If you score a hat trick in your first career NHL game, it is fair to say that everyone is always going to look at you and ask "What's next?"
The event in question occurred back in 2010, and there have been high expectations placed on the New York Rangers' first-line center ever since.
Derek Stepan had a career year during the 2012-13 NHL lockout-shortened season, and expectations were considerably high for the 23-year-old entering the 2013-14 tilt. Early on Stepan played well, but he went through some struggles heading into the Olympic break.
Stepan's struggles didn't cost him a spot on Team USA's roster for the Sochi Games, and it appears that the experience lit a fire deep inside him.
The Rangers are in the midst of a tight playoff race in the Metropolitan Division, and they need their top players to step up. Stepan entered the season as the No. 1 center, and he is finally playing like the first-line center that he is capable of being.
Although this writer feels that Stepan is an ideal second-line center, his play as of late has been exemplary. The Blueshirt ...
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Article written by Tom Urtz Jr.