One underrated player to watch for each Pacific Division NHL team in 2023–24

The 2023–24 NHL season is almost upon us. Rookie camps are about to begin. The players still floating around without contracts are signing cheap two-way deals or, in some cases, PTOs.

This is the time of year where competition is everything. All the superstars — Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews and the like — can report to camp knowing full well how to play their roles and what lies ahead. Their teams expect them to carry the load, and they almost certainly will.

Teams are always looking for their next major contributors — not necessarily superstars, but players who can play big minutes and make a significant impact. These players come in all shapes and sizes.

We’ve identified one player from each Pacific Division team who has a lot to gain at training camp this year. These eight players have all made names for themselves in the NHL to varying degrees already but have the ability and potential opportunity to take enormous leaps forward in 2023–24.

Anaheim Ducks: Lukas Dostal

John Gibson’s time in Anaheim might be drawing to a close. He’s 30, his numbers haven’t been all that good in years, and the Ducks might be running out of time to get value for him. It makes sense for them to move on at some point in the near future, especially considering who they have coming down the pipe.

Dostal is the Ducks’ goalie of the future and one of the top prospects in the world at the position. Even though Anaheim added Alex Stalock on a one-year deal, Dostal is far more likely to begin the season as Gibson’s backup. The 23-year-old has stopped pucks everywhere he’s gone, from Tampere to San Diego to Anaheim. He’s represented Czechia at the World Juniors and the World Championship.

Even on some truly awful San Diego Gulls teams in the AHL, Dostal has put up strong numbers. Despite his 11–21–0 record, Dostal still managed a .912 save percentage in 34 games with the Gulls in 2022–23. He went 4–10–3 with a .901 in 19 appearances with the Ducks. We’re confident that, given more NHL reps, Dostal can develop into one of the better goalies in the league.

Calgary Flames: Yegor Sharangovich

The Flames acquired Sharangovich from the New Jersey Devils in June as part of the Tyler Toffoli trade. Yes, Toffoli led the Flames with 73 points in 2022–23, but he was better suited to Darryl Sutter’s system than perhaps any other player on last year’s team. Toffoli is also 31 and eligible to become a UFA in 2024. It was time for the Flames to move on.

Sharangovich is a thoroughly intriguing young winger with one of the best wristers in the entire league. The 6’2″ Belarusian made hay while paired with Jack Hughes in New Jersey, racking up 40 goals in 130 games over his first two NHL seasons. But he found himself bumped down the lineup on last year’s Devils and ended up losing his spot in the postseason, appearing in just three of the team’s 12 playoff contests.

The Flames have room for a player with Sharangovich’s terrific shooting ability on their top two forward lines. There’s a strong chance he starts the 2023–24 season on Jonathan Huberdeau’s opposite wing. Huberdeau spent much of 2022–23 drifting in the wind without a triggerman. If he clicks with Sharangovich, the Flames might actually have a dangerous scoring duo on their hands.

Edmonton Oilers: Ryan McLeod

The sky’s the limit for McLeod, who has gradually improved with each passing year since making his debut with the Oilers in 2020–21. McLeod collected 11 goals and 23 points in 57 games last season before adding five assists in 12 playoff contests. He figures to start 2023–24 as the Oilers’ No. 3 center (behind Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl), but it wouldn’t be too surprising to see the 23-year-old forward end up playing alongside either 97 or 29 if one of the team’s incumbent top-six wingers ends up faltering during the year.

McLeod brings two of the most appealing attributes for an NHL player to the table: speed and size. The 6’2″ lefty sometimes even looks a little like McDavid when he turns on the jets, although he still hasn’t been able to find a ton of consistency at the NHL level. It’s coming. The Oilers signed McLeod to a two-year, $2.1 million contract extension earlier in the summer.

Even if McLeod doesn’t end up finding his way onto one of the Oilers’ top two forward lines this year, look for him to potentially play on a line with top prospect Dylan Holloway at some point. If those two can find some chemistry, the Oilers’ third unit could turn into a real juggernaut.

Los Angeles Kings: Quinton Byfield

This has to be the year, right? Byfield is slated to begin the season on the left side of the Kings’ top forward line with Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe. There can’t be many better places than that for a young, down-on-his-luck prospect to continue his development pathway.

For whatever reason, scoring hasn’t come all that naturally in the NHL for Byfield just yet. He managed a decent 22 points in 53 games with the Kings in 2022–23, but only three of those points were goals. Talk about bad luck: Byfield scored on just 4.1 percent of his shots last year. That’s bound to go up.

Byfield just turned 21 less than a month ago. It feels like he’s been around forever, but Byfield is insanely young for somebody with 99 career NHL games. He managed four points in six playoff contests with the Kings last year. Also, he’s 6’5″. There’s just so much to like with Byfield, and it’s easy to imagine him taking a couple of steps forward in a full 82-game season.

