Elias Pettersson – McKeen's Hockey

MCKEEN’S 2025-26 NHL YEARBOOK – VANCOUVER CANUCKS – Top 15 Prospect Profiles – Organizational Rank #20

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 16:31:46 +0000

Prospect System Ranking – 20th (May 2025 - 18th)
GM: Patrik Allvin Hired: January 2022
COACH: Adam Foote Hired: May 2025

After riding the highs of a strong 2023-24 campaign, the Canucks stumbled in 2024-25, weighed down by off-ice drama and inconsistent play.

There are, however, reasons for optimism. Vancouver added Braeden Cootes – a heart and soul type – with the 15th overall pick and landed a potential goaltender of the future in second-rounder Aleksei Medvedev. Behind the bench, Rick Tocchet’s departure paved the way for Adam Foote to take over as head coach, ushering in a new era in the Pacific Northwest.

Despite late-season stalls in contract negotiations, Tom Willander (11th overall, 2023) was ultimately signed to his entry-level deal. Fresh off a run to the NCAA Championship game and another standout World Juniors performance, Willander is now ready to push for a full-time NHL role as early as this season.

Meanwhile, the rest of the pipeline has shown encouraging progress. Jonathan Lekkerimäki made a dazzling North American debut, lighting up the AHL with his scoring touch and earning multiple NHL call-ups. While his production dipped during a Calder Cup championship run, he remains highly regarded within the organization. Fellow Swede Elias Pettersson seized a full-time spot on Vancouver’s blue line, playing with poise well beyond expectations and is already nearing graduation. In the AHL, Aatu Räty’s two-way play and steady output have him firmly in the conversation for a 2025-26 roster spot.

Fresh off the organization’s first championship in its history, Vancouver’s pipeline is pulling its weight. The challenge now is translating that success to the NHL level.

The Canucks’ prospect system may not yet rank among the league’s elite, but it’s clearly trending upward. If management can balance addressing immediate roster needs with nurturing its emerging talent, the franchise’s future could arrive sooner than expected.

Vancouver Canucks Top-15 Prospects

1 - Jonathan Lekkerimäki

Following his breakout season in the SHL with Orebro, Lekkerimaki’s first year in North America had to be considered a mild success. He split the year between Vancouver and Abbotsford and has shown considerable flashes of greatness at the NHL level. At the AHL level consistency was a bit of an issue but again there were great flashes. Obviously, his shot and shot generation ability thanks to his terrific hands and creativity are his standout traits. His ceiling as an offensive player in the NHL is extremely high. The former first rounder has the ability to be a perennial 30 goal…even 40 goal scorer in the NHL. So, what are the next steps? Lekkerimaki has to get stronger. He’s been too easily separated from the puck at the NHL level, and he’s had trouble seeking out scoring opportunities through the middle of the ice. The expectation is that Lekkerimaki should crack Vancouver full time next year and be a potential impact player on their power play.

2 - Tom Willander

Tom Willander needed some time to get comfortable on the smaller North American ice, but his growth over two seasons at Boston University has been steady and noticeable. The Terriers relied on the 2023 first-round pick in all situations last year, and he did not look out of place. Willander is a reliable workhorse that has the ability to control the pace of the game when he’s on the ice, largely thanks to his high-end skating ability. He’s a weapon in transition, where he couples his skating ability with smart, quick passes. When defending, he closes gaps quickly, is steady positionally, and defends well with his stick. He is also competitive and unafraid to get involved physically. Willander will likely spend this year in Abbotsford but will make his way to Vancouver before too long, he has the potential to be a high-end shutdown defender with above-average puck moving ability.

3 - Braeden Cootes

Vancouver can be a tough hockey market to play in, so the Canucks have an enhanced need to find prospects with resilient mental fortitude. Cootes more than proved that he's that type of player throughout his 2024-25 season, leading the rebuilding Seattle Thunderbirds as their captain and most trusted forward, and then captaining Canada to a gold medal at this past spring's IIHF U18 tournament. He's a smart, consistent and dedicated center who is easy for any coach to heavily rely on. At first glance his recent scoring totals could seem underwhelming for a prospect who was drafted so high, but he's actually pretty dangerous as both a shooter and a playmaker, traits that he hasn't always been able to display because there hasn't been enough depth around him to properly share offensive responsibilities. Bo Horvat became a fan favourite in Vancouver because of his leadership and all the little things he contributed outside of his points, and Cootes is cut from a very similar kind of cloth.

4 - Elias Pettersson

The “other” Elias Pettersson was an absolute revelation for the Canucks this past year in his first professional season in North America. He started the season in Abbotsford, but after a very strong start, he was up with the Canucks, playing a steady third pairing role. He kept things simple with the puck, executing breakouts/chip outs, while limiting turnovers. But defensively, he was a standout. His mobility and length make him very difficult to beat off the rush; he’s a beast transitionally. He’s also been very effective in tight corners, showing the confidence already to play aggressively and physically. It remains to be seen how much offensive upside Pettersson possesses, however, there is no doubt that he can be a defensive stalwart and a penalty killing anchor. Expect him to play an even larger role for the Canucks next year, especially after another off season of training.

5 - Aatu Raty

The Canucks have to be really happy with the play of Raty last year, who was originally acquired as part of the Bo Horvat trade with the Islanders. The big pivot was consistently strong as an AHL player for Abbotsford, but with so many injuries to their bottom six, he was thrust into an NHL role later in the year and closed the season on a real high note. He was getting to the net. He was playing both ends. He was bringing a physical element. He was active in puck pursuit. Raty is never likely to be a top end offensive player at the NHL level. However, what he showed to end last season is that he can develop into the ideal third line center for the Canucks in the near future. One would have to believe that the expectation for Raty would be for him to grab a permanent NHL role next year.

6 - Alexei Medvedev

Medvedev is a phenomenal skater with excellent positioning and an ideal stance, maximizing efficiency for movement and filling the net. He also boasts some quick hands. Balancing that Canadian-developed technique, he still has the raw athletic nature of the Russian goalie. His agility and quickness are elite, while also having impressive joint mobility and flexibility. Where all of these attributes culminate is in his poise and decision making. Having such refined control of this level of athleticism is exceedingly difficult. But this is exactly where Medvedev shines. Skill set-wise, he lacks a true weakness. The problem with Medvedev as a prospect is his situation in London. Playing as a tandem on the best junior team in the world lightens the load on the goalie. Practically every game he played, he had adequate rest, along with having the far superior team in front of him. This has created a low-stress environment and has left him untested. How he adapts to a starter role facing adversity will dictate his future, but when looking at raw talent, one can believe he could be an NHL starter one day.

7 - Kirill Kudryavtsev

Much like Elias Pettersson, Kudryavtsev was a pleasant surprise for the Canucks in his first professional season. He stepped into an immediate top four role with Abbotsford and firmly put himself on the Canucks’ radar for a roster spot moving forward. He’s been highly effective at both ends and has worked really hard to refine his game in the last few years. Most impressive might be the transformation of his decision making with the puck, which was a weakness as a draft eligible player, but has now become a strength of his at the pro level. His four mobility also makes him an excellent transitional defender, and he’s aggressive with his gaps to make up for a lack of length. Kudryavtsev’s NHL upside may not be extremely significant, but there’s definitely a chance that he could be a long-time number-four-or-five defender for the Canucks; someone who can provide a steady two-way influence in a depth role.

8 - Sawyer Mynio

A member of the 2023 WHL championship-winning Seattle Thunderbirds, Mynio was exactly the type of defenceman that the Hitmen wanted for their own big playoff push this spring: experienced, tough, smart, reliable and versatile. Fast forward a few months post-trade and it's clear that the team received exactly what they paid for, with a torrid winning pace being compelling evidence of that, though their big playoff push was halted in the second round. You could go so far as to call him a "duct tape" kind of defender: maybe never the ideal tool for a certain job or situation, but he can almost always make it work in a pinch, and good coaches fully understand that kind of value in a player. Mynio has made a lot of progress during his tenure in the WHL, more than anyone probably expected, which is a very encouraging sign for his career moving forward. Canucks fans will appreciate what he brings to the table.

9 - Linus Karlsson

It was another good year in North America for Karlsson, as he finally broke through to play about a third of the year with the Canucks. When he wasn’t with Vancouver, he was operating at well over a point per game in the AHL, proving to be ready for that next challenge. Karlsson excels playing through the middle of the ice and near the net. He really embraced that net front presence role this year in his limited time with Vancouver; head coach Rick Tocchet even compared him to former Red Wings great Tomas Holmstrom. However, at the AHL level Karlsson has shown a few more levels to his game, as a lethal scoring option on the power play and as a strong, detail oriented two-way player. Next year will be a big one for Karlsson. He already earned a new contract, but he’ll try to establish himself as an everyday NHL player in the Canucks’ bottom six. Otherwise, he’ll require waivers to be sent down to the AHL and may find himself on the outside looking in long term in the organization.

10 - Arshdeep Bains

Originally a free agent signing by the Canucks out of Red Deer after Bains captured a WHL scoring crown, he’s been a standout at the AHL level the last two seasons. As such, he’s also seen a few cups of coffee with Vancouver. At the AHL level, he’s excelled as a playmaker who can create coming off the wall and bring a physical element. At the NHL level, the physical element has been there, but he’s struggled with the pace and making skilled plays against bigger defenders. This will be a big offseason for him, as he will no longer be exempt from waivers next year. It could be one final chance for him to crack Vancouver’s roster full time, likely in a bottom six role. Is Bains more of a conventional tweener or AAAA player? We may get the answer to that soon.

11 - Ty Mueller

Mueller has long looked like that kind of nice player who contributes in all three zones but was hard to get a read on with respect to upside. Over three years of college play, there was promise but no explosion offensively. However, his rookie season in the AHL was highly successful, seeing him contribute from beginning to end and add another 12 points in his team’s Calder Cup victory. In line for another cup of coffee in Vancouver this season?

12 - Danila Klimovich

Drafted off the strength of six goals in five U18 Worlds contests, Klimovich is a solidly built player who likes to rip pucks between the faceoff dots. Once quickly thrown into life in a new country while playing against pro men as an 18-year-old, the culmination of his first four seasons in North America was 25 goals and an AHL Calder Cup last season. His mere four points (all goals) in 16 playoff games is another matter. He should get an NHL look this season.

13 - Anthony Romani

Drafted in his DY+1 after exploding for 111 regular season points, Romani entered last season with some big hopes, but a broken clavicle bone in early October led to him missing almost 100 days of action. Before playing another game, he was traded to the Barrie Colts for whom he piled on the post-season points going 12-12-24 in 16 playoff games. He’ll be a freshman at Michigan State this fall, coming in to take on a scoring role right off the bat.

14 - Riley Patterson

Featuring good size and speed, Patterson often displays a shot and level of talent that makes one wonder why he’s not producing more. His draft season was just fine but his DY+1 was little more than a repeat performance of the prior season, albeit he certainly contributed nicely with 12 points in 16 playoff games. Still fairly young (turns 20 next March), he’s in line for a big season in Barrie, should he return.

15 - Kieren Dervin

Heading to Penn State as of the 2026-27 season, Dervin jumped from a strong showing as a go-to scorer at St. Andrew’s College to Kingston of the OHL to conclude the season as a depth player. Still lacking in strength and conditioning, a full season of OHL play should be exactly what the development coach orders. It’ll also be important to find consistency in applying his strong transition game as well as skating and passing skills. Long-term project.

MCKEEN’S 2025-26 NHL YEARBOOK – VANCOUVER CANUCKS – Team Preview/Player Profiles/Predictions

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 16:01:06 +0000

LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 26: Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes (43) skates in warm ups before a Los Angeles Kings game versus the Vancouver Canucks on February 26th, 2025, at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Rob Curtis/Icon Sportswire)

After winning the Pacific Division with 109 points in 2023-2024, the Canucks collapsed to 90 points (38-30-14) last season, missing the playoffs. They ranked 19th in both Corsi percentage (49.2) and expected goals percentage (49.5), so they earned their finish. Vancouver’s power play was middle of the road, ranking 15th with 7.72 goals per 60 minutes of five-on-four play. The Canucks’ penalty killing was excellent, ranking second in the league with 5.55 goals against per 60 minutes of four-on-five play. While Kevin Lankinen was solid in goal, Thatcher Demko missed a good portion of the season and Arturs Silovs struggled, so the overall goaltending picture was not ideal.

What’s Changed?

Head coach Rick Tocchet departed for Philadelphia, replaced by first-time NHL head coach Adam Foote. The Canucks were not terribly motivated to make dramatic changes to the underachieving roster, perhaps figuring that the trade deadline deal sending J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers was the more significant roster shuffle. This summer, they traded to acquire Vancouver native Evander Kane from the Edmonton Oilers. They lost centre Pius Suter as a free agent to the St. Louis Blues, and traded winger Dakota Joshua to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Canucks also dealt Silovs, who was ticketed to be third on the goaltending depth chart, to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Silovs may have struggled with Vancouver but was outstanding in the Abbotsford Canucks’ championship run to the Calder Cup in the AHL, winning Playoff MVP.

What would success look like?

Getting back into the playoffs is a starting point for Vancouver. The roster at the start of the season doesn’t necessarily look like it’s capable of more than that, but if Elias Pettersson rebounds and Quinn Hughes stays healthy all season, they could have a much better shot at the postseason. Mix in even league average goaltending or better, and the Canucks could win a round or two in the playoffs. They are probably a few players light of being a bona fide Stanley Cup contender, but if they are contending, the Canucks’ brass will surely be ready to add to the roster, if need be.

What could go wrong?

There is a lot riding on Pettersson this season, because with Miller gone, the expectation is that Pettersson will get back to being the star player that he had been previously, and it’s great if that’s what happens, but if Pettersson can’t get back to that level, then the season will almost surely end up as a disappointment. The Canucks are relatively unproven down the middle of the ice, with Filip Chytil and Aatu Raty penciled in for the second and third-line centre roles, the Canucks need Pettersson to be great, or else it’s going to be really difficult to drag this team back into the playoffs.

Top Breakout Candidate

He may not score enough to really generate a lot of buzz, but Aatu Raty has a chance to play a significant role for the Canucks. Raty had 11 points (7 G, 4 A) in 33 games for the Canucks, despite playing fewer than 11 minutes per game, but he did score on more than 20 percent of his shots, so that’s not likely to last over a full season. In the AHL, he had 40 points (17 G, 23 A) in 43 games, so there is some offensive upside. The 22-year-old pivot also plays a physical game, with 80 hits in 33 games for the Canucks, so if he scores enough to hold a third-line centre role, Raty’s hit totals could propel him into deeper league fantasy relevance.

FORWARDS

Elias Pettersson

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
80	26	52	78	0.98

It is so difficult to pin down Pettersson’s all-around value because just when it looked like he was running with the elite, he turned in a season like 2024-2025, when he clearly had an issue with former teammate J.T. Miller before Miller was ultimately traded to the New York Rangers. Pettersson finished the season with 45 points (15 G, 30 A) in 64 games, the lowest per-game point production of his career, and a far cry from the 191 points (73 G, 118 A) in 162 games that he had in the previous two seasons. He is a cerebral player who is often a step ahead of the action, but when his game lacks passion, it doesn’t matter how smart he is on the ice because the results can not only be subpar, but it looks awful, too. When he’s on his game, Pettersson has an outstanding shot and can beat a goalie clean from distance with a wrist shot or one-timer. That kind of ability is not common, so it should be part of the Canucks’ plan to get Pettersson pucks in position to shoot. Although he is not the most physical player, he did register 74 hits last season and had a career-high 125 hits in 2023-2024, so it’s in his toolbox and when he gets fired up, he will play with more edge to his game. He is more of a finesse player, and it’s not like there is a desire to have him shed that skilled game, but if he plays with passion on a more consistent basis, it would help offset times that the offensive numbers aren’t going his way. He is too good to languish in mediocrity like last season, so expect some kind of bounce-back campaign for Pettersson, with 25 goals and 70-plus points, though he has obviously proven capable of even more than that.

Brock Boeser

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
75	28	27	55	0.73

When the 2024-2025 season wrapped up, Boeser was headed for free agency, and it seemed entirely likely that he would be moving on from Vancouver. The Canucks weren’t ready to concede that, however, so they signed Boeser to a new seven-year, $50.25 million contract. The Canucks recognized that Boeser’s ability to put the puck in the net should not be taken for granted. Last season’s 25 goals represented the sixth time in his eight NHL seasons that he surpassed 20 goals, and he has recorded at least 50 points in three straight seasons. Boeser is not so much a generator of chances as he is the finisher who puts himself in position to score. He has good hands and strong offensive instincts which allow him to thrive when playing with quality linemates, but he is more dependent on those linemates to transport the puck and create those opportunities. With the Canucks shaking up their roster, the most likely scenario is for Boeser to skate on the top line with Elias Pettersson, and that should help both players, but that only applies if Pettersson can rebound from his down season, because they did not fare well when they played on the same line last season, getting outshot, out-chanced, and outscored. It should be reasonable to expect 25 goals and 55 points from Boeser, with the understanding that Pettersson could potentially help to lift him even higher.

Jake DeBrusk

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	25	25	50	0.61

After signing a big free agent deal last summer to join the Canucks, DeBrusk didn’t have an earth-shattering first season in Vancouver, but he scored a career high 28 goals and that should not be ignored. Half of those goals came on the power play, a massive increase over his power play role in Boston. He has been a complementary player throughout his career and that is largely the role that he fills well with Vancouver now. His ice time has remained consistent, hovering just under 17 minutes per game, but DeBrusk’s shot rate has declined from where it was two years ago, at 2.98 shots on goal per game, to last season’s 2.09 shots on goal per game. When it comes to sustaining production, it’s preferable to maintain the higher shot rate because it doesn’t require DeBrusk scoring on 16.4 percent of his shots to score 28 goals when his career shooting percentage prior to last season was 12.4 percent. That extra four percent, over 171 shots on goal works out to nearly seven goals, a pretty significant difference for a player who scored 28. Going into 2025-2026, DeBrusk should be able to count on a regular scoring role with the Canucks, possibly even skating on the top line, with first unit power play time, so he should be able to contribute 25 goals and 45 points, but that may seem underwhelming if that is indeed his place on the depth chart.

