The NHL 25-26 season sounds crazy. The season has just recently started, and I am unbelievably excited for what is going to happen and how all the relatively new players will do. As a Carolina Hurricanes fan, I am excited for games because of how exciting games usually are. I hope they finally get past the playoffs and win. The National Hockey League is a big sport around the world with millions of fans. Hockey is a big part of my life, and I was waiting for the new season for 5 months. From keeping up with newer players and newly traded people on new teams, here are my top three players I heavily believe will do way better this year. 

Jackson Blake 

My all-time favorite player. This season will be his second season playing in the NHL. Jackson plays Right wing or Center for the Carolina Hurricanes. He had gotten signed during the offseason for 8 years for a $45 million contract. Jackson’s a young player, only 22; he’s one of the youngest in the league. He has so much room to improve. I have liked Jackson Blake since him being in the Canes, and I have high hopes he will do well this season. For the 24-25 season, Blake had 17 goals, 17 assists, and 34 points. I count this as pretty good just for your rookie year. For getting signed for 8 years, I can tell that even the league thinks Jackson is going to do great. When watching hockey, you can just tell when a player is good. Jackson Blake looks like that. Last season, the Canes coach had Jackson on the ice pretty frequently near the end of the season, which is why he had gotten so many goals as just a rookie. If Blake has more on ice time this whole season, I think he can get 10 times his goal last season.

 Will Smith 

A forward player. Will Smith (not the award-winning actor) plays for the San Jose Sharks. His first season was 24-25, and he had 18 goals, 27 assists, and 45 points. Smith is already a great player, but with his best friend on the same team, Macklin Celebrini (who has won the Hobey Baker award and is well known as one of the best players, even as the youngest in the league), Will doesn’t get much recognition. Will could do so much better if he were on a different team with someone who didn’t take the whole spotlight like Macklin does, but that’s a whole different conversation. Will had gotten around 16 minutes of playing last season, which is a ton for a rookie. I think if the team were better (sorry, not sorry), Will could do so much. The team having at most 3 good players does not help to improve someone else on the team who is already better. 

 Pyotr Kochetkov

 Finally, a Goalie. Pyotr isn’t technically new; it’s his third year playing with the Canes, but I still think that’s relatively new compared to some others on the team. Pyotr was doing great last season, but I believe he can do even better this season. Kochetkov wasn’t much on ice for the playoffs. I hope the coach will believe in him more this season. During the 24-25 season, Kochetkov had 2 shutouts (when the goalie saves all potential goals) and 2.60 Goals Against Average (GAA). This is pretty low for a goalie, but he has been practicing during the off-season. Pyotr has high potential. Pyotr is Russian; he had just learned English just to be in the NHL. That’s high dedication. It’s easy to tell that he loves being a goalie. 

 Overall, I could name so many more players, like Juraj Slafkovsky, but here are my top five. I’m excited for this season, as I hope the Hurricanes do great.