L.A. has been somewhat handcuffed by a few of their recent top draft picks not panning out in the NHL, but Byfield still has a ton of runway to turn things around. He’s already on the right track.

San Jose Sharks: Nikolai Knyzhov

Knyzhov became a bit of a forgotten man in San Jose after missing the entire 2021–22 season and nearly all of 2022–23 due to a series of significant injuries. He finally returned to the Sharks’ lineup this past March and gradually got himself back up to speed in 12 NHL games to close out the season.

The Sharks originally signed Knyzhov back in 2019 as an undrafted free agent out of the SKA St. Petersburg system. The 6’3″ defenseman, who shoots left, made his NHL debut with the Sharks in 2019–20 and established himself as a regular with the club in 2020–21, appearing in all 56 games and collecting 10 points (two goals, eight assists) while averaging nearly 17 minutes per night.

Now 25, Knyzhov still needs to re-establish himself as an everyday NHL player in San Jose, although he has a decent bit of leverage in the form of a new two-year contract worth $1.25 million annually. He showed legit top-four potential in his rookie year with the Sharks. All Knyzhov has to do to reclaim his spot is beat out Jacob MacDonald and Radim Simek. If he plays like he did in 2020–21, he’ll do it without breaking a sweat.

Seattle Kraken: Eeli Tolvanen

The Kraken took full advantage when the Nashville Predators inexplicably placed Tolvanen on waivers last December. Tolvanen popped off for 16 goals and 27 points in 48 games with the Kraken to close out the regular season before following it up with eight points in 14 playoff contests. The 24-year-old Finn is a great shooter who perfectly completes Seattle’s top-nine forward group. Playing with Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand would be a plum assignment for pretty much anyone.

Nashville clearly saw top-six scoring potential in Tolvanen when they picked him No. 30 overall in the 2017 NHL Draft, and he quickly established himself thereafter as a strong producer in both the Liiga and the AHL. Even so, the best he ever managed in Nashville was 11 goals and 22 points in 40 games during the 2020–21 season. Over 88 games with the Predators over 2021–22 and 2022–23, Tolvanen racked up just 13 goals and 27 points.

Still, it’s hard to believe Nashville couldn’t find a trade suitor for Tolvanen before throwing him on waivers. The Kraken have become one of the NHL’s most opportunistic teams when it comes to scouring the waiver wire, and Tolvanen might be their best snag to date. With fellow sniper Daniel Sprong no longer in the equation in Seattle, Tolvanen should be even better positioned to score in bunches this season.

Vancouver Canucks: Ilya Mikheyev

Mikheyev’s debut go-round with the Canucks ended prematurely in January as the result of a nagging ACL injury. The 28-year-old winger had played hurt all year after originally suffering the injury in the preseason, but he still managed 13 goals and 28 points in his first 46 games with the Canucks. Not bad at all, given the circumstances.

If that’s how Mikheyev produced while he was less than 100 percent, it’ll be fascinating to see what he can do at full health. The Russian speedster could spend much of the year on a line with established scorers J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser, perhaps with occasional stints alongside Elias Pettersson and Andrei Kuzmenko. Either way, Mikheyev will be eating good.

Even after showing plenty of brilliant flashes as a member of both the Canucks and the Toronto Maple Leafs, Mikheyev has yet to truly pop off as an NHLer. He’s very skilled and extremely fast, but his career high is only 32 points (albeit in 53 games). Still, it isn’t difficult to imagine him flirting with the 50-point mark over a full season on the right line. That’s the sort of production the Canucks were hoping for when they signed him for four years at a $4.75 million AAV. If he stays healthy, this might be Mikheyev’s big year.

Vegas Golden Knights: Michael Amadio

What if Amadio turns out to be the Golden Knights’ next Chandler Stephenson? The 27-year-old winger seems to have found a great fit in Vegas, having joined the team off waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs early in the 2021–22 season. Amadio finished his first year in Vegas with 18 points in 53 games and followed it up with 27 in 67 games this past season. After that, the 6’1″ forward racked up 10 points in 16 playoff games as the Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history.

Amadio is 27, roughly the same age Stephenson was when he first started to blossom in Vegas. And like Stephenson, Amadio had an up-and-down career path before finding his way to the Nevada desert. After spending parts of four seasons as a role player with the Kings, Amadio made brief cameos with both Ontario teams before landing in Vegas. Since then, he’s been on a gradual (but consistent) ascent.

With Reilly Smith gone, Vegas will need someone to pick up some more slack in the offensive zone. Despite being a prolific scorer in junior and the AHL, Amadio has mostly been cast as a lunchpail type in the bigs. This might just be the year in which he makes a name for himself as a legit secondary scoring option. Vegas isn’t exactly flush with other options, after all.