offseason acquisitions in the summer of 2017 — he can be a 25-goal, 50-point player — and they have really yet to benefit from it. And that has sort of made him a forgotten man in New Jersey. 

Mathew Barzal was the young player who grabbed headlines for the New York Islanders a year ago, but Anthony Beauvillier, their other first-round draft pick from the 2015 draft (which was also acquired as part of the trade with the Edmonton Oilers for defenseman Griffin Reinhart) also had a pretty promising breakthrough season. He was one of five players to top the 20-goal mark for the Islanders, and with John Tavares moving on in free agency and the Islanders loading up on grit and toughness, it is going to be up to players like Barzal and Beauvillier to continue to develop and carry the offense. 

Spooner is an intriguing player for the Rangers because, well, we just don't know what their long-term plan for him is. The team is clearly rebuilding, and he was one of the many assets they acquired last season during their initial roster purge. He's still young enough that he could be a useful player for the Rangers going forward, or he could also be flipped at the deadline to bring in more future assets. His initial performance with the Rangers after the trade was probably a bit of a fluke (16 points in 20 games), but he is a good NHL player and has something to prove this season. 

There is really not much to be excited about In Ottawa right now with Kyle Turris, Derick Brassard, Mike Hoffman and Erik Karlsson all having been traded over the past year. Matt Duchene and Mark Stone are probably next, and there really isn't a lot of young, high-end talent ready to enter the league yet. So we're left with the remaining veterans on the roster. Ryan Dzingel was somewhat of a bright spot last year with 23 goals in 79 games. And while trade-watchers will have their eyes on Stone and Duchene, Dzingel is another player who will almost certainly get dealt by the deadline as the Senators' rebuild rages on. 

The Flyers have a couple of All-Stars at the top of the lineup in Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek, they brought back James van Riemsdyk to add some goal-scoring punch, and they have some outstanding young talent that is going to be the foundation of the team for the next decade in Nolan Patrick, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Ivan Provorov. Another promising young talent on that backend to go with Gostisbehere and Provorov is 22-year-old Travis Sanheim. He had an encouraging debut season a year ago and should be ready for a true breakout season in 2018-19 as part of a young, exciting defense. 

The focus in Pittsburgh will always be on the superstars at the top of the lineup. But what has made the Penguins such a dominant team over the past few years has been their depth, and their most versatile player might be Bryan Rust. He is a favorite of the coaching staff for his ability to play anywhere in the lineup and take on any role, and they rewarded him with a long-term contract extension this summer. He also has been money for them in the playoffs throughout his career. 

One of the most amazing things about the Sharks' ability to acquire Erik Karlsson is they did not have to give up any of their top young players, including Timo Meier, who was a top-10 pick just three years ago. With the Sharks investing so much in the top of their lineup, it is critical that they find cheap, young talent in their farm system, and at this moment Meier is one of their best in that regard. He scored 20 goals in his first full season a year ago. 

Robby Fabbri hasn't played in an NHL game since Feb. 4, 2017, which makes it kind of easy to forget that he was once considered to be — and not that long ago! — one of the Blues' best young players. Injuries, though, have robbed him and the Blues of more than a season-and-a-half of his career, and he is now ready to prove himself all over again. The Blues needed to upgrade their offense in a big way over the summer, and they attempted to do that by throwing big money at Ryan O'Reilly and the free-agent signings of David Perron, Tyler Bozak, and Patrick Maroon. All of them will help, as will the return of Fabbri. 

The Lightning have built an Eastern Conference powerhouse over the past few years by finding talented, undersized players who have been overlooked by the rest of the league. Yanni Gourde is their latest steal. In his first full NHL season a year ago, he came out of nowhere to score 25 goals and 64 points for the Lightning, earning himself a few Calder Trophy votes in the Rookie of the Year race. He turned out to be one of Tampa Bay's most useful and valuable players, given his ability to play in all situations. 

The Maple Leafs' collection of forwards is as talented as any other team in the league, and what is perhaps most impressive about them is how young they all are. Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Mitch Marner are all under the age of 23 and already All-Star level players. They have another young, talented forward who was a former first-round pick who has shown some flashes of being an impact player in Kasperi Kapanen. You might remember Kapanen as one of the centerpieces in the Phil Kessel trade with Pittsburgh, and while he hasn't really established himself as a full-time part of the core, the talent is quite obviously still there every time you watch him play. 

Baertschi was a promising up-and-coming player for the Calgary Flames a few years ago, and after never really getting a chance to live up to his potential, he was dealt to the Canucks for next to nothing. He hasn't become a star, and he isn't going to change a franchise, but he has been a solid, midroster player who you can pencil in for 15 goals and 30 points every year. He doesn't cost the Canucks a ton of money, and it's not hurting their rebuild to have him on the roster. Worst case scenario: He is a nice trade chip in a year or two. 

When Deryk Engelland entered the NHL, he was mostly a fighter/enforcer who would play a few minutes per night and be relied only on to hit people and drop the gloves when needed. But in 2017-18, as one of the faces of the Golden Knights' initial expansion team, he totally transformed his career and became a 20-minute-per-night defender, a role that he ended up more than justifying. With Nate Schmidt suspended for the first 20 games, the Knights are going to need even more from him. 

Vrana probably deserved a bigger role than the one he had last season, especially in the playoffs, but he always seemed to make the most of his ice time when he got it. He is a top-line talent and looks like he could be on the verge of a breakthrough season for the defending Stanley Cup champions. Players like him are going to make it so the Capitals' window does not fully close anytime soon. 

The Winnipeg Jets have hit on just about all of their recent first-round draft picks, whether they have been at the top of the draft, the middle of it or anywhere else. It is a big part of why they enter the season as one of the best teams in the league and a Stanley Cup contender. Jack Roslovic could be the next top draft pick of theirs to make a big impact. He only appeared in 31 regular-season games for the Jets last season. But he showed some potential, and it is entirely possible he could get a bigger role this season as the team looks to replace Paul Stastny, who exited in free agency.