Conor Garland

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	21	35	56	0.68

A feisty winger who has turned into an excellent two-way player, Garland saw his ice time jump by more than four minutes per game last season and he hit the 50-point threshold for the second time in his career. Garland uses his speed to effectively create chances and while last season was unusual in that the Canucks were outscored with Garland on the ice, he was hardly to blame, ranking first among Canucks forwards in terms of expected goals against per 60 minutes. Garland’s most common linemates last season were Pius Suter and Dakota Joshua, who have both departed, so it’s not like he was propped up by his teammates. His next most common linemate is more interesting, though. Garland played more than 258 five-on-five minutes with Elias Pettersson and in that time, the Canucks controlled 63.0 percent of expected goals with those two on the ice. If you have players controlling play to that degree in the NHL, there are not many reasons good enough to split them up, so maybe Garland will find his way to spending more time with Pettersson in 2025-2026. At the very least, Garland has established that he is a valuable player who can move the puck the right way. Provided he continues to play significant minutes, he seems like a good pick to score 20 goals and 50 points this season.

Kiefer Sherwood

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
75	18	18	36	0.48

A veteran winger who lingered on the fringes of NHL rosters for years before breaking through with the Nashville Predators in 2023-2024, Sherwood had the best season of his NHL career, by far, last season with Vancouver, scoring 40 points (19 G, 21 A) and leading the league with 462 hits. Yes, 462 hits, 156 more hits than second place Mathieu Olivier of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Sherwood found that the hard-driving physical game is what would keep him in the league, turned the dial up to 11, and kept it there all season. He had double digit hit totals in 10 games and recorded fewer than three hits twice in 78 games. Sherwood is not even physically imposing, listed at six feet tall and 195 pounds, but there is something to be said for being relentless and, in Sherwood’s case, being relentless earned him a two-year, $3 million contract from the Canucks last summer, and will surely earn him more on his next deal. As a player who started just 38.3 percent of his five-on-five shifts in the offensive zone, Sherwood still ended up with positive possession numbers and the Canucks outscored opponents with him on the ice. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, since Sherwood is a net +26 in five-on-five goal differential for his career, not bad for a 30-year-old winger who couldn’t stick in an NHL lineup until two years ago. Sherwood is not an offensive dynamo, but he does more than enough to hold down his spot in the lineup. Going into the 2025-2026 season, he should play a regular top nine role for Vancouver and should bring 15 goals and 30 points, along with at least 300 hits.

Filip Chytil

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
70	20	25	45	0.64

Acquired from the New York Rangers as part of the J.T. Miller trade, Chytil had recovered from serious concussion woes but had middling production in a third-line role with the Rangers. In Vancouver, his ice time went up by more than two minutes per game, but his point production did not follow as he managed just six points (2 G, 4 A) in 15 games for the Canucks, but he played really well in that time, only to have his results undone by poor percentages. Chytil scored on just 4.5 percent of his shots on goal, and his five-on-five on-ice shooting percentage was 3.0 percent, which is absurdly low, so take some solace in the fact that Chytil had a 54.5 percent Corsi in Vancouver, driving play even if he wasn’t getting rewarded offensively. Chytil is a strong skater with a big frame and apparently wanted a bigger role than the third line spot that the Rangers could provide him, so the chance to fill a second line role in Vancouver is a prime opportunity for him, but he also needs to take advantage of that opportunity. While Chytil has never been great in the faceoff circle, last season’s faceoff winning percentage of 46.8 was the best of his career, and he got there by winning 49.7 percent of his draws with the Canucks. If Chytil can remain relatively healthy, he should have a chance to score 20 goals and 45 points in his first full season with Vancouver, and that point total would match his career high, set in 2022-2023.

Evander Kane

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
62	20	18	38	0.61

After sitting out the entire 2024-2025 regular season while recovering from multiple surgeries, Kane was plugged into the Edmonton Oilers lineup for the playoffs and had some strong moments while contributing 12 points (6 G, 6 A) in 21 games. He also faded from relevance in the Stanley Cup Final but that’s not an easy situation, playing a very strong Panthers team when Kane was maybe not quite where he needed to be to play at that level. He is 34 years old so it may not be a prime situation for any winger coming off of an injury to bounce back, but that is what the Canucks will hope that they can get out of a winger who, when he is on his game, is both a legitimate scoring threat and a physical presence. He has had plenty of off-ice issues over the years, and there’s no guarantee that those won’t crop up in Vancouver, but if Kane is committed to playing his best, there is a version that works out well for the Canucks because he has some of the fire that they need. Injuries have plagued Kane, and the 77 games he played for the Oilers in 2023-2024 represented the only time since 2018-2019 that he played more than 65 games in a season. Taking into account, then, that Kane is likely to miss 20 games for some reason or another, he could still contribute 20 goals and 35-40 points. His physical play could also yield 150 hits (or more, he had a career-high 250 for the Oilers in 2023-2024). For those in banger leagues, Kane led the NHL in penalty minutes in the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 seasons and while that’s unlikely now, he is still typically good for more penalty minutes than games played.

Aatu Raty

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
75	13	17	30	0.38

Highly touted as a prospect, Raty slipped to the second round in the 2021 NHL Draft, and it has taken him some time to make it to the league, but last season was a promising sign from the 22-year-old center who contributed 11 points (7 G, 4 A) in 33 games for the Canucks. While he may not continue to score on 20.6 percent of his shots, as he did in that small sample of games, Raty did win 57.7 percent of his faceoffs and recorded 80 hits in 33 games despite playing 10:39 per game. That physical style and reliability in the faceoff dot should give him a leg up on any competition for forward roles in Vancouver. Raty has been productive at the AHL level, putting up 92 points (35 G, 57 A) in 115 games across the past two seasons, so there is some reason to be hopeful that he can at least score enough to fill a top nine role with the Canucks. The Canucks have improved their forward depth so there could be an opportunity for Raty to play with quality linemates. If that’s the case, he might be able to contribute 12-15 goals and 30 points. If he adds 150-175 hits, that might give him some appeal in deeper fantasy formats.

Nils Hoglander

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
78	15	18	33	0.42

After breaking through for career highs of 24 goals and 36 points in 2023-2024, Hoglander took a step backwards last season, though some of that was merely going from a 20.0 shooting percentage to a 9.6 shooting percentage. Hoglander is on the smaller side but is a high energy player with good skills and he plays with some tenacity that belies his size. Hoglander has also had difficulty securing regular linemates. Last season, he played more than 150 five-on-five minutes with Teddy Blueger, Elias Pettersson, Conor Garland, and Pius Suter and had varying degrees of success with all of them, but there was a lack of consistency in his deployment, to be sure. The challenge that Hoglander faces is getting a real foothold on ice time in Vancouver. He played 15:27 per game as a rookie in 2020-2021, went down to 13:05 per game the next season and has hovered just over 12 minutes per game for three straight seasons. It may be unreasonable to expect that to suddenly change but securing a role that would see him play 14-15 minutes per game could have a significant impact on his production. Since that is in doubt, it’s fair to expect 15 goals and 30 points from Hoglander.

DEFENCE

Quinn Hughes

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
77	16	68	84	1.09

There is essentially a two-horse race being waged for the title of top defenceman in the league, with Hughes and Colorado’s Cale Makar the two contestants. Hughes won the 2023-2024 Norris Trophy and looked like he was on track to repeat again last season before getting injured in late January. At the end of January, he had 59 points (14 G, 45 A) and 136 shots on goal in 47 games and was a dominant force in the Vancouver lineup. After missing several weeks with a lower-body injury, including being kept out of the Four Nations Face-Off, Hughes finished the season with 17 points (2 G, 15 A) and 56 shots on goal in his last 21 games. That would be entirely fine for most defencemen in the league, but it was a step down from the exceptional tier that Hughes had been inhabiting for the previous season-and-a-half. Hughes has become even more dangerous offensively since he started shooting the puck more and the result has been 33 goals in his past two seasons. He is not only a game-changing offensive force, whose 244 points in 228 games and 1.07 points per game both rank second only to Makar among defencemen across the past three seasons, but Hughes has upgraded his defensive play in recent seasons, too. Last season’s 2.25 expected goals against per 60 minutes at five-on-five was the lowest rate in Hughes’ career. There were 138 defencemen that played at least 1,000 five-on-five minutes last season and only 15 of them had a lower rate of expected goals against. A healthy Quinn Hughes is a difference-maker, and the Canucks will certainly hope that he is in good health for the 2025-2026 season. If he is, Hughes should be expected to contribute 15 goals and 80 points and run neck-and-neck with Makar for defenceman supremacy.

Filip Hronek

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
80	6	35	41	0.51

An excellent partner for Quinn Hughes, Hronek has been a quality top pair defender for several years and while he tends to get overshadowed by Hughes, Hronek is a strong puck mover who is effective at both ends of the rink, can kill penalties, and run the second power play unit. His skill set, and his deployment, leads to strong possession numbers and the Canucks outscore the opposition with Hronek on the ice. While Hronek makes a good first pass to start the breakout and is comfortable getting involved offensively, he is very much the stay-at-home partner to a phenom like Hughes. It’s not like Hronek is a big bruiser who is a punishing physical presence, but he can handle when the game gets gritty and he will deliver hits to separate opponents from the puck. When Hughes was injured in the second half of the season, Hronek contributed 10 points (2 G, 8 A) and 24 shots on goal in 10 games with Hughes out of the lineup, so Hronek has more to give offensively, if needed. It just so happens that it is not needed that often. In his strong complementary role, Hronek should contribute 40 points for the Canucks in 2025-2026.

Marcus Pettersson

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
78	4	26	30	0.38

Acquired by the management team that had him in Pittsburgh, Pettersson has been a reliable top four blueliner, logging more than 20 minutes per game for the past three seasons. Pettersson is a tall and rangy defender who does not have a huge role offensively, with minimal power play time, and yet he has contributed 59 points (8 G, 51 A) across the past two seasons, in part because he is a strong skater and makes good passes to jumpstart the attack. Where Pettersson can make a difference, at least for fantasy managers, is when it comes to hits and, especially, blocked shots. He had 80 hits last season but has recorded more than 100 hits five times in his career and, in the past three seasons, Pettersson had 434 blocked shots, which was tied for 27th in the league over that time. Heading into the 2025-2026 season, Pettersson figures to be No. 3 on the Canucks’ defensive depth chart and that should mean consistent ice time, allowing him to contribute 25-30 points and 125-plus blocked shots. That probably won’t generate a lot of interest in most leagues, but in deeper leagues, Pettersson could be worthy of consideration.

Tyler Myers

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
74	5	17	22	0.30

A towering presence on the Canucks’ blueline, standing 6-foot-8, Myers has found a more suitable role at this stage of his career. For so long, he was maligned for not being the standout performer that he was early in his career, when he won the Calder Trophy as a rookie and received Norris Trophy votes in his first two seasons. Myers went through some difficult seasons, and his years in Vancouver are not without their own flaws, but in a secondary role, of course his performance is not going to match what is happening on the top pair with Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek. Myers’ ice time decreased in 2023-2024, going under 20 minutes per game for the first time in his career, but he averaged 20:48 per game last season and while his Corsi was 47.3 percent, Myers’ expected goals percentage was 50.2 percent and the Canucks were outscored 51-50 with Myers on the ice, so he was certainly in the neighbourhood of breaking even during five-on-five play. This is all to say that Myers should be relatively secure in his role on the Vancouver blueline. He can still skate well, especially for his size, and he does contribute offensively as well as with hits and blocked shots. He has put up at least 125 blocked shots in four straight seasons and has topped 100 hits three times and is typically over a hit per game. In 2025-2026, Myers should be expected to chip in 20-25 points with 130 blocked shots. Again, it’s not going to garner widespread fantasy appeal, but might have some potential in deeper formats.

Goal

Thatcher Demko

Predicted Stats
GP	W	L	OT	SO	SV%	GAA
58	28	17	7	3	.908	2.62

The Vancouver Canucks had finally managed to reach the postseason with an elite caliber goaltender in 2024 when disaster struck, and a knee injury suffered by Vezina caliber starter, Thatcher Demko, ended the team's playoff hopes along with nearly his entire following season. Demko didn't play an NHL game until December 10th of last season, and constant minor injuries held him to just 23 games (and a fairly disappointing statistical scorecard overall) by the time the year was over. When he's healthy, he's a downright bargain for the Canucks - but the healthy qualifier has become one of the most difficult things to produce, year after year.

The story, ultimately, looks the same for the upcoming season as it did last year. If Demko can stay healthy - and get enough game play to return to his peak form - they have very little in the way of true competition in the Pacific Division to fight through. But if he can't stay healthy, they'll have to hope that Kevin Lankinen - signed to a hefty deal with suboptimal numbers and very little consistency in his game year over year - can produce one of his better seasons in Demko's stead. The Canucks have plenty of young talent developing throughout their system, but the lack of another clear NHL-ready option at the moment makes things a bit dire for Demko, Lankinen, and the team as a whole.

2025 NHL PROSPECT REPORT: Top 200 NHL Affiliated Prospects (Top 50 Free) – Biggest risers in 2024-25

Brock Otten — Tue, 13 May 2025 11:36:55 +0000

You will find at the bottom of this article a chart with the top 50 prospects in the NHL currently. Comparing the current ranking of prospects in our report to their previous ranking in our summer yearbook (which is a top 300), these are the affiliated prospects who have improved their stock the most this season. 25 Risers for 2025. Subscribers can access the top 200 prospects with links to the players page and full profiles here.

We are releasing our team rankings in descending order from the worst prospect pool to the best on our site over the next few weeks. Subscribers can read the full profiles and the team overview and learn about the future stars of your favourite team. If you would like to subscribe you can link here.

RALEIGH, NC - APRIL 12: Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Scott Morrow (56) looks to pass the puck during the NHL game between the New York Rangers and the Carolina Hurricanes on April 12, 2025 at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Katherine Gawlik/Icon Sportswire)

Scott Morrow - Defense - Carolina Hurricanes

Previous Ranking: 65, New Ranking: 20

In his first full pro season after signing out of UMass, Morrow has been an immediate impact player. He was one of the top offensive defenders in the AHL and has since performed very well in a late season call up with the Hurricanes.

Tristan Luneau - Defense - Anaheim Ducks

Previous Ranking: 84, New Ranking: 32

The rich get richer. After missing most of last season due to injury, Luneau has returned with a vengeance this season. He’s been a two-way standout at the AHL level and should push for a full time roster spot in the very near future…even with Anaheim’s incredible U25 depth.

Liam Greentree - Wing - Los Angeles Kings

Previous Ranking: 87, New Ranking: 35

A late first round selection of the Kings last year, Greentree was one of the best players in the OHL this past season, helping the Windsor Spitfires go from worst to first. The power winger continues to improve his skating and looks the part of a future NHL standout.

Cole Hutson - Defense - Washington Capitals

Previous Ranking: 246, New Ranking: 44

Few affiliated prospects in the game improved their stock more than Cole Hutson this year. Look at the resume: One of the highest scoring defenders in the NCAA as a freshman, A WJC gold medal and a spot on the tournament all-star team, and a National Championship appearance with Boston University.

Owen Pickering - Defense - Pittsburgh Penguins

Previous Ranking: 131, New Ranking: 49

Sure, the Penguins prospect pool is hurting and that’s given Pickering a chance to perform at a high level with significant ice time as a rookie pro, but he’s handled it extremely well and looks the part of a longtime top four defender for Pittsburgh.

Sam Rinzel - Defense - Chicago Blackhawks

Previous Ranking: 125, New Ranking: 51

Rinzel has always been considered a long-term project, the Hawks knew this when they drafted him in the first round out of Minnesota High School hockey in 2022. But the pick is bearing fruit now. Rinzel was one of the top defenders in the NCAA this year and he looks near NHL ready.

Oliver Kapanen - Center - Montreal Canadiens

Previous Ranking: 142, New Ranking: 52

One of the biggest risers in our yearbook this past summer, thanks to a strong performance at the World Championships for Finland, Kapanen continues to rise. He nearly made the Canadiens full time this year and then was a near point per game player in the SHL. An intelligent two-way center, he looks like an NHL lock.

Luca Cagnoni - Defense - San Jose Sharks

Previous Ranking: 231, New Ranking: 60

We’re approaching the “sometimes you’re just wrong on a prospect” space with Cagnoni, a player that we’ve been skeptical about previously. But, he’s made the leap to the pro level just fine, with his offensive talent translating effortlessly.

Isaac Howard - Wing - Tampa Bay Lightning

Previous Ranking: 157, New Ranking: 61

The former first round selection exploded in his junior season with Michigan State and was named a finalist for the Hobey Baker. Improvements to his strength and conditioning have done wonders for his play with the puck. The question is…will he sign with Tampa Bay?

Owen Beck - Center - Montreal Canadiens

Previous Ranking: 132, New Ranking: 65

You could probably make the argument that Beck has looked better as a first year pro in the AHL than he did over his three OHL seasons. His game just screams long time NHL standout thanks to his speed, tenacity, and IQ. But the skill has translated better than expected.

Dmitri Buchelnikov - Wing - Detroit Red Wings

Previous Ranking: 134, New Ranking: 66

Year to year improvement is the hallmark of a strong prospect and Buchelnikov has done just that. He was one of the top rookies in the KHL two years ago. This past year, he emerged as an offensive star. Next stop NHL? Detroit will have to wait because he still has contract time left with his KHL team.

Nick Lardis - Wing - Chicago Blackhawks

Previous Ranking: 152, New Ranking: 69

Putting a wrist injury behind him, Lardis exploded in his final junior season to be the first OHL player to score 70 goals since John Tavares. He was dominant in every fashion. Lardis is such a dangerous player because of the combination of his skating ability and shot. His progression this year has given him a more optimistic outlook as a top six contributor for the Hawks.

