Obviously in this post your going to hear a lot about Ryan "The Nuge" Nugent-Hopkins and some of the other big name rookies, but in this post I will also point out rookies who nobody had on their radar until now, and some rookies who even after great play, still haven't gotten much recognition.
I'm going to start by talking about the Nuge himself and some of the bigger name rookies:
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: Too Young? Too Frail? Not Ready? Not a chance. The Nuge has been huge for a young Oiler's team. He has 29 points in 27 games so far and 12 of those points have been goals. He has been outstanding defensively posting a plus 4 rating. Only part of his game that has been a bit of a weakness has been his faceoffs where he is hovering around winning 35% of them. Of course for young rookies this is normal.
Gabriel Landeskog: Landeskog has been a beast for the Avalanche. Most people expected him to make the 10 game mark in the NHL to solidify his spot on the Avalanche but I don't think that many people expected him to look like a 10 year NHL vet. He thinks the game better than many veterans, and you don't see him make many mistakes. He has been amazing defensively, and he's been good offensively posting 13 points in 27 games.
Cody Hodgson: He has been doubted ever since he didn't make the team out of camp last year. People thought that he would be a 4th liner this year and be up and down from the minors all year. People had written him off as a hockey player. Well Hodgson has silenced most people. He hasn't been the defensive liability that people thought he was going to be, and he has an impressive 12 points in 26 games from the 3rd line.
Now time for the rookies that nobody had on their radar.
Craig Smith: He is second in rookie scoring behind Nugent-Hopkins with 21 points in 26 games and is leading the Nashville Predators in points. Smith is a player who was a 4th round pick just 2 years ago. It's quite the feat that he even made the team at all. Yet now he is stealing ice time from Nashville's previous leading scorers Martin Erat and Sergei Kostitsyn on the first line.
Matt Read: This guy has been lights out good for the Philadelphia Flyers. The undrafted 25 year old rookie was signed last off-season by the Flyers. Now get this, Read was signed this past summer as an undrafted player, and now he's averaging almost a point per-game in the NHL and playing on the Flyers second line. It's crazy, Read was overshadowed by Sean Couturier making the team, but now Read is the one lighting it up. He stole Brayden Schenn's roster spot. Brayden Schenn who this past summer was called "The best player not in the NHL" by Flyers GM Paul Holmgren.
Adam Henrique: The 3rd rounder in 2008 was expected to make the Devils this year... as a 3rd or 4th liner. Now Henrique has 17 points in 22 games, is ahead of player such as Ilya Kovalchuck, and Zach Parise who play on the Devils. The only player on the Devils who has more points than Henrique is Patrick Elias who has 21 and has played 3 more games then Henrique. Henrique has been a great two-way player on a struggling Devils team.
Roman Horak: Horak was just a throw in, in a deal between the Calgary Flames and the New York Rangers. The Rangers just threw him into the deal along with 2 second round picks for Tim Erixon and a fifth round pick. The Rangers didn't think that their 5th round pick in 2009 would have the slightest chance of really doing anything in the NHL, at least not for a couple years. Well they were wrong, Roman Horak has been fantastic for the Flames this year. He has been a fabulous defensive forward on a 13th place Flames team in the west. Horak has posted a plus 5 rating on a team that has lost more than they have won. Horak might not be lighting it up, with only 9 points in 24 games, but when they need to hold a lead late in a game, he's the one that they will be sending out.
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