So who would be the winners of this award? We went back and looked at the last five years to see who we think would take home the hardware. The players were chosen based on a combination of stats, analysis of new roles, and perceptions of the players before and after these breakout campaigns.<\/p>\n
2025-26: Darren Raddysh<\/p>\n
There are definitely plenty of candidates for this award in the 2025-26 season. While the Most Improved Player award tends not to go to second-season players, Macklin Celebrini<\/a>\u2019s meteoric rise certainly has to be taken into account, and he would likely be a finalist.<\/p>\n With that said, there are few more fitting choices for the award over the years than Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh<\/a>. He went undrafted but eventually joined his brother with the Lightning in 2021. While Taylor Raddysh<\/a> was traded soon as part of the package for Brandon Hagel<\/a>, Darren got the chance to become a mainstay in the Lightning lineup in 2023 and never looked back.<\/p>\n For a few years, Raddysh was a role-player for the Lightning. He often manned the second unit of the power play, and his size made him a good net-front presence. This past season was a bit different, though, with his career-high point total jumping from 37 to 70. Raddysh also broke the Lightning record for most goals in a season by a defenseman<\/a>, with 22. A pretty impressive feat to do for a franchise that has had defenders like Victor Hedman and Dan Boyle clapping shots from the blue line.<\/p>\n Raddysh is a pending unrestricted free agent, and we will see whether teams believe in his surprise surge at age 30 or think it was a mirage propped up by coaching and Nikita Kucherov.<\/p>\n 2024-25: Dylan Holloway<\/p>\n Sometimes, a little change of scenery is all that is needed to become a star. The Edmonton Oilers 2020 first-round pick was offer-sheeted by the St. Louis Blues in a bombshell move alongside teammate Philip Broberg.<\/p>\n The payoff for the Blues was immediate. Holloway quickly began climbing their lineup as he constantly kept proving himself to be a real factor in games. Across 89 games with the Oilers, Holloway scored nine goals and tallied 18 points. In his first season with the Blues, he put up 26 goals and 63 points in 77 games. Holloway\u2019s dominance was a key reason why the Blues were able to battle their way into the last wild-card spot, though he didn\u2019t suit up in the postseason due to injury.<\/p>\n Ironically, Broberg probably would\u2019ve gotten some down-ballot votes this season had this award existed. He went from sheltered, bottom-pairing minutes to averaging 20 minutes a night, while showing himself to be more defensively responsible and offensively gifted than previously assumed.<\/p>\n 2023-24: Sam Reinhart<\/p>\n There\u2019s no doubt that Sam Reinhart<\/a> was already a great player during his time in Buffalo with the Sabres. Upon arrival in Florida two seasons prior, he levelled up, becoming a point-per-game player (and more) for the first time in his career. It still took a couple of seasons before he looked like a complete superstar.<\/p>\n In 2023-24, Reinhart scored 57 goals, good for second behind a historic near-70-goal campaign from the Toronto Maple Leafs\u2019 Auston Matthews. He also climbed the Frank J. Selke Trophy voting, finishing fourth. He had always been a strong defensive forward, but his larger role within the Panthers\u2019 offense forced hockey writers to acknowledge how strong he had become in his own zone.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to note that Reinhart had a huge jump in shooting percentage from 2022-23 to 2023-24. To this day, the 24.5% he put up that season is the highest of his career. However, you could also look at the previous season\u2019s mark being shockingly low by Reinhart\u2019s standards. His finishing ability took a spike upwards, and he also took more shots in 2023-24 than in any season of his career.<\/p>\n Evan Bouchard and Zach Hyman of the Oilers are also due major props, as both had what were, at the time, career seasons. J.T. Miller also stepped up big for the Vancouver Canucks that season, eclipsing the 100-point mark for the first (and only) time.<\/p>\n 2022-23: Linus Ullmark<\/p>\n This was a bit of a difficult season to make a selection for, as there were plenty of candidates. Erik Karlsson must be given major props for turning his career around, as he went from somewhat of a disappointment in San Jose to winning his third Norris Trophy<\/a>, setting career highs in goals and points in the process.\u00a0<\/p>\n Linus Ullmark was a good goalie entering 2022-23, and the .917 save percentage (SV%) he put up each of the previous two campaigns was evidence of this. In his second season with the Boston Bruins, he became the backbone of their record-breaking season, posting an unbelievable 40-6-1 record. This earned him the Vezina Trophy<\/a>, an award he was a major dark horse for entering the season.<\/p>\n![\"Darren](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Darren-Raddysh-Lightning-2-1200x900.jpg\")
Darren Raddysh, Tampa Bay Lightning (Amy Irvin<\/a> \/ The Hockey Writers)<\/p>\n![\"Linus](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Linus-Ullmark-Jeremy-Swayman-Bruins-1200x803.jpg\")
Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman, Boston Bruins (Photo by Fred Kfoury III\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n