Igor Chernyshov - Wing - San Jose Sharks

Previous Ranking: 185, New Ranking: 72

Talk about meeting the hype of a long-awaited debut. When Chernyshov’s shoulder rehab finally finished and he suited up for the Saginaw Spirit (OHL), he immediately became one of the OHL’s elite players, leading the league in points per game this season.

Leevi Merilainen - Goaltender - Ottawa Senators

Previous Ranking: 196, New Ranking: 90

Merilainen has really turned things around after a couple disappointing post draft years. He’s improved every year as a pro and has been fantastic in limited starts for the Senators this season. Have the Senators finally found their netminder of the future?

Ilya Protas - Wing - Washington Capitals

Previous Ranking: Outside Top 300, New Ranking: 91

One of two prospects to go from being unranked previously, to inside of our top 100. Protas was one of the best players in the OHL this season with Windsor. His skating does still need work, but everything else about his game is top notch. Protas is a highly intelligent player.

Colton Dach - Center - Chicago Blackhawks

Previous Ranking: 227, New Ranking: 96

Even if injuries continue to be an issue (a recent elbow injury has limited his NHL participation), he’s had a terrific season split between the AHL and the NHL. The big, power pivot is the ideal middle six pivot for the Hawks rebuild.

William Stromgren - Wing - Calgary Flames

Previous Ranking: Outside Top 300, New Ranking: 99

The other prospect to climb from outside of the top 300 to inside the top 100, Stromgren is an elite skating winger whose offensive skill set has finally caught up to his feet. He’s been one of the best players in Calgary’s system this year and has put himself in contention for a roster spot next year.

Ilya Nabokov - Goaltender - Colorado Avalanche

Previous Ranking: 250, New Ranking: 102

Nabokov has proven this year that he’s no fluke, after coming out of nowhere to capture the KHL rookie of the year and KHL playoffs MVP awards last year. He’s been equally strong in Russia and Colorado may look to bring him into the fold sooner, rather than later.

Luca Del Bel Belluz - Center - Columbus Blue Jackets

Previous Ranking: 238, New Ranking: 103

A strong shooting and creative pivot with a center lane mentality, Del Bel Belluz had a terrific second pro season in the Jackets system. Not only was he a standout at the AHL level, but he’s produced offensively when called upon by the Blue Jackets.

Roman Kantserov - Wing - Chicago Blackhawks

Previous Ranking: 230, New Ranking: 104

An undersized, but highly skilled winger, Kantserov exploded offensively in the KHL this season, more than doubling his output from the previous year. He has another year on his KHL contract, but after that? He could be a big part of Chicago’s rebuild.

Elias Pettersson - Defense - Vancouver Canucks

Previous Ranking: 300, New Ranking: 106

Not every high-end defensive prospect needs to be a world beater offensively. Pettersson has climbed the prospect rankings thanks to his attention to detail at both ends and his outstanding upside as a defensive stalwart. He hasn’t looked out of place as an NHL player this season.

Mikhail Yegorov - Goaltender - New Jersey Devils

Previous Ranking: 253, New Ranking: 110

It’s no exaggeration to suggest that Yegorov may have saved Boston University’s season, after making the jump from the USHL at midseason. He shored up their shaky netminding, helping them reach the National Championship.

Alex Bump - Wing - Philadelphia Flyers

Previous Ranking: Outside Top 300, New Ranking: 120

A breakout star in the NCAA with Western Michigan, Bump may just be one of the most underrated affiliated prospects in hockey. He’s a dynamic creator in transition and could be a real diamond in the rough for the Flyers.

Jesse Kiiskinen - Wing - Detroit Red Wings

Previous Ranking: Outside Top 300, New Ranking: 133

The Andrew Gibson for Kiiskinen swap between the Predators and Red Wings has worked out incredibly well in Detroit’s favor after Kiiskinen’s breakout season in Liiga, where he was a near point per game player as a U20.

Tarin Smith - Defense - Anaheim Ducks

Previous Ranking: 269, New Ranking: 144

Drafted in the third-round last year, Smith’s offensive upside was considered a major strength and he’s shown that this year, emerging as one of the WHL’s most dangerous scoring blueliners with Everett. As he continues to improve defensively, the sky is the limit.

RNK	PLAYER	NHL	POS	AGE	HT/WT	Acquired	TM - 2024-25 Stats	GP	G(W)	A(L)	PTS(GAA)	PIM(SPCT)
1	Ivan Demidov	Mtl	RW	19	5-11/180	`24(5th)	SKA St. Petersburg (KHL)	65	19	30	49	22
2	Ryan Leonard	Wsh	RW	20	5-11/190	`23(8th)	Boston College (HE)	37	30	19	49	46
3	Sam Dickinson	SJ	D	18	6-3/205	`24(11th)	London (OHL)	55	29	62	91	39
4	Artyom Levshunov	Chi	D	19	6-2/205	`24(2nd)	Rockford (AHL)	52	5	17	22	59
5	Berkly Catton	Sea	C	19	5-10/175	`24(8th)	Spokane (WHL)	57	38	71	109	30
6	Alexander Nikishin	Car	D	23	6-4/215	`20(69th)	SKA St. Petersburg (KHL)	61	17	29	46	32
7	Yaroslav Askarov	SJ	G	22	6-3/175	T(Nsh-8/24)	San Jose (AHL)	22	11	9	2.45	0.923
8	Jonathan Lekkerimaki	Van	RW	20	5-11/170	`22(15th)	Abbotsford (AHL)	36	19	9	28	0
9	Beckett Sennecke	Ana	RW	19	6-2/175	`24(3rd)	Oshawa (OHL)	56	36	50	86	66
10	Zeev Buium	Min	D	19	6-0/185	`24(12th)	Denver (NCHC)	41	13	35	48	44
11	Zayne Parekh	Cgy	D	19	6-0/180	`24(9th)	Saginaw (OHL)	61	33	74	107	96
12	Anton Silayev	NJ	D	19	6-7/210	`24(10th)	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod (KHL)	63	2	10	12	37
13	Tij Iginla	Uta	C	18	6-0/190	`24(6th)	Kelowna (WHL)	21	14	18	32	13
14	Daniil But	Uta	LW	20	6-5/203	`23(12th)	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (KHL)	54	9	19	28	16
15	Axel Sandin-Pellikka	Det	D	20	5-11/180	`23(17th)	Skelleftea AIK (SHL)	46	12	17	29	22
16	Danila Yurov	Min	RW	21	6-1/175	`22(24th)	Metallurg Magnitogorsk (KHL)	46	13	12	25	10
17	Dalibor Dvorsky	StL	C	19	6-1/200	`23(10th)	Springfield (AHL)	61	21	24	45	22
18	Matthew Savoie	Edm	C	21	5-9/180	T(Buf-7/24)	Bakersfield (AHL)	66	19	35	54	28
19	Brad Lambert	Wpg	C	21	6-0/180	`22(30th)	Manitoba (AHL)	61	7	28	35	28
20	Scott Morrow	Car	D	22	6-2/195	`21(40th)	Chicago (AHL)	52	13	26	39	47
21	Bradly Nadeau	Car	LW	19	5-10/165	`23(30th)	Chicago (AHL)	64	32	26	58	36
22	Dmitri Simashev	Uta	D	20	6-4/198	`23(6th)	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (KHL)	56	1	5	6	4
23	Gabe Perreault	NYR	RW	19	5-11/165	`23(23rd)	Boston College (HE)	37	16	32	48	25
24	David Reinbacher	Mtl	D	20	6-2/185	`23(5th)	Laval (AHL)	10	2	3	5	10
25	Liam Ohgren	Min	LW	21	6-1/200	`22(19th)	Iowa (AHL)	41	19	18	37	10
26	Carter Yakemchuk	Ott	D	19	6-3/200	`24(7th)	Calgary (WHL)	56	17	32	49	82
27	Sebastian Cossa	Det	G	22	6-6/229	`21(15th)	Grand Rapids (AHL)	41	21	15	2.45	0.911
28	Tom Willander	Van	D	20	6-1/180	`23(11th)	Boston University (HE)	39	2	22	24	8
29	Easton Cowan	Tor	RW	19	5-10/170	`23(28th)	London (OHL)	46	29	40	69	41
30	Calum Ritchie	NYI	C	20	6-2/185	T(Col-3/25)	Oshawa (OHL)	47	15	55	70	50
31	Cayden Lindstrom	CBJ	C	19	6-3/215	`24(4th)	Medicine Hat (WHL)	0	0	0	0	0
32	Tristan Luneau	Ana	D	21	6-1/195	`22(53rd)	San Diego (AHL)	59	9	43	52	21
33	Denton Mateychuk	CBJ	D	20	5-11/190	`22(12th)	Columbus (NHL)	45	4	9	13	20
34	Jacob Fowler	Mtl	G	20	6-1/215	`23(69th)	Boston College (HE)	35	25	7	1.63	0.940
35	Liam Greentree	LA	RW	19	6-3/215	`24(26th)	Windsor (OHL)	64	49	70	119	59
36	Michael Hage	Mtl	C	19	6-1/190	`24(21st)	Michigan (B1G)	33	13	21	34	23
37	Konsta Helenius	Buf	C	18	5-11/190	`24(14th)	Rochester (AHL)	65	14	21	35	28
38	Jimmy Snuggerud	StL	RW	20	6-2/185	`22(23rd)	Minnesota (B1G)	40	24	27	51	29
39	Lian Bichsel	Dal	D	20	6-6/233	`22(18th)	Dallas (NHL)	38	4	5	9	41
40	Quentin Musty	SJ	LW	19	6-2/200	`23(26th)	Sudbury (OHL)	33	30	29	59	14
41	Joshua Roy	Mtl	RW	21	6-0/190	`21(150th)	Laval (AHL)	47	20	15	35	10
42	Jett Luchanko	Phi	C	18	5-11/185	`24(13th)	Guelph (OHL)	46	21	35	56	46
43	Seamus Casey	NJ	D	21	5-9/165	`22(46th)	Utica (AHL)	30	3	15	18	8
44	Cole Hutson	Wsh	D	18	5-10/165	`24(43rd)	Boston University (HE)	39	14	34	48	64
45	Logan Mailloux	Mtl	D	22	6-3/215	`21(31st)	Laval (AHL)	63	12	21	33	74
46	Jesper Wallstedt	Min	G	22	6-3/215	`21(20th)	Iowa (AHL)	27	9	14	3.59	0.879
47	Cole Eiserman	NYI	LW	18	6-0/195	`24(20th)	Boston University (HE)	39	25	11	36	27
48	Ivan Miroshnichenko	Wsh	LW	21	6-1/185	`22(20th)	Hershey (AHL)	53	23	19	42	28
49	Owen Pickering	Pit	D	21	6-4/180	`22(21st)	Wilkes-Barre (AHL)	47	2	11	13	10
50	Nate Danielson	Det	C	20	6-2/185	`23(9th)	Grand Rapids (AHL)	71	12	27	39	33

NHL: DADOUN – THE FANTASY WEEK AHEAD – Nashville Resurgence, Rantanen traded to Carolina, plus much more – Favourable schedules and players to target

McKeen's Hockey — Sat, 25 Jan 2025 15:16:30 +0000

NASHVILLE, TN - JANUARY 16: Nashville Predators forward Jonathan Marchessault (81) is shown during the NHL game between the Nashville Predators and Chicago Blackhawks, held on January 16, 2025, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Danny Murphy/Icon Sportswire)

The best stories in sports are the comebacks that happen after a team has been written off. Two examples that spring to mind from recent history are the 2014-15 Ottawa Senators, who were 22-23-10 after a loss Feb. 16, putting them 10 points behind in the playoff race, only to go 21-3-3 the rest of the way to narrowly secure a postseason berth. Another is the 2018-19 St. Louis Blues, who were 16-19-4 on Jan. 5, which placed them last in the Western Conference, before going 29-9-5 the rest of the way to not only make the playoffs but win the Stanley Cup.

Is it possible we’ll have another one of those stories this year? Those stories are memorable because they’re rare, and you only need to look at the absurd records they needed down the stretch to illustrate why. Due in no small part to the consolation point for overtime/shootout losses, the standings tend to look closer than they truly are because closing even a small point gap is difficult.

That said, I can’t help but look at the Nashville Predators and wonder if there is still some hope. It’s probably a foolish thing to think and a take that will age like milk, but after a 7-16-6 start, Nashville began to stabilize and now the team seems to have hit its stride with its current five-game winning streak. The Predators are still just 18-22-7, so they’d have basically have to go the rest of the season without any more noteworthy slumps, but part of the reason that such a feat even seems remotely possible is because the veteran leadership that seemed lost in the early part of the season has settled in.

Steven Stamkos has 10 goals and 19 points across his past 19 appearances while Jonathan Marchessault has 10 goals and 26 points over the same 19-game span. They were signed over the summer to provide that kind of offense but were initially written off as poor decisions by GM Barry Trotz due to their extremely poor start to the campaign. Now it seems they were judged too harshly.

When you couple their success with Filip Forsberg (18 goals, 47 points), elite defenseman Roman Josi (nine goals, 35 points) and veteran center Ryan O'Reilly (13 goals, 27 points), you have a fairly strong offense, especially if any of Gustav Nyquist, Tommy Novak or Luke Evangelista (lower body) start to hit their stride. As it is, Nashville has ranked second in goals per game (3.47) dating back to Dec. 10. That’s in stark contrast to the Predators’ first 28 games where they were last in the league in that scoring category (2.18).

You could call this just a hot streak for the offense, and there’s probably an element of that, but given that we’re talking about players of this caliber, it might be something at least somewhat sustainable.

It’s not all rosy, though. The X-Factor is surprisingly goaltending. Ottawa’s run involved journeyman goaltender Andrew Hammond standing on his head, and the Blues got a similar story out of rookie Jordan Binnington.

Nashville shouldn’t need someone to come out of nowhere to shut down the opposing offense. The Predators already have Juuse Saros, who not that long ago was seen as one of the best goaltenders of this generation. This campaign, though, he’s struggled with an 11-18-6 record, 2.81 GAA and .901 save percentage in 36 appearances. Unlike the offense, Saros hasn’t stepped up -- he's 2-2-0 with a 3.42 GAA and an .860 save percentage across his past five outings.

That’s led to Justus Annunen starting a bit more often lately, but while the backup netminder has won his past four starts, he’s been inconsistent, allowing 10 goals on 105 shots (.905 save percentage) over that span.

Let’s assume Nashville needs a 95-point season to make the playoffs. That wouldn’t have been good enough last year, but for the sake of argument, let’s just pretend that’s what’s needed. Nashville would need another 52 points across its final 35 games, so for example, 26-9-0, or say, 23-6-6. Even a top-tier offense is unlikely to get them that kind of record down the stretch. Some of that’s going to have to come from the goalies stealing games, so until Saros or Annunen start heating up, it’s hard to imagine the comeback happening.

That said, if Stamkos and Marchessault could find their way back from unflattering starts, perhaps Saros can too?

Calgary Flames (Tue vs WAS, Thu vs ANA, Sat vs DET, Sun @ SEA)

Calgary wasn’t seen as a major contender going into the campaign. In fact, there was an argument to be made that the Flames would regress from their 38-39-5 record last season after trading away goaltender Jacob Markstrom over the summer. However, we’re clear past the halfway point of 2024-25 now, and the Flames are very much in the playoff race. The weakness for the Flames is they’ve struggled on the road (8-10-4), but they won’t have to concern themselves with that in the upcoming week. They’ll host the Capitals, Ducks, Red Wings and Kraken on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

A big part of the reason why the Flames’ rebuild is ahead of schedule is 23-year-old goaltender Dustin Wolf. He got a taste of the NHL last year and was mixed at best, posting a 7-7-1 record, 3.16 GAA and .893 save percentage in 17 games. However, he’s filled the void left by Markstrom and then some in 2024-25 with his 17-7-2 record, 2.49 GAA and .918 save percentage in 26 starts. To put that into context, Wolf has already saved 13.3 goals above expected this season, per Moneypuck, which has almost caught up to the 13.7 goals saved above expected Markstrom provided for the Flames last campaign. Wolf also ranks eighth among goaltenders in that metric this season.

Wolf’s contributions are extra important because the rest of the team has underwhelmed. Calgary ranks 29th in goals per game (2.65) and 21st in xGA/60 (3.09). So, the team’s not generating much offense and the defense hasn’t been responsible enough to make an average goaltender look good -- just ask backup Dan Vladar, who is only slightly below average at minus-2.8 goals saved above expected, but due to the Flames’ defense has some rather unflattering numbers: a 3.03 GAA and an .889 save percentage.

Still, even if Wolf is the team’s clear MVP, it would be inaccurate to suggest that he’s the only player of value in Calgary. Jonathan Huberdeau might not be living up to his contract, but his 19 goals and 35 points through 46 outings make him the team’s offensive leader. Since a quiet stretch from Oct. 19-Nov. 29 in which Huberdeau had four goals and six points in 20 outings, the 31-year-old has been tremendous, supplying 12 goals and 23 points across 22 outings. If he can maintain anything close to that down the stretch, then there’s a decent chance he’ll be playing playoff hockey this year.

The 23-year-old Jakob Pelletier is also hot with three goals and six points across his past five appearances. It took him a while to get going -- he recorded a goal and five points over his first 15 games with Calgary this season -- but we’re getting a flash of what he’s capable of. He was selected with the No. 26 overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft and has been dominant offensively at the AHL level, including three goals and 19 points in 20 contests this season.

Maybe Rory Kerins will also help them down the stretch. He’s 23 as well and has provided an incredible 21 goals and 34 points in 34 AHL games in 2024-25. Unlike Pelletier, Kerins was a late-round pick and even logged 38 games with ECHL Rapid City back in 2022-23. Kerins has risen, making his NHL debut Jan. 13 and recording four assists in five outings with the Flames so far. That said, he’s averaging just 12:14 of ice time, including a mere 6:57 on Thursday, so his role with Calgary is far from secure despite those early results. Monitor him, but don’t get too excited yet.

