When fans around the NHL think of the New Jersey Devils' leading goal scorers, their mind likely goes immediately to Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, or even Jesper Bratt.
Most people won't immediately think of Arseni Gritsyuk, a second-year NHLer who made the move from the Russian Kontinental Hockey League last season, yet there he is. Hischier scored his sixth and seventh goals of the season against the Dallas Stars to surpass Gritsyuk for the team lead in goals on Tuesday night, but that doesn't take away how strong of a start the 25-year-old forward is having.
So far this season, Gritsyuk has spent the majority of his time alongside Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt on the Devils' first line. He quickly found a way to reward head coach Sheldon Keefe for that level of responsibility. After going pointless in the Devils' first three games, Gritsyuk quickly caught fire.
It started off slowly, with an assist against the Vancouver Canucks and his first goal of the season in the following game against the Ottawa Senators. The Detroit Red Wings were able to keep him off the scoresheet, but after that, he became unstoppable. He scored in five straight games, picking up a total of seven points in that span.
Although Gritsyuk's goal-scoring streak was broken by the Dallas Stars, he did pick up an assist on Jesper Boqvist's goal in the second period, extending his point streak to six games.
Originally a fifth round selection in the 2019 NHL Draft, there was a lot of uncertainty about what to expect from Gritsyuk when he made the jump to North American for the 2025-26 season. He had already become a key player for SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL, but as we've seen many times in the past, success in Russia doesn't always translate to the NHL or even the AHL for that matter. On this occasion, it did work out though.
Gritsyuk's rookie season started strong, with three points in his first three NHL games. It was a rollercoaster of a season though, as he had his highs and his lows, which included a seven-game pointless streak in the month of January. Once all was said and done though, he ended his rookie season with an impressive 31 points, 13 of which were goals, in 66 games.
On top of his offensive contributions, Gritsyuk also established himself as an effective player in his own zone as well. Almost right out of the gate, the Devils had an NHL caliber two-way forward in his rookie season.
Considering his age and limited time in the NHL, it's truly difficult to judge Gritsyuk's ceiling at this level. With that being said, he's already shown that he's going to be a player to keep an eye on in the NHL and he has the potential to become one of the NHL's elite two-way forwards. It's going to take consistency rather than just a hot streak for that to happen, but he's on the right track.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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