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Five most underrated stars heading into 2020

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Patrick Sharp and Anson Carter giver their predictions for the second half of the season, including players to watch and teams that are in trouble.

Like in all sports, the NHL has some players that are both overrated and underrated. Players might fall into either category because of where they play, which players they play with or their personalities both during interviews and on social media.

Today, we don’t want to focus on calling out players for being overrated, so we’ll stick to pointing out who some of the less appreciated superstars are across the league. Keep in mind, these players may be appreciated in their own market, but they could stand to get a little more attention league-wide.

• Jonathan Huberdeau - LW - Florida Panthers

Only now is Huberdeau starting to grab major headlines across the league. The 26-year-old probably had one of the quietest 90-plus point seasons you’ll ever see last year (he had 92 in 82 games), and he’s on pace to smash that number at the midway point of this season.

It wasn’t too long ago that teammate Aleksander Barkov would’ve been at the top of this list, but he’s received enough national love that he’s appropriately considered to be one of the premiere two-way centers in the game. Now, it’s Huberdeau’s turn to get some love.

The Panthers forward currently has 17 goals and 55 points in 40 games, which puts him on pace to score 113 points this season. That’s a big number. Will he hit it? Time will tell, but he’s off to an amazing start. As of right now, only five players have more points than Huberdeau. They are: Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Nathan MacKinnon, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand. That’s it.

In his case, the reason he’s so underrated is probably because of the market he plays in. No disrespect to Florida, but a lot of their players will fly under the radar because it’s not a traditional hockey market.

• Mark Scheifele - C - Winnipeg Jets

In terms of their home hockey markets, Huberdeau and Scheifele couldn’t be in more different situations. We’ve touched on Florida already, but Winnipeg is just the opposite. The fans in Winnipeg are loud, passionate and plentiful. Scheifele is likely rated appropriately in Winnipeg, but he seems to fly under-the-radar compared to some of his teammates.

For instance, when you think of the Jets, the first current player that pops into your mind in probably Patrik Laine. They also have Blake Wheeler, Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers. In previous seasons, they’ve also had Jacob Trouba and Dustin Byfuglien. So it’s easy to see why Scheifele might not get as much attention as he deserves.

The 26-year-old has been a point-per-game player in each of the last three seasons. This year, he’s on pace to have the best offensive season of his career. He’s already accumulated 19 goals and 46 points in just 41 games. If you project those numbers over 82 contests, you get 38 goals and 92 points. Not too shabby.

• Jake Guentzel - LW - Pittsburgh Penguins

Again, this is a situation where the people in Pittsburgh probably realize how good Guentzel has been this season, but there’s still a lot of fans out there that think he’s only a product of Sidney Crosby’s success.

Before suffering a shoulder injury earlier this week that ended his regular season, Guentzel was lighting it up for the Pens. It took the 25-year-old just 39 games to hit the 20-goal mark and he was also on pace to have the first 90-plus point season of his career. Oh, by the way, he put up a lot of those numbers while Crosby was injured.

How many people realized that he had 40 goals last year? He was on pace to surpass that number, too.

Playing with Crosby has helped pump up other players’ numbers in the past, so it’s easy to understand why some would be skeptical about Guentzel’s abilities without him. The reality is that he’s morphed into a very important player for his team and hopefully he’s able to make a full recovery from his surgery in four-to-six months.

This is a classic case of being underrated because of the superstars around you.

• Teuvo Teravainen - C - Carolina Hurricanes

Teravainen is on this list because of the market he’s in. The Hurricanes hit a grand slam when they acquired him from the Chicago Blackhawks along with Bryan Bickell. In exchange, all they gave up was second and third-round draft picks.

Since joining the ‘Canes, Teravainen has seen his point totals increase every year and he’s on pace to do that again in 2020. He went from having 42 points in year one to 64 points, 76 points and he’s picked up 40 points in his first 40 contests. His advanced numbers are even more impressive. When he’s on the ice, his team controls 59.94 percent of the shot attempts, 55.51 percent of the expected goals for and 55.05 percent of the high-danger scoring chances.

Understandably, Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov will grab more of the headlines because of their scoring ability, but Teravainen is a huge part of Carolina’s success. He’s also averaging a career-high 19:22 of ice time this year.

He has four years remaining on a contract that will pay him $5.4 million per season. That’s a bargain.

• Max Pacioretty - LW - Vegas Golden Knights

Pacioretty had some terrific seasons in Montreal despite never playing with an elite center. The 31-year-old managed to put up seasons of 33, 39, 37, 30 and 35 goals while with the Habs, but his last two seasons haven’t lived up to expectations. Now, in his second year with Vegas, he appears to have found his groove.

Now, he’s playing with the best linemates he’s ever had (Paul Stastny and Mark Stone) and his numbers are starting to reflect that he’s comfortable in his second year with the Golden Knights. Pacioretty has picked up 18 goals and 43 points in his first 44 games. That puts him on pace for a career-high 81 points.

As his tenure with the Canadiens came to a close, it was clear that wearing the “C” in hockey-mad Montreal was weighing on him. The fresh start in Vegas has done wonders for his career.

Whether you realized it or not, he was one of the best goal scorers of the last decade.

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Joey Alfieri is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @joeyalfieri.