In this edition of Capped, I plan on discussing some of the league's premier youngsters, mainly the ones who are eligible to win the Calder Trophy, which is awarded to the best rookie of the season. I spoke about a few rookies back in November as well, touching on Matty Beniers of Seattle, Calen Addison of Minnesota, and Mason McTavish of Anaheim. With the exception of McTavish, the other two rookies have slowed down with respect to their overall points per game pace, but that is a natural thing to occur given there has been about 20-30 more games played for these players. Young players go through a lot of trials and tribulations throughout their careers, early on teams aren't too sure on how to defend them but once more film is created for the players, teams figure out their tricks and eventually learn how to contain them.

#1) Cole Perfetti – C – Winnipeg Jets
Contract: $894K – 2 Years remaining
Roster Percentages: Fantrax – 63%, ESPN – 11.7%

The former 10^th overall draft selection is certainly having a nice start to his NHL career with a current pace of 54 points through a full 82-game season. While he is listed as a center on the NHL's website, he has mainly played on either of the wings for most of the season. With rock solid options down the middle in Mark Scheifele and Pierre-Luc Dubois, Perfetti doesn't need to be playing center. This gives him the chance to learn from two players who have been around for the last half decade in Dubois' case and the last decade or so in Scheifele's case. The Jets have a very specific roster configuration that I think benefits a player like Perfetti. Their top-six forward group is sort of solidified with skill and their bottom-six is locked up with more defensive minded forwards. There isn't a lot of customization that can occur within each group. Perfetti thankfully lands into the top-six scoring group where he can play alongside other talented players like Kyle Connor, Nikolaj Ehlers, Blake Wheeler, and then obviously Scheifele and Dubois included. This player just turned 21-years old less than a month ago and is currently producing at a rate of 0.66 points per game while averaging less than 15 minutes per night, and that is incredible if you ask me. When it comes to his zone starts, he has an oZS% (offensive zone start percentage) of 65.4% which means more often than not he is playing in the opponents end of the ice. Perfetti has been placed in a position to succeed which not many rookies are, this is one player I would recommend going forward given the optics around how the Jets are constructed and the number of opportunities that a player like Perfetti will receive.

#2) Kent Johnson – C – Columbus Blue Jackets
Contract: $925K – 2 Years remaining
Roster Percentages: Fantrax – 50%, ESPN – 3.8%

The product of the Michigan Wolverines of the NCAA was the fifth draft selection in 2021. Being selected to the Blue Jackets meant that they were finally able to draft a player with big-time skill at the forward position, something the Blue Jackets have been struggling for years to find. Johnson has all of the skill in the world to succeed at the pro level and I forecast that will occur. This season has definitely been a bit of an odd one for the Blue Jackets, I don't think anyone really had this roster pegged as a bottom-3 team in the league (at the time of writing this) considering they managed to snag Johnny Gaudreau out from underneath their divisional rivals in New Jersey and Philadelphia. Whenever you lock up a player of Gaudreau's skill, you don't really project them to be worse than the year before and this just goes to show hockey is a team game. Johnson is still closer to being 20 than he is to being 21, he is also a light player as well who is still developing physically, as well as mentally adjusting to the pro game and the pro lifestyle. He is on pace for just shy of 44 points this season through a full season while playing a secondary role on a team that adjusts their lines constantly throughout their top-nine forward group. Meaning he isn't getting consistent chemistry with his teammates, and Columbus is also struggling as whole as they are currently scoring at a rate of 2.60 goals per game and allowing 3.875 goals per game, both of which are unacceptable. The thing that Johnson has going for him, is that he is playing on average less than 14 minutes per night on a team that is fairly subpar (I'm being generous). The Blue Jackets have a strong pipeline of prospects on the way to being NHL regulars and potential scoring threats in Cole Sillinger, David Jiricek, Kirill Marchenko, Yegor Chinakhov, Jordan Dumais, and Denton Mateychuk, along with whomever they end up selecting with their projected lottery pick.

#3) Owen Power – D – Buffalo Sabres
Contract: $916K – 2 Years remaining
Roster Percentages: Fantrax – 76%, ESPN – 55.6%

Another product of the Michigan Wolverines of the NCAA, the former first overall draft selection in the 2021 NHL entry draft is expected to be a huge member of the resurgence of the Buffalo Sabres behind Rasmus Dahlin on defense. At his current rate, Power would finish an 82-game season with 33 points, for a rookie defenseman that is fairly impressive. The benchmark that I use to consider a defender to be capable of carrying themselves offensively is around 35 points. I use that benchmark for all defenders, in Power's case, he is doing that at the young age of 20. As a kid he is on pace to finish with more points than a lot of other defensemen who have been around in the NHL a lot longer than he has. The Buffalo Sabres are a very young team, they are the ninth youngest NHL team this year with an average age of 26.07. The Sabres defenders have accounted for 20 of the team's 180 total goals this season, surprisingly enough Owen Power is second in goal scoring for the club behind Dahlin who has 14 goals so far this season. Power is truly a modern day defensemen when you look at his size, skating ability, offensive prowess, defensive ability, and hockey IQ. This is a player who should be pushing for 45 points or probably more when he is in his prime. This team is only getting better around him as well, they are all developing together which I view as a dangerous thing considering the amount of chemistry they will obtain with each other. The young players on Buffalo should be viewed as very relevant fantasy hockey assets.


* Honorable Mentions: Pyotr Kochetkov – G (CAR), Stuart Skinner – G (EDM), Logan Thompson – G (VGK), Calen Addison – D (MIN), Jake Sanderson – D (OTT), Arber Xhekaj – D (MTL), Jack Quinn – RW (BUF), Dylan Guenther – RW (ARI), Matias Maccelli – LW (ARI) *