The impact several rookies are making on the NHL is one of the major storylines of the 2025-26 season. Each week, NHL.com will examine topics related to this season's class in the Rookie Watch. This week, the top five rookies in the Metropolitan Division (in alphabetical order):

Arseny Gritsyuk , F, New Jersey Devils: The 24-year-old (6-foot-0, 195 pounds), selected in the fifth round (No. 129) of the 2019 NHL Draft, is ninth among NHL rookies with nine points (four goals, five assists) in 18 games. He began the season averaging 13:55 of ice time in a middle-six role but has managed 19:37 in a top two-line role out of necessity with injuries to forwards Jack Hughes (finger surgery), Evgenii Dadonov (fractured hand), Cody Glass (upper body) and Connor Brown (upper body). What has

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