Each preseason, one of my favorite columns to write tries to point out potential first-time 70-point players.

Last year saw eight defensemen reach the 70-point mark. It could have potentially been 10 players to reach that plateau, however, injuries to Cale Makar and Roman Josi put a stop to that. The last time we experienced a season with eight defensemen hitting 70 points was almost 30 years ago, back in 1993-94.

With so many defensemen getting to 70 points last year, I figured they needed a column of their own.

Last year, six defensemen reached 70 for the first time: Quinn Hughes, Dougie Hamilton, Miro Heiskanen and Rasmus Dahlin would have been popular picks to hit 70, but Brandon Montour went from a previous career high of 37 points to 73, while Josh Morrisey went from 37 to 76.

This is not outside the norm to have a player shockingly reach that mark. Even in the 93-94 season, we saw second-year player Sergei Zubov hit 89 points and Garry Galley reach 70 exactly.

Here are the top 10 players with a chance to hit 70 points for the first time. Note that I am not saying that all of these players will reach that mark, but the potential is there. A few of these will be long shots, just to cover for the next potential Josh Morrissey.

10. Juuso Valimaki

Since the Jets moved from Winnipeg to Arizona in 1996, the Coyotes have never even had a 60-point defenseman, so why does Valimaki have a shot at 70? He should be the top guy among defensemen in Arizona. Last January/February, when Shayne Gostisbehere missed eight games due to injury, Valimaki stepped up with seven points while seeing his overall ice jump up by an average of eight minutes per contest when compared to his first 44 games. He was finally getting top power-play time as well. Once Gostisbehere and Jakob Chychrun were traded away in March, Valimaki had 14 points in 22 games. Overall, that’s 21 points in 30 games without Gostisbehere, a 57-point pace. The team should be better offensively this year, but Valimaki will have to hold off Sean Durzi and J.J. Moser for power-play time.

9. Zach Werenski

Maybe the longest shot of everyone thanks to his consistent trips to the IR, there’s no doubt Werenski has the talent and opportunity to reach 70. But he’s going to need so many things to go right. First, he needs to stay healthy for every game, something he hasn’t accomplished since 2018-19. Then he needs to maintain his role on the top power-play unit, which will happen at the start of the campaign, but he could lose that spot if he falters (he hasn’t cracked 16 power-play points since his rookie campaign in 2016-17 when he had 21). Then the rest of the squad needs to improve and stay healthy to improve the overall offense of the team. That’s a lot of things that need to go right.

8. John Klingberg

Klingberg is another one of those long-shot players I wrote about earlier, but it sounds like he’s going to get the opportunity needed. Klingberg has opened up training camp on the top power-play unit. He struggled last year with Anaheim but was slightly better with Minnesota. Now in Toronto, he’s on a pure offensive team that should help him notch some extra points just by being on the ice with talents such as Auston Matthews, Mitchell Marner and William Nylander. If he can put up 25-plus points with the man advantage and everything else goes just right, he’ll still be a long shot for 70, but it is a possibility. While most players on this list are young and/or hitting their prime, don’t always overlook older players. In the last few years, we have seen Erik Karlsson, Roman Josi, Brent Burns and Mark Giordano all reach 70 points after hitting 30 years old.

7. Noah Dobson

Even though he has back-to-back 52-point-pace seasons, this could be Dobson’s big breakout campaign. Last year under new head coach Lane Lambert, the Islanders saw a small increase in their goals for total (from 2.79 per game to 2.95), despite a significant drop in power-play percentage (from 22.1 percent to 15.8 percent). If the Islanders can improve just slightly on that power play, they should crack the three-goals-per-game mark for only the second time since 1994-95. Dobson is already getting plenty of power-play minutes, is averaging 2.6 shots per game and is on the ice for 20-plus minutes a night, all key factors when looking for potential 70-point players.

6. Moritz Seider

The signing of Gostisbehere in the offseason has to be a little unsettling for Seider owners and dampens the odds of Seider hitting 70 points. Gostisbehere is never signed for his defense; it’s all for his offensive capability. And Seider owners already experienced a player usurping the top power-play role last year when Seider lost that top power-play spot to Filip Hronek. There’s a very good chance that happens again this season. The team has beefed up its forward ranks, which will help in his pursuit of 70, but he needs to stick on the top man-advantage unit all season to have a shot.

5. Tony DeAngelo

After a poor season in Philadelphia, where he was a healthy scratch often at the end of the season, he is now going back to a team where he had some success. When he played in Carolina two seasons ago, he put up 51 points in 64 games, a 65-point pace. Two years before that, he had a 64-point pace with the Rangers. So he’s been on the cusp of 70 in the past. He’ll get pretty much the same role in Carolina now that he had two years ago, and it would only take a small bump to get him to 70.

4. Charlie McAvoy

The Bruins haven’t had a 70-point defenseman since Ray Bourque in 1995-96, and no one has been close (Torey’s Krug 59 points in 2017-18 has been the highest since Bourque). McAvoy might be the best opportunity. He has back-to-back 50-point seasons, but last year’s 52 points came in 67 games, which equates to a 64-point pace. He split top power-play duties with Hampus Lindholm last year but still put up 19 power-play points. He needs to get back to being the main guy consistently, and it would be helpful if he upped his shot rate from 1.6 shots per game. If both of those things happen, and Boston doesn’t regress too much, then McAvoy has a shot at 70.

3. Vince Dunn

Although he didn’t hit 70 points, Dunn was one of those surprise players from last season, notching 64 points. While his overall ice time was up almost three minutes per night over the previous season, his power-play time was only up 37 seconds, and he was only on the ice for 56.6 percent of his team’s power-play minutes. He finished with 15 power-play points but doesn’t have any competition for power-play time. If he can get some extra power-play minutes, 70 points is in play.

2. Mikhail Sergachev

Last year was the first time Sergachev was given an extended look on the top power-play unit, and he responded with 27 power-play points. Even though by the end of the season he was only on the ice for 48.1 percent of Tampa’s man-advantage minutes, those 27 power-play points were better than all but two of Victor Hedman‘s seasons. This year, he should get even more of a look on the top unit. This could give him the boost he needs to reach that 70-point plateau, as he finished with 64 a year ago.

1. Evan Bouchard

This was the easiest choice for number one. The only thing that will keep Bouchard from reaching 70 points will be if he misses significant time due to injury. There is also a very real possibility that he leads defensemen in scoring this season. He had 19 points in 21 games last year after Tyson Barrie was traded away, and he then led all defensemen in postseason points with 17, despite playing only two rounds. Fifteen of those 17 playoff points were with the man advantage. He is on the top power-play unit on a team that boasts two 50-goal scorers and converted on 30 percent of their opportunities, the first team since 1978-79 to hit that mark. Last year’s Oilers’ power play was the most efficient of all time, and now Bouchard gets to spend a whole season quarterbacking that power play.