NHL players who will send their GM a 'thank you' card next summer

Carolina's wingers

We're cheating a little bit here but with good reason. It's not really exactly where Carolina's new high-priced winger Nikolaj Ehlers (six years, $8.5 million AAV) will play — Carolina is likely to play him more often at five-on-five than he played in Winnipeg, where he was ninth in time-on-ice per game last season among forwards. Ehlers is an elite puck transporter who helped the Jets outscore opponents 100-55 at five-on-five the past two seasons, so at least one of Andrei Svechnikov, Seth Jarvis or Logan Stankoven will benefit from him. 

Montreal Canadiens right defenseman Lane Hutson 

Hutson (5-foot-9 and 162 pounds) will always have doubters because of his size. But some players transcend size, as Hutson did in an outstanding 60-assist rookie season in 2024-25. The Canadiens know that, in the right role, Hutson can do serious damage in creating offense at five-on-five and on the power play. 

Acquiring Noah Dobson, a 6-foot-4 right-handed-shot defenseman, will allow the Habs to keep Hutson in the ideal role. Dobson, playing a full season under HC Patrick Roy for the New York Islanders, put up his best career defensive metrics in high-danger chances against per 60 minutes (9.66) and expected goals against (2.29) in 70 or more games, according to Natural Stat Trick. 

Vegas Golden Knights Mark Stone 

Winger Mitch Marner's arrival could potentially give Stone a chance to take fewer shifts, play more games and be healthier come playoff time, when the Knights need his brand of two-way hockey to make up for Marner's history of playoff troubles. Stone, who has battled back problems for years, is 33 and on the back-nine of his career. The arrival of Marner has the potential to stretch out the effectiveness of the latter stages of his career.  

St. Louis Blues center Robert Thomas

Thomas has quietly become one of the more effective No. 1 centers in the league. His back-to-back 80-plus-point seasons are driven primarily by his speed and skill as a setup man. 

In free agency, St. Louis added centers Pius Suter and Nick Bjugstad. Bjugstad should be able to take harder matchups at five-on-five. Suter, meanwhile, proved to be an effective penalty killer in Vancouver last season. That should allow Thomas to spend fewer minutes on the penalty kill, where he had the worst expected goals against per 60 rate (10.84, per Natural Stat Trick) of any Blues penalty killer to play at least 20 minutes on the PK last season.