One underrated player to watch for each Metropolitan Division NHL team in 2023–24

After taking the weekend off, we’re all set to continue our “underrated players” series of articles here at Daily Faceoff. In short, we’re looking at guys who have a chance to take major leaps forward if given more opportunities by their respective teams in the upcoming season.

Late last week, we highlighted 16 unheralded Western Conference players to watch — eight from the Pacific Division, plus eight more from the Central. Now, it’s time to shift our focus toward the Eastern Conference.

Beginning with the Carolina Hurricanes, here’s a look at one player from each of the eight Metropolitan Division teams who could exceed expectations by a substantial margin in 2023–24.

Carolina Hurricanes: Stefan Noesen

Noesen has had one of the strangest trajectories of any player in recent NHL history. The longtime bottom-six journeyman scored nearly half of his 90 career NHL points as a member of the Hurricanes last year. And in 15 playoff games with the 2023 ‘Canes, Noesen collected four goals and eight points while averaging 17:02 per night. It might be the best hockey the 30-year-old winger has ever played.

Two years ago, you never would’ve seen this kind of turnaround coming. After managing just nine points in 40 games split between the Pittsburgh Penguins and San Jose Sharks in 2019–20, it looked like Noesen’s NHL career might be nearing its conclusion. The Plano, Texas, product was held scoreless in a total of eight games with the Sharks, Toronto Maple Leafs and Hurricanes over the following two seasons.

By 2021–22, Noesen was firmly an AHLer. He was a real good one, though: Noesen scored 48 goals and 85 points in 70 games that year with the 2022 Calder Cup champion Chicago Wolves. Along the way, he caught the attention of the Hurricanes’ NHL brass, who promptly signed him to a two-year contract extension. And in 2022–23, despite averaging just 12:20 per game, Noesen racked up 13 goals and 36 points in 78 games with Carolina.

There’s no telling at this point where Noesen will slot into the Hurricanes’ lineup next season, but Michael Bunting’s arrival won’t make it any easier for him to hold onto his job. If Noesen can repeat (or build upon) his 2022–23 performance, he could be in line for a significant increase over his current $762,500 cap hit.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Alexandre Texier

It’s hard to believe that Texier only turned 24 last week, particularly given how long he’s been hanging around the Columbus Blue Jackets organization. The French center made his NHL debut with the club at age 19 way back in the 2018–19 season and went on to appear in 18 playoff games with the club over the next two years.

After appearing in just 36 games with the Blue Jackets during the 2021–22 season, Texier was granted a leave from the team for family reasons and ultimately spent the entire 2022–23 campaign playing with Zurich SC in the Swiss National League. He performed well in Zurich, racking up 13 goals and 35 points in 46 games and adding five more points in nine playoff contests.

The Blue Jackets ultimately tolled the final year of Texier’s contract by a year, setting the stage for him to return to North America for the 2023–24 season. Even with Adam Fantilli entering the equation in Columbus, Texier should still be able to play a pretty significant role in his first year back. This is a player who, at age 22, scored 11 goals and 20 points in 36 games in his most recent stint with the Blue Jackets — a 46-point pace over a full 82-game season.

Columbus is loaded with young talent up front, from Fantilli to Kent Johnson and Cole Sillinger to Kirill Marchenko. It’s easy to lose sight of Texier in that mix, but he has all the talent to be a valuable middle-six contributor — or even more — on an up-and-coming team.

New Jersey Devils: John Marino

The Devils have no need to add another rock-solid defensive defenseman. With both Marino and Jonas Siegenthaler in the fold, the Devils are set in that category for the next four years. But there’s reason to believe Marino might have even more to offer as he continues to grow into his role in New Jersey.

Marino became a Devil in July 2022 after the Penguins decided to part with him in exchange for prospect Ty Smith and a third-round pick. Looking back, that decision may have contributed to Ron Hextall’s eventual dismissal from the organization. The Penguins sorely missed Marino’s contributions last year, and New Jersey was the clear beneficiary. Marino quietly went about his business with his new team, averaging a career-high 21:04 of ice time and collecting 18 points in 64 games while playing primarily on a pairing with Ryan Graves.

This time around, Marino could be the man tasked with easing Luke Hughes into a full-time NHL role. Hughes is one of the top defensive prospects in the world, and he looked the part in his cameo with last year’s Devils, collecting four points in five games split between the regular season and playoffs. If Hughes can build upon that performance this year, Marino might just find himself in more high-leverage offensive situations than he’s used to.

Remember: Marino only just turned 26, and he’s signed for the next four years at a bargain $4.4 million cap hit. If the Hughes–Marino pairing works out, it could remain a fixture of the Devils’ lineup for the next half-decade. This is as much an opportunity for Marino as it is for Hughes. We’re excited to see how it plays out.

New York Islanders: Pierre Engvall

Look, Engvall probably shouldn’t have gotten the seven-year deal he signed with the Islanders back in July. It never made all that much sense. Why Lou Lamoriello felt the need to lock Engvall up all the way through 2030, even at a fairly reasonable $3 million AAV, is anyone’s guess. That’s a long time to sign anyone.

That being said … Engvall is a solid player, and he appeared to find his groove on Long Island after being acquired for a mere third-round pick ahead of last year’s trade deadline. Engvall finished the year with nine points in 18 games with the Islanders, with his five additional goals bringing him up to a career-high 17 in 76 games. For a late bloomer like Engvall, that’s actually pretty good.

