NHL Star Power Index: Kirill Kaprizov continues racking up goals, Mitch Marner helping to pace Maple Leafs

Welcome to the NHL Star Power Index: A weekly gauge of the players who are controlling substantial buzz around the league. When a player is included on this list it may not be a good thing — it means that they are capturing a large amount of the hockey world’s attention.

These players are in no particular order when it comes to the amount of buzz that they’re creating. We’ll revisit the Star Power Index every week throughout the regular season.

Kirill Kaprizov is certainly one of the more elite playmakers in all of the NHL. As of late, the Minnesota Wild star has been putting the puck in the net at a high level.

Kaprizov has racked up four goals and two assists in his last four games, and has scored a goal in four of his last six contests. On Tuesday, the Wild winger turned in a two-goal performance in a 4-2 win against the St. Louis Blues.

Kaprizov also has tallied 13 points (six goals & seven assists), while recording at least one point in each of his last seven contests.

In Tuesday’s game, the Blues and Wild were deadlocked at 1-1 after exchanging goals over the first two periods. That’s when Kaprizov was able to give his team a brief advantage over their Western Conference counterparts.

At the 6:07 mark of the final period, Wild defenseman Jake Middleton was able to keep the puck in the offensive zone. Middleton was then able to skate his way towards the net before letting go of a wrist shot that Kaprizov was able to tip past Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington.

Kaprizov also added an empty-net goal that put the contest out of reach in the final 90 seconds. It marked the Wild star’s fourth multi-goal showing of the season.

The Wild forward has been incredible efficient up to this point. Kaprizov is scoring on 22.0% of his shots and his 59 shots are second on the team behind only Matt Boldy. 

Kaprizov is currently on pace for 150 points (59 goals & 91 assists). Obviously, that would shatter his career-high in points (108) if he came anywhere close to those kind numbers, so it’s safe to say that he’s currently in the Hart Trophy conversation. While this pace may not be sustainable, Kaprizov is doing his best to push the Wild towards a playoff berth.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have been without star forward Auston Matthews in recent weeks. As a result, they’ve needed to depend some of their other star players to carry the offensive load, including talented winger Mitch Marner.

Despite not having Matthews in the lineup, the Maple Leafs have put together a very impressive stretch that includes six wins across their last seven games. Marner has been a heavy producer during that specific stretch as he’s tallied two goals and four assists in his last three games.

Marner even had a flair for the dramatic in the Maple Leafs’ 4-3 overtime win against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.

With the game tied at 3-3 in overtime, the Oilers dynamic duo of Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid were attempting to put the game away. Instead, a Draisaitl pass was blocked by the Maple Leafs defense, and it was off to the races the other way. 

Marner was able to scoop up the loose puck and embarked on a two-on-one with teammate John Tavares. Instead of passing the puck, Marner elected to keep it and snapped a shot past goaltender Stuart Skinner’s blocker for the game-winning goal.

The game-winner also allowed Marner to reach a milestone as it was the 200th career goal for the Maple Leafs star. In doing so, Marner became just the 16th player in franchise history to reach the 200-goal mark.

Marner also tallied a two-assist performance in a 3-0 win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday. The Maple Leafs forward earned the primary assists on two Toronto goals, including a William Nylander tally that came on the power-play.

This is a massive season for Marner, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. Marner is having an extremely productive campaign at the right time as he leads the Maple Leafs in points (26) and assists (20). Toronto may need Marner’s productive to continue to be at an elite level if Matthews remains out of the lineup for the foreseeable future.

Zach Werenski put together a historic performance in the Columbus Blue Jackets‘ 7-6 overtime win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.

Werenski tied a franchise record for points in a game (5) and also became the first Blue Jackets defenseman to recorded a five-point performance. He became the first Blue Jackets to have a five-point game since Johnny Gaudreau accomplished the feat on March 14, 2023. 

Werenski also became the first defenseman to rack up five points in a game this season, which is a feat that was only accomplished by four blue-liners a year ago.

The Blue Jackets star registered two goals and three assists against the Lightning, including scoring the game-winning goal in overtime.

Just 1:26 into overtime, Blue Jackets forward Cole Sillinger was able to pass the puck over to Werenski from the face-off circle in the offensive zone. Upon getting the puck on his stick, Werenski skated his way into the slot and ripped a scorching shot past Lightning goaltender Jonas Johansson to win the game.

The Blue Jackets defenseman also tallied the primary assist on both of forward Kent Johnson’s goals throughout Thursday’s contest. He also earned a secondary assist on a Dmitri Voronkov goal early in the second period.

Entering Friday, Werenski is tied for second in the league in points (19) among defensemen, while ranking second in goals (6). Werenski is currently on a four-game point streak, and he’s tallied three goals and six assists over that stretch. Thursday’s game also was his second multi-point performance over the last four contests.

Werenski continues to be a stabilizing presence on the back end for a Blue Jackets team that is only three points out of a Wild Card spot early on this season. If this type of production continues, perhaps a return to the postseason could be a true possibility.

The Buffalo Sabres are attempting to be a more consistent hockey team after a rough start to the season. Goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is helping to make that ambition become a reality with his play in the crease.

Most recently, Luukkonen tallied a shutout in a 1-0 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday. Luukkonen ended up turning aside all 23 shots that he faced to earn his first shutout of the season.

Following his win against Los Angeles, Luukkonen has improved his record to 4-0-1 across his last five outings.

Luukkonen has provided an abundance of consistency in between the pipes in recent weeks. During the month of November, the Sabres netminder has compiled a 4-1-0 record, a 1.76 goals-against-average, and a .935 save percentage in six starts. 

The Sabres rewarded Luukkonen with a five-year, $23.75 million contract extension this past summer, which carries a $4.75 million average-annual-value. If Luukkonen can continue can produce in the crease, the Sabres certainly may have found their netminder of the future.