NHL: Stars of tomorrow

This season NHL has presented some sensational rookies on the ice. Already one year before the 2016 NHL-draft the speculations about who will be selected first overall was heavily pointing towards the young American center Auston Matthews. Due to his date of birth, he was not eligible in the 2015-draft, being two days too young. Ever since he has been topping charts and scout reports, making it no surprise at all that he got picked first overall in the 2016-draft by Toronto Maple Leafs. Matthews became the first U.S.-born player drafted first since Patrick Kane in 2007. Winning two U-18 World Junior Championship gold medals playing for the USA, the expectations for Matthews were high for his first NHL season, and so far he has delivered with his incredible play reading and raw skill. In the first game of the season, Auston Matthews showed everyone he was ready for the big league by scoring all of Toronto's four goals in their 4-3 win against Ottawa Senators, making history by being the only player who has managed to score four goals in his NHL debut match. 

Nylander (L) and Matthews (R) are two of the many brilliant rookie players around (AP)

Currently, 19 years-old Matthews is second on the NHL rookies scoring board, three points behind Mitchell Marner who also represents Toronto Maple Leafs. Born in Markham, Ontario on the 5th of May 1997, the Canadian youngster Mitchell Marner has been very helpful for Toronto Maple Leafs during his rookie season in NHL. With his 15 goals and 32 assists, Marner has played a pivotal role in Toronto's success, as they currently hold the Wild Card spot to the playoffs in April. He is now positioned 22th on the overall scoring board with his 47 points this season.

Toronto Maple Leafs has been a great team for rookies to shine this season, as Canadian 20-year-old William Nylander is currently playing a great rookie season in NHL for the Leafs. Scoring 14 goals and assisting 22 times, Nylander is currently 4th in rookie points this season with his 36 points. Behind him is Calgary Flames Matthew Tkachuk with 34 points total. This 19-year-old left winger from America has been very impressive all season long and is currently 4th best in points of his team.

Another player that had speculations market buzzing before the 2016 draft was Patrik Laine. The 18-year old Finnish right wing had an amazing season in the Finnish SM-liiga, topping the rookie scoring board of the regular season with his 16 goals and 17 assists and scoring the most goals in the playoffs, leading his team Tappara to victory in the Finnish league in 2015. In the U-18 World Junior Championship Laine and Matthews shared first place on the scoring table with 8 goals and 3 assists each. In the 2016 U-20 World Junior Championship Laine, along with Sebastian Aho and Jesse Puljujärvi formed an unstoppable line and lead Finland to victory in the final against Russia. 

Patrik Laine was picked second overall in the 2016 NHL draft by Winnipeg Jets, and his quick-release wrist shot and powerful slap shot has already caught up people's eyes in North America. Even Alex Ovechkin has been praising Patrik Laine saying "He`s a great scorer obviously. He can score 50 or 60 goals this season if he`s going to continue to play like that."Laine has been compared to Ovechkin because of his big build and similar powerful shot. So far this season Laine has scored 23 goals and assisted 21 times, including two hat-tricks, sharing the second place on the rookie scoring board along with Auston Matthews. 

Playing along with Laine in the Finnish U20 team, left wing Sebastian Aho has been improving his play whole season long, and is now one of Carolina Hurricanes most important players with his 17 goals and 15 assists, including one hat-trick. Aho reads the play very well and is developing into a great NHL player already in his debut season, and the future looks really bright for him. 

It will be interesting to see how these young sensations develop in mature players in the years to come.