Engvall never got much of a chance to play significant minutes with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Upon his arrival on Long Island, Engvall’s average ice time immediately jumped by more than two minutes per game, and his production commensurately increased. His underlying numbers with the Islanders were fantastic. It’s easy to see why Lamoriello wanted to keep him around — although, once again, seven years feels like overkill.

Too many hockey fans fall into the trap of thinking anyone with a questionable contract is a bad player. Engvall is a good player, and in the short term, it’s feasible he could push for 50 points in the right role with these Islanders. If Engvall pops off, Lamoriello could look like a misunderstood genius. (It wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened.)

New York Rangers: Kaapo Kakko

For all the bellyaching about how much of a disappointment Kakko has been on Broadway to begin his NHL career, he’s coming off a year that most players in the league would dream of having. The 22-year-old winger racked up 18 goals and 40 points while playing in all 82 games with the Rangers in 2022–23, all while averaging a mere 15:18 per night.

Even though they were only separated by one point and five seconds of average ice time last season, Kakko and Alexis Lafrenière feel worlds apart at this juncture. Perhaps it’s because the expectations for Lafrenière were so much higher before he entered the league; it doesn’t hurt that Kakko is the de facto No. 1 right wing in this current Rangers lineup while Lafrenière remains stuck behind Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin on the left side. At this point, Kakko’s future simply seems to be more projectable.

It’d take a significant turnaround for either Lafrenière or Kakko to live up to expectations as top-two draft picks, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be useful NHL players for a long time. As of right now, Kakko is the better player at both ends of the ice. He’s a 6-foot-2 winger who scored exactly as many goals at even-strength (18) as Mika Zibanejad did last year, and only two fewer than Panarin.

Under a new coach in Peter Laviolette, Kakko could take off — just so long as Chris Drury and Co. don’t bring in more veteran retreads at the trade deadline to push him back down the lineup. This Rangers team needs less Patrick Kane and more Kakko.

Philadelphia Flyers: Cam York

The Flyers shipped out Ivan Provorov and Tony DeAngelo this summer and, with apologies to Sean Walker and Marc Staal, they didn’t really bring in any world-beaters to replace them. That could spell a major opportunity for Cam York, who emerged with 20 points in 54 games with the Flyers last year while also averaging 19:39 of ice time per night.

The Flyers used the No. 14 overall pick to acquire York way back at the 2019 NHL Draft. That year has proven to be a trying one for defenders, with Philip Broberg, Victor Soderstrom, Thomas Harley, Lassi Thomson, Ville Heinola and Tobias Bjornfot all taking longer than expected to develop into impactful NHL players (or even regulars, in some cases).

Of that bunch, York and Harley look to be the closest to becoming legit difference-makers at the top level. And with the Flyers going relatively light on rearguards over the last few drafts, York is still the most notable future piece in the team’s pool of defense prospects. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that York could end up spending much of next season on a big-minutes pairing with established vet Travis Sanheim.

The Flyers are a team in flux. Matvei Michkov and Cutter Gauthier are years away, and the big-ticket pieces on the team right now are unlikely to be the same ones in place when playoff hockey returns to Philadelphia years down the line. York is one of the few who could successfully bridge that gap. If he spends any significant length of time on the power play next year, York could take a run at the 40-point mark.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Alexander Nylander

Someone named Nylander playing for a Kyle Dubas team … where have we heard that one before?

Nylander was an AHL All-Star in 2023 while putting up 25 goals and 50 points in 55 games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. He followed that up with a nine-game stint in Pittsburgh late in the season, during which he picked up a goal and an assist while playing very limited minutes. Through 93 career NHL games with the Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks, and Penguins, the younger Nylander has collected 14 goals and 34 points.

Now that Dubas is in the fold in Pittsburgh, there might be a bit more room for Nylander to operate on one of the Penguins’ scoring lines. The 25-year-old winger cold get a chance to skate alongside Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin to start the year while Jake Guentzel remains on injured reserve. Without Jason Zucker and Mikael Granlund in the way, Nylander’s time may be coming.

Sure, it’s unlikely Nylander ever lives up to his billing as the No. 8 overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, and he still has Reilly Smith to compete with, but there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be able to perform better in a scoring role than the likes of Drew O’Connor, Matt Nieto and Rem Pitlick. If Nylander can carry even a hint of his AHL scoring prowess with him into Pittsburgh, he could be a fascinating player to watch this year.

Washington Capitals: Rasmus Sandin

The Maple Leafs caught much of the hockey world off-guard when they shipped Sandin to the Capitals ahead of last season’s trade deadline. For a team without much in the way of prospective long-term help on defense, Sandin felt like a marquee piece. But for whatever reason, then-GM Kyle Dubas felt he was a piece the Leafs could live without.

In Toronto, Sandin looked like a future top-four defenseman; in Washington, he looked like much more. In 19 games with the Capitals to close out the 2022–23 season, Sandin racked up 15 points (three goals, 12 assists) while logging 22:59 per night. Although he benefited from a high on-ice shooting percentage during his first stint in D.C., Sandin also brought a few encouraging new elements to an otherwise overwhelmed Capitals defensive group. Given how long he was in Toronto, it’s very easy to forget that Sandin only turned 23 in March.

Sandin could very well end up being the heir apparent to John Carlson, who is already 33 and missed half of last season due to injury. With one year left on his contract, Sandin should be completely motivated to build upon the 35 points he racked up in 71 games last season.

If, as we expect, he spends much of 2023–24 paired with defensive stalwart Nick Jensen, Sandin could be in an ideal position to take off.