Welcome to the NHL Star Power Index: A weekly gauge of the players who are controlling substantial buzz around the league. When a player is included on this list it may not be a good thing -- it means that they are capturing a large amount of the hockey world's attention.
These players are in no particular order when it comes to the amount of buzz that they're creating. We'll revisit the Star Power Index every week throughout the regular season.
Playing on a line with Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman certainly has its advantages. In fact, Edmonton Oilers star Leon Draisaitl has taken the NHL by storm as of late and leads the league in goals (23) and second in points (50).
Draisaitl became the NHL's first player to reach the 20-goal mark this season, and earned that distinction for the second time in his professional career. In doing so, the Oilers forward joined the likes of Jaromir Jagr (4x), Steven Stamkos (3x), Alex Ovechkin (2x) and Auston Matthews (2x) as the only players to reach the 20-goal mark first on multiple occasions over the last 30 years.
It also marked the ninth consecutive season in which Draisaitl registered 20 goals, which is the third-longest streak of 20-goal campaigns behind only Mark Messier (10) and Jari Kurri (10).
In Monday's 6-5 loss against the Florida Panthers, the Oilers standout forward found the back of the net yet again. During the second period, the Oilers found themselves on the power-play, which is a huge advantage considering that the team is converting 22.8% of their power-play opportunities.
With the puck in the offensive zone, McDavid passed over to Draisaitl, who was occupying his office in the face-off circle. Draisaitl didn't like the shooting lane, so he passed it back to McDavid before getting the puck back just seconds later. The Oilers forward certainly didn't miss as he ripped a one-timer that just past the glove of Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.
Leon from The Spot™️ #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/vTS1wvTqWg
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) December 17, 2024
Draisaitl's power-play goal gave the Oilers a 4-2 lead at the time, but they couldn't hold on.
On Thursday, Draisaitl extended his point streak to seven consecutive games with a three-assist performance in a 3-2 overtime win against the Boston Bruins. In the process, Draisaitl reached the 900-point mark in his career and became the fourth-fastest active player to achieve that feat in just 751 games.
Draisaitl has proven to be a goal-scoring machine and could be poised for a season for the ages. The Oilers star is on pace for 59 goals on the season, which would surpass his previous career-high of 55 that he recorded during the 2021-22 campaign.
Brayden Point has been one of the NHL's top goal scorers over the last five seasons. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that the Tampa Bay Lightning forward has been putting the puck in the net at a very high clip lately.
Point is currently on a seven-game point streak in which he's racked up five goals and 12 assists. In fact, prior to Thursday's 3-1 win against the St. Louis Blues, Point had registered a three-game goal streak. He didn't score but still managed to affect the outcome of the contest.
At the 3:25 mark of the second period, Point helped set up one of the Lightning's three goals. Point brought the puck into the offensive zone and surveyed the landscape before uncorking a cross-ice pass to teammate Nikita Kucherov. Kucherov then got the puck to a cutting Nick Perbix for one of the easier goals that a player can have.
Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov make the game look soo easy...
— NHL (@NHL) December 20, 2024
Look at the passing here. 😍
📺: @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ ➡️ https://t.co/4KjbdjVctF pic.twitter.com/DaAPPrkHpp
While Point has had a knack for scoring goals in recent weeks, he was able to tally an assist for the fifth time over his last seven games.
Point has established himself as one of the league's more dynamic playmakers, and sometimes gets overshadowed playing with Kucherov and now Jake Guentzel. In fact, Point has registered 181 goals over the past five years, which is ninth in all of the NHL.
Point is one of the biggest reasons that the Lightning have currently entrenched themselves as the top Wild Card team in the Eastern Conference.
The Vegas Golden Knights roster construction has resulted in an abundance of offensive depth. Despite all of the firepower that the Golden Knights possess, one of the team's most consistent offensive producers has come from defenseman Shea Theodore.
Theodore currently ranks third on the team in points (27), while being second on the Golden Knights in assists (23). The veteran defenseman has tallied multi-point performances in four of his last six games.
Theodore recently recorded a goal and an assist in a 3-2 win against the Minnesota Wild.
At the 6:04 mark of the second period, Theodore found the back of the net on the rush. Captain Mark Stone intercepted a pass in the defensive zone, and dished the puck ahead to teammate Jack Eichel. Upon surveying the situation, Eichel dished it off to Theodore for a snap shot goal after Theodore had joined the rush on the play.
You're gonna need your sound up for this one 😍 pic.twitter.com/tNsCgtIoEW
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) December 16, 2024
Theodore also assisted on a Victor Olofsson power-play goal in the opening period, which was the third time in the last four games that Theodore provided an assist.
Theodore has tallied three goals and six assists in his last six games, and has registered a point in five of those six contests. The Golden Knights defenseman has excellent vision on the ice, and managed to be a tremendous facilitator for Vegas over the years.
The Ottawa Senators were in desperate need of a franchise goaltender, and attempted to fill that void in the form of Linus Ullmark in an offseason trade with the Boston Bruins. Two months into his tenure, Ullmark appears just as advertised.
Ullmark has been one of the hottest goaltenders across the NHL in recent weeks as he's currently recorded a seven-game winning streak since Dec. 5. The veteran netminder's current run is the third-longest in franchise history with Andrew Hammond holding the record with at nine (2015).
Most recently, Ullmark stopped 29 of the 31 shots that he faced in a 3-2 overtime win against the Calgary Flames on Thursday. Ullmark has now allowed two or fewer goals in each of his last seven games and owns a 1.00 goals-against-average over that span.
In Thursday's win vs. the Flames, he truly did it all, including assisting on Brady Tkachuk's game-winning goal in overtime. Less than a minute into the extra frame, Ullmark was able to turn aside a shot from Jonathan Huberdeau. Right after making that save to keep the game going, Ullmark immediately sent the puck ahead to Tim Stutzle, and Tkachuk ultimately ended up scoring a rebound goal to lift Ottawa to victory.
The Tkaptain from Tim and LINUS 😤#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/5yAmwp1Ggt
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) December 20, 2024
Ullmark is playing some of the best hockey of his career, which is very impressive considering that he has a Vezina Trophy to his credit. As a result of his stellar play, the Senators are in playoff contention as the season moves along, and it's clear that Ullmark may have been the missing link to ending their recent struggles.
