Ryan O'Reilly and Matt Duchene Have Turned Back The Clock

These five NHL centermen are underrated in NHL 24

We've done rookies, right wingers, and left wingers. Now it's time to see which players down the middle of the ice are exceeding expectations with their club. Four out of the five players on this list are over the age of 30, as we have some longtime NHL veterans proving they still have a lot left in the tank to give. 

Ryan O'Reilly, Nashville Predators - TWF

^{2023-24 season: 48gp, 17 goals, 42 points
Career highs: 28 goals in 2013-14 and 2018-19, 77 points in 2018-19}

If there were any concerns about O'Reilly starting to fall off due to his age, he's certainly quieted those talks as he's looking to help get Nashville back into the playoffs. Below is a table of O'Reilly's NHL overall throughout the years.

O'Reilly got the big bump in overall to 89 after his Conn Smythe, Stanley Cup winning season with the St. Louis Blues. Obviously, it was a deserved overall increase after the year he had in the playoffs and setting a career-high in points. He produced at a similar clip for the next three seasons, then a few injuries last year caused him to play only half the season, split between Toronto and St. Louis.

What's curious is that his 30 points in those 53 games wasn't a terrible stat line, and if he played a full season, he most likely would've matched his points total of 58 from the year prior. Not to mention, he was a terrific trade deadline addition to help Toronto finally win their first playoff series since 2004, putting up seven points in their six game series against Tampa Bay.

I would say the decrease in overall O'Reilly was given in NHL 24 wasn't warranted. He still looks like a first-line center at 32-years-old (soon to be 33) and is on pace to outproduce his last four seasons. 

Matt Duchene, Dallas Stars - PLY

^{2023-24 season: 47gp, 27 assists, 43 points 
Career high: 43 goals, 86 points in 2021-22}

A 30-point drop-off and your previous team buying out your contract definitely may wave some red flags for a potential aging star forward. Those red flags might as well be burned or thrown in the trash with the way he has been playing and contributing to a team with Stanley Cup aspirations. He has 12 points in 13 games in January.

The Stars may have one of the best-valued contracts in the league, with Duchene only taking up three million of the cap while producing at a 70+ point clip. Ironically enough, Dallas has the two highest point producers with a max cap hit of 3.5 million or less in him and Joe Pavelski. 

He has been driving the offense for his line and is back to looking like "prime Matt Duchene." He appears to be playing with the same level of confidence he had a couple of years ago when he scored 43 goals and set career highs. His line has a net plus-15 goal differential at 5v5 with over 400 minutes of ice time together, according to NaturalStatTrick.com. He's always had the skill of a first-line talent, but having him as a second-line threat is causing headaches in the matchup game when teams face Dallas.

Duchene's overall in recent NHL games has gone up and down like a seesaw. He was an 87 overall for a couple of years before getting nuked down to an 83, then back up to an 87 after his career year, and now to an 85 in NHL 24. Moving him up one overall to an 86 seems fair, but I wouldn't even be opposed if he went back up to an 87.

Charlie Coyle, Boston Bruins - PWF

^{2023-24 season: 48gp, 17 goals, 41 points
Career highs: 21 goals in 2015-16, 56 points in 2016-17}

There was an expectation that the Boston Bruins may take a step back after losing Patrice Bergeron and not going out and acquiring a first-line center. Charlie Coyle has stepped up for the Bruins, playing a versatile game while producing at a rate he hasn't produced at since 2016-17 back in Minnesota. 

Already at 17 goals, he'll surely set a new career high, and it could come soon as Coyle is heating up as of late with three goals in his last six games, riding a seven-game point streak with 11 points in that span. His production during his tenure in Boston hasn't been quite up to par for a player with a 5.25 million dollar cap hit, so the increase in his production has helped alleviate some of the loss of Bergeron.

Coyle is an all-situations player for his team, utilized on the second powerplay unit and a regular on their penalty kill. He has taken the most faceoffs for his team and is thrown out there a ton in the defensive zone. Coyle got to as high as an 85 overall player back in NHL 16 and 17, and with how important he has been to Boston this year, 84 just feels too low for him. 

Jason Dickinson, Chicago Blackhawks - TWF

^{2023-24 season: 49gp, 15 goals, 25 points
Career highs: 9 goals in 2019-20 and 2022-23, 30 points in 2022-23}

Jason Dickinson is the sixth highest-rated player on the Chicago Blackhawks in NHL 24. With Connor Bedard injured, Dickinson has probably been Chicago's best player, and his play earned him a two-year contract extension. 

Dickinson looked like a promising young forward breaking into the league with the Dallas Stars and was a part of their run as a depth player to the Bubble Stanley Cup Final in 2019-2020. Unfortunately, he played most of the 2021-22 season in Vancouver with a broken hand before being traded to Chicago at the beginning of the 2022-23 season. He's battled and persevered through his injuries and is now shaping into a role model for the rebuilding Blackhawks.

Even with the injuries he has dealt with, that isn't steering him away from playing his game. He's recorded 73 hits and has blocked 42 shots. He puts his body on the line and gives a 100% effort on every shift. 

He has already set a career-high in goals and will set a career-high in points soon. Chicago has not been a good team this year, to say the least. They have the second-worst goal differential in the league. That makes for a lot of minus players on the team, except Dickinson, who is impressively a plus-eight. He would be an excellent third-line two-way physical center on a contending team. I would bump him up to an 83 overall. 

Nick Bjugstad, Arizona Coyotes - PWF

^{2023-24 season: 47gp, 10 goals, 27 points
Career highs: 24 goals in 2014-15, 49 points in 2017-18}

Nick Bjugstad is a lot like Jason Dickinson. Both are playing more minutes than their skill level may warrant but have been flourishing and would be excellent trade acquisitions at the deadline if they were made available. We saw Bjugstad be that when the Edmonton Oilers traded for him at the trade deadline last year to be their third-line center in the playoffs.

One of Arizona's best lines this year by far has been the line of Lawson Crouse, Nick Bjugstad, and Matias Maccelli. Bjugstad is the 200ft center for his line, which is a perfect complement to playing alongside a highly skilled player like Maccelli. Those three currently have been broken up as of late, however. He's taken the most faceoffs for his team by a large margin, and according to hockeyeloratings.com, he's up there for the most defensive zone faceoffs taken in the entire league. 

He's on pace to match his career high in points back in 2017-18, but the value he brings to Arizona every night goes beyond just production. He's a strong checking center who effectively rubs players off the puck to disrupt possession. He started as only an 80 in NHL 24 and has been bumped up already to an 81, but another bump should happen in the next roster update.

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