John Klingberg has been on another level to begin the 2021 season. A tallied an unassisted powerplay marker in regulation and then set up the OT winner with incredible patience to give Dallas the win on Tuesday.

The two-point night extends his season-long point streak to three games and six points. And outside of a 20 percent shooting rate, everything is looking clean. His even-strength IPP is just a touch above where it normally sits, while his PP IPP is down. This despite seeing a ridiculous 5:16 on the man-advantage per game thus far.

Nearly six years ago I wrote one of my first columns at DobberHockey. It begged the question of whether Klingberg was the next Erik Karlsson. And while neither of those two defender’s next five seasons really went to plan, at 28, it sure looks like Klingberg is ready to seriously pop off.

We shouldn’t be all that surprised either. The guy is damn good. I mean, the fact that Miro f*cking Heiskanen can’t unseat him as the top-dog on the Stars blueline speaks incredible volumes. He’s also coming off of a tremendous playoff run that saw him post 21 points in 26 contests.

We’re looking at peak Klingberg time. With just one more year left on his sweetheart deal, it’ll be fascinating to see what the Stars decide to do with him. Do they pay him large money and term, securing a boatload of cap (and skill) on the backend, or do they cash in via trade and go full bore with Heiskanen?

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Matt Tkachuk pissing off the entire East Coast is humorous to me. Welcome to the party, Leafs’ fans.

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Well, it’s finally happened. Nikolaj Ehlers has officially arrived. We all knew it was coming. The ridiculous junior career, the incessantly amazing transitional effectiveness, the flirtatious point totals while being locked on L2 and PP2. But the 24-year-old has now broken through the glass ceiling.

With a splendid four-point effort on Tuesday, Ehlers now sits one point back of Connor McDavid and Mitch Marner for the league lead. He’s found a way to hit the scoresheet in each of the Jets’ first seven games and has looked great doing so. And here’s the best part, HE’S STILL STUCK ON L2 AND PP2!

With Winnipeg moving out Patrik Laine, you’d think there’d be a spot for the slick Dane, but it hasn’t happened yet. And with Pierre-Luc Dubois coming soon, you’d have to think he pushes Paul Stastny out of the way. But at least PLD and Ehlers will have each other at even-strength.

It’s never easy to truly breakout without 60-plus percent of the power-play ice, but Ehlers is going to give it a go this season. And I’m ready for it.

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K’Andre Miller grabbed his first-career goal on Tuesday. The 20-year-old has been more than just a pleasant surprise for the Rangers, he’s been damn impressive. Paired with Jacob Trouba since camp, he’s immediately stepped in and started chewing up the minutes.

He’s not as advanced defensively yet, but his expected-goals-for have been way up there.

Chart courtesy Evolving-Hockey

This is a player that I planted my flag in some time ago. He’s 6’5 and has incredible abilities at that size. His physical profile coupled with his skill set screams star. He’s obviously stuck behind a couple of very strong power-play options in Adam Fox and Tony DeAngelo, so the boom will be difficult to traverse to. But at the very least he should develop into a studly multicat type.

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While much of the discussion surrounding Vancouver this season has been the disastrous start by the team and particularly, Elias Pettersson, the captain has been doing his part and then some.

Bo Horvat is a unique bird. The proverbial ‘they’ like to remind us that development is seldom linear. Ups and downs, ebbs and flows, peaks and valleys. We can expect them all as a player traverses the NHL. Yet for the 25-year-old Horvat, that has not been the case. Now in his sixth NHL season, the Ontario-native has miraculously improved on his point-per-game output in every successive campaign. It’s just something we don’t see. And early in 2021, the results have been excellent.

At the time of writing, the second-line centre leads the team with five goals and 10 points in eight contests. That mark puts him T-5th on the NHL leaderboard alongside Mark Schiefele and Anze Kopitar.

Now, Horvat and the Canucks have played more games than anyone else. His individual shooting percentage is juuuuust a bit high at 25 percent. And an IPP of 91 is going to be awfully difficult to sustain. But there are a few things working for him that could let us believe another step in production will sustain this season.

Firstly, with rookie Nils Hoglander living on his flank this year, it has meant the Horvat line is no longer tasked with the shutdown role. This has opened up his play and allowed him more freedom than he’s ever had. It’s also altered his start times. Horvat has never received a 50 percent offensive zone start time in his entire career. He clicked below 40 percent the last two seasons. So far in 2021, he’s right on the mark at 50.

The addition of Hoglander has done more than just altered the matchup game. The 20-year-old is a gifted offensive player – something that has been lacking on Horvat’s wing since his days in London of the OHL.

Finally, despite the Canucks power-play not clicking right (a large part of that is due to the Pettersson/Miller icy starts) but Horvat has been used more in the pop-out, bumper spot for his short one-timer. Having him play a larger role on that unit adds depth and creativity and will provide more pop on his scorecard. He’s also seeing fewer minutes on the PK. His offense is even more important this time around.

I won’t be pegging him to keep that 127-point pace, but clicking along around the 70-point zone is certainly within reach.

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There’s been a lot of talk on how to deal with the 2021 NHL Draft. On Tuesday Elliotte Friedman reported that the league has several ideas in play:

1. Push the draft back to December 2021 or January 2022.

2. Squash two drafts into the same week in June 2020.

I live in draft and scouting mode 24/7/365 so this is very topical for me. But for those who are less intrigued until their fantasy drafts creep up, either of these scenarios would drastically alter the fantasy landscape for next year. Now, 2021 lacks an elite player who we would expect to immediately step into the NHL and produce. So that relieves some pressure on the league by potentially nixing any chance of an 18/19-year-old being forced to wait an extra season before making their dough. But it would still shift things exponentially.

I wouldn’t mind getting a ton more views on these kids before landing on a proper assessment. And I certainly wouldn’t mind getting to cover TWO drafts in Montreal in the summer of ’22. But it’s a potential plan with many hurdles to clear.

It’s without a doubt a situation we’ll need to watch closely.

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Speaking of the draft, I’ve held back on releasing any lists because of the pandemic situation and lack of views. But the time is almost upon us. Keep your eyes peeled over the next few days for my inaugural list.

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Connor McDavid remains the GOOT (greatest of our time)

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@Hockey_Robinson