These 10 NHL players could be poised to take a step back in 2023-24 and produce less than they did last season.
’s disappointing year. Toffoli became the focal point of Calgary’s offense. He almost exclusively played on the top line at even-strength. Toffoli wouldn’t be the centerpiece of a first unit power-play on most teams but he saw a huge increase in PP1 time with the Flames, including lots of opportunities from the premium left flank position. As a result, Toffoli scored a career-high 10 goals and 25 points on the power-play, compared to his previous single-season PP points high of 16.
Toffoli’s 73-point breakout last year feels like it was driven by usage and the opportunity he had to be the face of Calgary’s offense. He won’t have to play as big of a role in New Jersey, meaning Toffoli could play equally as well as he did last year, but not score as many points just because the opportunity is different.Ryan Nugent-Hopkins exploded for 104 points despite never previously having cracked the 70-point milestone. The first yellow flag is that he scored on 18.
There are even some notable recent examples. Jonathan Huberdeau led NHL forwards with 32 secondary assists in 2021-22 and we saw his precipitous decline last season.was the second-highest forward in terms of secondary assists in 2021-22 — he dropped from 99 points to 82 last season.