It’s Christmas Day, and with no NHL games on the docket until Tuesday, this is a great opportunity to have a look at better-than-expected players so far this season. 

Some of the best gifts you can get on Christmas Day are those that completely surprise you, even if they aren't the biggest or most expensive. These little gifts can make your Christmas special.

The same is true in fantasy hockey. While having superstars can be great, oftentimes you are most pleased with those players you took a chance on that exceeded all expectations. Seriously, right now, are you happiest with your first-round pick of Leon Draisaitl, or your ninth-round pick of Sam Reinhart?

Below are the top 10 surprising gifts of this season, one for each fantasy-relevant category.

10. Brock Boeser‘s Plus/Minus

Fun fact: Before this season, Boeser had only finished as a plus player in one season, back in 2019-20 when he was a plus-four. Last year, he was a minus-21. That stat has been so much better this season, where he currently sits at a plus-12. While goaltending is going a long way toward that markedly improved stat, some of the credit has to go to Boeser himself – for his defensive improvement and uptick in production. He’s only three goals away from a career high, and his 26 even-strength points are only 13 away from a career high. 

9. Austin Watson‘s PIMs

Watson has only played 16 games this year but is fifth in the league with 60 PIMs (he’s been on the ice for 104 minutes total). Funnily enough, he has only picked up PIMs in five of those 16 games, which doesn’t matter if you’re in a roto league, but kind of sucks for deep head-to-head leagues. Forty-three of those 60 PIM have come in two games: a 17-PIM affair against Nashville on December 7, and a 26-minute PIM game against Carolina two weeks earlier. That makes him one of four players to have a 25-plus PIM game this season. His 3.75 PIM-per-game is smashing his previous best of 1.64 set a year ago. 

8. Evander Kane‘s Hits

Kane is having a bit of a resurgence after last year’s injury-shortened, disappointing season. He seems on track again to reach 30 goals and 60 points, while continuing to average more than three shots per night. However, it’s his hitting that has been most impressive. His 111 hits are third in the league, and overall, he’s averaging 3.58 hits per game. Not only does that top last year’s 3.02 hits per game, but this year’s mark is also a career high. If he stays healthy, there’s a good possibility he could become only the second player in history to reach 30 goals and 300 hits in a season (Dustin Brown in 2007-08 was the first). 

7. Mike Matheson‘s Power-Play Points

We all knew going into the season that Matheson was going to be manning the Habs’ top power play, but we didn’t know he was going to be this proficient. Even if he doesn’t pick up a single power-play point the rest of the season, with 13 power-play points, he’s already bested his career high by four. This is the first time he’s ever reached double digits in power-play points. Among defensemen, the league leader in power-play points has 16, so Matheson has been keeping pace with the elite blueliners so far this season. He looks poised to become the first Habs defenseman to reach the 20-power-play-point plateau since Jeff Petry in 2017-18, with an outside shot of being the first in 15 years to reach 30 power-play points. 

6. Vincent Trocheck‘s Faceoffs

There was some talk in the preseason that Trocheck would be moved to the third line to give the young players a top-six opportunity, but that talk didn’t last into the first game of the regular season. Part of the reason is that he’s so dominant on faceoffs that the Rangers need to give him those top-six minutes. He’s third in the league in faceoffs won, trailing only Sidney Crosby and Elias Lindholm, and he’s second in faceoff winning percentage, trailing only Michael McLeod. With the man advantage, he’s taken 121 of the team’s 144 faceoffs, winning 63.6 percent of those. 

5. Michael Carcone‘s Goals

The 27-year-old Carcone had only played 30 career NHL games before this season, notching six goals and nine points. He played in the World Championships in the spring, posting three goals and six points in 10 games. He also dominated the AHL last year, with 31 goals and 85 points in 65 games. This year, he has 14 goals and 19 points in 32 games, all while playing on the fourth line. Those 14 goals rank top-30 in the league and are tied with Jack Hughes, Leon Draisaitl, Jared McCann and a host of others. He’s doing this without the benefit of power-play time. His shooting percentage is sky-high though, so regression is coming. 

4. Joel Eriksson Ek‘s Shots

I have JEE in a dynasty league, and I love seeing his stat score after each game, admiring all the faceoff wins he picks up. I was a little shocked to find out he’s tied for 11th in the league in shots, just one shot back of Cole Caufield for 10th. If you were to graph his shots per game each season for the last few years, you would see an upward trajectory every single year. He went from 1.6 shots per game in 2019-20 to 2.1, to 2.9, to 3.2 last year, to 3.8 this season. This goes a long way to explaining why he’s already at 15 goals and looks good to smash his career high of 26 goals.

3. Filip Forsberg‘s Points

There was plenty of uncertainty around Forsberg coming into the season. In six of seven seasons from 2014-15 to 2020-21, his 82-game point pace ranged from 58 points to 67. The only exception was a 78-point pace in 2017-18. In 2021-22, he had 84 points in 69 games, a 100-point pace. Last year, that dipped down to a 69-point pace. It appeared as if Forsberg was a 60-point-pace player, with a great season sprinkled in here and there. This year has been another exceptional year for him, as he has 38 points in 34 games, a 92-point pace. Those 38 points are good enough to be in the top 20 in the league so far this season. 

2. Travis Sanheim‘s Assists

There was much speculation going into the season on who would be the Flyers’ most productive defenseman, but most of those discussions focused on Cam York. Surprisingly, it’s Sanheim who has stepped up big time. His 24 points are only 11 below his career high, and his 20 assists are only six away from matching his all-time best. Those 20 assists are tied for 10th among all defensemen, and he’s been able to do all this without much power-play time. He’s played less than a minute of power-play time in each of his last eight games, but continues to pile on the assists as he’s averaging more than 25 minutes of ice time per night. 

1. Cam Talbot‘s Wins

I understand most fantasy general managers would lean towards Thatcher Demko‘s league-leading 17 wins here, but Talbot has been exceptional. You have to remember he went undrafted in many Yahoo leagues this season, as there was some uncertainty whether Pheonix Copley or Talbot could break away as the team’s number one netminder. It turned out to be Talbot right from the start of the season, and his 14 wins are sixth in the league. He’s provided stability in the goalie position that the Kings haven’t had in half a decade.