It's taken as read in the NHL that on any given night, the puck might just not bounce your way. But sometimes, it can feel like you had a week, a month, even a full season of just not having things go right. Here are five players who fall into that category from the 2025-26 season.
Pretty often, success in the NHL is related to getting the lucky bounces from time to time. But what about the guys who are on the bad end of those breaks? For every goal that goes in off a defenseman or ramps off a forward's stick as he tries to block a shot, there's the guy who, through no fault of his own, caused that tough break.
Sometimes those situations pile up, even for some of the league's best players, and can negatively impact a player's entire season. With that in mind, it's important to know just as much about the guys who had the bounces go against them as the ones who benefited.
Here are the top five on the unlucky side of the ledger in 2025-26, who head into this upcoming season looking for better bounces.
All advanced stats are from Evolving Hockey and include all players with at least 500 total minutes of ice time.
5. Nico Hischier, C, New Jersey Devils
Nico Hischier is one of the best 200-foot centers in the league, and the New Jersey Devils had roster problems last year that were beyond any man to fix.
While he was still a net positive — New Jersey scored 52 percent of the goals when he was on the ice — he was dragged down from what he should have done.
He scored 28 goals against an xG total of 35.1 - his on-ice goals-for percentage was more than five points below his expected-goals-for percentage - and his linemates bungled nearly 34 expected goals of their own when he was on the ice. And of course, the team's goaltending was abysmal behind him.
If the Devils are going to make the playoffs this coming season, it's a smart bet that Hischier will enjoy a big turnaround to drive it.
4. Brandon Tanev, LW, Utah Mammoth
Brandon Tanev's move to the Utah Mammoth seemed potentially fortuitous, because he's been a useful depth forward for many years. But a combination of injuries limiting him to 56 games and insanely bad luck - just three assists - leaves him hoping for a bounce-back. He generated 5.3 expected goals but didn't score all season.
When he was on the ice, Utah got outscored 25-9, but by expected goals, it should have been fewer, about 25-20. Insanely bad luck in attack, with his personal shooting percentage at 0.0, and his linemates did not pick up the slack, at 4.9 percent total. The latter was the lowest in the league.
He also had a below-average on-ice save percentage of .885. Only six players had lower PDOs for the season than his 93.4.
He was never an offensive engine, and isn't asked to be, but this was brutal even for a guy with 84 goals in 608 NHL games.
3. Tomas Hertl, C, Vegas Golden Knights
Tomas Hertl scored just 24 goals in 2025-26, well below the 32 he racked up in nine fewer games in his first full season with the Vegas Golden Knights. And in some ways, because his shooting percentage of 11.8 was above the league average, you might say he hasn't had bad luck.
But Hertl is a lot like another guy further up the list. He shoots a little selectively (just 202 shots on goal in almost 1,400 minutes) because when he does, he scores well above the league average. His career shooting percentage going into last season was 13.9 percent, so 11.8 is a big step down. Indeed, he generated 39.1 expected goals, so he scored 15 lower than he should have, and this is a guy who often converts at well above the league-wide expected rate.
Add in the fact that Vegas goalies - who were not great last season - had an .843 save percentage behind him, and it's not hard to see Hertl having a rebound year coming up.
2. William Eklund, LW, San Jose Sharks
Skaters generally don't have control over how the goalie behind them performs, and with the San Jose Sharks last season - now a member of the Ottawa Senators - that was probably even more true for forwards like William Eklund.
The Sharks' defensive struggles were well-documented, but Eklund had the sixth-lowest on-ice save percentage (.840) in the league, and nobody behind him on the list came within 450 minutes of his time on ice (around 1,446 minutes). The Sharks' various goalies allowed about 14 more goals than expected when he was out there.
At the same time, while Eklund registered a respectable 15 goals and 38 assists for 53 points, he scored those 15 goals on more than 25 expected goals and single-handedly contributed to his team scoring 10 goals fewer than expected while he was out there (89 on 99.1). That's what shooting 8.5 percent against a career average of 11.5 percent will get you.
1. Anders Lee, LW, New York Islanders
Anders Lee, a member of the New York Islanders last season but now with the Mammoth, scored 19 goals last season, which isn't bad at all. But considering he was seventh in the league in expected goals (41.9), it's mind-boggling that he didn't pot more.
Like Tanev, Lee is certainly getting up there in age, turning 36 in early July. But coming in at less than half your xG total can't just be chalked up to Father Time turning his gaze on Lee's game; he still had 201 shots on goal, but racked up just seven secondary assists.
Things could have gone a lot better, but the fact that he's now Tanev's teammate might portend at least one of them turning it around a little bit in 2026-27.
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