Colorado Avalanche (Tue @ NYI, Fri vs STL, Sun vs PHI)

The Avalanche has a solid 28-19-2 record, but they’ve merely treaded water lately, going 5-4-1 across their past 10 games. They’ll see if they can do better next week with a favorable schedule. The Avalanche will visit the Islanders on Tuesday before returning home to host St. Louis on Friday and Philadelphia on Sunday. Those adversaries are well behind the Avalanche in terms of points percentage.

I wrote this whole thing about Colorado’s situation with regard to Mikko Rantanen’s contract, and then the Avalanche traded him to Carolina in a three-team deal that also involved Chicago, which was shocking, to say the least. To be fair, there is logic to be found here. My now outdated discussion of the topic still serves as a decent overview of the challenge the Avalanche were facing pre-trade, so I’ll show it here for that purpose:

“Like Edmonton with Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, Colorado also has the luxury of an elite one-two punch up front. The Avalanche version is headlined by Nathan MacKinnon, and the other half of the Avalanche’s duo is Mikko Rantanen, who has 25 goals and 64 points through 49 outings in 2024-25. Colorado has an issue that Edmonton recently went through, though: Rantanen is on the final season of his six-year, $55.5 million contract and can become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Rantanen has a real shot of reaching the 40-goal and 100-point milestones for the third consecutive year, so to say he’s due a big payday would be an understatement.

Finding a comparable is a little difficult. Draisaitl won the Hart Trophy in 2019-20, has collected at least 50 goals on three occasions and has also gotten at least 110 points three times, but Rantanen has never been a Hart finalist, has reached the 50-goal mark just once and he’s career high in points is 105, so it’s clear which one of them has a better resume. Still, if Draisaitl could ink an eight-year, $112 million ($14 million cap hit) contract back in September, perhaps Rantanen is thinking at least $12 million annually? Maybe even more? It might be awkward to give Rantanen something at or above Nathan MacKinnon’s eight-year, $100.8 million ($12.6 million cap hit) contract, but MacKinnon inked that back in 2022, and with the cap going up, so too will the payouts for top talent.”

So, you can see why the Avalanche might have opted to move Rantanen rather than lock him up, and there might even be more to this story that we’re not yet aware of. Perhaps the Avalanche presented Rantanen with a competitive offer, and he rejected that. To be clear, that’s purely just hypothetical, and I have no inside knowledge of the situation, so please take my wild speculation as fact, but in that scenario, this trade would make more sense from the Avalanche’s perspective.

That said, I don’t love the return from the Avalanche’s perspective. Colorado is getting Martin Necas and Jack Drury from the Avalanche, as well as some picks. Necas has never reached the 30-goal or 80-point marks, so he doesn’t have the same kind of resume as Rantanen, but Necas is younger at 26 and has done well this campaign with 16 goals and 55 points in 49 appearances. He’ll look good alongside Nathan MacKinnon. My problem with Necas as the return is his two-year, $13 million contract expires in 2026, and then Necas will be eligible for unrestricted free agency. So, if he performs over the next year and a half as the Avalanche hope, then to some extent they just kicked the problem down the road by a year. Granted, Necas probably won’t command what Rantanen did…but that’s only because he’s a downgrade. No offense to Necas -- 99.9 percent of the league is a downgrade to Rantanen -- but the Avalanche are in a win-now mode, so unless retaining Rantanen was completely off the table, this trade feels a little weird to me.

Perhaps I’m undervaluing Jack Drury, though. He has just nine points (three goals) in 39 appearances in 2024-25, but the 24-year-old probably has upside left in him, and the Avalanche will certainly benefit from the center depth. It would not be surprising to see Drury tried out on the third line behind MacKinnon and Casey Mittelstadt.

The Avalanche also got two picks out of the trade. Not a first-rounder, but maybe in five years or so, we’ll look at one of those draft picks as an underrated benefit of this deal.

Carolina Hurricanes (Tue @ NYR, Thu vs CHI, Sat vs. LAK)

The teams I highlight are based on a combination of how busy their schedule is for the upcoming week and how favorable those matchups are. Additionally, I will typically present the teams I’ve included in alphabetical order. I’m breaking both of those to include the Hurricanes. I think it’s worth discussing the fallout of the Rantanen trade from the Hurricanes’ perceptive, and it’s better to have that discussion after outlining what this deal means for Colorado. A little bit of housekeeping before we get into the trade talks: The Hurricanes will start next week with a road tilt against the Rangers on Tuesday before hosting the Blackhawks on Thursday and the Kings on Saturday. It’s not a bad schedule, it’s just not special either.

Now to the trade: In addition to Rantanen, the Hurricanes also acquired Taylor Hall from Chicago for the cost of Necas, Drury and draft picks. There was also retained salary in the deal to make the cap situation work.

It’ll be really interesting to see how this plays out for Carolina. Rantanen has never really been “the guy” before. He’s spent basically his entire NHL career to this point in MacKinnon’s shadow, but now Rantanen will be expected to drive the offense in Carolina. Not that he’ll have to do it alone. In fact, Rantanen is likely to get some great linemates in Sebastian Aho (15 goals, 49 points) and Andrei Svechnikov (15 goals, 34 points). There’s every reason to believe that trio will mesh together.

There’s also reason to be optimistic about Carolina retaining Rantanen beyond this campaign. Sure, the Hurricanes’ attempt to lock down Jake Guentzel after acquiring him from Pittsburgh during the 2023-24 campaign ultimately failed, leading to Guentzel instead signing with Tampa Bay over the summer, but Carolina is set to be in a fantastic cap position for 2025-26. Dmitry Orlov ($7.75 million cap hit) and Brent Burns ($5.28 million) are both set to come off the books. Orlov will likely take a big pay cut if he stays at all. It’s not clear if Burns will play beyond this season, but if he does, it’ll likely be at a reduced salary too.

Carolina also doesn’t have any expiring players due for big paydays beyond Rantanen himself. Meanwhile, Puck Pedia is projecting them with $31.2 million in cap space for next season, albeit with just 13 roster spots filled. There is reason to believe the Hurricanes can meet Rantanen’s demands, even if he’s eyeing something close to what Draisaitl got.

What happens with Rantanen will go a long way towards defining how this trade is viewed, but adding Hall as well in the trade is interesting. He’s been middling this campaign with nine goals and 24 points in 46 appearances with the Blackhawks while averaging a modest 14:59 of ice time. It’s a far cry from what the 33-year-old did in his prime, but he might do better now that he’s on a contender. Hall will probably end up serving on the second line alongside some combination of Seth Jarvis (18 goals, 38 points), Jesperi Kotkaniemi (10 goals, 23 points) and Jackson Blake (11 goals, 16 points).

The Hurricanes’ overall offense has been good -- they rank fifth with 3.37 goals per game – but their scoring depth does leave something to be desired, especially if Carolina does go with that stacked top line of Svechnikov-Aho-Rantanen, so even a decent showing out of Hall would be a big boost.

Carolina likely doesn’t have any room left to make anymore notable additions before the trade deadline, but as it is, the Hurricanes do look like serious contenders.

New York Islanders (Tue vs COL, Thu @ PHI, Sat @ TBL, Sun @ FLA)

It might be premature to assume that the Islanders will miss the playoffs in 2024-25 for just the second time in seven years, but the team certainly has a hole to dig out of. They’ll attempt to better their situation next week, which will start with a home game against the Avalanche on Tuesday. The Islanders will then hit the road to play in Philadelphia on Thursday, Tampa Bay on Saturday and Florida on Sunday. It’s a tough schedule to be sure, but the Islanders are running out of margin for error, so they need to find a way to win difficult matches.

The Islanders inked Tony DeAngelo to a one-year contract Friday, which is…a choice. He’s been bought out twice at the NHL level, which led to him joining the KHL, but DeAngelo only served in 34 games with St. Petersburg SKA before his contract was mutually terminated. He’s questionable in his own end and seems to be a lightning rod for controversy. Still, for as much as there’s a reason why teams keep souring on him, there is also a cause for the infinite number of “second” chances he’s gotten.

DeAngelo, under the right circumstances, can be very effective when the puck is on his stick. He has surpassed the 40-point mark three times at the NHL level and had six goals and 32 points in 34 KHL outings before parting ways with SKA. So, for all the negatives he comes with, at least the 29-year-old has that going for him.

A team in a good spot probably wouldn’t bother with DeAngelo given the baggage, but the Islanders are 28th in goals per game with 2.66 and have lost Noah Dobson to a lower-body injury. Dobson is week-to-week after sustaining the injury Monday. He’s a vital part of the Islanders, and while DeAngelo isn’t a good enough blueliner to fully replace Dobson, one part of that void that DeAngelo likely can fill is the offensive loss. DeAngelo might only serve on the third pairing, but he will likely feature on the top power-play unit and could have fantasy value if that’s his role. His fantasy value will be even higher in leagues that include PIM as a category because he tends to end up in the sin bin a fair amount.

Under ideal circumstances, DeAngelo’s inclusion might even offer a boost to Anders Lee, Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal, who will presumably share the ice with him on the power play. The Islanders are dead last in power-play conversions at just 12.2 percent, which has been a drag on the overall offensive output of the Islanders’ top forwards. If DeAngelo can help make the Islanders’ power play even remotely close to average, then that would add up meaningfully for all involved.

Of course, all this is assuming a favorable outcome, which is always a risky thing to believe in when it comes to DeAngelo. At the time of writing, his inclusion on the Islanders isn’t guaranteed. Though the contract has been signed, he needs to clear waivers before he can play for the Islanders. I wouldn’t bet on another team claiming him, but then again, I didn’t anticipate this move from New York, and yet, here we are.

Philadelphia Flyers (Mon vs NJD, Wed @ NJD, Thu vs NYI, Sun @ COL)

The Flyers missed out on the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year in 2024, but at least they managed to stay in contention for most of the campaign. They’d like to do one better this year and secure a Wild Card spot, but there’s a lot of competition for those two seeds, so every game is that much more important. The Flyers will start the week with a home-and-away series against the Devils on Monday and Wednesday before hosting the Islanders on Thursday. Philadelphia will conclude its weekly schedule in Colorado on Sunday.

Goaltending has been a recurring issue for Philadelphia this season. Samuel Ersson is just too inconsistent, leading to a 14-8-2 record, 2.80 GAA and .891 save percentage in 26 appearances. Ivan Fedotov is no better, though, at 4-6-3 with a 3.25 GAA and an .880 save percentage in 14 starts.

The tragedy is that the Flyers are actually a really good defensive team, locked in a four-way tie for sixth in xGA/60 (2.85). The problem is purely the goaltenders. Ersson ranks 83rd among all netminders in goals allowed above expected at minus-8.8, per Moneypuck. The only netminders worse in that category with at least 20 games played are Petr Mrazek, Tristan Jarry, Alexandar Georgiev and Philipp Grubauer. One of those (Jarry) was sent to the minors due to his play while Mrazek and Georgiev are playing for rebuilding squads in Chicago and San Jose. In other words, it’s unflattering company for Ersson.

The Flyers offense isn’t great, but it’s decent. Travis Konecny (21 goals, 56 points) is doing his best to push the team into contention. He’s also been particularly productive recently, supplying five goals and 15 points across his past 13 appearances.

Owen Tippett is benefiting from playing alongside Konecny. The 25-year-old Tippett has three goals and six points over his last eight games, giving him 14 goals and 30 points in 50 outings overall. That duo doesn’t combine to create a top line that will turn heads, but it does the job well enough.

The Flyers are hoping that Matvei Michkov might eventually headline a unit of his own, but the rookie has been streaky. That’s pretty common for a young forward. You just need to keep an eye out and bench him during the down patches. We might be entering one right now -- he has been held off the scoresheet in each of his past two games after supplying two goals and five points across six outings from Jan. 11-21.

Pittsburgh Penguins (Mon @ SJS, Wed @ UTA, Sat vs NSH)

Like the Islanders and Flyers, Pittsburgh is on the outside looking in on the Wild Card race but is still in the running. The Penguins will play in San Jose on Monday and Utah on Wednesday before returning home to host the Predators on Saturday. The Sharks and Predators own two of the worst records in the league, so Pittsburgh needs to pick up points during that stretch if the Penguins are going to convince GM Kyle Dubas that this team can make a serious playoff push this year.

And make no mistake: Dubas likely needs some convincing. RG.org claims to have a source that Pittsburgh is willing to trade anyone other than Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust, Philip Tomasino and Owen Pickering. The source was also asked about Kris Letang, and they weren’t sure about him.

Erik Karlsson stands out as the biggest player not ruled out. The Penguins would likely need to retain salary -- his cap hit is $11.5 million annually through 2026-27, but the Sharks are already retaining $1.5 million, bringing the current hit to Pittsburgh down to $10 million -- but as long as Pittsburgh is willing to do that, the return could be fairly nice. Although he’s 34 years old, he’s been effective this campaign with four goals and 32 points in 50 outings.

One potential sticking point is that he has a no-movement clause. He already waived it once to move from San Jose to Pittsburgh, but presumably, there would only be certain teams he’d be willing to play for. The fun destination from a fan perspective would be a return to the Senators, but that would be difficult to make work from a cap perspective. Maybe Calgary or Columbus? The Flames and Blue Jackets are teams trending in the right direction who also have plenty of cap space. Perhaps they’d value his veteran leadership in addition to what he brings to the table on the ice. Columbus’ defense already looks fairly solid and is led by a phenomenal offensive defenseman in Zach Werenski, so I don’t know that the Blue Jackets are a great fit. Karlsson would likely provide a meaningful boost to the Flames, though.

Of course, if you're Crosby or Malkin, you’re still going to be clinging onto the hope of making the playoffs this year, so these upcoming games are extremely high stakes for them. Rust is dealing with a lower-body injury, which does complicate things, but if Rust ends up missing time, then you’ll probably see Anthony Beauvillier play with one of those highly motivated superstars.

Seattle Kraken (Mon @ EDM, Tue vs ANA, Thu vs SJS, Sun vs CGY)

Seattle will begin its weekly schedule with what’s likely to be a difficult matchup in Edmonton on Monday. However, the Kraken will then return home to host Anaheim on Tuesday, San Jose on Thursday and Calgary on Sunday. The Ducks and Sharks have struggled this campaign, so those are favorable matchups for the Kraken.

I briefly touched on Philip Grubauer above in the context of how bad he’s been this campaign -- and really for a while now. He has a 3.09 GAA and an .890 save percentage in 150 games since joining Seattle. His six-year, $35.4 million deal, which started in 2021-22, has been such a waste for the Kraken.

On the plus side, the Kraken have Joey Daccord, who has a 16-11-2 record, 2.47 GAA and .915 save percentage in 31 appearances in 2024-25. He could certainly use more offensive support, though.

Jared McCann leads the Kraken with 14 goals and 36 points in 49 appearances this season. That puts him outside of the NHL’s top 75 in the scoring race. Seattle also doesn’t employ any of the 32 players who have reached the 20-goal milestone. Jaden Schwartz is the closest at 16. A lack of big-name talent up front is really hurting this team.

Maybe Matty Beniers will still fill that void, but he’s been a mixed bag. He was Seattle’s first-ever draft pick -- the No. 2 overall selection in 2021 -- and he seemed to be on the fast track after supplying three goals and nine points in 10 NHL outings in 2021-22 followed by 24 goals and 57 points in 80 appearances last season. However, he took a big step back last year, dipping to 37 points, and he hasn’t rebounded much this campaign with 10 goals and 26 points in 49 appearances. He’s still just 22 years old, so there’s plenty of time for him to find his way, but it’s looking less and less likely that this year will be a positive for him.

Another former No. 2 pick seems to have found his way with Seattle, though. Since being acquired from the Rangers on Feb. 18, Kaapo Kakko has four goals and 13 points in 16 outings, giving the Kraken some of that offensive prowess they’ve desperately needed. He’s been averaging 16:50 of ice time in Seattle, which is up from 13:17 with the Rangers -- he had four goals and 14 points in 30 contests before the trade -- which goes a long way toward explaining his production jump.

There never seemed to be much of a role for Kakko in New York, so this change of scenery is probably exactly what he needed. Although his scoring pace might dip somewhat, he should continue to do well with Seattle.

Vancouver Canucks (Mon @ STL, Wed @ NSH, Fri @ DAL, Sun @ DET)

The Canucks have been a mess on and off the ice lately. Will things get any better for them or will the descent continue next week? They’ll start on the road with games in St. Louis on Monday, Nashville on Wednesday and Dallas on Friday. Vancouver will then host the Red Wings on Sunday.

There’s been plenty of speculation about the Canucks potentially moving one of Elias Pettersson or J.T. Miller for off-ice reasons. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Hurricanes were considering acquiring one of those star forwards before opting to instead get Rantanen from Colorado, per Brendan Batchelor of Sportsnet 650. Carolina is likely out as a destination now, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Vancouver still trade one of Miller or Pettersson. The Rangers have been brought up before as a potential destination, so maybe there’s still something to be had there.

Perhaps because this has been distracting them, Vancouver has been in free fall, going 6-10-6 since Dec. 8. Miller had a five-game scoring drought from Jan. 8-16, but he’s otherwise remained effective, collecting eight goals and 33 points in 37 outings this campaign. It’s still far behind his regular-season production from 2023-24 (37 goals, 103 points), but at least he’s providing close to a point-per-game.

Pettersson hasn’t given anything close to that lately. He has just three goals and four points across his past 14 appearances. That slump has undermined a strong start to the campaign, leaving him with 11 goals and 30 points in 41 outings overall. He’ll probably bounce back eventually, but his slump is certainly part of the reason for the Canucks’ decline.

Thatcher Demko isn’t helping either, though. Since making his season debut Dec. 10 after returning from a knee injury, he has a 3-5-3 record, 3.47 GAA and .867 save percentage in 12 games. Some rust is to be expected after missing the opening months of the season, but he’s showing no signs of improvement, going 1-3-0 with a 4.03 GAA and an .833 save percentage across his past four outings. Kevin Lankinen is far from a sure thing either, but he’s been the better option with his 16-8-6 record, 2.63 GAA and .903 save percentage in 30 appearances.

