All-Nobody Team: 6 NHLers becoming somebodies

Welcome to the fourth edition of the All-Nobody Team.

This exercise scans all 32 NHL teams for previously obscure players who've begun to make meaningful names for themselves. With the All-Star break over, which relative nobodies can we now call somebodies?

As in years past, the player pool is limited to those who 1) were drafted after the second round or not at all, and 2) entered the season with fewer than 500 regular-season minutes played. (We expanded the workload threshold of goalies to 1,500 minutes.)

Below are the three forwards, two defensemen, and one goalie of the 2023-24 All-Nobody Team. Perhaps the next Carter Verhaeghe (2020-21), Michael Bunting (2021-22), or Matias Maccelli (2022-23) is in this eclectic group.

Dmitri Voronkov, Blue Jackets, F

New continent. New language. New culture. New teammates. New systems.

For Voronkov, North America and the NHL were completely foreign heading into training camp. He arrived in Columbus not knowing a soul and unable to speak English. The giant forward spent the first 22 years of his life playing in his native Russia, most recently for the KHL's Ak Bars Kazan.

Homesick in November, Voronkov debated a return to Russia despite making a strong impression on the ice. He opted to stick it out and it appears he made the right call. Right now, he's worthy of down-ballot Calder Trophy votes.

Voronkov's recorded 12 goals and 13 assists through 44 games. Those 25 points are tied for seventh among rookies - an excellent ranking for Voronkov considering he averages only 13:21 of ice time. (His 2.55 points per 60 minutes trail only Connor Bedard's 2.66 per 60.)

Passed over in the 2018 draft, Voronkov was selected in the fourth round, 114th overall, in 2019. He's been paired basically all season with fellow countryman and unofficial interpreter Kirill Marchenko. Yegor Chinakhov joined Voronkov and Marchenko for a stretch to give Columbus an all-Russian line.

Next time you're watching the Jackets, isolate Voronkov and pay attention to how he takes his routes. No. 10 is very efficient and stealthy. He'll scoot into open space in anticipation of a pass on the attack, and later in the same shift, as a defender, he'll close out open spaces the opponent's eyeing.

"I don't know how I can describe him other than he's extremely smart," head coach Pascal Vincent said during Columbus' trip to Toronto in December.

Vincent had trouble comparing Voronkov to another active NHLer because of his unique profile. He can play center or wing; is listed at 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds; has playmaking chops; moves around fine; and is a bit of an agitator.

Vincent coached former defenseman Dustin Byfuglien for a few years in Winnipeg. Byfuglien was a rare breed and Voronkov is "that kind of guy" now.

Alex Laferriere, Kings, F

Alex Laferriere is best known for two things a half-season into his career:

• Having a weirdly similar name to 2020 first overall pick Alexis Lafreniere

• Participating in a spirited fight during his NHL debut

"His family is in the stands! This dude went to Harvard! Big-brain fella slugging it out with the Avalanche!" ESPN personality Pat McAfee yelled at the camera back in October, narrating Laferriere's fight with Colorado's Logan O'Connor.

What an introduction for Laferriere, one of the Kings' two third-round picks in 2020. The winger's toned down the extracurricular activity, fighting one other time over his first 47 NHL games. However, he's found ways to make an impact for L.A. most nights, providing speed off the rush and tenacity along the boards while pitching in a respectable six goals and nine assists.

Laferriere was 5-foot-4 and skinny at 16. Now he's 6-1 and 205 pounds. There's no doubt two years at Harvard, where a lighter game schedule in the NCAA allows for extra off-ice training, helped the 22-year-old fill out.

Making the Kings out of camp was no small feat. Sure, general manager Rob Blake needed cheap help, but L.A. came into this season as a serious Stanley Cup contender. Laferriere, a New Jersey native who cheered for the Bruins as a kid thanks to his dad's Massachusetts roots and ties to Boston College, is skating around 13 minutes a night, often alongside center Pierre-Luc Dubois.

Don't be surprised if this "big-brain fella" carves out a 15-year NHL career.

