NHL Pre-Season Breakout Candidates: Rangers' Lafreniere Leads Eastern Conference

This year's batch of NHL breakout candidates can help their teams take a big step forward, including some on the Rangers, Canadiens, Red Wings and more.

Every year, NHL players break out and become effective contributors to their team. Some help put their team over the top, while others take advantage of ample playing time on clubs that don’t have the top-end talent to compete.

Some players emerge from the depths of the shadows after working their way up through the minors and taking the long road to the show. Others finally live up to the expectations of their high draft slot. 

Let’s look at a few of the names that could pop off when the 2023-24 NHL season finally gets underway.

This looks like the year when the Rangers finally give Lafreniere the room to run wild at even strength. 

He's been their third-leading even-strength goal scorer over the last two years, behind only Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin, despite often being buried in the bottom six. Lafreniere was drafted first overall in 2020, a weird draft considering the COVID-19 pandemic greatly affected their first year of development. The potential to be a highly effective offensive winger has always been there.

It seems Lafreniere will get that opportunity in the top six, possibly even on the top line, to start the year. If he plays with either of Panarin, Kreider, or Mika Zibanejad for most of the year, we could finally see the soon-to-be 22-year-old forward take a big step and destroy his career high of 39 points from last season.

This is the biggest long shot on the list. Robertson was once viewed as a high-end goal-scoring prospect, and his NHL debut in the bubble playoffs with the Maple Leafs had people excited over his potential. Unfortunately, the 5-foot-10 winger has been dealt a bad hand with injuries every time he has seemingly hit the ground running. He has played just 82 total games between the AHL and NHL over the last three seasons because of those injury woes.

Now that he is healthy once again, the buzz from training camp is that he is flying on the ice and ready to prove he deserves a spot with the big club. The opportunity to make the squad is only aided by the fact the team wants to run William Nylander at center, which could mean Robertson is the perfect winger to add to the middle-six as a big-time shooter. While many feel he is over the hill as a prospect, it’s important to note he turned 22 years old just a couple of weeks ago.

Over the last two years, Caufield has 23 and 26 goals, respectively, but didn’t play a full season in either of them. In the year he scored 23 goals as a rookie, he was a non-factor for the first half of the year as then-head coach Dom Ducharme neutered his offense, which held him to just one goal through 30 games. He had 22 over the final 37 under current coach Martin St-Louis.

He was on an absolute tear last year before a shoulder injury ended his season. He was on pace for 46 goals, and that was while he played through the injury for part of his season. His assist totals regressed in a big way, falling from 20 to 10, but we can expect to see that come back to normal even if he always leans on his goal-scoring. The expectations should be a 30-goal, 60-point season, but it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see Caufield challenge 40 or even 50 goals.

Although the 2021 No. 1 pick was a Calder Trophy finalist last season, we could see Owen Power pop off this upcoming season. The Sabres' young roster continues to mature, and we could see him take a step offensively as the players around him round into form. Power will likely be stuck on the second power-play unit because of Rasmus Dahlin ahead of him, but the players on Buffalo’s second unit are young, offensively gifted and motivated to improve. Power fits right in.

His defensive game is already quite strong, and he's shown excellent transition ability. Offensively, we have seen flashes of brilliance. If Power takes a step as the Sabres hope to jump up as well, Power could go from a 35-point rookie to a 50-plus-point offensive dynamo giving Buffalo a couple of offensive powerhouses on the back end.

Sophomore slumps suck. Lucas Raymond would agree with that, as the Red Wings' burgeoning star had an up-and-down year last year. He started slow and then got back to playing his game before falling off again and repeating that trend throughout the year. 

The tough part of playing in the NHL, especially as a sophomore who made a big impact as a rookie, is that opposing players in the league get the notebook on your game, and it’s on you to diversify and adjust your game accordingly.

Raymond looks poised to ride shotgun with team captain Dylan Larkin once again, but they will be adding an elite goal-scorer to the opposite wing as Alex DeBrincat joins the Wings. With Raymond freed up a bit more, some added strength to his frame from a good off-season, and some maturity coming into his third NHL season, we could see the 21-year-old Red Wing ascend to star status.

After an impressive rookie season overshadowed by a very strong rookie class, Kent Johnson will look to help the Blue Jackets take a big step. Whether he rides on the wing opposite of Johnny Gaudreau on the top line or forms an effective pairing with star rookie Adam Fantilli, Johnson should have a shot at playing with very talented teammates. The depth surrounding him on the Blue Jackets this upcoming season should be very fun to watch.

Johnson is one of the most skilled players in the NHL already, with the ability to dangle and dazzle on a regular basis. He’s already scored a lacrosse goal in the NHL, and he’s put up a number of highlight-reel plays, but finding consistency and building chemistry with a talented forward group will be key to seeing Johnson go from a 40-point player to a 70-point player.

After playing in fewer than 40 games last year because of injury, Holtz came into camp looking leaner, faster, and more impressive in just about every regard, according to reports. Holtz has an impressive release and has the potential to be a lethal goal-scorer for the Devils as they look to take another step this season. If Holtz can come in and score 25 to 30 goals for them, he could be the missing piece to make the Devils as dominant as any team in the NHL.

Holtz still has to earn his spot in the lineup as the Devils vie for a Stanley Cup. He’s seen time with Timo Meier and Nico Hischier so far in camp, which likely means the Devils plan to give him every opportunity to earn that role. He could be in one of the most favorable positions of any breakout candidate in the NHL.

After being traded from Toronto to Washington, Rasmus Sandin’s offensive production blew up with 15 points in 19 games while filling in for John Carlson on the Capitals’ power play. With Carlson back, he may not have the same opportunity and may not produce at quite the same clip, but the beauty of the Caps' situation is that Alexander Ovechkin can play the full two minutes on the power play. Sandin will still have the opportunity to set up the player trying to become the best goal-scorer the NHL has ever seen.

Sandin was an underlying stats darling in Toronto, with many in the analytics world asking why he wasn’t being given more of an opportunity. Now in Washington, Sandin will get more opportunity and should benefit from it in a big way, as the skilled offensive blueliner will look to constantly push the pace for the Caps and help Ovi get the to all-time goals record.