It's unfortunate because Demko has shown in the past that he can be an elite netminder, and Vancouver could certainly use the help right now. As it is, though, about the only positive in Vancouver is that Quinn Hughes is still Quinn Hughes with 12 goals and 52 points in 43 appearances, including four goals and 10 points across his past nine outings.

Hughes just needs other stars to go back to living up to their names as well.

NHL: CULLEN – 20 FANTASY POINTS – Vilardi heating up, Kakko on the move, and much more!

Scott Cullen — Sat, 21 Dec 2024 00:53:01 +0000

_{LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 13: Winnipeg Jets center Gabriel Vilardi (13) celebrates his goal during an NHL hockey game against the Los Angeles Kings on December 13, 2023 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Ric Tapia/Icon Sportswire)}

Each week, I dig into the stats to find information that can help you make better fantasy hockey decisions. This week, Gabriel Vilardi is hot, Pavel Buchnevich is thriving on the wing, Kirill Marchenko leads the surprising Blue Jackets, a fresh start for Kaapo Kakko, and much more!

Here is this week’s edition of 20 Fantasy Points:

#1 Winnipeg Jets right-winger Gabriel Vilardi is heating up. The 25-year-old forward has tallied 11 points (5 G, 6 A) with 16 shots on goal while averaging 19:26 of ice time per game in his past eight games. He is in a great spot, skating on the Jets’ top line with Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele, as well as playing on the top power-play unit. Injuries have been a significant factor in Vilardi’s career, and he has never played more than 63 games in a season, so it is surprising that he has played in all 34 games for the Jets thus far. Vilardi has 28 points already, so if he remains healthy, he should surpass his career high of 41 points set in 2022-2023.

#2 The St. Louis Blues tried to shift Pavel Buchnevich to centre at the start of the season, confident that his all-around game would fit in that role, and it did not bring out the best in the veteran forward. He has been returned to the wing and in 10 games since Jim Montgomery took over behind the Blues bench, Buchnevich has contributed nine points (4 G, 5 A) with 27 shots on goal and has most recently found himself skating on a line with Jake Neighbours and Robert Thomas.

#3 The leading scorer for the Columbus Blue Jackets this season, with 33 points (11 G, 22 A) in 33 games, is third-year right winger Kirill Marchenko. In his past 15 games, he has 17 points (5 G, 12 A) and 46 shots on goal. He plays 18 minutes per game, consistently generates shots and has a good thing going on Columbus’ top line with Dmitri Voronkov and Sean Monahan.

#4 With just 14 points (4 G, 10 A) in 30 games for the New York Rangers, right winger Kaapo Kakko was traded to the Seattle Kraken, an opportunity for a fresh start for the second pick in the 2019 Draft. Kakko, 23, had career highs of 18 goals and 40 points during the 2022-2023 season but has not been able to generate enough offense to meet expectations. While Kakko’s puck possession numbers aren’t great this season, it has typically been a strength of his, so he should be able to hold a regular spot in the Kraken lineup. In his first game for Seattle, Kakko skated on a line with Jared McCann and Matty Beniers, which would be a decent spot for him to find his offensive game.

#5 With the Edmonton Oilers scoring at a high rate, ranking second in the league over the past month, there are secondary sources of offense available on this squad. One worth considering is defenceman Darnell Nurse, who has five assists and 14 shots on goal in his past six games. Nurse has 15 points (3 G, 12 A) in 29 games, with just one point on the power play, but he has been this productive despite an on-ice shooting percentage of 7.1 percent during five-on-five play. That mark should go up, so it would be a reasonable expectation for Nurse to score at least a half-point per game for the rest of the season. For a player who delivers hits and blocked shots as well, Nurse has value in most fantasy formats.

#6 Colorado Avalanche left winger Artturi Lehkonen has thrived with the Avs, where his hard-working industrious style of play complements Colorado’s highly skilled top players. In his past 11 games, Lehkonen has nine points (7 G, 2 A) and 25 shots on goal while averaging more than 22 minutes of ice time per game. He skates on Colorado’s top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, which is obviously a prime position for Lehkonen to continue delivering offensive production.

#7 After a slow start to the season, veteran Utah Hockey Club right winger Nick Schmaltz has started to break out of his slump, scoring at a more typical rate. Through his first 19 games of the season, Schmaltz had zero goals and 13 assists with 38 shots on goal. In a dozen games since then, he has 12 points (5 G, 7 A) with 30 shots on goal. As a key player on Utah’s top line and first power play unit, Schmaltz tends to be a reliable scoring threat and appears to be back on track.

#8 As the Buffalo Sabres are watching their season go down the drain, defenceman Owen Power has quietly been very productive. While Power has 20 points (4 G, 16 A) in 32 games, it’s notable that all 20 points have come at even strength, which puts him third in even-strength scoring among defencemen, behind only Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar. Power’s offensive ceiling would seem to be limited in Buffalo, where Rasmus Dahlin (currently injured) and Bowen Byram have power play priority, but the towering defender is already productive at 22 years old.

#9 Anaheim Ducks right winger Troy Terry has become a consistently productive scorer in recent seasons, even if it sometimes gets overlooked because of where he plays. In his past 11 games, Terry has put up 13 points (3 G, 10 A) with 37 shots on goal while averaging 19:53 of ice time per game. On a Ducks team trying to build around young players, Terry is skating on a line with Frank Vatrano and Ryan Strome on Anaheim’s No. 1 line.

#10 The Anaheim Ducks shuffled the deck on their blueline, dealing veteran defenceman Cam Fowler to the St. Louis Blues and part of the reason for the change was to give younger defencemen the opportunity to step into bigger roles. Second-year blueliner Jackson LaCombe is making the most of his chances and, in December, has suddenly produced seven points (4 G, 3 A) with 19 shots on goal in seven games. He is playing nearly 20 minutes per game in that time and is getting first-unit power play time, which makes him a legitimate option for fantasy managers.

#11 Nashville Predators defenceman Roman Josi has been battling a lower-body injury and has landed on the injured list. With Josi out, Brady Skjei takes over as the quarterback on the Nashville power play. Skjei has failed to record a point in each of his past nine games, despite playing nearly 23 minutes per game, leaving him with nine points (2 G, 7 A) in 32 games. That is a long way off the pace that Skjei set in Carolina over the previous three seasons when he produced 124 points (40 G, 84 A) in 243 games for the Hurricanes.

#12 Another former Hurricane, winger Teuvo Teravainen started slowly upon his return to Chicago, managing eight points (4 G, 4 A) in his first 18 games, with half of those goals and points coming in the third game of the season. Since then, Teravainen has 13 points (3 G, 10 A) in 15 games and he is skating on Chicago’s third line, alongside Jason Dickinson and Ilya Mikheyev.

#13 It would be too soon to recommend Oilers right winger Connor Brown in anything but the deepest of leagues, but he is worth keeping an eye on because the Oilers are not getting consistent production from their wingers and Brown did contribute more offensively before joining the Oilers last season. Brown managed just a dozen points (4 G, 8 A) in 71 games for Edmonton last season, but is up to 13 points (6 G, 7 A) in 32 games this season after producing eight points (3 G, 5 A) in his past 11 games.

#14 Red Winger centre J.T. Compher has contributed a point per game (1 G, 8 A) in his past nine games, a sudden increase in his offensive output. While his ice time is down by 2:33 per game compared to last season, Compher is still getting first-unit power play time in addition to his time at centre on Detroit’s third line. As a player who had 48 and 52 points, respectively, in the previous two seasons, Compher is behind his previous scoring pace, but if he remains productive, his ice time will likely climb.

#15 Seattle Kraken right winger Oliver Bjorkstrand has been a consistent contributor but has elevated his level of play in the past month. In 14 games, he has 15 points (7 G, 8 A) and 30 shots on goal. Bjorkstrand gets first unit power play time for the Kraken, but only five of his 23 points this season have come with the man advantage. The recent uptick in his production has come at even strength, where he has more recently been playing with Shane Wright and Eeli Tolvanen. Bjorkstrand tallied a career-high 59 points (20 G, 39 A) last season, with 25 points on the power play, so that would seem to be an area that still has room for further improvement.

#16 Vegas Golden Knights winger Ivan Barbashev has been sidelined with an upper-body injury and it’s worth pointing out what a big hole that leaves in the lineup. Barbarshev has 26 points during five-on-five play and Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov is the only player in the league with more points during five-on-five play. Certainly, playing with Jack Eichel is a big part of Barbashev’s success, and Pavel Dorofeyev has joined Eichel and Stone on Vegas’ top line with Barbashev out of the lineup. Dorofeyev played 19:31 in Thursday’s win against Vancouver, the second-highest ice time of his career.

#17 As the Pittsburgh Penguins may be turning around a season that looked hopelessly lost, defenceman Matt Grzelcyk has turned into a solid contributor, putting up nine points (1 G, 8 A) in his past nine games. Eight of Grzelcyk’s 17 points this season have come on the power play and the Penguins are running a rare power play with two defencemen on the top unit and it’s been Grzelcyk and Kris Letang in those roles, with Erik Karlsson on PP2.

#18 There are ups and downs along the path for Montreal Canadiens goaltender Samuel Montembeault, who has had nine games this season in which he has allowed at least four goals, but he has a .914 save percentage to go along with a 4-3 record in seven starts this month. He has 7.73 Goals Saved Above Expected this season, which ranks eighth in the league, ahead of Igor Shesterkin, Jake Oettinger, and Jacob Markstrom. Wins might not come so easily for the Canadiens goaltender, but his performance thus far makes him a legitimate fantasy option and it backs up Team Canada’s choice to include him on the roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off.

#19 Sticking with all situations Goals Saved Above Expected but looking at the low end of the spectrum, the goaltenders with the fewest Goals Saved Above Expected this season: Boston’s Jeremy Swayman (-14.53), San Jose’s Alexandar Georgiev (-13.56), Columbus’ Daniil Tarasov (-11.39), Utah’s Connor Ingram (-9.61), and Carolina’s Spencer Martin (-9.56). From that group, Swayman obviously stands out, given the strong track record that he had prior to this season, but Ingram had an excellent season in 2023-2024, so his decline before getting hurt is notable, too. The goaltenders at the top of the list might be surprising, too, at least after Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck (+22.84). The rest of the top five are: Anaheim’s Lukas Dostal (+17.51), Toronto’s Anthony Stolarz (+13.46), Seattle’s Joey Daccord (+11.39), and Utah’s Karel Vejmelka (+10.94).

#20 There are some popular players with fantasy managers who are running ice cold lately, including New Jersey’s Dougie Hamilton, Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson, the Rangers’ Chris Kreider, and Buffalo’s Alex Tuch, among others. Hamilton has gone seven games without a point and his ice time has dropped below 18 minutes in three of his past four games. In his past five games, Pettersson has zero points and eight shots on goal, while averaging 16:50 of ice time per game. Kreider recorded his first (and only) assist of the season on December 6th and has since gone six straight games without a point, though he does have 17 shots on goal in that span. Tuch has one point (1 G, 0 A) and 10 shots on goal in his past six games and played a season-low 14:34 against Montreal on Tuesday.

*Advanced stats via Natural Stat Trick

NHL: DADOUN – THE FANTASY WEEK AHEAD (November 11th to 18th, 2024) – Winnipeg and Florida dominate

Ryan Dadoun — Sat, 09 Nov 2024 18:45:55 +0000

OTTAWA, ON - OCTOBER 10: Florida Panthers Right Wing Sam Reinhart (13) before a face-off during third period National Hockey League action between the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators on October 10, 2024, at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker/Icon Sportswire)

The Colorado Avalanche have problems, as I’ve discussed in previous articles, but going into Thursday’s action those issues hadn’t extended to their core players. In fact, defenseman Cale Makar opened the campaign with a 13-game scoring streak in which he provided five goals and 23 points, and after an injury scare, he was available for Thursday’s tilt against Winnipeg and ended up logging an impressive 25:16 of ice time.

Against every other team, Makar and Nathan MacKinnon, who took his own 13-game scoring streak into Thursday’s action, would have done some damage even if they hadn’t come away with the win. Winnipeg has been in a league of its own, though, especially with Connor Hellebuyck between the pipes. The goaltender shrugged off the Avalanche’s 35 shots to earn his second consecutive shutout, bringing him up to a 10-1-0 record, 1.91 GAA and .932 save percentage through 11 starts.

Hellebuyck being an amazing goaltender is old news. There’s a reason why Winnipeg inked him to a seven-year, $59.5 million contract that began this season -- a contract that’s looking increasingly good, especially with the way the goaltender market is heading. However, the Jets under new bench boss Scott Arniel are giving him more defensive support than he’s accustomed to. The Jets have an xGA/60 of 2.49, per Moneypuck, the second-best in the league. By contrast, Winnipeg ranked 10th last year with a 2.93 xGA/60. That suggests the quality of the shots making their way to Hellebuyck has gotten significantly lower, making it easier for the netminder to do his job. That might also be why Winnipeg is also 3-0-0 on the nights that journeyman goaltender Eric Comrie has started instead.

Winnipeg’s dominance doesn’t end there, though. The Jets rank first in goals per game with 4.50, which is a feat they’ve accomplished in part through depth. Kyle Connor (nine goals, 19 points), Mark Scheifele (seven goals, 18 points) and Gabriel Vilardi (six goals, 12 points) can compromise an amazing top line, and that still leaves you with the luxury of putting Nikolaj Ehlers (eight goals, 17 points) on the second line and a red-hot Nino Niederreiter (seven goals, 12 points) on the third unit to exhaust the enemy’s defense. It is worth noting that Moneypuck ranks Winnipeg 21st in xG/60 with 2.99, so there’s an argument to be made that the Jets have enjoyed good puck luck, and they haven’t endured anything close to the same kind of injury issues that a team like Colorado has.

It's also worth remembering the cautionary tale of the 2007-08 Ottawa Senators, who started 13-1-0 but faltered after that, finishing 43-31-8 and being swept in the first round of the playoffs. That said, there isn’t a lot of sample size when it comes to 13-1-0 starts. Ottawa showed that even a start as hot as this doesn’t guarantee success, but that doesn’t mean a fall from grace is inevitable either. And sure, maybe the Jets’ offense won’t continue to perform at this level, but if the defense stays effective and Hellebuyck remains healthy, then Winnipeg won’t necessarily need that much goal production. This is a strong team, potentially far stronger than analysts rated the Jets to be going into the campaign, and they’ll certainly be one to watch going forward.

While some might still view the Jets as a team with something to prove even after starting 13-1-0, not many would question Florida’s 10-3-1 start. Back-to-back trips to the finals, including a Stanley Cup championship, affords you a great deal of faith. That’s not to say every player on the team receives that level of belief, though. Sam Reinhart is probably raising some eyebrows after scoring 11 goals and 22 points through 14 games. Sure, he had 57 goals and 94 points in 82 appearances in 2023-24, but his 24.5 shooting percentage was insanely high, so it must have been a fluke, right?

Those who read my articles from last year would know I pushed back against the assumption that his high shooting percentage was unsustainable.

More specifically, this is what I said about Reinhart back in January: “His shooting percentage of 27.5 is by far the highest of any player with at least 100 shots -- next is Brock Boeser at 23.3 -- and more than double his 2022-23 finish of 13.7. Digging a little deeper, Reinhart is selective with when he shoots, firing 40.4 percent in high-danger areas. By contrast, Nikita Kucherov has nearly the same number of goals (28) while firing nearly double the shots (amounting to a 15.4 shooting percentage), but just 18.1 percent of his shots are in high-danger locations, so by that measure, Reinhart’s higher shooting percentage makes some sense.”

This year tells a somewhat similar story. Of his 39 shots, 13 (33.3 percent) have been in high-danger areas while another 12 (30.8 percent) have been mid-range. By contrast, Nikita Kucherov, who has 11 goals on 54 shots has fired 12 (22.2 percent) in high-danger areas and 16 (29.6) at mid-range. In other words, while someone like Kucherov fires more shots than Reinhart, they end up with a similar number of high-quality shots, so there’s logic behind Reinhart’s high shooting percentage, making it less of a warning sign than it would be for some other players.

Carolina Hurricanes (Mon @ VGK, Wed @ UTA, Sat vs OTT, Sun vs STL)

The Hurricanes have done nearly as well as the Jets, posting a 10-2-0 record after Thursday’s 5-1 victory over Pittsburgh. Carolina will open the week with a challenging road match versus Vegas, but the schedule gets more manageable after that with a road game against Utah on Wednesday followed by home contests versus Ottawa and St. Louis on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Carolina is still without Frederik Andersen (lower body), and there’s no guarantee he’ll be an option next week, so Spencer Martin might make his season debut. The 29-year-old is far from an ideal choice, but Carolina is one of the most goaltender-friendly teams in the league, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Martin walk away with the win if he faces the Senators or Blues.

That’ll be especially true if Martin Necas remains hot. He’s on an eight-game scoring streak in which he’s provided six goals and 18 points. Necas took a step back last season with a 53-point showing, but he’s a good bet to rebound with the second 70-plus point campaign of his career. Just don’t count on him maintaining anything close to his current point-per-game pace, which stands at 1.75 (21 points in 12 outings). Necas has been impressive, but he’s unlikely to finish 2024-25 among the league’s scoring leaders. To give you some perspective, he had seven goals and 17 points through 11 appearances in 2022-23 and finished that campaign outside the top-50 in the scoring race despite logging the full 82 games.

Moving from the Hurricanes’ top offensive performer to a physical defenseman, Riley Stillman (lower body) will likely make his Hurricanes debut soon. He had a goal, eight points, 81 hits and 44 blocks in 50 outings between Vancouver and Buffalo in 2023-24. His presence won’t dramatically alter Carolina’s blue line, but we might see Sean Walker be an infrequent healthy scratch after dressing in all of the team’s first 12 games. Maybe Jalen Chatfield will end up being a scratch at some point too if everyone is healthy, though I suspect Walker’s position in the lineup is less secure.

