The All-Nobody Team: 6 NHLers quickly becoming somebodies

Welcome to the sixth edition of the All-Nobody Team!

This exercise scans all 32 teams for previously obscure players who've begun to make meaningful names for themselves. As the league readies for the Olympic break, which relative nobodies can we now call somebodies?

As in years past, the player pool is limited to those who 1) were drafted after the second round or not at all, and 2) entered the season with fewer than 500 five-on-five minutes played in the regular season.

(Stud Hurricanes defenseman Alexander Nikishin technically qualifies within these parameters. However, we chose to exclude the well-hyped rookie since he was far from an unknown commodity coming into the year.)

Below are three forwards, two defensemen, and one goalie who make up the 2025-26 All-Nobody Team. The next Carter Verhaeghe, Michael Bunting, Logan Thompson, Michael Kesselring, or Dustin Wolf is in here somewhere.

Justin Sourdif, F

There were two types of reactions to the Capitals acquiring Sourdif from the Panthers last June in exchange for a 2026 second-round pick and a 2027 sixth-rounder.

The first: confused pessimism. Why in the world would Washington trade two picks, including a valuable second-rounder, for a 23-year-old with middling AHL stats and four NHL appearances? Who is this Sourdif guy, anyway?

Second: cautious optimism. That's a steep price, but the Caps have a history of finding hidden gems. General manager Chris Patrick deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Sourdif, who signed a two-year, $1.65-million contract a few days after the trade, has made Patrick look clever. The center/right-winger has flashed tremendous quickness, competitiveness, and smarts to start his Caps tenure.

He's up to 26 points, thanks in large part to a developing shot, and is already one of Washington's top play-drivers (53.5% expected goals rate). The Caps have outscored the opposition 35-21 in the rookie's 707 five-on-five minutes.

Injuries to Pierre-Luc Dubois and Nic Dowd forced head coach Spencer Carbery to beef up Sourdif's usage early in the season. He's gone from fourth-line winger to second-line center matching up against Connor McDavid. Sourdif recorded five points (three goals, two assists) against the Ducks in early January and bagged the game-winner against the Hurricanes on Saturday.

"Sometimes, circumstances provide opportunity for young players, and then that opportunity, it's on them to take advantage of that," Carbery told reporters after the five-point eruption. "That's exactly what he's done."

Arseny Gritsyuk, F

Gritsyuk's emergence carries more weight than the other All-Nobody players.

The 2019 fifth-round pick entered the season as a veteran pro, having spent parts of five seasons in arguably the second-best league in the world - the KHL. The Devils winger turns 25 in March and is set to become a restricted free agent with arbitration rights in July, when his one-year entry-level deal ends.

New Jersey is last in the NHL in five-on-five offense, and Gritsyuk is tied with franchise forwards Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt in five-on-five points (19) despite playing significantly fewer minutes. The six-foot Russian offers a versatile skill set, leading head coach Sheldon Keefe to use him on 14 different line combinations through 52 games (minimum 10 minutes as a group). He has a nasty release and sits third among NHL rookies in shots on goal (118).

Given the Devils' lack of secondary scoring, GM Tom Fitzgerald should be prioritizing a Gritsyuk extension over the Olympic break. He can be a top-nine fixture.

Off the ice, Gritsyuk has endeared himself to New Jersey fans through whimsical social media posts. He writes about adjusting to the NHL and American culture and shares video clips of his wife and daughter. He recently used Meta smart glasses to capture a day in the life of an NHLer.

Emmitt Finnie, F

The typical seventh-round pick has a long development arc. It can take one a handful of years to fix flaws, mature physically, and start to look like an NHLer.

Finnie, pick No. 201 out of 224 in the 2023 draft, is by no means a fully formed player. Yet, the 20-year-old from Lethbridge, Alberta, is no normal seventh-rounder, considering he ascended from relative obscurity to first-line left wing on a playoff-caliber team in short order. Get this: Finnie's 57 games are tied for eighth in the 2023 class and lead all 192 players chosen after the first round.

While Finnie is currently playing down the lineup amid a 19-game goalless drought, he's skated alongside captain Dylan Larkin and leading scorer Lucas Raymond for roughly half of his rookie campaign. He's capable of filling the worker bee role on a top-six line because he's a dogged forechecker who possesses enough pace and skill to elevate star linemates.

Finnie is one of three rookie forwards on the Wings but the only to stick with the big club the entire year. A pesky, net-driving game is a major reason why. His total production may be pedestrian (nine goals and 12 assists following a hot eight-point opening month), but his plus-15 penalty differential is tied for third among all NHLers.

Elias Pettersson and Joel Nystrom, D

Pettersson, 21, is best known outside of Vancouver for sharing a name with the Canucks' highest-paid player. But there's some substance to his story.

He's a throwback defenseman who can clear the front of the net, block shots, and issue heavy hits. He's also a plus skater for his size (6-foot-3, 209 pounds).

The 2022 third-rounder is part of a young wave on the back end. Vancouver's left side is essentially locked in for the foreseeable future, with Pettersson, Zeev Buium, and Tom Willander all showing promise in their early 20s.

Nystrom, who, like Pettersson, hails from Sweden, is in his first full season in North America. He needed a mere 23 NHL games to receive a contract extension from the Hurricanes ($4.9 million over four years starting next season).

Carolina loves the right-shot blue-liner's hockey sense. Nystrom isn't overly big, but he fits the club's pressuring play style. He's rocking an outrageous five-on-five expected goals rate of 60.5% while playing 15:10 a night.

Brandon Bussi, G

Bussi, a former standout at Western Michigan, signed with the Bruins as an undrafted free agent in March 2022. He spent three seasons in Boston's system before inking a one-year, two-way deal with the Panthers last July.

Florida tried to sneak the South Beach, New York, native through waivers before the season, but Carolina claimed him. Bussi's been on a meteoric rise ever since, taking control of the Hurricanes' net with other goalies sidelined.

In December, the 27-year-old became the fastest NHLer to earn 10 career wins (11 games) and, in February, accomplished the same feat with 20 wins (24 games). Following a strong performance against the Senators on Tuesday, he's 22-3-1 with a .905 save percentage. According to Sportlogiq, he's saved 23.3 goals above expected in 26 games.

"He's been so steady ever since he showed up here," Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal told reporters after the 4-3 victory over Ottawa. "He's steady but also makes the big saves, too, in big moments. Tonight was no different. There were probably four or five that were huge. He's been unbelievable."

Bussi, a big and aggressive right-catching netminder, has been filling highlight reels with athletic save sequences. He would garner down-ballot Calder Trophy votes if the season ended today and he were eligible (too old). The pending RFA is the NHL's best bargain: $775,000 against the cap.

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter/X (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email ([email protected]).