In one of my first articles, I talked about three players who had outstanding performances in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Roope Hintz (Dallas), Matthew Tkachuk (Florida), and Auston Matthews (Toronto) all were key factors in propelling their teams into the second round.

With that said, not everyone had the stellar performances that those players did.

There were three players in particular who had high expectations going into the 2023 post-season, and they failed meet them.

Connor Hellebuyck

Okay hear me out for a second.

The Winnipeg Jets stumbled into their playoff position, and realistically didn’t have a chance versus the Vegas Golden Knights. Winnipeg were the 8th seed in the Western Conference, while Vegas were the top seed.

So, why was Connor Hellebuyck so disappointing if the Jets weren’t supposed to make any noise?

Hellebuyck is among one of the NHL’s elite goaltenders and is known for having the ability to steal games, which is extremely rare, especially because he’s been doing it for years.

Connor Hellebuyck in April

5 Games played
—4-1-0 Record
—0.953 sv%
—7.12 GSAA
—3.63 HDGSAA

Hellebuyck wants to play some playoff hockey pic.twitter.com/t0X9v0l9Bv

— Big Head Hockey (@BigHeadHcky) April 12, 2023

Although many heavily favoured the Golden Knights in this series, some said that Hellebuyck might have been able to steal a few games, potentially leading to a series win.

That was not the case.

Hellebuyck, who was 37-25-2 with a save percentage of .920% in the regular season, finished the playoffs with a 1-3-1 record and a .886 save percentage.

He didn’t have to steal the one win either, as the Jets stormed into Vegas with a 5-1 victory in game one, but would then lose four straight.

Not ideal.

Steven Stamkos

For the first time since 2019, the Tampa Bay Lightning lost a series that wasn’t the Stanley Cup Finals.

Although the team’s stars like Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, and Andrei Vasilevskiy didn’t show up like most years, it was Steven Stamkos that really disappointed me in their first round series.

The Lightning captain only tallied 4 points in 6 games, and besides a terrific performance in game six, Stamkos wasn’t really a factor.

Steven Stamkos Tonight

13:06 TOI
— 1 Goal
— 4 Shots (1st among all players)
— 7 Shot Attempts (2nd behind Matthews)
— 0.86 xGF (1st among all players)
— 3 HDCF (1st among all players)
— 1 Takeaway
— 1 Penalty Drawn

His best game of the series while facing elimination. pic.twitter.com/chy0PIwXkD

— Big Head Hockey (@BigHeadHcky) April 30, 2023

Although his underlying numbers were solid, Stamkos wasn’t the typical game breaker that he’s been in years past.

Artemi Panarin

The New York Rangers had a great start in their first round matchup versus the New Jersey Devils, outscoring them 10-2 in the two games.

After that, they displayed a performance that can be summed up in one word: soulless. The Devils outclassed them in every facet, and the Rangers top players completely vanished.

The biggest disappointment for them was Artemi Panarin.

You know why the Devils won this series? They are the vastly superior team at 5v5, and were among the best 5v5 teams in the entire NHL this season.

Artemi Panarin was a complete non-factor at 5v5 throughout the series, only registering one point at 5v5.

One. Whole. Point.

Artemi Panarin finishes the series with one 5v5 point (a secondary assist)

— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) May 2, 2023

Panarin finished the series with 2 assists in the series, and was a key factor to why the Rangers lost with his inability to create anything at 5v5.