Nashville Predators (Mon @ COL, Thu @ EDM, Fri @ CGY, Sun @ VAN)

Not secure describes the Predators pretty well. Nashville GM Barry Trotz even recently floated the idea of beginning the team’s rebuild plan if the team doesn’t start turning around -- a move that would be awkward after signing veterans Steven Stamkos to a four-year, $32 million contract and Jonathan Marchessault to a five-year, $27.5 million deal over the summer.

All the same, you can hardly blame Trotz for thinking that way after the club’s 4-9-1 start. Perhaps next week will offer more hope, though it would have to come on the road. The Predators will play in Colorado on Monday, Edmonton on Thursday, Calgary on Friday and Vancouver on Sunday.

Stamkos is finally showing life, providing three goals and six points across his past six games after being limited to one point (a goal) over his opening eight appearances. The problem is no other Predators player has stepped up recently -- outside of Stamkos, every Nashville skater has recorded three or fewer points over the team’s past six games.

Then there’s Juuse Saros, who is leaving plenty to be desired with a 3-7-1 record, 2.85 GAA and .904 save percentage in 11 outings. You might be wondering if his mediocre numbers are a reflection of struggles on his end or just a byproduct of poor play in front of him. Nashville ranks 24th in xGA/60 at 3.27 while Saros’ goals saved above expected is plus-3.9, which suggests Saros has been doing fine, but the Predators have been letting him down. If there’s any silver lining to be had there, it suggests that if Nashville can start tightening up defensively, then Saros will reward his teammates by putting up the kind of elite numbers we know he’s capable of. Imagining that scenario, though, might just be an exercise in wishful thinking.

Philadelphia Flyers (Mon vs SJS, Thu @ OTT, Sat vs BUF)

The Flyers haven’t been much better than Nashville, though Philadelphia doesn’t have the same burden of expectations. Either way, the 5-8-1 Flyers have a favorable set of adversaries ahead of them. They’ll host the Sharks on Monday, play in Ottawa on Thursday and conclude the week with a home game versus the Sabres on Saturday.

Samuel Ersson (lower body) and Aleksei Kolosov (lower body) weren’t able to play Thursday, which left Ivan Fedotov, who had a 5.35 GAA and an .821 save percentage through his first three starts, to get the nod against Tampa Bay while Kyle Konin signed an amateur tryout to be the emergency backup. Despite those challenging circumstances, Philadelphia earned a 2-1 shootout victory over the Lightning, but I wouldn’t count on seeing continued success out of Fedotov if Ersson and Kolosov remain on the sidelines. Not that I have much confidence in any of the Flyers’ current goaltenders.

To be fair, the Flyers’ netminders get sparse goal support even when they manage to put forth a strong showing. Philadelphia ranks 27th offensively with 2.50 goals per game. Matvei Michkov has been one of the Flyers’ few scoring threats with four goals and 10 points in 13 outings, but coach John Tortorella hasn’t been thrilled with the 19-year-old forward’s five-on-five play -- note that Michkov is minus-8 and only three of his points have come at even strength -- which led to him being a healthy scratch Thursday. It’s also worth noting that his production has slowed recently, resulting in him registering just an assist over his past five outings.

Michkov is still young, so some growing pains are expected, and with Tortorella certainly not being afraid to mix some tough love into his teaching regime, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the occasional healthy scratch sprinkled in there as the campaign progresses. Taking a step back, a reasonable project for Michkov’s rookie season would be about 50 points.

Pittsburgh Penguins (Mon vs DAL, Wed vs DET, Fri @ CBJ, Sat vs SJS)

Sidney Crosby is continuing to defy his age, but it hasn’t been enough. Pittsburgh is 5-8-2, putting more pressure on the squad to start to right the ship. The Penguins are set to host Dallas and Detroit on Monday and Wednesday, respectively. They’ll then play in Columbus on Friday and round out the week by hosting the Sharks on Saturday.

Cody Glass (upper body) was put on injured reserve Friday while Bryan Rust (lower body) was activated, enabling him to return to the lineup after a five-game absence.

As I already alluded to, Crosby has continued to dominate in Rust’s absence -- Crosby has six goals and 15 points through 15 appearances in 2024-25 -- but Rust is nevertheless likely to rejoin the top line. That would probably result in Evgeni Malkin moving off the top unit to his more standard position headlining the second line. For what it’s worth, Malkin and Crosby have shown up on the scoresheet together for just two even-strength goals this season, and Malkin has been quiet lately with a goal and two points across his past five games. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh has lost its last two games, along with six of its past eight, so it’s not like there are circumstances on a team level or a line level that would compel head coach Mike Sullivan to keep Malkin and Crosby together in five-on-five play at this time.

At the other end of the ice, the goaltending situation continues to be a question mark. Alex Nedeljkovic gave the Penguins hope with strong starts against the lowly Ducks and Canadiens, but he’s faded quickly, allowing eight goals on 44 shots (.818 save percentage) over his past two losses to the Islanders and Hurricanes. Meanwhile, Tristan Jarry has been rebuilding his confidence in the minors, posting a 1.69 GAA and a .946 save percentage across four games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Perhaps Jarry will get recalled soon and get another shot? Just as the Crosby-Malkin duo hasn’t done anything to force Sullivan to keep them together, Nedeljkovic’s play isn’t great enough to secure the No. 1 job, so the possibility of a Jarry comeback remains.

Seattle Kraken (Tue vs CBJ, Thu vs CHI, Sat vs NYI, Sun vs NYR)

The Kraken will stay at home next week, hosting the Blue Jackets on Tuesday, the Blackhawks on Thursday, the Islanders on Saturday and finally the Rangers on Sunday. We’ll see if that homestand will right the ship for Seattle, which has lost four straight games and seven of its last eight contests, dropping to 5-8-1.

Seattle has managed just 2.25 goals per game across its last eight matches, but interestingly, there have been some standout performers over that stretch. Jared McCann and Matty Beniers have each managed three goals and eight points during Seattle’s slump while defenseman Brandon Montour has contributed three goals and six points in that span.

The problem is other players you’d expect to do well have fallen short. Oliver Bjorkstrand is the most notable example of that. He set a career high with 59 points last season but has just three goals and five points through 13 appearances in 2024-25 and is heading in the wrong direction with a goal and an assist across his past eight outings. Those struggles reached a possible crescendo when he was scratched Tuesday, so it will be interesting to see if he uses that time in the press box to reset.

Jordan Eberle and Eeli Tolvanen need to rebound too. They have managed just two and three points, respectively, over Seattle’s past eight games. Neither is a major offensive threat, but they are important secondary scorers for the Kraken and lately, they have failed to fulfill that role.

Some of those cold stretches would have been swept under the rug if Shane Wright was adapting to the NHL, but the No. 4 overall pick from the 2022 NHL Draft has been disappointing thus far, providing just a goal and two points through 14 games in 2024-25. I wonder if he might benefit from a stint in the press box of his own. Either way, it’s impossible to recommend him at this time in standard leagues, but I will at least say the potential remains there, so he’s worth keeping an eye on. If you want a silver lining, you could say that the Kraken’s overall offensive struggles do open the door to Wright landing a top six spot if only he could start producing.

St. Louis Blues (Tue vs BOS, Thu @ BUF, Fri @ BOS, Sun @ CAR)

The Blues have a busy week ahead of them, but the competition isn’t the easiest. They’ll host the Bruins on Tuesday before heading on the road to play in Buffalo on Thursday, Boston on Saturday and Carolina on Sunday.

We could all breathe a sigh of relief after Dylan Holloway avoided serious injury after a scary incident Tuesday when he was hit by a high puck and taken away on a stretcher. He even managed to play in St. Louis’ very next game. His former Oilers teammate who came with him to St. Louis, though, will be out for a while.

Philip Broberg suffered a lower-body injury Saturday and is expected to miss the next 4-6 weeks. Broberg had been making the most of the increased role the Blues gave him, providing two goals and nine points through 12 appearances while averaging 19:34 of ice time. St. Louis is also missing Torey Krug (ankle) for the 2024-25 campaign and Nick Leddy (lower body), though at least in Leddy’s case, he might be back in the not-too-distant future.

Absences have likely contributed to Ryan Suter playing a bigger role than initially envisioned. Although he an insanely big minutes eater in his prime, Suter dipped below 20 minutes per game in 2023-24 for the first time since his rookie campaign, averaging 18:56 of ice time with Dallas. The 39-year-old initially looked like he would have a strictly supporting role with St. Louis in 2024-25, averaging just 16:02 across the Blues’ opening four games. Then Leddy got hurt, and Suter has averaged 23:53 since. Don’t be surprised if Suter’s ice time takes a notable hit once Leddy is back, though until Broberg is healthy too, Suter will probably still see at least decent minutes.

Leddy’s eventual return might also make things a little easier on Blues goaltenders Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer. Neither netminder has gotten off to a good start, though Binnington has been encouraging recently. He’s still just 4-5-0 with a 2.78 GAA and a .904 save percentage in 10 outings overall, but he’s saved 75 of 81 shots (.926 save percentage) across his past three games. Going into the season, it looked like Hofer might challenge Binnington for the starting gig, but that hasn’t happened yet to any major extent, and Binnington’s recent success helps put more distance between the two.

Vancouver Canucks (Tue vs CGY, Thu vs NYI, Sat vs CHI, Sun vs NSH)

Vancouver is on a three-game winning streak, bringing the Canucks up to 7-2-3. They’ll look to continue that success next week with home games against Calgary on Tuesday, the Islanders on Thursday, Chicago on Saturday and Nashville on Sunday.

While things are going well for the Canucks overall, the same can’t be said for Elias Pettersson. He has two goals and five points across 12 appearances in 2024-25. He did discuss his slump last week, and unfortunately, not much has changed since with Pettersson providing one point (a goal) over his past three games despite Vancouver combining for a solid 12 goals during that stretch.

One thing I didn’t bring up then is Pettersson’s shot total, which is concerning low at 22, which translates to 5.7 shots per 60 minutes, a drop from 7.7 last year. That’s despite having one six-shot game in 2024-25 -- he also has been held to a single shot on seven occasions. He also has just 52 shot attempts, which is 4.3 per game, down from 4.9 in 2023-24.

I went to dig a bit deeper, and one thing that stood out to me is that his skating metrics are down from last year, and the same can be said about his shot speed. In terms of shot location, 60 of his 207 in 2023-24 were high danger, translating to roughly 29 percent while he has nine of 22 (40.9 percent) in high-danger locations this campaign, so at least when he is shooting the location is generally good, but still, some of those other metrics are concerning.

Pettersson is still just 25, so unless he’s playing hurt, I don’t think it’s fair to believe there isn’t a physical reason for his drop in play. Instead, it’s likely to be mental, which is a theory that gains credibility when you consider former Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau’s analysis of the situation, per the Vancouver Province. Boudreau noted that Pettersson “doesn’t look excited when he plays and gets frustrated very easily.” Perhaps the pressure of his eight-year, $92.8 million contract, which he’s in the first season of, is getting to the star forward.

Whatever the case, other members of the Canucks have been picking up the slack. Not much was expected of Conor Garland going into the campaign, but he’s been great, providing four goals and 11 points through 12 appearances. That probably won’t last, but he isn’t showing signs of slowing down yet after recording at least a point in each of his past three games. Defenseman Quinn Hughes is also red hot, supplying a goal and five points over his last two outings, bringing him up to three goals and 14 points in 12 appearances this season.

Vegas Golden Knights (Mon vs CAR, Wed @ ANA, Fri @ UTA, Sun vs WSH)

The Golden Knights will start the upcoming week by hosting the Hurricanes, but after that, they’ll have to take to the road. Vegas will play in Anaheim on Wednesday, Utah on Friday and Washington on Sunday.

The Golden Knights have won six of their past seven games, elevating their record to 9-3-1. The top line of Jack Eichel, Mark Stone and Ivan Barbashev continues to be a major part of that with Stone leading the way with six goals and 21 points in 13 outings. The 32-year-old Stone is on a seven-game scoring streak (four goals,12 points) and has been held off the scoresheet just once in 2024-25.

It also helps to have a player of Tomas Hertl’s caliber on the second unit, who has four goals and 12 points through 13 outings. Meanwhile, Noah Hanifin is red hot from the blue line with three goals and eight points across his past two games.

Those two really highlight the amazing sticking power Vegas has managed thanks to its aggressive trade strategy. Those are two veterans who were added during the 2023-24 campaign and are locked up to 2027-28. Other teams add rental pieces leading up to a Cup run, but the Golden Knights tend to take a longer view when making trades, so even when a postseason run doesn’t work out, as was the case in 2024, the additions they made are still around to help them moving forward.

Eventually, the bottom might fall out of this strategy. In the cap era, we haven’t seen a team that has been able to sustain itself indefinitely on trades alone without going through a rebuild. But when you look at the team’s core of Eichel, Stone, Hertl, Barbashev, William Karlsson, Alex Pietrangelo, Noah Hanifin and Shea Theodore, you’re seeing a group that’s still largely in its prime and positioned to potentially be competitive for years to come.

The one thing that the group is missing is a star goaltender. Adin Hill can be solid, but he also has his rough patches, and the 2024-25 campaign has been more miss than hit for him so far, leaving Hill with a 3.01 GAA and an .882 save percentage through eight outings. On the plus side, he’s allowed just five goals on 64 shots (.922 save percentage) across his past three starts, and the Golden Knights are strong enough offensively to put him in a position to win even when he doesn’t have a great night, so there’s still plenty of value to be had here.

NHL: DADOUN – THE FANTASY WEEK AHEAD (November 4th to November 11th – Oilers face challenges early, while Knights soar out the gate

Ryan Dadoun — Sat, 02 Nov 2024 16:35:39 +0000

Edmonton Oilers Center Leon Draisaitl (29) (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)

At the end of October last year, Edmonton was in a sorry state with a 2-5-1 record, and the squad posted a 2-8-1 record by the 11-game mark. Of course, we know about the turnaround the Oilers managed, but in that context, Edmonton’s 5-5-1start this year doesn’t seem so bad. It’s not good either, though, and there are some areas that need to be improved upon if Edmonton is to live up to its lofty expectations.

Surprisingly, Edmonton hasn’t managed to reliably score this campaign. The Oilers managed two or fewer goals in each of their six losses (including the overtime defeat), and they never scored more than four goals in any of their first 10 games. That issue was compounded Monday when they lost Connor McDavid for the next 2-3 weeks due to an ankle injury. To their credit, Edmonton responded with a clean 5-1 win over Nashville on Thursday, but we’ll have to see if the Oilers can build off that strong win.

Calvin Pickard was in net for that victory, improving to 3-1-0 with a 2.47 GAA and an .897 save percentage across nine outings. It was his second start in three games and that increase in playing time is understandable when contrasted against Stuart Skinner’s rough 3.51 GAA and .872 save percentage across seven outings. Skinner had a rough start to 2023-24 only to rebound, so don’t count him out yet, but his shaky play has been the other big reason behind Edmonton’s mediocre start. If he doesn’t start improving, it would put Edmonton in a very vulnerable spot -- Pickard has outperformed him thus far, but the 32-year-old isn’t expected to be a good long-term starter option, especially for a team with Stanley Cup aspirations.

Edmonton isn’t the only team portrayed as being a Cup contender who has underwhelmed early, but one major contender who has largely shone in the early going is Vegas with its 7-3-1 start. Not everything is rosy for the Golden Knights -- Adin Hill’s 3.20 GAA and .878 save percentage through six appearances don’t look much more appealing than Skinner’s results -- but those issues have been masked by Vegas’ offense, led by its top line.

At the time of writing, Mark Stone is tied for the lead league in points with 19 (five goals) through 11 games while Jack Eichel isn’t far behind with three goals and 16 points in 11 outings. Those two are fairing better than expected, but the thing that’s really held Vegas back in recent years -- at least as far as the regular season goes -- is injuries to key players in general, and those two in particular. If those two can stay healthy this time, it’ll be interesting to see if the duo continues to make their presence known among the league’s scoring leaders.

Speaking of, you’d have to go back to when the two were still rookies to find the last time Eichel ended a season with more points than McDavid. Excluding their first campaigns, McDavid’s single-season low of 97 points is better than Eichel’s career high of 82. It’s way too early to suggest that Eichel will finish above McDavid in the scoring race, but we’ll see what the future holds.

Calgary Flames (Tue @ MTL, Thu @ BOS, Sat @ BUF)

The Flames won their first four games of the campaign, but that hot start has been erased, to the point where they’re 5-4-1 at the time of writing. They’ll be on the road next week, but the silver lining is they’ll be facing middling squads in Montreal on Tuesday and Buffalo on Saturday. Their contest in Boston on Thursday also might not be as difficult as it would appear at first glance. The Bruins are among the teams who underperformed in October, finishing the month with a 4-6-1 record.

Speaking of disappointment, the change of scenery hasn’t helped Anthony Mantha much. It looked like he might play a big role with the Flames, especially after head coach Ryan Huska suggested in September that Mantha’s goal for the 2024-25 should be to fire 300 shots. If we’re talking about shots on goal, then that would shatter his previous career high of 198 set in 2018-19 -- even if it were just shot attempts, then 300 would be his most since 2018-19 and a massive jump from his 219 last year. Instead, Mantha has just nine SOG through 10 games, and while three of those have gone in, it's still leagues less aggressive than the stated goal. Mantha also already moved around the lineup a fair amount, making it hard to pin down what his role with the team is. At best, it seems he’s a middle-six forward and is currently on course to put up something similar to the 23 goals and 44 points he recorded between Washington and Vegas last year -- not bad, but not what the preseason talk suggested might be possible.

One player he has seen a decent amount of ice time with is Jonathan Huberdeau, who looks good so far with four goals and seven points across 10 appearances, but those numbers don’t hold up to even the lightest of scrutiny. He had a good start with three goals and six points through four outings, largely thanks to a four-point game Oct. 12, but Huberdeau has been limited to just one point (a goal) across his past six appearances. Unfortunately, this might not be the bounce-back campaign despite that one big game.

