Early Hart Trophy vibes, Kraken's Geekie fumble, more NHL hot topics

Combining his own perspective with what he's been hearing from those in and around the game, senior NHL writer John Matisz breaks down the hot topics across the hockey landscape.

Hart Trophy is MacKinnon's - for now

On the surface, the early Hart Trophy debate isn't much of a debate.

Nathan MacKinnon, the best player on the best team in the NHL, paces the league in goals (19) and points (41). The ultra assertive and skilled center drives the Avalanche's attack, consistently funneling pucks to the slot for his teammates or bullying his way to the net himself. No slouch defensively, he owns a plus-25 five-on-five goal differential in just 23 games.

MacKinnon, the 2023-24 Hart winner, is the obvious choice for MVP - at least, for now.

There's no crystal ball for this kind of stuff, but MacKinnon's challengers may offer more compelling stories by season's end.

Teenager Macklin Celebrini is flat-out dominating. His 36 points in 25 games capture only a portion of his nightly impact. If the Sharks stay afloat in the Western Conference playoff race, Celebrini's overall value will be undeniable.

Connor Bedard, 20, is also on a team that shouldn't make the playoffs but might be dragged in. Amazingly, he trails only MacKinnon in primary points, having compiled 14 goals and 15 first assists for the Blackhawks.

Jack Eichel's case revolves around his five-on-five on/off splits. With Eichel on the ice, the Golden Knights have outscored the opposition 24-14. Without him: They're down 30-22.

Dylan Larkin's being leaned on for heavy defensive minutes, yet he leads the Red Wings in points and ranks first in the NHL in individual expected goals.

Connor McDavid recently entered the chat thanks to a 20-point November. He's collected just seven fewer points than MacKinnon while playing for the Oilers.

Geekie is Kraken's loss, Bruins' gain

Morgan Geekie leads all NHLers in 2025 goals: 43 snipes in 69 games.

That fun bit of trivia represents a gigantic success story for the Bruins, who signed Geekie in 2023 as a 24-year-old unrestricted free agent.

Geekie had achieved UFA status at such a young age because his former team, the Kraken, didn't issue him a qualifying offer after extension talks cooled. Players who don't receive a QO tend to be disposable - which Geekie decidedly was not, even if he had yet to truly break out at the NHL level.

It was an odd decision by then-general manager Ron Francis, and it looks far worse in hindsight. Seattle, whose 2.57 goals per game rank 30th out of 32 teams, desperately needs a sharpshooter like Geekie. (Francis and Geekie have a long history. The executive acquired him in the 2017 entry draft as GM of the Hurricanes and again in the 2021 Kraken expansion draft.)

Geekie received interest from seven teams in 2023 free agency, ultimately picking the Bruins and a two-year, $4-million deal for the on-ice fit and Original Six environment. Boston's become home. The winger from tiny Strathclair, Manitoba inked a six-year, $33-million extension in June.

Geekie and superstar David Pastrnak (41 goals since Jan. 1) are a lethal one-two punch up front. "He has everything to score 50 (goals) in this league," Pastrnak told reporters in October. "I keep telling him, keep reminding him, he has a heck of a shot, and he has the goal-scorer instinct. So, he's gonna get it one day. The shot that he has, it's amazing. It's the best on our team."

Geekie recorded the hardest shot of the NHL season: 103.3 mph on Nov. 11.

The path from no QO to high-impact player is rarely traveled. Of late, Geekie, Dylan Strome (Chicago to Washington), and Carter Verhaeghe (Tampa Bay to Florida) have taken it.

Can Islanders become Stars 2.0?

In September, Mat Barzal was asked about the Islanders entering a new era with GM Mathieu Darche, hired in May, making three first-round picks.

"With the draft we just had and some of the other kids that we've got coming in over the next two, three years, I see us having a good team this year, and I see us having a blend of Dallas," Barzal said at the NHL/NHLPA player media tour.

My eyebrows rose. The Stars? Barzal thinks the Islanders can emulate the Stars?!

"They have (Matt) Duchene, (Tyler) Seguin, and (Jamie) Benn, who are still very much the engine of that team," the playmaking center continued. "And then you have (Miro) Heiskanen, (Jason) Robertson, (Roope) Hintz, and (Wyatt) Johnston come in later. With myself, (Bo) Horvat, and some of the older guys, (we have that veteran core), and hopefully these young kids can come in and be like the young players in Dallas. That team could have easily won a Cup the last two years, right? So, that's the way I kind of see it."

Let's be clear: 13-9-3 New York is definitely not a Cup contender like Dallas.