Martin Pospisil, Flames, F

There's no better proof Pospisil's upgraded his status from "nobody" to "somebody" than the document he autographed earlier this week: a two-year, $2-million contract extension with Calgary.

"We have seen tremendous growth and maturity in Martin's game since we drafted him in 2018," Flames GM Craig Conroy said in a statement.

That growth and maturity has been undercut by injuries. Over four AHL seasons, the Slovak often made progress, got injured, made progress, and got hurt again. A concussion shortened his 2022-23 season, but Pospisil was raring to go at Flames training camp last fall. By January? Injured, again.

A healthy Pospisil has wheels, a scoring touch around the net (four goals and eight assists), and the courage and physical traits to deliver crushing body checks. The fourth-round pick is second on the team and fifth among all rookies in hits (104) - even though he's appeared in only 35 of Calgary's 50 games.

While his edgy style is turning Pospisil into a fan favorite, coach Ryan Huska surely would prefer if the winger minimized his time in the penalty box. Pospisil's racked up 39 minutes so far, including a five-minute major for cross-checking Brad Marchand, and owns a minus-five penalty differential.

Michael Kesselring and Sam Malinski, D

This year's rookie class is littered with impact defensemen.

Brock Faber, Luke Hughes, Pavel Mintyukov, and Simon Nemec are on star trajectories - and they're also first- or second-round picks. A bunch of other intriguing rookie blue-liners - Ryan Johnson, Jackson LaCombe, and Kaedan Korczak among them - don't fit our All-Nobody Team criteria, either.

So, we've landed on Arizona's Kesselring and Colorado's Malinski.

Kesselring, who joined the Coyotes for a nine-game stint to end last season, was called up in November to fill in for an injured Travis Dermott and took full advantage of the opportunity. Through 32 games, he has 11 points - impressively all at five-on-five - while playing third-pairing minutes.

The 24-year-old is one of eight NHL-caliber defensemen on the Coyotes roster. None are currently under contract beyond this season, though Kesselring, a pending unrestricted free agent, will almost certainly be part of the club's future. He's won over coach Andre Tourigny by displaying poise with the puck and using his long reach to ward off opposing attackers.

The Oilers drafted Kesselring in the sixth round in 2018 (coincidentally, he became junior teammates with Laferriere the following season). Edmonton moved him to Arizona in the Nick Bjugstad trade in March 2023.

Malinski never heard his name called at the draft. A self-described late bloomer, the 25-year-old signed with the Avalanche in 2022 as a college free agent (he was Cornell's outgoing captain and top point-getter on defense).

So far this season, Malinski's split his time between the AHL and NHL, but he may end up forcing Colorado GM Chris MacFarland's hand with how quickly he's developing. The puck-mover gives the Cup-contending Avs necessary depth on the right side. He can hold his own on the third pair.

Samuel Ersson, Flyers, G

It's not easy for any goaltender to win over coach John Tortorella, let alone an inexperienced one. Yet Ersson seems to have done it following 35 career starts, including 25 largely impressive performances so far this season.

"He has a mental capacity for that position that is so strong," Tortorella told reporters Tuesday after Ersson stopped 20 shots in a tight 2-1 Flyers win.

Ersson's become the starter in Philadelphia with Carter Hart away from the team after being charged with sexual assault. The chances of third-stringer Cal Petersen outperforming Ersson are slim to none, at least down the stretch.

While the Swede's .903 save percentage is roughly league average, when he's on, he's really on. Ahead of Friday's games, Ersson ranks fourth in the NHL with a 20% steal rate, according to Sportlogiq. Goalies record a "steal" when their goals saved above expected value is the difference in the final score, and Ersson's racked up five steals.

Flyers GM Daniel Briere inked Ersson to a two-year extension before the season, which means if all continues to go well, the club will pay its starter $1.45 million in 2024-25 and 2025-26. That would be tremendous value for Briere, and considering Ersson's only 24 and a former fifth-round pick who spent his early 20s outside the NHL, he's probably not complaining, either.

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email ([email protected]).