Now that we’re at the halfway point of the season, it’s a good time to take stock of players who may be slight surprises.

Getting 70 points in today’s NHL is a common occurrence, but there are still players who surprise us each season in reaching that goal. Each preseason, I try to guess who some of those newbies would be. At this point of the campaign, we can take more educated prognostications.

Below are 10 players who have a chance to reach 70 points for the first time. For this list, we’re only looking at players who are currently on pace for 70 or fewer points. This is to eliminate any near-certain locks, such as Josh Morrissey, Alex Tuch and Brady Tkachuk.

10. Viktor Arvidsson

We’ve been here before with Arvidsson. We should all remember the 2016-17 to 2018-19 seasons, where he put up point totals of 61, 61 and 48 (the latter in 58 games). Now, with 31 points in 39 games, he’s on pace for 65 points. So what would be the difference in thinking he could reach 70 this year compared to those other years? One is that he is more of an assist man now. Of his 20 assists, 18 of them are primary. Instead of needing 40 goals to have a shot at 70 points, he could reach that target even if he puts up 25 goals. Those extra assists would be needed, considering he’s averaging a shot per game less than a year ago. He’s on a bit of a hot streak, with nine points in his last nine games.

9. Tyler Toffoli

Truthfully, I thought Toffoli was going to have a much better season than he has been having. I listed him as number one on my pre-season list of potential long-shot first-time 70-point producers. Apparently, the magic of Jonathan Huberdeau to turn linemates into a much-more productive player wasn’t included in the trade from Florida. Still, Toffoli has 34 points in 41 games, a 68-point pace. He is being used on the top power-play unit, which is a great sign that he could reach 70. He also has excellent chemistry with Elias Lindholm, who has picked up a point on 16 of Toffoli’s 22 even-strength points. Toffoli will need a bit of a streak to get there, but it’s still achievable.

8. Cole Caufield

At the rate Caufield is going, he could be the second player of the salary cap era to have 40-plus goals and fewer than 20 assists (Alex Ovechkin had 48 goals and 19 assists in 2019-20 before the season was cut short due to Covid). Through Montreal’s first 40 games, Caufield has 23 goals and nine assists. That gives him 32 points, a 66-point pace. While his goal total will help, he needs to pick up assists if he wants a shot at 70 points. He also needs to improve his power-play production to have a chance (his current seven power-play points are lacking). However, he is going to get plenty of ice time and power-play time, and he is averaging 3.4 shots per game, all factors in his favor.

7. Andre Burakovsky

In each of the last three seasons before this one, Burakovsky put up decent numbers, but his most productive year was 61 points last year. This year, he’s on pace for 69 points. There are plenty of reasons for optimism. He is on the top power-play unit and the first line at even strength. His 10 power-play points are only four off his career high. He’s also averaging 2.3 shots per game, the first time in his career that he’s hit the two-shot-per-game mark. Seattle has been much better this season than many expected, but whether that can hold for the second half will go a long way to determining whether Burakovsky can hit that 70-point plateau.

6. Joel Eriksson Ek

A few years ago, JEE turned into a defensive centreman, and there was some doubt if he could ever reach his offensive potential. His career high has been 50 points (which came last season), and he’s had a slow progression for points. With 31 points in 39 games, he is on pace for 65 points, but he’ll still be hard-pressed to reach 70. He continues to be used in a defensive role, and his most frequent linemates are Marcus Foligno and Jordan Greenway. He does play about 71 per cent of Minnesota’s power-play minutes, which will help. He is also averaging three shots per game. His ice time skyrocketing to 19:27 per night will also give him more opportunities.

5. Brandon Montour

Going into this season, Montour was barely draftable, except for those in exceptionally deep leagues. He averaged fewer than two shots per game and wasn’t a great hit or blocked-shot producer. He rarely got power-play time, and last season, his ice time dropped to under 18 minutes per game. His career high was a 37-point pace. This year, he has 32 points in 39 games, a 67-point pace. Everything has just exploded for him. He’s averaging 2.7 shots per game. His ice time is up to almost 25 minutes per night. His 1.36 hits per game are the highest of his career, and his 1.23 blocked shots per game are third. He’s also been valuable in league with PIM, as he had three straight games with 10 or more PIM around Christmas. He’s on the ice for 70.5 per cent of Florida’s man-advantage minutes, which has led to 13 power-play points, already a career high with half a season left to go.

4. Andrei Svechnikov

This one seems like a mistake. It feels as if Svechnikov should have already had 70 points, but he has yet to meet that mark, although he did post 69 points in 78 games last year to come close. The Canes forward tends to start the season hot and then cool down slightly. This year, he had 17 points in his first 14 games but has 17 in 26 since. He’s still shooting the puck a bunch, and his 14.4 per cent shooting percentage means he has a shot at 40 goals for the first time in his career. It would be hard to imagine that he could reach 40 goals but not get to 70 points, but he’s right on the cusp for both benchmarks.

3. Carter Verhaeghe

The former Toronto Maple Leaf draft pick has upped his scoring game this season. In 40 games, he already has 19 goals, only five off his career high. He’s averaging 2.9 shots per game (a career high) and scoring on 16.4 per cent of those shots. All this goal-scoring has helped elevate him to 32 points, which equates to a 66-point pace. Verhaeghe has been playing great alongside Aleksander Barkov, and would probably be on a 70-point pace if Barkov didn’t miss 10 games. It would also be helpful if Verhaeghe could get some power-play time, which will limit his chances of reaching 70.

2. Miro Heiskanen

Heiskanen has filled the void left by John Klingberg better than many could have hoped. Due to injuries and Covid-shortened seasons, Heiskanen has never broken 40 points, although he did have three seasons in a row of about a 40-point pace. With Klingberg gone, Heiskanen is filling in for all of the offensive duties. He’s on the ice for 62 per cent of Dallas’ power-play minutes, which has led to an already-career-high 16 power-play points, tied for sixth among defensemen heading into Sunday’s action. He’s also starting in the offensive zone for 59.1 per cent of his starts. By comparison, he was at 49.7 per cent last year. He’s also at a career-high 2.7 shots per game. All this has led to 31 points in 38 games, a 67-point pace.

1. Brandon Hagel

Hagel’s production has to come as a complete shock, as no one could have expected him to flirt with 70 points. With 31 points in 38 games, he’s on pace for 69. When he was traded to Tampa last year, he played mostly in a third-line role with no power-play time. This year, he’s been put on the top line with Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point. He’s also been getting some power-play time, which has led to nine power-play points, 29 percent of his season total. How important is it that he stays? Twenty-six of his 31 points have either been scored or assisted by Kucherov.