Yet Barzal's comparison makes much more sense now that we've seen the incredible Matthew Schaefer in action. Maybe, if Darche plays his cards right over the next few years, the Isles can evolve into some version of the Stars.

State of the 11-9-5 Blue Jackets

Blue Jackets fans have let me know that Columbus was the one relevant team I didn't write about in a Thanksgiving check-in story published Thursday.

Fair enough. Here are a few thoughts on the Dean Evason-coached squad.

Kirill Marchenko rules: The Russian winger has this rock-star vibe - quick feet, silky hands, bullet of a shot, 6-foot-3, long hair, tucked jersey. Marchenko is second in the NHL in scoring chances generated off the rush per game because he transports the puck well and executes high-end plays. While he's currently day-to-day with an upper-body injury, Marchenko's trending toward a career high in points after putting up eight goals and 14 assists in 22 games.

Yegor Chinakhov is stuck: It's well-documented that the forward and Evason don't get along. Chinakhov, who requested a trade in the offseason, has seen his nightly usage drop from 15:43 a game last season to 10:21. The impasse is hurting the player more than the team. Columbus is chugging along without a big contribution from Chinakhov, and rivals aren't willing to give up much for a 24-year-old who's failed to round out his shoot-first game.

Jet Greaves may be the guy: Elvis Merzlikins has been too inconsistent over his career. Daniil Tarasov kept getting injured before leaving in free agency. Can Greaves solve the Blue Jackets' goaltending woes? He's rocking a .915 save percentage through 37 career games, which is well above league average. There are no major flaws in his game. Greaves, 24 and undrafted due to size concerns, is by all accounts a tireless worker and beloved teammate.

Matheson deal guarantees strong top 4

The Canadiens signed Mike Matheson to a five-year, $30-million contract extension Friday. He'll be 32 years old when the deal kicks in next season.

There's a small chance Montreal ends up not loving the $6-million cap hit in the final year or two. That said, it's a generally low-risk, high-upside deal. Matheson, a smooth-skating two-way defenseman, has aged gracefully so far.

Matheson, Noah Dobson, Lane Hutson, and Kaiden Guhle will make a combined $29.85 million a year, or 29% of 2026-27's projected $104-million salary cap. Matheson and Guhle are signed through 2030-31, while Dobson and Hutson are up after 2032-33 and 2033-34, respectively.

That's money well spent considering the talent level and versatility.

Second-line centers are all the rage

For years, right-handed defensemen were the hot commodity everybody talked about in the lead-up to the trade deadline. There never seemed to be enough good ones to properly fill out the league's blue lines.

Second-line centers are the new RHD. A large chunk of teams have a steep drop-off after first-line center. Even the Hurricanes, Canadiens, Wild, and Flyers - all of whom currently sit in the top 10 in points percentage - would all benefit greatly from an upgrade at 2C.

It'll be fascinating to see what kind of packages veteran top-six centers (think Ryan O’Reilly and Nazem Kadri) command ahead of the March 6 deadline.

Bigger, better November prospect event

The landscape for NHL prospects changed forever last fall when the NCAA lifted its ban on Canadian Hockey League players. Hundreds of players, including several premier prospects, have switched leagues over the past year, and the leagues have been forced to reposition themselves on the recruiting circuit.

The CHL USA Prospects Challenge ran this week in Alberta. The two-game scouting showcase pits draft-eligible prospects from the CHL's three leagues (OHL, QMJHL, WHL) against the U.S. National Team Development Program.

An NHLPA agent shared a better idea via text: Why not widen the scope of the event and throw a five-team prospect tournament every November? The OHL, QMJHL, and WHL could each put together a team, with the USNTDP as the fourth group, and the fifth could be a mix of players from the closely tied USHL and NCAA.

This supercharged version of the prospects challenge would accomplish three things: build legitimate early-season buzz for the draft, celebrate what each league has to offer, and give NHL scouts more valuable opportunities to watch players.

Should NHL follow PWHL's lead?

Reader BrokenEars recently asked about the NHL points system:

Are there any plans for the NHL to adopt the highly successful 3-2-1-0 points system from the Professional Women's Hockey League, as it incentivizes teams to win in regulation?

The league has no plans to award three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime win, and one point for an OT loss - like the PWHL does - even though it's probably the most sensible way to distribute standings points.

The NHL loves its current 2-0-1 system (two points for a win of any kind, zero for a regulation loss, one for an OT loss) because the loser point allows a bunch of teams to remain in the playoff hunt. This season has featured an abnormally high number of OT games, and the standings are a jumbled mess.

Parity, even if it's artificially created, provides hope. Hope sells tickets. The NHL's bottom line relies more heavily on gate revenue than is the case for other major pro leagues.

What do you want to know, hockey fans?

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