If you're a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs you had a front row seat this week to how special this player can be. Alexis Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko and K'Andre Miller, among others, provide the youthful upside still to be tapped.Д«ut for any of it to work this season, 25-year-old goalie Igor Shesterkin needs to have a great season. Artemi Panarin could be a Hart candidate most years, and Adam Fox won the Norris in 2021. A lot of that has to do with the great talent they've kept from the past and also added to their forward and defence units. The New York Rangers were something of a darling pre-season pick to come out of a rebuild and make the playoffs. Sam Steel, Mason McTavish, Isac Lundestrom, Jamie Drysdale - all of these young players are giving reason to tune in now. Zegras hasn't potted a goal yet, but he did record his first assist Tuesday and his time on ice has already seen a boost - he's been over 18 minutes three games in a row. But they're making a turn towards being watchable again. This is still a team trying to transition out of a rebuild and more likely to have favourable lottery odds again than not. Something similar may be happening right now with the Ducks on a smaller scale. The excitement Kaprizov brings to a game, and the other young core players with him, gave us a new outlook on the Wild. No one heard the name 'Minnesota Wild' and identified it as appointment viewing. For so long that team was associated with the neutral zone trap, defensive play and a generally bland style. Last season Kirill Kaprizov took the NHL by storm and changed our perception of the Wild. It's a wonder what new energy and skill can do for a franchise. Zegras is part of the changing face and style of a Ducks team pivoting towards a group of young players to take them into a brighter future.

The list of candidates who will try it and may pull it off is growing, so who will be next? Zegras? Nils Hoglander? Filip Forsberg? Auston Matthews? Or will the only two-time lacrosse goal scorer in NHL history, Svechnikov, make it a hat trick? He's already tried it again this season. We've seen a few lacrosse attempts early this season and it seems only a matter of time before the next one goes in. Just three games into this season Zegras made another attempt, a smooth and quick all-in-one-motion streak around the back of the net early in the first period against Calgary. A couple of months later he was an NHLer and in his fourth game he tried one out - had it gone in Zegras' first NHL goal would have been an all-timer. Last January he tried to pull out a lacrosse goal inside the first five minutes of a WJC semifinal game against Finland, but couldn't finish it. Zegras has not been shy to make the attempt.

This is a thing to watch now, as more players are both capable of pulling off the skillful move and having the confidence to try it during a game. Filip Forsberg scored one against the Edmonton Oilers in the 2019-20 season. We've seen three of them in the NHL: Andrei Svechnikov broke the ice, then did it a second time. It's only a matter of time until we see the next lacrosse-style goal, and rookie Trevor Zegras is one of the better bets to do it. And the special talent of Trevor Zegras, how he's helping change the Ducks into a fun team to watch, and the search for the NHL's next lacrosse-style goal.ДЄll numbers from Natural Stat Trick unless otherwise indicated.Why Timo Meier is the X-Factor for the Sharks, who are off to a 3-0 start.Igor Shesterkin, his importance to a NY Rangers playoff push, and if the Vezina is a realistic outlook for the 25-year-old.Evgeny Kuznetsov's quick start, following a summer where, perhaps, he could have been had through trade.The Friday Four, a collection of thoughts and information on some intriguing player performances, continues this week with some notes on:

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