Whether you’re a stick-flexing sniper or a third-pair defender, nobody wants to wait long for the weight to come off.
Bagging your first goal of a new season is always a delight.
Last year, every player who skated in 65 or more NHL games managed to find the net at least one time, and only two players — defencemen Adam Pelech and Josh Mahura — who suited up in at least 55 contests failed to score a goal.
(Sorry guys.)
Only four NHL teams have played five games so far, so unless you entered the year with legit Rocket Richard hopes, it’s not exactly time to panic if you’ve failed to get off the goal-scoring schneid.
That said, grips get tight quickly when you can’t get one to fall.
With that in mind, we’ve decided to use this week’s power rankings as a way to highlight a player or two from each team who’s probably only thinking about one thing when his head hits the pillow: “When is that first goal gonna come?”
Livestream Hockey Night in Canada, Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey, the Oilers, Flames, Canucks, out-of-market matchups, the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the NHL Draft.
1. Dallas Stars (3-0-0): Knee surgery wiped out February, March, April and half of May for Miro Heiskanen last year. The Stars’ No. 1 defenceman hasn’t scored a regular-season goal since Jan. 9, so you know he’s itching to get one.
2. Carolina Hurricanes (3-0-0): Nikolaj Ehlers hasn’t potted one yet for his new team, but the Dane has 13 shots on goal in three outings. Something should fall soon.
3. Colorado Avalanche (3-0-1) Gabriel Landeskog’s most recent regular-season tally came three-and-a-half years ago on March 1, 2022. It’s going to be quite a fist pump when he buries his next one.
4. Edmonton Oilers (2-0-1): Connor McDavid talked about wanting to score more coming into the season, but No. 97 has yet to hit the back of the net so far.
5. Washington Capitals (3-1-0): Alex Ovechkin will move to within two goals of career tally No. 900 when he breaks through for the first time this fall.
6. Winnipeg Jets (2-1-0): Jonathan Toews actually scored in his final game with the Chicago Blackhawks on April 13, 2023. He’s already picked up his first apple with the Jets; all that’s left to do now is bend that twine.
7. Vegas Golden Knights (2-0-2): Nine of Vegas’ 14 goals this year have come courtesy of Pavel Dorofeyev (five) and Jack Eichel (four). That means there are a few guys on this club who’d like to find the range, including newcomer Mitch Marner.
8. Florida Panthers (3-2-0): Ten Panthers already have a goal this season, but Seth Jones is not one of them.
9. Toronto Maple Leafs (2-2-0): You know Nick Robertson wanted to find one quickly this season, but it hasn’t happened yet in four games. Only three forwards — Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies and Bobby McMann — have more shots on goal this year than Robertson’s eight.
10. New Jersey Devils (2-1-0): Neither Jack Hughes nor Luke Hughes has lit the lamp this season. You know Luke — after signing that massive new contract — is dying to slip one home.
11. Montreal Canadiens (3-1-0): Nick Suzuki leads the team with six points, but they’re all assists. Suzuki has hit the 30-goal barrier each of the past two seasons.
12. Minnesota Wild (2-2-0): Newcomer Vladimir Tarasenko has been seeing over 16 minutes per night so far, but that has yet to result in his first score as a Wild.
13. Los Angeles Kings (1-2-1): Every goal will be a special one for Anze Kopitar in this, his final NHL campaign. He’s still trying to break the goose egg in his 20th season.
14. Tampa Bay Lightning (1-2-1): Brandon Hagel registered a career-high 35 goals last season, so you know he’d like to get the ball rolling on this year very soon.
15. Detroit Red Wings (3-1-0): Alex DeBrincat has a half-dozen apples so far, but the 39-goal scorer from last year has not been the finisher on a play yet.
16. St. Louis Blues (2-2-0): Jordan Kyrou scored 104 goals for St. Louis in three seasons from 2022-23 through 2024-25. The next highest Blue in that time is Pavel Buchnevich with 73. Kyrou needs to get going soon.
17. New York Rangers (2-3-0): Well, we know absolutely every Ranger is looking to break through at home, where New York has mind-blowingly failed to find the net in three outings at Madison Square Garden. Pending-UFA Artemi Panarin has just two points in five games this year, and neither of them are goals.
18. Utah Mammoth (2-2-0): Just one point and zero goals through four games is not how captain Clayton Keller wanted to begin the Mammoth chapter of his career.
19. Boston Bruins (3-1-0): Viktor Arvidsson is getting a chance to show he’s still got some scoring touch in Boston. As such, he’d surely like to get his first as a Bruin before too long.
20. Seattle Kraken (2-0-1): Shane Wright came within a single tally of scoring 20 goals last year. The fourth-overall pick from 2022 is still looking for his first goal of this campaign, while also trying to show he can be a real top-six offensive presence in the NHL.
21. Anaheim Ducks (2-1-0): Two guys who inked big deals with Anaheim in the off-season — Mikael Granlund, who came over as a UFA, and Mason McTavish, who re-upped as an RFA — have yet to celebrate with a tally.
22. Columbus Blue Jackets (1-2-0): Kent Johnson had a nice 24-goal breakout last year, so you can bet the talented winger is dying to get one soon.
23. Nashville Predators (2-1-1): Year 1 in Nashville was a bit of a nightmare all around for Steven Stamkos, so it’s got to be killing him to be 0-for after four outings this season.
24. Vancouver Canucks (1-2-0): First off, only one Canuck — Jonathan Lekkerimaki — has exactly one goal this year. Kiefer Sherwood (3), Brock Boeser (2) and Filip Chytil (2) all have more than one, and everybody else is sitting on zero. You’ve got to think the guy who would most like to move off zero immediately is Elias Pettersson.
25. Ottawa Senators (1-3-0): Really, the big concern here is how long it will be before Brady Tkachuk has a chance to pop his first of the year. The hand injury he sustained in Ottawa’s home opener is going to keep him out “a significant amount of time,” according to coach Travis Green, and that’s awful news for the Sens.
26. Chicago Blackhawks (2-2-1): A league-high 12 Blackhawks have already hit paydirt this year, which is a great sign for the young squad. That certainly takes some pressure off 2024 second-overall pick Artyom Levshunov, who has not popped one yet and has been a healthy scratch.
27. Philadelphia Flyers (1-1-1): 0-0-0 is not the line sophomore Matvei Michkov wanted after three outings.
28. Pittsburgh Penguins (2-2-0): Evgeni Malkin may not have a goal yet, but his six assists are sure attention-catching in the big man’s 20th NHL season.
29. New York Islanders (0-3-0): The winless Islanders won’t be going anywhere without some goals from Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal, both of whom have yet to break through this season.
30. Buffalo Sabres (1-3-0): Rasmus Dahlin is averaging over 26 minutes a night, so the Sabres need a goal out of him soon.
31. Calgary Flames (1-4-0): Yegor Sharangovich’s 31-goal showing two years ago — his first year in Calgary — is starting to feel like a distant memory. He had 17 last year and is stuck on zero so far through five contests this fall.
32. San Jose Sharks (0-1-2): Macklin Celebrini is averaging nearly 21 minutes per night — most of any Sharks player — but he hasn’t been able to find the range just yet.
Hockey News