Most improved player on your team

[Our Lady Peace]

Cirelli on the Bolts. He's a 30/50 player next season if the lines are set up for him.

30 goals and 50 assists?

 

[DrJustice]

On the offensive side of the puck DeBrusk took a massive step forward after Pasta went down. Has simply been a different player in terms of finish, puck pursuit and playmaking ability.

On the defensive side of the puck, Carlo took a big step toward being an anchor the second pairing. The points will probably never be there but if he can give the team 20 points, 20 minutes a night with strong PK work he'll be one hell of a 2nd round pick.

 

[Sentinel]

Athanasiou later.

 

[DaBolts]

30 goals and 50 assists?

Yup, he's that good.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Tomas Hertl went from a borderline 1st line complimentary player with a career high of 46 points to a borderline #1C with 74 points.

Brenden Dillon went from a decent 3rd pairing defenseman to a borderline complimentary top pairing defenseman.

It depends how you quantify “improvement”. Hertl made the biggest improvement in the aggregate, but he was already a damn good player; Dillon made the biggest improvement relative to what he was in the past.

 

[LakeLivin]

I'd go with Faulk, even more so than Aho. Defensively he's a completely different player this year. I could have predicted that Aho would break out; no way I saw Faulk's improvement coming.

edit: and if I'm allowed to ignore the OPs criteria (same team as last year), like so many others have done, I'd give Petr Mrazek an honorable mention.

 

[Tage2Tuch]

A lot of the year it was Bogosian, not that he was great or anything but because he was so awful before. I didn’t pay too much attention in the second half like I did in the first because I’m a fan of keeping my sanity but Reinhart has also come a long way.

 

[Danythegod]

Just stat-watching, for the Sharks (2nd favourite team), Hertl (+28 pts) and Meier (+30 pts)... Labanc (+16 pts) to a lesser extent.

Watched a lot of Hertl this year and I think he can be a top 2 Center on sharks next year. He's really improved.

 

[Danythegod]

Yup, he's that good.

Gotta agree with you. He is going to be a monster next year and should not be overlooked. 80 points might be a reach but I think he will get north of 55 points next season.

 

[La Bamba]

Leon Draisaitl

It was almost like having another McDavid on the team

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Watched a lot of Hertl this year and I think he can be a top 2 Center on sharks next year. He's really improved.

Hertl is easily the best center on the Sharks right now.

 

[golgoXIII]

Max Domi for the Habs great season realy impress

 

[Steven Toast]

Draisaitl.

Doubled his goal total (25 ---> 50), 35 more points than last year.

Second is Nurse. He will be getting payed in 1 years time.

 

[Kshahdoo]

Stamkos

Isn't it Kucherov?

 

[CanadienShark]

Cirelli on the Bolts. He's a 30/50 player next season if the lines are set up for him.

30 goals, 50 assists?!?

 

[JoVel]

Isn't it Kucherov?

I don't think Kucherov is that much better than last season. He could've been well over 100 points but he took the foot off the gas in the second half of the season as the games didn't matter that much. This season he didn't do that.

Stamkos however was benefitting a lot from Kucherov and honestly he played like a 60 point player at best. This season they were seperated and Stamkos has been driving his own line and has done a hell of a job in it. He was still pretty poor at first this season but he turned it around and we've seen the "old Stamkos" for quite some time now.

 

[JoVel]

30 goals, 50 assists?!?

If he means that then he's the most optimistic person I've met, lol. Cirelli has been and will be our 3rd line shutdown center and he's done a hell of a job at it.

 

[SI90]

For the islanders my vote is Ryan Pulock. He wa drafted as an offensive defenseman and he’s shown his flashes of offense the last few years but this whole season since opening night he was played as the teams #1 defenseman. He had an incredible season defensively. Was an absolute rock.

 

[Machinehead]

The next captain of the New York Rangers, Mika Zibanejad.

 

[Wayne Primeau]

Lindholm, Hathaway, and Rittich are all good answers. I'll also vote for Travis Hamonic, who really shined this year.

 

[Jerzey Devil]

Schneider went a year without getting a win and then suddenly he was back to normal but I guess you can’t really call that an improvement. Have to go with Blake Coleman on this one. Not only does he look like a legit top 6 now but he’s great on the PK. Honorable mention to his roommate Pavel Zacha who really looked like he was coming into his own the last half of the season.

 

[Section88]

For the hawks its gustafsson and it isnt close. A year ago no one would believe he put up 60 points this year.

 

[Moose Head]

Last year almost everyone had a down year for the habs. This year there were bound to be some improvements, and shaw showed what he can do when he isn't battling injuries and concussions.

I still say it's carey price though. He simply stunk last year to the point where it became a valid concern whether he could still be one of the best. He answered the call.

I'd like to see prices numbers with and without Weber the last 3 years.

 

[hairylikebear]

Roope Hintz went from being an invisible player struggling to keep an NHL roster spot at the beginning of the season to a regular top 6 fixture by the end.

 

[HanSolo]

Cody Eakin or Shea Theodore.

Eakin is putting up 2c goal numbers from the third line while playing terrific defense.

Theodore while improving his offense a bit and still having a few defensive gaffes here and there quietly finished the season 7th in the league in takeaways. While he still has occasional defensive lapses, especially when having to cover for the slower Deryk Engelland, he's greatly improved his defense (for the most part he's been really good at utilizing his speed to suffocate attacking forwards, it's more the scrambles in front of the net that give him trouble), and he's arguably the best puck moving defenseman Vegas has.