Johnny Gaudreau’s success this season isn’t a revelation.



On Wednesday night, he played his 300th game and picked up his 280th point.



But 2017-2018 has been the best season of his now four-year career. Given his recent surge, the 300-game mark represents a good chance to look back at how he has become the league’s eighth-leading scorer, pacing for a career-high 92 points.



It’s not an easy question to answer, the one that asks how a 5-foot-7, 157-pound winger reached this point. In a lot of ways, Gaudreau exists as an anomaly in the NHL.



I broke down each of his 19 shifts from game No. 300 to find out how he makes his plays, and to evaluate the details in his game that make him so unique.



The first thing a close evaluation of Gaudreau’s play will demonstrate is that he plays on the perimeter. Oftentimes, in scouting, fandom, and media circles, that can be seen as a pervasive negative for a player. But some...