NHL New England: Who’s hot (and not) around the league

South Shore native Conor Garland is off to a hot start after being traded in the offseason. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

With the 2021-22 NHL regular season now several weeks old, several New England natives have made a positive impression with productive starts to the new campaign.

Most impressive in the early going has been South Shore native Conor Garland, who leads the Vancouver Canucks in scoring and is delivering on the promise he showed as a breakout candidate over the summer.

Veteran Flyers forward Cam Atkinson has tallied points in each of his team’s first four games and looks to be back in the form that saw him score a season-high 41 goals for the Blue Jackets in 2019. Always a sparkplug on every roster he’s been on, the Nutmeg State product’s ability to score consistently makes him one of the best early-season success stories leaguewide.