But I believe there are players who are less likely to go through it, and I’ll single some out and explain why I think they can keep in going in season two.

T.J. Galiardi was officially a rookie last year, but had played 11 games the year before and was quite impressive in those games.  He plays third line minutes and is the kind of player that has the versatility to play in all situations.  Galiardi is far too good to play on the third line and before David Jones was injured the pair had some chemistry.  Don’t be surprised if Colorado’s third line scores more than the second line next year.

Peter Regin had a solid 29 points last year and looked very sharp in Ottawa’s brief playoff run.  He offers the Senators that secondary scoring they desperately need and his speed makes him very dangerous coming off the wing.  If Regin is able to find some chemistry with a center he should boost his offensive totals as they should have been higher last year.  At 24 years of age, maturity will help Regin avoid slipping in his second year.

Tyler Bozak is another player who will enter his sophomore season as a 24-year-old and if you had a chance to watch Bozak play last you would have noted that he actually got stronger as the year went on and was more comfortable playing in the NHL than the AHL.  Experts keep telling anyone who will listen that Bozak is a second line center.  If that’s the case, the first line guy better be pretty good.  Toronto doesn’t have that player on the roster or in the system.  Bozak gets even better in 2010-2011.

Matt Gilroy is another 20 something that should be able to weather the sophomore slump and while he struggled more in his first season than many, myself included, expected, he managed to build on his rookie season as he went along.  A trip to the minors certainly can be a wake-up call for young players about what is expected.  Gilroy who turns 26 this July scored four goals and added 11 assists.  He had four assists in five games in the AHL so he clearly doesn’t belong there.  The way that Gilroy skates he could put up some serious points as early as this season.  It’s just a matter of getting comfortable for the former Hobey Baker winner.

Johnny Boychuk is another late bloomer who seems to have hit his stride when injuries allowed him to step up and make a bigger contribution.  He’s another player who seems to have figured it out and is set to build on the five goals and 10 assists he had last year.  There is good reason to believe he will get lots of power play time in Boston with the departure of Dennis Wideman.

Colin Wilson got off to a horrible start last year because of injuries and was able to put up some decent numbers considering the time missed.  When he did finally come back it took a while to get going.  This year if Wilson comes out of training camp healthy there’s no reason he can’t put up 50 points in his second year.  He had 15 in just 35 games last year, and with the departure of Jason Arnott the door is wide open.  He has the mental toughness to avoid the slump.

I know there are some names many of you would like to see here, but I’m not convinced John Tavares, Matt Duchene, or Tyler Myers don’t take a step back next year.  The same goes for Michael Del Zotto who faded badly down the stretch and Jamie Benn who started strong and ended strong, but seemed lost in the middle of the season.  It seems the younger guys are more prone to the slump.  There are others that haven’t shown enough yet to even have a slump.  It’s hard to fall when you haven’t risen yet.