We’re still early in the season, but we’re already starting to see some surprises. 

Some of these stunning starts can be accounted for by their strong power-play performance. Valeri Nichushkin has 11 points, five on the power play. Nick Ritchie has four points in five games, all with the man advantage. However, we knew both of them would be on the top power-play units on their teams. Same with Calen Addison in Minnesota and Artturi Lehkonen in Colorado. 

Some players are getting power-play time, but they are still under the radar in many fantasy leagues. Below are 10 players who are surprisingly getting plenty of power-play time this year. Note that many of the players on this list aren’t producing all that much. However, getting these power-play minutes is a good indicator that they might turn things around.

Of course, not everything is set in stone. There are no guarantees that the players on this list will continue to get that time with the man advantage. It was Justin Schultz, and not Vince Dunn, who surprisingly started the season on the top grouping in Seattle. That lasted three games. Dunn is now in that top spot, just like many expected when the season began.  

10. Chris Wideman

Last season, when Jeff Petry was struggling mightily in Montreal, the team switched up their power play and put Wideman on the top unit. It helped lead to an improvement, and Wideman finished with a career-high 12 power-play points. This year, Wideman has been starting on the number one grouping, but Wideman is pointless (at both even strength and on special teams). Wideman’s 2:55 per night is fourth on the team, and more than double the next-highest defenseman, Kaiden Guhle at 1:17. Montreal has one goal with the man advantage and the second-worst power play in the league (the only team worst is Columbus, who has yet to score a power-play goal). Last year, Montreal went with a five-forward power-play line for several games. If the team, and Wideman, don’t start producing soon, it won’t be long before Wideman is replaced by someone else.

9. Andrei Kuzmenko

In the first game of the season, Kuzmenko scored a power-play goal early in the second period. That goal gave Vancouver a 3-0 lead, which is also the last time the Canucks’ fans had anything to celebrate. Since then, Kuzmenko has gone pointless with the man advantage, but not for a lack of trying. He’s out there for the majority of the team’s power-play minutes and is averaging 3:50 per night. While this ice time is a good sign the coaching staff hasn’t lost trust in the rookie, it will be interesting to see if anything changes while Vancouver looks to finally win a game. 

8. Dominik Kubalik

In his first two years in the league, Kubalik put up a 55-point and 56-point pace. He had a major drop-off last year to a 33-point apace. In the offseason, he went to Detroit, and not much was expected from him as a third-line winger. Then Tyler Bertuzzi suffered an upper-body injury. Kubalik has been the beneficiary, as he has been given a top-six spot and a spot on the top power-play unit. He hasn’t disappointed, with four power-play points in his last two games, including three on Sunday. Teammate Oskar Sundqvist is also benefitting, moving up to the top power-play grouping, and has two power-play points in his last three games. 

7. James van Riemsdyk

JVR left the game with an injury early in Sunday night’s game and did not return. For this section, we won’t include that game in his stats since the injury occurred before the Flyers had a power play. Through his first five Flyers games, JVR’s average power-play time on ice per game is a minute higher per game than last year, and the highest of his career. Whether this is due to injuries or new coach John Tortorella remains to be seen, Van Riemsdyk is thriving early as he already has three power-play points. There are a few other Flyers with higher-than-anticipated power-play times, including Joel Farabee. 

6. Stefan Noesen

Noesen started the season as a healthy scratch, but now has points in three straight contests, including two points with the man advantage. Those two power-play points are already a career high. Most of his man-advantage minutes have been on the top unit with Sebastian Aho, Martin Necas and Andrei Svechnikov. The 29-year-old is now on his sixth team in seven seasons and has never been put in the position to produce as he is now. If you’re going to pick him up off the waiver wire, keep in mind he’s still on the fourth line at even strength. 

5. Taylor Raddysh

Going into the regular season, we knew there were open spots on the Blackhawks top power-play line, but it wasn’t clear who would slide into those roles. One of those spots went to Raddysh, but there hasn’t been any reward yet for anyone who took a flier on the Blackhawk. He has zero power-play points in five games, despite being on the ice for 60 per cent of Chicago’s power-play minutes. On Sunday night, he was on the ice for 90.6 per cent of Chicago’s man-advantage minutes, so the team doesn’t appear to be worried about his lack of production in that role. 

4. Luke Kunin

A year ago, Kunin averaged 57 seconds of power play time per game, his highest since he averaged 1:17 per game in 2018-19. This year, he’s at 2:45 per game, good for 53 per cent of all of San Jose’s man-advantage minutes. He was on the top unit, but was shifted down to the second grouping on Sunday night. However, there weren't many power-play opportunities, so it’s difficult to tell if this was a one-off. Even on the second unit, he should still crush his previous high in power-play minutes. While he only has two power-play points in eight games, he’s getting top-six minutes at even strength as well. San Jose has had a slow start. Once the big guns get going, they will have a trickle-down effect on Kunin. 

3. Casey Mittelstadt

This may sound strange to hear, but for the first time in a long time, the Sabres have enough offensively-talented players that they can debate who goes on the top power-play line. While Victor Olofsson, Jack Quinn, Peyton Krebs, JJ Peterka, Dylan Cozens and Kyle Okposo are either on the second unit or not being used with the man advantage at all, Mittelstadt continues to get reps on the top grouping and is averaging almost three minutes per night. He’s responded to the challenge and has power-play points in three straight games. 

2. Gabriel Vilardi

Vilardi has been one of the astonishing surprises so far this season, with seven points in seven games. To put that into perspective, he had seven points in 25 games a year ago. He’s also seen his average power-play time double to 3:42 per night, and has been used on the top unit quite frequently. Surprisingly, only one of his seven points has been with the man advantage, but you would have to hope that more may be coming if he continues in this role. 

1. J.J. Moser

I wrote about Moser in last week’s column, but he deserves to be listed here as well. The 22-year-old defenseman is in his second season, but is being used on the top power-play line. Thanks to all the power plays the Coyotes have been receiving, Moser is averaging almost five power-play minutes per night. He has three power-play points so far, one behind the team leader. It’d still be nice if he shot the puck more frequently, but the Coyotes don’t have anyone else who can step into this role, so expect to see more of him in this situation as the season goes on.