Slumping stars: Seven notable NHLers off to slow starts in 2023-24

Credit: Johnny Gaudreau (© Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports)

It’s not too late to dig yourself out of a hole.

But the longer it takes to find your groove during an NHL season, the easier it is for your confidence to start waning. Nobody wants to start the year on a cold streak, especially those accustomed to breaking the 50-point mark on any given year.

Most teams have either hit, or are about to hit, the 10-game mark in the season. It’s still early days, but these seven NHLers coming off 50-plus point campaigns in 2022-23 need to get the ball rolling sooner rather than later:

Dawson Mercer, C (New Jersey Devils)

Mercer really came into his own last year, scoring 27 goals and 56 points while serving as a crucial piece of New Jersey’s regular season success. But this year, he has still yet to find the scoresheet through nine games, with three of his eight shots coming in the first game of the season. He even played a season-high 21:03 last Sunday against Minnesota but still had nothing to show for it. There’s been some bad luck along the way, for sure, but this isn’t the forward we’ve become accustomed to watching.

Matty Beniers, C (Seattle Kraken)

Beniers burst onto the scene in a big way last year, winning the Calder Trophy – the first individual award in Kraken history – with 24 goals and 57 points to lead all rookies in scoring. But the Kraken have taken big steps backward this year, failing to win consecutive games after 11 outings. The sophomore slump has been evident for a young forward chasing his first goal while averaging more than 18 minutes a night still. Beniers is still bringing value in his own zone, but with just three assists in 11 games, he wants much more.

Nazem Kadri, C (Calgary Flames)

Just about any Calgary Flame could qualify here, especially Jonathan Huberdeau. But Kadri has been even quieter, with just four points in 10 games. Three have come in the past two outings, so he’s finally starting to show a bit more. But he’s still on pace for 33 points, which would be the lowest full-season output of his NHL career. Expectations were surely lower than Huberdeau’s once he came over, but Kadri is making $7 million annually until 2029. After seeing a 31-point drop last year, and potentially even more this year, that will hurt.

Brent Burns, D (Carolina Hurricanes)

At 38, it was only a matter of time until Burns regressed. He had one of the best seasons of his career last year, putting up 18 goals and 61 points in a full 82-game slate. This year, he has four points in 11 games, which isn’t that bad for a defenseman on the surface. But three of them came in a row during the first four games of the year, and he’s been skate-bitten for the most part over the past two weeks. He’s on pace for just over 30 points, which would be a massive change for a player who hasn’t fallen below the 40-point mark in a full season since 2011-12.

Hampus Lindholm, D (Boston Bruins)

Lindholm came into his own with the Bruins last year, recording a career-best 53 points en route to helping the club record the best regular season in NHL history. But with no points through nine games, he’s been a ghost on the scoresheet. It’s not due to a lack of trying, either. After leading all Bruins defenders with a goals-above replacement of 20.1 last year, Lindholm has played at least 23 minutes in half of his games and has been a power-play fixture, too. So the most surprising thing about Boston’s hot start has to be Lindholm’s inability to put points on the board despite still playing well.

Anders Lee, LW (New York Islanders)

What gives? Expectations weren’t that high for the Islanders this year, but after a solid 50-point season a year ago, watching Lee struggle with just two points in nine games is a bit baffling. Lee had 28 goals and 50 points a year ago, his first time breaking the 50-point barrier since 2018-19, but has just one goals and two points in nine games to show for this year. The captain was bound to see his game slip at the age of 33, and he’s still getting pucks on net. But it’s simply not working out right now.

Johnny Gaudreau, LW (Calgary Flames)

When the Blue Jackets inked the highly coveted Gaudreau during the summer of 2022, they landed their biggest free agent in franchise history. He was coming off of a career-best 115-point season with the Flames, so a natural regression with a weaker team was expected. He still conjured up 74 points, a 22-point gap over Patrik Laine (who dealt with various injuries) for the team lead. But 10 games into the season and Gaudreau is sitting at one goals and four assists, putting him on pace for under 40 points. He’s bound to heat up – there’s no way he has fallen off this much – but it’s noteworthy. The Blue Jackets invested big money in having Gaudreau become a leader on a team looking at a bright future, but he’s been invisible way too often this year.

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