Inside the NHL’s Biggest Contract Blunders of 2025: Shocking Surprises from Huberdeau to Provorov
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A surface-level analysis of Stephenson’s game might view that sentiment as incredibly unkind. Stephenson scored 51 points last year and was second on the team in scoring. He was the team’s top faceoff man, led all forwards in ice-time playing nearly 20 minutes per game and took on some of the team’s toughest matchups. On the surface, Stephenson seems like a fine player. Dig deeper, though, and a lot of Stephenson’s production rings hollow. He’s an empty-calorie scorer.
For starters, much of his production hinges on the opportunity he would not get elsewhere. Of Stephenson’s 51 points, 18 were thanks to playing on the team’s top power play, where 11 were secondary assists. At five-on-five, he scored just 1.57 points-per-60, ninth among forwards and directly behind recent salary dump Andre Burakovsky. On a bad team, someone has to score, but it doesn’t mean they’re actually adding much to the team’s bottom line — they’re just getting a lot of minutes. It’s the Mikkel Boedker Rule.
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