James Guillory-Imagn Images
You think you know a player. Then, out of nowhere, he takes his game to a new level.
This isn’t about the underachieving prospects who finally get into gear. This is about guys in their mid-to-late 20s who may have had some hardship in their careers, finally finding themselves in a spot where they can shine.
Sam Reinhart was a great example in 2023-24 — a pedigreed No. 2 pick who went six years without a single playoff game. He raised his game when he arrived in Florida in 2022, then took another step last season to become an elite goalscorer at age 28 — and has kept it going this year.
Not everybody can blossom into a 57-goal scorer. But as the calendar flips to December, here are four mid-career skaters who are redefining themselves this season.
Martin Necas: Carolina Hurricanes
Selected 12th overall in 2017, Necas was drafted as a right-shot center with size — always a hot commodity in the NHL. But, on a very good Hurricanes team with Sebastian Aho and Jordan Staal running the top six, he settled into a bit of a supporting role, playing mostly on the wing.
That’s why there was tension last season, as he was playing out a bridge deal at $3 million per year on his way to becoming an RFA with arbitration rights. The Hurricanes needed to pinch their pennies and prioritized other players.
Trade rumors swirled but Necas and the Canes stayed the course, avoiding arbitration and committing to a two-year deal at a $6.5 million cap hit on July 29.
It walks the 25-year-old to unrestricted status. And if it was intended to be a ‘prove it’ deal, Necas has done so in spades. He went pointless in the Hurricanes’ Thanksgiving weekend back-to-back against the Florida Panthers, but his 22 points in the month of November led the entire NHL. At 37 points in 24 games, he’s one point behind Kirill Kaprizov for first overall in the Art Ross race, and already more than halfway to his previous career high of 71 points, from the 2022-23 season.
Contract-wise, another day of reckoning is looming. For now, Necas and the Hurricanes can sit back and enjoy the ride.
Dylan Strome: Washington Capitals
Drafted two spots behind his Erie Otters teammate Connor McDavid in 2015, Dylan Strome played just 48 games for the Arizona Coyotes before he was sent to Chicago in a swap for Nick Schmaltz at just 21 years old.
During three and a half years with the Blackhawks, Strome established himself as an everyday NHL player and a true center. When he peaked with 22 goals and 48 points right before becoming an RFA with arbitration rights after the 2021-22 season, the Blackhawks elected not to qualify the 24-year-old off his $3 million cap hit, making him a UFA.
Strome agreed to a one-year deal at $3.5 million with the Washington Capitals, then took his playmaking to a new level, finishing with 23 goals and 65 points. With big question marks down the middle as Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov’s times in DC were coming to an end, the club wisely locked up Strome on a five-year contract extension at $5 million a year in February of 2023. He has more than lived up to his end of the deal.
Last year, under Spencer Carbery, Strome hit another career high with 67 points. This season, he has flourished as the setup man for resurgent Alexander Ovechkin and continued to produce since the Great 8 went down. With six points in his last six games, Strome sits at 34 for the year — more than halfway to his previous best in just 24 games, and tied for fifth overall with heavy hitters Reinhart, Nikita Kucherov and Mikko Rantanen.
With a 6-5 win over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, the Caps improved to 17-6-1 for the year. Even with Ovechkin sidelined, they’re now leading the Eastern Conference.
Ivan Barbashev: Vegas Golden Knights
Ivan Barbashev showed the hockey world his best self after he joined the Vegas Golden Knights at the 2023 trade deadline. He chipped in 16 points in 23 regular-season games, then added another 18 in 22 playoff games on his way to his second Stanley Cup.
That earned the pending UFA a new five-year extension at a $5 million per year cap hit. But while Barbashev’s first full year in Vegas delivered a so-so 45 points, the soon-to-be 29-year-old is at 12 goals and 27 points in 25 games this season. He’s set to easily eclipse his previous career best of 26 goals and 60 points with the St. Louis Blues in 2021-22.
Listed as a center, Barbashev has settled in on Jack Eichel’s wing. Nice work if you can get it.
Johnathan Kovacevic: New Jersey Devils
After he came out of college in 2019, Johnathan Kovacevic spent the next three years honing his pro game, primarily at the AHL level during the tumultuous pandemic years. In 2021-22, he bounced back and forth onto the taxi squad and got into just four NHL games with the Winnipeg Jets before his waiver exemption ended.
But at 6-foot-5, he’s hard to hide. When the Jets tried to smuggle him back to Manitoba in the fall of 2022, the Montreal Canadiens snapped him up.
In the ensuing two seasons, the right-shot defenseman managed to stay on the positive side of the plus-minus ledger in Montreal, even though the Canadiens amassed a cumulative goal differential of minus-128 in that time. Heading into the final year of a league-minimum deal in 2024-25, he was shuffled off to New Jersey for a fourth-rounder just ahead of July 1.
On Sheldon Keefe’s revamped Devils, Kovacevic is thriving. The 27-year-old is playing nearly 20 minutes a night in a top-four role with Jonas Siegenthaler and as a key penalty-killer, on the second-stingiest team in the Eastern Conference.
In Kovacevic’s case, his value isn’t really measured by points. But he stacks up there, too. With one goal and eight assists in 27 games, he should also easily surpass his previous best of 15 points, from 2022-23.
Set to become a UFA on July 1, Kovacevic is setting himself up for a great payday next summer.
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