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The last time the NHLPA asked its players the name of the NHL player most underrated playerIn the 2022-23 season, Aleksander Barkov took off with the category. He received almost 23 percent of the vote, while no one else received five percent.
What a difference two years makes. Barkov is now a Stanley Cup champion with back-to-back Finals appearances. Before that, the argument was that he was in hiding, playing on a Florida Panthers team that rarely saw national attention.
The same can be said for players on the Winnipeg Jets, a small Canadian market. They don’t get much airtime on US national broadcasts on ESPN and TNT and may even go unnoticed in their home country – despite being the best regular season team in the country in 2023-24 and as they reached a historic score of 14-1. 0 starts this year.
Related: Winnipeg Jets off to best start ever, but does it really matter?
There’s an argument to be made that to be truly underrated, a player wouldn’t even get the votes of their peers. And even though he was on his way to his fifth 30-goal season in his seven-year career in 2022-23, Kyle Connor of the Winnipeg Jets was not mentioned in the top six.
After Connor’s three-point night against the Detroit Red Wings on October 30first-year Jets coach Scott Arniel offered praise.
“He’s an elite player in this league,” Arniel told the media. “We like to keep it as our little hidden secret, but I don’t think that’s going to happen in the future.”
This year, Connor has garnered attention for his nine goals and 19 points, both of which are tied for the lead on the Jets team. He won the NHL second star award in October thanks to his season-opening point streak, which reached 12 games.
Against Detroit on October 30, Connor scored his third game-winning goal of the year and his 500th career point in his 541st NHL game. This made him the second-fastest player in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history to reach that milestone, behind Ilya Kovalchuk (500 games).
Connor has been held off the scoresheet in Winnipeg’s last three games. But a little regression is understandable. As long as the team wins, it’s not a problem.
Look at Connor’s NHL Advantage stats for the 2024-25 season, and you’ll see his skating numbers are solid in distance and speed. Even though he’s not the strongest shooter in the NHL, he doesn’t need to be in the perfect position to beat a goalie.
Only two of his nine goals this season have come from the high-danger zone right in front of the net. Five were scored from what NHL Edge calls medium distances, and Connor scored twice on four shots near the left boards — an area the tracking software treats as a no-scoring zone.
Selected 17th overall by the Jets out of the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms in 2015, the Shelby Township, Michigan, native is now the sixth member of his prestigious draft class to collect 500 points. His 252 goals rank him fourth in this group, behind only Connor McDavid, Mikko Rantanen and Sebastian Aho.
Connor spent one season at the University of Michigan before turning professional. Even though he led all rookies with 31 goals in his official rookie season in 2017-18, he didn’t get a single first-place vote for the Calder Trophy. He finished fourth overall behind Mat Barzal, Brock Boeser and Clayton Keller.
Since day one, Connor has been a model of consistency, eclipsing 30 goals every year, with the exception of the 56-game 2020-21 season, where his 26 goals would have projected to 38 over an 82-game campaign.
His best year was his 47-goal, 93-point effort in 2021-22. But the season was a disaster: Paul Maurice resigned in December 2021 and the Jets missed the playoffs by eight points.
Even without counting this year’s hot start, Connor’s numbers since fall 2019 are incredible. His 132 even-strength goals place him fourth in the league, behind Matthews, Pastrnak and McDavid. His 176 total goals and 1,216 shots rank him eighth overall. And he scored 39 game-winning goals in those five seasons, which ranks him sixth.
Connor should be a favorite for Team USA in the 4 Nations Showdown next February. But while Jets teammate Connor Hellebuyck appears to have a prime position to begin his goaltending duties, the left winger has been a bit of an afterthought for prognosticators of the Jets’ admittedly stacked forward corps. Americans.
U.S. general manager Bill Guerin has talked about trying to fill roles in his lineup rather than prioritizing familiarity and established pairings. But Connor’s resume is certainly impressive enough to earn one of the eight spots on the wings.
If the Americans live up to their reputation as tournament favorites, Connor could attract more attention in 10 days than he has in his entire NHL career thus far – especially more than hype is building towards the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
Like Barkov before him, the stage is set for Connor to erase that “underrated” label and move on from his identity as the Jets’ “hidden secret.” In three months, he could start to be recognized and appreciated as one of the NHL’s most exciting stars.
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Related: Should Red Wings Star Patrick Kane Make Team USA in 4-Nation Showdown?