On a more positive note, this might be a good sophomore season for Connor Zary. He has two goals and seven points through 10 appearances and his production has been far more evenly spread out than Huberdeau’s. The 23-year-old Zary is among the Flames more promising young forwards and seeing him start to come into his own gives Calgary some cause for cautious optimism.

Carolina Hurricanes (Tue vs. PHI, Thu vs. PIT, Sat @ COL)

The Hurricanes will open the week by hosting the Flyers on Tuesday and the Penguins on Thursday before heading to Colorado for a match Saturday. None of those adversaries have a winning record at the time of writing, though the Avalanche do still have the potential to be a great team this year.

Injuries are a big part of the reason Colorado has that subpar record. Carolina has had far better luck in that regard, though the Hurricanes aren’t completely immune. Frederik Andersen sustained a lower-body injury, and while it initially sounded like it might not be serious, he’s now regarded as week-to-week. The 35-year-old has an incredible 16-3-0 record, 1.77 GAA and .933 save percentage across the past two seasons, but sadly he can’t seem to stay healthy.

With Andersen once again out, Pyotr Kochetkov will be leaned on heavily. He has a poor .891 save percentage in 2024-25, but the Hurricanes are a top-tier team when it comes to supporting their goaltenders -- despite that save percentage, he has a solid 2.61 GAA and a great 4-1-0 record. Spencer Martin was summoned from AHL Chicago to be the understudy, but he hasn’t gotten into a game yet and probably won’t next week given the Hurricanes’ spread-out schedule.

Carolina is also still missing Riley Stillman, who opened the season on the non-roster injured list. Stillman has started to practice, though, so he might not be too far off from returning. The question is if his availability will shake up Carolina’s current top six. Perhaps Sean Walker or Jalen Chatfield will spend the occasional game in the press box, but it’s entirely feasible that Stillman will simply be the seventh defenseman once healthy, only being inserted into the lineup in the event of an injury or blueliner needing a day off.

Brent Burns probably won’t be someone who gets much in the way of rest days, but age might be catching up to the 39-year-old. He has just three assists through nine appearances this season, albeit with those points coming during a recent three-game scoring streak from Oct. 24-28. Most notably, he doesn’t have any points yet with the man advantage. I was concerned that the presence of Shayne Gostisbehere would lead to Burns getting a reduced role on the power play, and it seems that has proven to be the case. Gostisbehere has roughly double the amount of power-play minutes so far while recording three goals and five points with the man advantage -- nine points overall through nine outings.

Columbus Blue Jackets (Tue @ SJS, Sat @ LAK, Sun vs. ANA)

The Blue Jackets have done better than expected so far, posting a 5-3-1 record in October. They’ll try to keep that going next week with road games against the Sharks on Tuesday, the Kings on Saturday and the Ducks on Sunday.

Kirill Marchenko has played a significant part in the Blue Jackets’ early success, supplying four goals and 11 points through nine appearances. He’s developed chemistry with summer addition Sean Monahan, who has five goals and nine points through nine outings.

Cole Sillinger has also really stood up lately. Taken with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, Sillinger was fairly quiet offensively over his first three campaigns, but this has the makings to be a breakout campaign after he recorded two goals and eight points across his opening nine games. He’s been particularly effective recently, providing a goal and four points over his past two outings, so we’ll see if he can build off that momentum next week.

However, if you’re looking for the hottest member of the Blue Jackets, that would have to be Elvis Merzlikins. He was stunning against Edmonton and the Islanders on Monday and Wednesday, respectively, stopping a combined 57 of 58 shots over that stretch. He largely served as Daniil Tarasov’s understudy to start the campaign, but Tarasov has a 3.42 GAA and an .886 save percentage through five outings, so there’s an opportunity here for Merzlikins to wrestle back the starting job if he continues to perform well.

Los Angeles Kings (Mon @ NAS, Tue @ MIN, Thu vs. VAN, Sat vs. CBJ)

The Kings have a busy week ahead of them. They’ll start with road matches in Nashville on Monday and Minnesota on Tuesday before returning home to host the Canucks on Thursday and the Blue Jackets on Saturday.

Los Angeles has a 6-3-2 record, and Kevin Fiala has been part of that initial success. It hasn’t been all good news for him -- he logged just 10:12 on Oct. 26 because he took some bad penalties and was a healthy scratch Wednesday after missing a team meeting -- but Fiala is nevertheless off to a strong start with five goals and eight points in 10 appearances, including a two-point showing in his return from the press box. If he can avoid getting into too much trouble with coach Jim Hiller, Fiala is a serious contender to reach the 70-point mark for the fourth consecutive campaign.

Hiller has every reason to like Brandt Clarke’s recent play. The 21-year-old defenseman has an incredible seven points (one goal) across his past four outings. It helps that Clarke is a part of the Kings’ top power-play unit -- five of his 11 points through 11 appearances in 2024-25 have come with the man advantage. Clarke might still lose that power-play spot when Drew Doughty is ready to return from his ankle injury, but Doughty isn’t expected to be back anytime soon -- he was declared month-to-month when he underwent surgery in early October -- so that’s not something that needs to be thought about too hard right now.

It is impressive that the Kings have done so well without Doughty. Having a young blueliner like Clarke capable of stepping up helps, but having a steady captain like Anze Kopitar is another key component. The 37-year-old hasn’t slowed with age, collecting four goals and 12 points through 11 games this year. He led the Kings to victory over the Golden Knights with a three-point showing Wednesday that included Kopitar’s 800th career assist. He’s just the 35th player to ever hit that milestone, and with the way he’s performing, perhaps he’ll even hit 900 before it’s time to hang up his skates -- just 20 players have ever done that. Kopitar is in the first season of a two-year, $14 million contract, though he’d probably need to play through the 2026-27 campaign to hit that next milestone.

Minnesota Wild (Tue vs. LAK, Thu @ SJS, Fri @ ANA, Sun @ CHI)

As noted above, Minnesota is set to host the Kings on Tuesday. Afterward, the Wild will begin a road trip with stops in San Jose on Thursday, Anaheim on Friday and Chicago on Sunday.

Despite playing seven of their first nine games on the road, the Wild are off to an incredible 6-1-2 start. Filip Gustavsson has been a big part of that initial success, posting a 4-1-1 record, 2.17 GAA and .922 save percentage across six starts. That’s a big turnaround from his 2023-24 campaign (3.06 GAA, .899 save percentage) and puts him more in line with how he did in 2022-23 (2.10 GAA, .931 save percentage).

Kirill Kaprizov is the other major reason for Minnesota’s strong start. He has five goals and 18 points through nine games and is showing no signs of slowing down. He ended October on a six-game multi-point streak in which he has provided four goals and 14 points. No other Wild player comes close to matching Kaprizov’s recent offensive output, though defenseman Jacob Middleton is on a four-game scoring streak that’s seen him provide a goal and five assists.

To make matters better for the Wild, Jared Spurgeon was able to return Tuesday after missing six straight games due to a lower-body injury. His return will likely lead to Declan Chisholm and Jon Merrill spending the occasional game in the press box.

One thing Spurgeon probably won’t do a lot of is contribute offensively. He has reached the 40-point mark as recently as 2021-22, but the 34-year-old is going to be serving on the second power-play unit as best thanks to the rise of sophomore Brock Faber. Instead, Spurgeon’s best category might end up being blocks. He ranked sixth with 179 blocks in 2022-23, which was the last season he was mostly healthy.

Nashville Predators (Mon vs. LAK, Wed @ WSH, Thu @ FLA, Sat vs. UTA)

After starting the campaign 0-5-0, Nashville has started to recover but remains a poor 3-6-1. The Predators will attempt to make up for lost ground next week, starting with Monday’s home game against the Kings. Nashville will spend the remainder of the week on the road, facing Washington on Wednesday, Florida on Thursday and Utah on Saturday.

The Predators are still waiting for Steven Stamkos to start playing like the star he was in Tampa Bay. Stamkos did get two assists against his former team in Monday’s 3-2 overtime loss, but that’s about all the life he’s shown. The 34-year-old has a goal and three points through 10 appearances. He also has a minus-8 rating, which is tied for the fourth worst on the team. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that he’s been taking a ton of shots -- 32 so far -- so it should be just a matter of time before they start going in.

Nashville’s other major summer addition, Jonathan Marchessault, is also struggling to find the back of the net. Not many people expected Marchessault to repeat his 42-goal showing from 2023-24, especially because his 15.8 shooting percentage was a career high outside of 2014-15 in which he logged just two games. Still, if Marchessault was a bit on the lucky side last year, he’s gotten terrible luck in 2024-25, providing just two goals on 35 shots so far. He does at least have four assists to go with it, so his struggles haven’t been as notable as Stamkos’, but there’s still a lot of room for growth here.

Stamkos and Marchessault might have struggled for long enough now that they’d be solid buy-low candidates in fantasy. Perhaps you could put Juuse Saros in that group too. He’s also off to a rough start with a 2-5-1 record, 3.04 GAA and .896 save percentage across eight appearances. He did underwhelm somewhat in 2023-24 as well, finishing with a 2.86 GAA and a .906 save percentage, but at the very least, if you believe that Stamkos and Marchessault have underperformed, which seems reasonable, then there’s reason to believe that Saros should be a better source of wins as the campaign progresses.

New Jersey Devils (Mon @ EDM, Thu vs. MTL, Sat @ NYI, Sun vs. SJS)

The Devils played more games than any other team, 13, in October and their schedule will stay full next week. They’ll play in Edmonton on Monday, host the Canadiens on Thursday, face the Islanders in a road game Saturday and then end the week at home against the Sharks on Sunday.

Luke Hughes missed the first nine games of the season due to a shoulder injury, but the 21-year-old blueliner returned Oct. 24. He didn’t, however, get his 2023-24 assignment back. He’s averaged 18:06 of ice time, including a modest 0:55 with the man advantage, though four appearances. Hughes served primarily on the top power-play unit last season, but that was with Dougie Hamilton unavailable. Now that both defensemen are healthy, it seems Hamilton will serve on the first unit while Hughes will play on the second. That’s a major blow to Hughes’ fantasy value -- 25 of his 47 points last season came with the man advantage.

Even if Hughes was on the top power-play and gelling, though, he wouldn’t be the headline act in New Jersey right now. That’s unquestionably Nico Hischier, who has provided an unreal nine goals and 13 points across his past nine games, bringing him up to 15 points (10 goals) through 13 outings in 2024-25. Hischier finished October on a four-game goal-scoring streak. His current goal pace won’t last obviously -- his 22.7 shooting percentage for 2024-25 would shatter his career high if it lasted the full campaign -- but he is a high-end talent who could reasonably surpass the 30-goal and 80-point milestones this season.

The Devils have kept Hischier and Jack Hughes primarily on separate lines at even strength to give the team a strong one-two punch. Hughes is rolling too with three goals and seven points across his past five outings, giving him four goals and 12 points in 13 appearances this year. The Devils are even getting decent production out of their third line with Erik Haula supplying four goals and eight points through 13 outings.

New Jersey was 7-4-2 in October. The Devils do have some areas of concern -- Jacob Markstrom has been a step up from their goaltenders last year, but he’s also had some notably rough nights, which has left him with a mild .903 save percentage in 2024-25 -- but they do look like a team that should stay strong this year.

Vancouver Canucks (Tue @ ANA, Thu @ LAK, Sat vs. EDM)

The Canucks can attest to the Devils’ strength after suffering a 6-0 loss to New Jersey on Wednesday. Vancouver dropped to 4-2-3 with that defeat but will be looking for better results during the upcoming week. The Canucks will play in Anaheim on Tuesday and LA on Thursday before hosting the Oilers on Saturday.

Vancouver could really use Thatcher Demko (knee). Kevin Lankinen has done well overall with a 2.29 GAA and a .920 save percentage in six starts, but he’s faltered recently, allowing 10 goals on 90 shots (.889 save percentage) across his past three outings. Meanwhile, Arturs Silovs has struggled with a record of 0-2-1 to go with an abysmal 5.00 GAA and .797 save percentage through three contests.

Demko has been skating and we have seen him on his own in full gear, but there’s nothing to indicate yet that he’s close to returning, so it seems Vancouver will have to rely on Lankinen and Silovs for a while longer.

If they get sufficient goal support, it might be fine. To that end, it would go a long way if Elias Pettersson could get into a rhythm. He had just one goal and four points through nine appearances in October. Some of you might be thinking back to 2021-22 when Pettersson started the campaign with six goals and 17 points in his first 37 games before turning a corner by providing 26 goals and 51 points in 43 outings the rest of the way. That example does show that Pettersson is both capable of prolonged cold stretches and recovering from them, though Vancouver will surely be hoping that it doesn’t take him nearly as long to get going in 2024-25.

It'd help if newcomer Jake DeBrusk got going too. He has just four assists in nine appearances with Vancouver after signing a seven-year, $38.5 million contract with Vancouver over the summer. The Canucks were believed to be interested in inking Jake Guentzel before he signed with Tampa Bay. DeBrusk was at least a cheaper alternative, but Vancouver probably wishes they hadn’t missed out on the pricier option -- Guentzel has four goals and 11 points through 10 outings in 2024-25.

MCKEEN’S 2024-25 NHL YEARBOOK – VANCOUVER CANUCKS – Team Preview

Tue, 17 Sep 2024 16:00:37 +0000

_{VANCOUVER, BC - NOVEMBER 06: Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes (43) waits for a face-off during an NHL game against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Arena on November 6, 2023 in Vancouver, B.C. (Photo by Ethan Cairns/Icon Sportswire)}

After managing just 83 points during the 2022-2023 season, the Canucks did not have great expectations going into the 2023-2024 campaign. However, the Canucks ultimately won the Pacific Division, accumulating 109 points (50-23-9). The Canucks were the beneficiaries of lofty percentages last season. During five-on-five play, Vancouver scored on 10.6% of its shots, the highest mark in the league. To their credit, the Canucks ranked seventh in both Corsi (52.8%) and expected goals percentage (53.2%), so the underlying numbers were positive indicators before the Canucks turned into such highly efficient finishers. The Vancouver power play ranked 12th with 8.18 goals per 60 minutes while the penalty killing unit ranked 19th with 7.64 goals against per 60 minutes. There is not much to be gained from those special teams results, so the Canucks enjoyed their success because of a strong possession game coupled with league-best finishing around the net.

WHAT’S CHANGED? The Canucks shuffled the deck this offseason, while keeping the core intact. They traded Ilya Mikheyev to Chicago to shed salary and moved the rights to Sam Lafferty in that same deal, though Lafferty ultimately signed with Buffalo. Players that the Canucks acquired last season moved on as free agents. Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm both landed in Boston and Anthony Beauvillier signed in Pittsburgh. Defenceman Ian Cole signed with Utah and goaltender Casey DeSmith landed in Dallas. With all those bodies leaving, the Canucks signed left wingers Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen from Boston, as well as right wingers Daniel Sprong from Detroit and Kiefer Sherwood from Nashville. On defence, the Canucks inked Derek Forbort from Boston and Vincent Desharnais from Edmonton.

WHAT WOULD SUCCESS LOOK LIKE? After finishing in first place in the Pacific Division and taking the Edmonton Oilers to seven games in the second round, success will look different for the Canucks in 2024-2025. While they are prime candidates to experience regression from that lofty shooting percentage, they are going to have expectations that they will not only make the playoffs but at least win a round and maybe more. To have that kind of success, they will likely need to have their stars play like stars – Quinn Hughes, J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson, and Thatcher Demko were all excellent last season, driving the team’s results.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? The most glaring concern for the Canucks could be that they just stop scoring so easily. The Canucks scored on 10.6% of their shots during five-on-five play which was about two percent higher than league average. That would have a ripple effect throughout the lineup as players like Miller, Hughes, and Pettersson would all face uphill fights to maintain the same level of production. An injury to Hughes would pose a problem on a Vancouver defence that is not long on puck-moving talent, but Hughes has also been very durable, so it’s not like he should be expected to miss time.

TOP BREAKOUT CANDIDATE: Even though he scored 24 goals last season, Nils Hoglander is still a bona fide breakout candidate for the Canucks. Hoglander had a strong season, which included scoring on 20% of his shots on goal, which is not likely to carry over to a new season. On the other hand, Hoglander played just over 12 minutes per game last season and appears to be ticketed for a bigger role in 2024-2025. He could very well start on the left side of a line with J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser, and while it’s easy to say that Hoglander’s shooting percentage will come down, it’s just as easy to say that he will play more than 12 minutes per game in 2024-25. Getting more minutes, potentially with more skilled linemates, opens up Hoglander to having a bigger impact this season.

Forwards

Elias Pettersson

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	40	59	99	1.21

Across the past two seasons, Pettersson has accumulated 191 points, which ranks tenth in the National Hockey League. Pettersson is a cerebral player who does not depend on physicality but always knows where to be on the ice and is ready to shoot when the opportunity presents itself. Pettersson has a terrific shot and can score from distance using a wrist shot or a one-timer, particularly on the power play. It is not easy to beat NHL goaltenders cleanly on a shot from distance, but Pettersson can do it, so allowing him the time and space to unleash that cannon is a bad decision from those defending against the Canucks centre. Pettersson delivers consistently strong possession numbers, and the Canucks have outscored the opposition every season during five-on-five play with Pettersson on the ice. Last season, they outscored the opposition 67-47 with Pettersson on the ice. He also showed marked improvement in the faceoff circle, winning 50.8 percent of his draws. It was the first season of Pettersson’s career that he won more than 45.0 percent of his faceoffs. He also recorded a career-high 125 hits and can surprise opponents when he suddenly steps into them with more authority. That seems to indicate a little more edge to Pettersson’s play and that should serve him well. He’s a finesse player and a really good one, but it helps if he can carve out more space to maneuver on the ice. Petterson has been able to stay healthy, missing a total of four games across the past three seasons, and has established that he can produce at better than a point-per-game clip. Looking ahead to 2024-2025, Pettersson should be able to score 35 goals and 85-90 points.

