When Team USA GM Bill Guerin left Clayton Keller off the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off roster, Keller played it off like it didn’t bother him too much. But every time he faced Guerin’s Minnesota Wild after that, he played like a man on a mission.
In four games against the Wild after the roster was announced, Keller tallied nine points — including a five-point effort a week after Team USA’s overtime loss to Team Canada in the championship game.
Keller finished 11th in the NHL in points with 90 last season. He was the third-highest-scoring American, too.
Once the season ended, he accepted the invitation to join the Americans at the World Championship — a tournament Team USA hadn’t won since before World War II. He donned the captain’s “C,” scored 10 points in 10 games and brought home gold.
Why was Clayton Keller left off the 4 Nations Face-Off roster?
An ESPN commentator took a lot of heat for declaring that Keller was only left off the 4 Nations team because he wasn’t versatile enough. The fans nicknamed him “Mr. Versatility” in response, but the commentator was right.
He doesn’t kill penalties, he doesn’t play a physical game, he’s small and nearly three quarters of his face-offs are in the offensive zone. The Americans already had the likes of Auston Matthews, Jack Hughes, Jack Eichel and Kyle Connor to put the puck in the net, so why would they need another player whose primary job is to score?
That logic makes sense on paper, but those four players combined for zero goals and nine assists in their cumulative 14 games in the tournament. Team USA needed more guys who can deliver results under pressure.
How underrated is Clayton Keller?
Long gone are the days of Alex Barkov being the consensus most underrated player in the NHL. Back-to-back championships can really stop a guy from flying under the radar. Besides, if everyone agrees you’re the most underrated, are you really underrated at all?
There are probably dozens of names that could be considered for the new crown — and Keller should be near the top of the list.
Despite the fact that he was the fifth-highest-scoring winger in the league this year, NHL Network ranked Keller as the 15th-best player at that position. Needless to say, a lot of Mammoth fans were left scratching their heads there.
As mentioned, Keller probably gets overlooked largely because of his size (or lack thereof). He’s listed at 5-foot-10, 175 pounds, though everyone knows how inflated those numbers usually are for undersized players such as himself. In a game where bigger, stronger players get more opportunities, it’s hard for smaller guys to get noticed.
But size has never stopped Keller from making an impact. He’s a true game-breaker; a player who finds a way to put the puck in the net when his team needs a goal. He’s the guy driving the play, whereas some of his counterparts listed above him benefit more from their playing situations than their own doing.
Most underrated players in the NHL
In addition to Keller, here are a few more underrated players in the league.
Jesper Bratt
Jesper Bratt has an absolute cannon of a shot, but he’s also a solid playmaker. He was only two points behind Keller on the season, and it was his second-consecutive year breaking the 80-point barrier.
Being a late draft pick, it’s taken time for him to really introduce himself to the fans — but he won’t be underrated for long.
Adrian Kempe
Few players can find open ice the way Adrian Kempe does. He’s got the speed and size to take advantage of those openings, too, which contributed heavily to his 35 goals this season (his third time hitting that plateau, by the way).
Kempe’s underrated status comes primarily from the fact that he didn’t have high-level production in his first half-decade in the NHL.
Pavel Dorofeyev
Speaking of 35 goals, that’s precisely how many Pavel Dorofeyev had this year — and he probably did it more quietly than anyone else, ever.
Granted, it was his first full season in the NHL and he’s never really been an elite scorer at any other level, so maybe it was just a flash in the pan.
Kirill Marchenko
Like Dorofeyev, Kirill Marchenko really introduced himself to the league this season. If you watch highlights of him and three-time Stanley Cup champion Phil Kessel side by side, it’s hard to tell the difference between them (aside from the hair, of course).
This was Marchenko’s first elite NHL season, so don’t worry if you don’t know much about him. Just keep an eye on No. 86 the next time you watch the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Who else is underrated?
As mentioned, you could probably make a Cup-contending team entirely out of underrated players. Join the conversation, either in the comments section of the article or on social media: Which other NHLers are significantly underrated?
