Projecting the NHL’s leap-forward players for 2025-26, led by Matty Beniers
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Rachel Kryshak
The NHL’s preseason is nearly done, and it is time to prognosticate who will take a leap forward this season in terms of role and production.
Last season, Dylan Guenther and Matthew Knies made this list and saw major increases in role and production. A few others who did not pop last season for various reasons, find themselves on the list ahead of 2025-26.
As is tradition, a “breakout” does not always mean offensive production. It can mean an elevated role at even strength, more special teams time, and exposure to tougher matchups. Many of the players on this list are expected to see major role increases and a few of them should break out in the traditional sense.
The most obvious player to include on this list.
After two seasons below seemingly impossible expectations, it feels like this is finally Bedard’s year. A reminder that Nathan Mackinnon did not become the rhinoceros on skates we know today until his fifth NHL season, so give the much smaller Bedard a chance.
Not that the preseason is always an indicator of anything, but Bedard’s shot and elite vision were on display consistently in September. If he stays healthy, he should score more than a point per game. If he wants to make the Olympic team, he’ll need to be on an 85- to 90-point pace when the roster is named, which is attainable for someone with his skill set.
Everyone has seen the brilliance of Bedard when he’s at the top of his game. Through two years, it hasn’t been consistent. He’ll likely play more than 20 minutes every game, and should generate between three to four shots per game. His shooting percentage should start to climb, which is something seen often with players who possess elite shots like Bedard. Should Bedard shoot at 13% on 270 shots, he would score 35 goals, a major uptick from his 22- and 23-goal campaigns.
He needs more opportunities to make magic happen, both of his own creation and by way of the situations he is deployed in. It’s reasonable to suggest he ends with 32 goals and 55 assists this season, which puts him at 87 points.
The 6-5, 225-pound center is going to be a key piece for the Kings this season, as he prepares to step into the top-line pivot role when Anze Kopitar retires at the end of the season.
Kopitar is still a tremendous player, but the Kings will need to put Byfield in tough minutes to further develop his game on both sides of the puck. Byfield has all the makings of a player who can score 80 points and be reliable defensively. He’s going to get more opportunities on the power play, and his offensive game at even strength started to take off last season.
After back-to-back seasons of point totals in the mid-50s, expect Byfield to use his speed, strength and skill to physically dominate his shifts. There’s a real pathway to a 30-goal, 45-assist season for him as he takes a more significant role in the Kings’ top six.
The first-line center for the Kraken is one of the better two-way players in the NHL at the young age of 22. Beniers is reliable in all situations, a rarity for players under 25. Beniers has not found the next step offensively in the NHL, and it is something Seattle desperately needs.
From a true breakout perspective, this could be the year Beniers finds himself firmly in the Selke Trophy conversation for the NHL’s best defensive forward. The winners are usually accompanied by offensive production (not that they should be), and Beniers will see time on both special team units to make an impact.
Incoming Kraken coach Lane Lambert wants the penalty kill to be aggressive, and will encourage his players to generate scoring chances when the opportunity arises. That, combined with top-line minutes and top power-play reps should allow Beniers the opportunity to increase his offensive output.
Beniers’ rookie campaign saw him produce 57 points in a second-line role. He’s taking tougher matchups on the top line, and if he can notch more than 60 points while effectively shutting down the opponent’s best, he’ll be in the Selke conversation. That’s a major step forward for a player at this point in his development.
LW, Buffalo Sabres
A promotion to the top line with Tage Thompson and Josh Norris is all that is needed for Benson to land on the list. Whether he stays there — or plays second-line center to allow for Ryan McLeod to thrive in the third-line role — Benson is primed for a major uptick in every statistical category.
After a 28-point campaign last season where he averaged under 15 minutes of ice time per game, he’s likely to play close to 19 minutes per contest this season. He’ll also get opportunities on the power play, and be in a position to play with better players than in prior campaigns.
When factoring in everything, there is a distinct possibility that the highly skilled youngster will double his offensive production from last season and score between 55 and 60 points. He will play more difficult minutes because of his matchups against top defenders, but Benson’s ability to create offense is high-end, and he should thrive with more talented linemates, and more time spent in the offensive zone.
The Sabres are counting on him this season, so scoring around 22 goals and 35 assists is within reach for the 2023 first-round pick.
With Nikolaj Ehlers signing with Carolina, Perfetti is finally in line to get a major upgrade in offensive opportunity. Combine that with his standout performance for Winnipeg in the playoffs, there is no defensible reason for keeping him off the top power play and from giving him consistent minutes in the top six.
With increased opportunity at even strength and special teams, there is every reason to believe Perfetti could be a 70-point player in 2025-2026. Increasing his ice time from 15 to 17 minutes on a per-game basis will lead to an increase in shooting opportunities. Should Perfetti match his shooting percentage from the last two seasons, he should notch between 25 and 30 goals. Increased power-play time will naturally increase his offensive production.
It is finally Perfetti time in Winnipeg, and he is well prepared to take this well-earned opportunity and run with it.
The diminutive center saw his opportunity and thus, his production increase after the trade from Dallas to Carolina.
