Colorado's Cale Makar, Vegas' Jonathan Quick and Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov had phenomenal weeks. Adam Proteau analyzes how they did it.

This is THN.com’s Three Stars of The Week – a regular web feature in which we pick the three NHLers who had the biggest impact on the game in the past seven days. Let’s get straight to it.

3. Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay 

Kucherov posted three goals and a league-best seven points in four games this week, bumping up his fantastic regular-season numbers to 26 goals, 69 assists and 95 points in 66 games. 

This is Kucherov’s best season on offense since the 2018-19 campaign, in which he generated 41 goals, 87 assists and 128 points in 82 games. But he’s projecting to have a 32-goal season – which would give him his sixth NHL season with 30 goals or more – 86 assists and 118 points in 82 games.

The 29-year-old Russian’s 69 assists put him second in the NHL in that category, and his points total of 95 is third-best in the league. 

You can’t say Kucherov isn’t giving the Bolts solid value for his $9.5-million cap hit. And with fellow Lightning star forward Steven Stamkos suffering an injury Saturday night against Chicago, Tampa coach Jon Cooper may need even more production from Kucherov. Do not be surprised if he delivers.

2. Jonathan Quick, Vegas

If you’re looking for a great sports rebound story, look no further than Quick’s terrific week. 

Up until the past seven days, Quick had been suffering through an abysmal season with the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings sent him to Columbus shortly before the trade deadline, and the Blue Jackets flipped him to the Pacific-Division-leading Golden Knights, who put the 34-year-old veteran goaltender to work right away.

The two-time Stanley Cup winner was the best goaltender in the league this past week, defeating the Canadiens, Carolina Hurricanes and Lightning. 

Quick’s 1.97 goals-against average, 3-0-0 record, .939 save percentage and shutout of the high-octane Carolina Hurricanes this week made him a standout performer and showed he still has something left in the tank in spite of his individual numbers (3.35 GAA, .883 SP) this season. 

Vegas has been leaning on Adin Hill to do the job for them in net, but Quick’s stellar showings right out of the gate with his new team has to be encouraging for the Golden Knights. They now have two goalies who can share the duties for the rest of the regular season, and they’ll have solid options in net come playoff time.

1. Cale Makar, Colorado 

As the reigning Norris Trophy winner as the NHL’s top defenseman, Makar left his footprint on the Avalanche’s four games this week, posting five assists, seven points and two game-winning goals – one of which gave him his fifth overtime-winning goal of his career. He broke the Avalanche’s record for OT goals by a blueliner in the process. 

He’s one of the sport’s most exhilaratingly great players, and although he’s missed some time this season, playing only 51 games, Makar remains one of the most fearsome talents every time he steps on the ice. He averaged 24:41 of ice time this week, including minutes on the power play and penalty kill. He does it all.

Makar’s time lost to injury may prevent him from winning the Norris for a second straight season. There’s also the fact blueliners like San Jose’s Erik Karlsson, Buffalo’s Rasmus Dahlin, Nashville’s Roman Josi and the New York Rangers’ Adam Fox all are having great seasons to see why Makar may not win a Norris for a second consecutive year. 

But if you asked all NHL GMs which defenseman they’d take if they could take one from any team, we’d bet most of them would pick Makar. He’s a singular talent whose prime has yet to be seen, and he showed this week why he’s such a menace.