Tim Daily: For me, it's been the increased contribution of youth throughout the league. Since the lockout we've seen several teams lean on young stars for production and leadership, but it seems that junior-eligible players are making more of an impact today than ever before. I had all but penciled in Michael Del Zotto and Matt Duchene as guys that would return to their junior squads, but after watching them play it seems clear to me that the NHL is the only place where they will get tested and forced to bring their game up another level.
John Cullen: Duchene I saw as a guy who had the potential to stay up if Colorado gave him enough icetime (which obviously they have), but I would have never even had Del Zotto making the team, nevermind for the year. The new NHL has allowed for that, 10 years ago there's no way a guy like Pat Kane is not only the number-one overall pick but one of the best players in the league. It's allowing younger, smaller guys to succeed without question.
Andrew Harvey: Del Zotto surprises me a lot as do Ryan O'Reilly and Dmitri Kulikov all making the league this year.
Nate Wells: I always assumed Duchene would make the Avs given how the team is; however, Ryan O'Reilly is a shocker.
Tim: O'Reilly is certainly surprising but with Duchene, I initially had him going back because it's often tough to put lottery picks in situations where they have to be the forefront of an NHL franchise right away.That said, after watching a few games its obvious he belongs in the bigs.
Nate: I agree with the thought, but it's become common to see those players stay in the new NHL. In the last five drafts there has only been one top-three pick coming out of major juniors who got sent back to his CHL team [Bobby Ryan] while most of the college players were one-and-dones [Erik Johnson, Kyle Turris] or caused friction with their drafted team [Jack Johnson in Carolina after returning to Michigan for a sophomore campaign, JVR in Philly]. In these cases, the team looks out for their best interest instead of the player.
Andrew: There was no way Duchene was going back to juniors. I bet he would have cracked every lineup in the league.
Pat Andrzejewski: Filatov being a healthy scratch is shocking too.
Tim: I'm surprised but not totally shocked. I watched Filatov play a bit timid in the corners and back away from being physical on the puck early on in the season and I'm sure Hitchcock doesn't want Columbus to miss on another 1st rounder (Zherdev). They were lucky to get anything back in return for that guy, let alone a player like Fedor Tyutin. Filatov will be fine though, he seems like he has a genuine interest in working hard to get better.
Eric Kveton: My biggest surprise is Phoenix... 5-2, with victories over Pittsburgh, SJ, and Boston, and playing absolute shutdown defense. Aucoin has been a big addition for them.
I actually think it's more surprising for the defensemen to be doing so well. I guess it's not a big surprise for guys like Hedman and Gilroy to be flourishing due to their size and experience (respectively). But the stigma that rookie defensemen can't do well in the NHL has been taking a hit with guys like them, Del Zotto, and (last year) Doughty, Bogosian, and Schenn jumping in right away and succeeding.
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