The Canes deployed Stankoven as their second-line center, and were rewarded for it. As is the case with Perfetti, Stankoven is likely to see 17 minutes of ice time per game this season, adding two minutes to last season’s average. Whether his is flanked by Andrei Svechnikov or Nikolaj Ehlers on his left, he’s going to have a highly skilled player capable of scoring many points.
Stankoven’s playmaking ability could be what elevates Svechnikov to that surge in goal production for which many have been waiting. Should he play with Ehlers, both are dual-threat offensive players, and Stankoven has the skill to finish the chances that Ehlers creates.
Regardless of who he plays with, an upgrade in skill set and increased opportunity should lead to increased production for the young Canes center.
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David Hale
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina still hasn’t won a game against a Power Four opponent under Bill Belichick, but Saturday’s 17-16 overtime defeat against No. 16 Virginia showed the improvement he has long promised is finally unfolding on the field.
The Tar Heels dominated Virginia at the line of scrimmage, racking up six sacks and largely eliminating the Cavaliers’ run game, but a failed 2-point try in overtime proved the difference.
“It’s one thing for people to say we’re getting better,” North Carolina wide receiver Jordan Shipp said, “but now we’re showing it. That’s a top-20 team in the country that went down to the last play of the game.”
Shipp wasn’t celebrating a moral victory. In the locker room after the game, he said he shed tears, knowing how much work this team had put in and how close it had come to its first ACC win of the season.
But if the Heels weren’t celebratory, there was ample reason to feel good.
North Carolina’s defense held Virginia to 259 yards and didn’t allow a second-half point. The offense managed 359 yards — a relative pittance, but still a season high — and for the second straight week, UNC had a shot to win with its final possession, which is a drastic improvement after four early blowouts.
Perhaps another sign of North Carolina’s improvement was Belichick’s postgame news conference, where he was in vintage form.
What went into the decision to go for two in the first overtime?
“Just trying to win the game,” he said.
Who was QB Gio Lopez‘s first target before rolling out on the two-point play?
“Whoever was open.”
How much did UNC need these past two games to show real improvement on the field?
“I can’t put a percentage on it,” Belichick said.
He was effusive in the team’s need to avoid catastrophe near the goal line. After a three-point loss at Cal and Saturday’s one-point defeat to Virginia, what stood out was the Heels’ three red zone turnovers, including two that were within inches of reaching the end zone.
“We’ve got to eliminate those, no doubt about it,” Belichick said. “It’s the No. 1 problem.”
If the miscues remain an issue, UNC seems to be finding an identity that it lacked earlier in the season.
Belichick had suggested the team, which had 30 transfers after spring practice, was a work in progress as it tried to learn more about the personnel. In the past two weeks, receiver Kobe Paysour has emerged with nine catches for 154 yards, freshman Madrid Tucker recorded eight catches for 41 yards in his first game action of the season, and on defense, Melkart Abou Jaoude, who had just two sacks this season, sacked Virginia QB Chandler Morris three times.
“We’ve spent more time with these guys, and everybody’s improving,” Belichick said. “Some guys are getting more playing time or are being used in different roles as we see ways for them to help the team be productive. It’s evolving. Some of it is the players improving, and some of it is identifying things guys can do to help us.”
But if there’s a turning point for UNC, it might’ve come during the open date two weeks ago. The Heels had just been blown out against Clemson and numerous news stories erupted — including the cancellation of a planned documentary on the team, rumors of dissatisfaction among players (including a locker room fight) and reports that Belichick was angling to get out of his contract, a story he firmly denied.
All that adversity united the struggling Tar Heels, Shipp said.
“I feel like it helped us a lot,” Shipp said. “It’s always good to be under a spotlight. I feel like that’s what brought everybody together. You see, sometimes, people trying to trash people’s names on social media, and people are there to defend them. … You’re supposed to have your brother’s back, no matter what’s going on. There’s a lot of that going on in this building.”
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Mark Schlabach
Missouri quarterback Beau Pribula was carted off the field with an air cast on his left leg after he was awkwardly tackled on a fourth-and-goal play in the third quarter of the No. 15 Tigers’ 17-10 loss at No. 10 Vanderbilt on Saturday.
Pribula, a senior from York, Pennsylvania, faked a pitch to tailback Kevin Coleman Jr. and kept the ball. Vanderbilt edge rusher Miles Capers and others stopped Pribula short of the end zone, and Pribula’s left leg was bent awkwardly as he went to the ground.
Pribula was moved to a wheelchair after being taken off the field. Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz said after the game that Pribula is going to be out for “awhile.”
Freshman Matt Zollers, ESPN’s No. 86 overall recruit in the class of 2025, took over after Pribula’s injury. After attempting six passes in three games this season, Zollers finished 14-of-23 for 138 yards and a touchdown. Pribula was 9-of-14 for 68 yards before leaving the game.
Pribula is the second Missouri quarterback to suffer a potential season-ending injury this season; starter Sam Horn fractured the tibia in his right leg on the Tigers’ first snap from scrimmage in their 61-6 victory against FCS program Central Arkansas on Aug. 28. Horn, who missed all of the 2024 season following Tommy John surgery, is expected to make a full recovery.
Pribula, a former Penn State transfer, had passed for 1,617 yards with 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions this season.
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