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Watching sleepers emerge might be better. Last year Jordan Binnington came out of nowhere to establish himself as an Hut 21 Coins starter and Stanley Cup winner. Back in 2015, Russian free-agent import Artemi Panarin and third-rounder Shayne Gostisbehere were impressive enough in their initial years to beat out Connor McDavid in Calder Trophy voting. With preseason nearing its end and teams getting closer to creating their final roster decisions, here's a look at nine rookies.

Perhaps the top candidate for the Calder Trophy going into the season, the fourth-overall select from the 2017 draft showed the baseball world he was so highly regarded when he effortlessly jumped to the heat of battle from the NHL playoffs last spring.In 10 matches after turning expert following the end of his sophomore season at UMass Amherst, the smooth-skating defender uttered 17:22 of ice time per game and posted a goal and five assists.With right-side defenseman Tyson Barrie now in Toronto, Makar is anticipated to play a big part within an emerging Avalanche staff this season.

The Columbus Blue Jackets' forwards collection was decimated when Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel departed as unrestricted free agents. But the team has a stone coming up in Alexandre Texier.The 20-year-old, drafted out of France in the second round in 2017, came to North America in the end of last year after two successful years in Finland's leading league. Beneath John Tortorella, Texier and a more limited role played NHL 21 Coins PS4 than Makar failed in Colorado, but he impressed his coach enough to groom in eight of the Jackets' playoff matches, where he contributed two goals and one assist.