Fresh off winning his first Stanley Cup, the Conn Smythe Trophy and the James Norris Memorial Trophy, Cale Makar enters 2022-23 looking to follow up a successful campaign that saw him set franchise benchmarks for goals and points in a regular season by a defenseman (28-58—86 in 77 GP) and record the fourth-highest point total by a defenseman in a postseason in NHL history (8-21—29 in 20 GP). His record-setting season moved the 23-year-old within 20 points of 200 in his career.

Calder Trophy finalist Trevor Zegras produced multiple highlight-reel plays in 2021-22, including an over-the-net lob pass to Sony Milano that went viral. Zegras, age 21, was named one of the cover athletes for EA Sports NHL 23 alongside Sarah Nurse and has 26 goals in 99 career games to sit four tallies shy of becoming the fourth player in Ducks history to score 30 times prior to his 22nd birthday. The others: Paul Kariya (68 G in 129 GP), Ryan Getzlaf (39 G in 139 GP) and Corey Perry (30 G in 138 GP).

Twenty-one-year-old Jack Hughes (44-64—108 in 166 GP) produced at a 1.14 points-per-game pace in 2021-22, including seven goals in his final seven contests. The Devils forward, who was the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, finished last season with 26 goals in 49 contests (0.53 G/GP), which prorates to a 43-goal campaign for a full 82-game season.

* Quinn Hughes set a single-season franchise record for points by a Canucks defenseman in 2021-22, posting 8-60—68 in 76 games for a 27-point improvement over his totals from 2020-21 (3-38—41 in 56 GP). Should the Orlando, Fla., native – who turns 23 on Oct. 14 – take another step forward offensively for Vancouver this year and reach the 70-point mark, he would join elite company in the process.

Jason Robertson, who led his team in goals in 2021-22 (41-38—79 in 74 GP), became the first Stars/North Stars skater to score 40 in a season since Tyler Seguin in 2017-18. Should Robertson reach the mark again in 2022-23, he would become just the third player in Stars/North Stars history to post consecutive seasons with as many goals – Dino Ciccarelli (3x from 1985-86 to 1987-88) and Dave Gagner (2x from 1989-90 to 1990-91) are the only skaters that have done so with the franchise to date.

After posting just 10 points through his first 33 games in 2021-22, Cole Caufield closed out his rookie campaign with the most goals among Canadiens players and the second-most points (23-20—43 in 67 GP); 33 of his points came in the final 34 contests. Caufield can become just the seventh Canadiens player in the NHL’s expansion era (since 1967-68) to post multiple 20-goal seasons before age 23 – Alex Galchenyuk (2015-16 & 2014-15) and Gilbert Dionne (1992-93 & 1991-92) are the only ones to do since the beginning of the 1990s.

Brady Tkachuk, who just turned 23 on Sept. 16 and sits 10 tallies shy of 100, concluded his fourth NHL season with his first career 30-goal campaign which also included 117 penalty minutes. The Senators captain was the only player in 2021-22 to finish the year with 30-plus goals and 100-plus penalty minutes – he can become the first skater to reach both benchmarks in consecutive seasons since Wayne Simmonds in 2015-16 (32 G, 147 PIM) and 2016-17 (31 G, 122 PIM).

A pair of Red Wings stars each reached the 50-point mark in their 2021-22 rookie season: Calder Trophy winner Mortiz Seider (7-43—50 in 82 GP) and forward Lucas Raymond (23-34—57 in 82 GP). With similar production in 2022-23, Seider can join rare company among NHL defensemen, while Raymond can join a pair of franchise icons by collecting 100 career points prior to age 21 – a feat Steve Yzerman (83-135—218 in 211 GP) and Gordie Howe (35-68—103 in 158 GP) have only achieved to date.

Jake Oettinger nearly backstopped the Stars to the Second Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 64-save performance in Game 7 against the Flames and is within striking distance of his 100th career game in 2022-23. Oettinger (41-23-8) is just 23 games shy of hitting the century mark and has the opportunity to move past Marty Turco (51) and Don Beaupre (45) for the most wins through 100 career games with the Stars.

* Jeremy Swayman enters 2022-23 looking to follow up a season that saw him post the fourth-most wins in a campaign by a Bruins rookie goaltender. The Anchorage, Alaska native, who turns 24 on Nov. 24, also tied Bob Janecyk (23 in 1984-85) for the fifth-most wins in NHL history by a U.S.-born goaltender in their rookie season, trailing only Jimmy Howard (37 in 2009-10 w/ DET), Frank Brimsek (33 in 1938-39 w/ BOS), Ryan Miller (30 in 2005-06 w/ BUF) and Tom Barrasso (26 in 1983-84 w/ BUF).

A new season, a new class of rookies aiming to enter the NHL and make an immediate impact with their clubs. Here’s a look at a few to keep an eye on in 2022-23:

* Rookie teammates Matty Beniers and Shane Wright will both look to make an impact with the Kraken this season. Beniers made his NHL debut in the final 10 contests of the 2021-22 regular season, recording a point in all but one game over that stretch (3-6—9 in 10 GP). Wright, meanwhile, will look to follow in the footsteps of other recent No. 4 picks such as Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner (2015), Stanley Cup champion Cale Makar (2017) and Red Wings sophomore Lucas Raymond (2020) who are part of an elite list of NHL players in their rookie campaigns.

* Anaheim’s Mason McTavish, who skated in nine games with his club at the start of last season (2-1—3), and Ottawa’s Jake Sanderson, who will look to make his NHL debut, both enter 2022-23 vying for a spot on their respective team’s roster. McTavish, who was named the best forward and most valuable player at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship after posting 8-9—17 (7 GP), will look to become the first player in Ducks history to capture the Calder Memorial Trophy, while Sanderson can become the second player in Senators history to do so – he would join Daniel Alfredsson (1996).

* Juraj Slafkovsky, taken with the top pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, found the score sheet at Kraft Hockeyville on Oct. 6 (0-1—1) and will look to make his regular-season debut with the club in 2022-23. Each of the past two seasons have featured at least one rookie, who was born outside North America, collect at least 50 points: Lucas Raymond (57 in 2021-22 w/ DET) and Kirill Kaprizov (51 in 2020-21 w/ MIN).

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Thanks to the NHL PR department for the information above.