J.T. Miller

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	34	64	98	1.20

After years of inconsistency, particularly on the defensive end, Miller set career highs with 37 goals and 103 points last season. He won 56.3 percent of his faceoffs and took 1,461 draws, the ninth-highest total in the league. Miller is a physically strong player who has grown increasingly comfortable using his size to add a physical presence. He has reached 200 hits in each of the past two seasons, and his 284 points across the past three seasons ranks tenth in the NHL, while his 108 power play points in that time ranks eighth. A centre that wins faceoffs, hits, and puts up elite point totals, Miller is one of the top players in the game when healthy. He has also not been caught dogging it on backchecks, an indiscretion that would creep into his game from time to time. Miller had an epic productive season in 2023-2024 while playing 19:29 per game, his lowest average time on ice since arriving in Vancouver for the 2019-2020 season. The 31-year-old is still going strong and should be counted on to score 30-35 goals and 90 points for Vancouver. On his way to a career-best scoring season in 2023-2024, Miller depended on a shooting percentage of 19.1 percent and an on-ice shooting percentage of 13.0 percent. It is highly unlikely that Miller can hit those thresholds again in 2024-2025.

Brock Boeser

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
80	35	30	65	0.81

As the 2022-2023 season concluded, it looked like Boeser might have played his last game for the Canucks. They stuck with him, though, and were rewarded in a big way last season, when he set career high with 40 goals and 73 points. He followed that up with seven goals and 12 points in a dozen playoff games. That was the best season of his career. Boeser scored on 19.6 percent of his shots, easily the best mark of his career, so regression on the goal-scoring front seems inevitable, but that is expected. He had never scored 30 goals in a season before busting out for 40 last season. Boeser has good hands and goal-scorers instincts, but he does not generate a ton of shots and that can cause his goal-scoring to fluctuate, depending on what percentage of his shots beat the goalie. Boeser spent most of last season skating alongside Miller but the third member of their line rotated. Pettersson, Phil Di Giuseppe, Pius Suter, and Nils Hoglander all played more than 200 five-on-five minutes with Boeser. While Boeser figures to remain with Miller, Hoglander might have the inside track to play with them in 2024-2025. No matter who ends up in that spot, Boeser should deliver offence, and it would be reasonable to expect 30 goals and 60 points.

Jake DeBrusk

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	32	28	60	0.73

Vancouver’s big free agent addition in the summer, DeBrusk has filled a complementary role in Boston for much of his career, finishing with between 40 and 50 points in five of his seven NHL seasons. In 2022-2023, DeBrusk set career highs with 27 goals and 50 points in just 64 games, and part of the reason for that success is that he was shooting the puck, finishing with a career-high 2.98 shots on goal per game. He is never going to be an intimidating presence like his father, but DeBrusk did record a career-high 107 hits last season. Goal scoring can be fickle, though. In DeBrusk’s case, he had one goal in his first 16 games last season, had one goal in another 15-game stretch, then had one goal in the last 10 games of the regular season. He then went on to tally five goals and 11 points in 13 playoff games. In Vancouver, the objective should be to get DeBrusk consistently into position to shoot and it looks like he could start the season skating with Elias Pettersson, who is more than capable of distributing the puck. That would give him a great chance to surpass his previous production. With skilled players around him, DeBrusk should have a chance to deliver 25 goals and 50 points in his first season with the Canucks.

Conor Garland

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	22	29	51	0.62

A small but scrappy winger, Garland has been very consistent, ranging between 39 and 52 points over the past five seasons. He uses his speed to drive play and, in three seasons with the Canucks, Garland’s team has outscored the opposition by 45 goals when he is on the ice during five-on-five play. Under the radar, Garland also had a terrific defensive season in 2023-2024. Among forwards who played at least 500 five-on-five minutes, only eight had a lower rate of shot attempts against per 60 minutes, and six of those eight were Carolina Hurricanes. It was really a superb season, and while Garland has typically had positive possession numbers and strong goal differentials, his 2023-2024 season was dominant, the kind of underlying numbers that a player should strive to achieve, because it makes the eventual on-ice results more sustainable. Full credit to Garland for putting this season together, skating primarily with Teddy Blueger and Dakota Joshua, on a third line that outscored opponents 21-10 during five-on-five play. With that trio still in the fold, the Canucks will likely let them carry on doing their thing. Garland has established what his baseline for production is and he should be able to continue at that level in 2024-2025, picking up 15-20 goals and 45-50 points.

Danton Heinen

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
78	18	17	35	0.45

Signed as a free agent from Boston, Heinen has bounced around quite a bit in his career. It seems that he ends up being an odd fit because he tends to play in the bottom six and does not offer the physicality that many coaches want out of a winger in the bottom six. Even so, Heinen finished last season with 17 goals and 36 points, his second highest totals in both categories. He also had 28 penalty minutes, the first time in his career that he finished a season with more than 16 penalty minutes. Heinen has good hands and does a nice job finding soft spots in the attacking zone. One of the benefits of having a player like Heinen playing lower on the depth chart is that he is entirely capable of moving up when needed, because he has the required skill to skate alongside talented linemates. Last season, in Boston, his most common linemates were David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha, but Trent Frederic, Charlie Coyle, Morgan Geekie, and Jake DeBrusk all played more than 150 minutes with Heinen, and three more forwards landed between 100 and 150 minutes. That versatility can help the team but may not set Heinen up for a lofty projection because it means uncertainty about the impact that his role is expected to have on the Canucks season. A reasonable projection for 2024-2025 would see Heinen notch 15 goals and 30-35 points.

Dakota Joshua

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
77	17	16	33	0.43

As a pending free agent last season, Joshua was starting to draw interest from other NHL teams and why not? The 6-foot-3 forward had already established his physical presence and had more than 200 hits for the second straight season, but he also set career highs with 18 goals and 32 points despite playing in just 63 games. He added another eight points in 13 playoff games, so it was no wonder that the Canucks did what they needed to do in order to keep Joshua. While there are plenty of positives to Joshua’s game, his statistical step forward was heavily dependent on lofty percentages. He scored on 21.4 percent of his shots on goal, after finishing on 13.5 percent of his shots in 121 games over the previous three seasons. He is a big-bodied forward who can be a net front presence, and those players tend to have higher shooting percentages, but he is still unlikely to duplicate 21 percent. He also had an on-ice shooting percentage of 10.1 percent, which is high, but six Canucks forwards had higher on-ice shooting percentages last season – that was part of the reason for Vancouver’s success. If Joshua can continue to have success with Blueger and Garland, that should include 15 goals and 30 points in 2024-2025.

Pius Suter

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
75	13	14	27	0.36

The Canucks signed Suter last August, so there were modest expectations placed upon him and he probably delivered about what they could have expected, scoring 14 goals and 29 points in 67 games. Suter had a spectacular defensive campaign, with solid defensive metrics, but he also had a .940 on-ice save percentage so the Canucks outscored opponents 39-20 with Suter on the ice. Even with that lopsided goal differential, Suter is generally a low-key player. He is on the smaller side and skates well enough but is not outstanding at any one thing. It’s more a case of him being solid at a variety of parts to his game and he happened to thrive on good fortune last season, with his PDO at 104.8. It does appear that Suter could be on the fourth line this season, though he will likely compete with Blueger for ice time in the bottom half of the Canucks’ depth chart at centre. Suter did have a handful of power play points last season which earns him some credit for his skill level. For the 2024-2025 season, it is fair to expect Suter to contribute 15 goals and 30 points, which is not going to get him much fantasy relevance, but he has had spurts that could make him a viable short-term pick during the season, especially if he lands on the power play.

Nils Hoglander

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	15	20	35	0.43

There have been ups and downs in the development path of Hoglander, a 23-year-old winger, but last season was a clear step up for him. He finished the season with career highs of 24 goals and 36 points, despite playing just 12:06 per game. How rare was that production? Auston Matthews and Zach Hyman were the only two players with a higher rate of goals per 60 minutes than Hoglander’s 1.58 last season. While Hoglander is not the biggest guy on the ice, he is solidly built and plays an aggressive physical style. He recorded 100 hits last season for the first time in his career and taking that aggressive approach on the forecheck helped to generate more chances. Like many Canucks forwards, Hoglander faces likely regression in 2024-2025 because it is so rare to carry a 104.8 PDO for more than one season. What he has going for him is that he could also add a decent amount of ice time to help offset the likely statistical settling. Hoglander has a chance to play at least in Vancouver’s top six, potentially even on the top line, so he should be looking at the most productive season of his career. Hoglander should be able to top the 20-goal mark again and could put up the first 40-point season of his career.

Daniel Sprong

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
78	15	20	35	0.45

A rare commodity, Sprong has found a niche as a fourth line scoring winger, finding the net with incredible efficiency last season in Detroit and the year before that in Seattle. Across the past two seasons, there have been 373 forwards who have played at least 1000 five-on-five minutes. Of that group, Sprong ranked ninth with 1.26 goals per 60 minutes. He is in great company, including Auston Matthews, David Pastrnak, Jared McCann, Nathan MacKinnon, Brayden Point, Filip Forsberg, Nils Hoglander, and Carter Verhaeghe are ahead of him, while Zach Hyman is one spot behind. Sprong has always had a dangerous shot, but the battle has been getting him to deliver a well-rounded game that can earn him more significant ice time. The interesting choice facing the Canucks is what to do with Sprong. Do they give him a chance to play more minutes higher up the depth chart? Probably, yes. But they might just be able to roll him out in a fourth line role and still get the kind of production that he has delivered for the past two seasons. It is fair to expect 15-20 goals and 35-40 points from Sprong, with the caveat that if his ice time gets a substantial boost, then his ceiling for offensive production will get higher.

DEFENCE

Quinn Hughes

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
80	15	75	90	1.13

The reigning Norris Trophy winner exploded for career highs of 17 goals, 75 assists, and 92 points last season. An exceptional skater, Hughes has always been an offensive threat, but his all-around game could be underrated, at least until he was named the league’s best defenceman. Among the 138 defencemen to play at least 1000 five-on-five minutes last season, only four had a lower rate of shot attempts against than Hughes. But Hughes really stands out as a puck moving defender who can turn a quick transition opportunity into an attack. While Hughes has acceleration and great edges that allow him to change direction quickly, the game also appears to have slowed down for him, so that he is processing it better than he did early in his career. Additionally, Hughes was more assertive offensively last season, taking more shots and generating more scoring chances than he ever had before. Essentially, he didn’t arrive at his career high in points by accident. Such is the natural evolution of an elite talent entering the prime of his career. Hughes is an excellent power play quarterback. Over the past three seasons, his 96 power play assists paced all defencemen and his 103 power play points left him tied with Cale Makar. It might be asking a lot for Hughes to duplicate his 2023-2024 production, especially considering he had a career-high on-ice shooting percentage of 12.1 percent last season, but he is probably not falling off a cliff in terms of productivity, either. He should still have a chance to push a point per game, with an 80-point season provided that he remains healthy, which has been a relative strength of his, not missing more than six games in any season.

Filip Hronek

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
80	8	37	45	0.56

Hronek had established his credentials as a top pair NHL defencemen in Detroit and yet the Red Wings still moved him to Vancouver before the 2023 trade deadline. Hronek only played four games for the Canucks that season before he needed shoulder surgery, so they didn’t really get a good look at him. Last season, Hronek paired frequently with Hughes and the duo excelled. Obviously, Hughes got the accolades, but Hronek put up a career-best 48 points along with excellent play driving numbers while logging more than 23 minutes per game. Hronek has excellent puck skills, can make a good pass and owns a rocket shot from the point. He also handles the puck well and it makes him a strong complement to Hughes. On this pairing, Hronek is also the one tasked with more stay-at-home responsibilities, and while he is not a devastating physical force, he is comfortable getting involved and has gone over 100 hits in back-to-back seasons. Signed to an eight-year contract, for $58 million, Hronek has long-term security in Vancouver and as the partner to the Norris Trophy winner, he is poised to be a valuable piece on the Vancouver blueline for years. So long as he stays healthy, Hronek should be able to contribute 45 points to the Vancouver attack in 2024-2025.

Tyler Myers

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
77	4	21	25	0.32

For many years, Myers took criticism for all of the things that he wasn’t, as he was not an effective play-driving defenceman making him big money, but the value in Myers now is based on a more reasonable contract that brings more reasonable expectations. At 6-foot-8, Myers is not a crushing physical presence, but skates extraordinarily well for a player of that size. That can get short-circuited by poor decision making at times and that’s why Myers had brought more appeal in a secondary role. He chipped in 29 points last season, his highest total since 2018-2019 and he did that while starting more of his shifts in the defensive zone. Now 34-years-old, Myers has finally reached the point of lower expectations. He played 18:57 per game in 2023-2024, the lowest average time on ice of his career, and it was only the second time in his career that he surpassed 100 his and 100 blocked shots in the same season. That does not put Myers in a very valuable place for fantasy managers but given the other alternatives in Vancouver, Myers picking up 20-25 points with triple digit hits and blocked shots might hold a little appeal in deep leagues.

GOAL

Thatcher Demko

Predicted Stats
GP	W	L	OT	SO	SV%	GAA
56	33	16	6	4	0.915	2.51

It only took them the better part of a decade, but Canada's westernmost NHL club has finally seemed to have arrived - and leading the charge is none other than Thatcher Demko, who spent the 2023-24 season reminding the league that he belongs in the conversation with the Connor Hellebuycks and the Jeremy Swaymans, the Igor Shesterkins and the Andrei Vasilevskiys. His 0.918 unadjusted save percentage was bested only by Hellebuyck's own 0.921 among starters with more than 30 games last year, and his five shutouts helped a tumultuous Vancouver club finally start to find some even footing.

The real concern for Vancouver remains their number two spot; for yet another year they failed to see any other netminder post a save percentage topping the 0.900 threshold at the NHL level, and Demko remains a bit of a liability in the injury department. It's likely that their best option behind Demko is up-and-comer Arturs Silovs, but he has yet to prove himself at the NHL level and can suffer from bouts of inconsistent play and bad bounce-backs from tough goals against. That leaves Vancouver's goaltending in a position where it still doesn't inspire as much confidence as it deserves, even with a Vezina candidate manning the pipes the majority of the time. If Silovs can break onto the scene, though, and help stabilize the workload for Demko, the Canucks could become the most formidable team in the Pacific.

2024 NHL PLAYOFF PREVIEW: Vancouver Canucks vs. Edmonton Oilers

Ryan Dadoun — Sun, 05 May 2024 21:01:33 +0000

Edmonton Oilers Goalie Stuart Skinner (74) (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)

Vancouver Canucks vs. Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers had essentially an ideal first round against Los Angeles. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were their usual dominant selves, providing 12 and 10 points, respectively, in the five-game series. Meanwhile, Zach Hyman (seven goals, eight points), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (one goal, six points) and defenseman Evan Bouchard (one goal, nine points) provided key offensive support in the first leg of the postseason. Edmonton even got seven goals worth of secondary scoring from the rest of the cast. To top it all off, Stuart Skinner was adequate, posting a 2.59 GAA and a .910 save percentage in five playoff starts against LA.

It's not like the Kings were a bad test of Edmonton’s strength either. They posted a 44-27-11 record in the regular season on the strength of a strong defense and great goaltending, so the fact that Los Angeles was unable to slow Edmonton’s offense even marginally has to give Vancouver pause. Still, the Canucks are positioned to offer the Oilers a far greater challenge, in large part because Vancouver is one of the few teams that can keep pace with Edmonton in high-scoring contests.

While LA was mediocre offensively, tying for 16th in the regular season with 3.10 goals per contest compared to Edmonton’s 3.56 (fourth overall), Vancouver supplied 3.40 goals per game (sixth). The Canucks didn’t have an equivalent to McDavid, who finished the 2023-24 campaign with 132 points, or a 50-plus goal scorer like Hyman. However, the Canucks had an elite core of J.T. Miller (37 goals, 103 points in the regular season), Elias Pettersson (34 goals, 89 points), Brock Boeser (40 goals, 73 points) and defenseman Quinn Hughes (17 goals, 92 points).

Although that core was a mixed bag against Nashville in the first round -- Boeser and Miller stood out, each providing six points in six contests, but Pettersson was limited to three assists in the series – the group certainly can’t be overlooked going into the matchup against Edmonton. Especially because Skinner had a record of 0-3-0 with a 4.60 GAA and an .830 save percentage in four regular-season contests this year.

That history has to keep Edmonton weary of its goaltending situation, though the Canucks have their own question marks in that department.

Thatcher Demko played a huge role in the Canucks’ regular season success, posting a 35-14-2 record, 2.45 GAA and .918 save percentage in 51 outings, so when he was labeled week-to-week after sustaining a knee injury following Game 1, it was unclear if the Canucks would be able to make it past Nashville. In the end, Arturs Silovs was the unlikely hero, earning a 1.70 GAA and a .938 save percentage in three first-round outings, including a 28-save shutout in the series-clinching Game 6 on Friday.

Can Silovs, who entered the playoffs with just nine NHL appearances under his belt, keep that up against the far more formable Oilers? Or will Demko return in time to make that question moot?

There are a lot of big questions to be answered going into this series.

KEY MATCHUPS

Connor McDavid vs. J.T. Miller

While it’s not really fair to compare McDavid and Miller, this matchup ultimately does pit the teams’ two top offensive producers against each other. If Miller ends up coming even close to matching McDavid’s second-round point total, then the Canucks will likely be in an excellent position. By the same token, Vancouver’s best chance at success involves limiting McDavid.

Edmonton is 3-8 in playoff games where McDavid played but was held off the scoresheet.

Evan Bouchard vs. Quinn Hughes

One individual matchup where Vancouver should have the edge is the battle of offensive defensemen. Although Bouchard made tremendous strides in 2023-24, contributing 18 goals and 82 points across 81 regular-season appearances, that still falls short of Hughes’ 92 points in 82 outings.

Hughes also has the better track record, ranking third among blueliners in points over the past three campaigns (236 points in 236 contests) while Bouchard is far behind in total production over that stretch (165 in 244). Still, both of them should have their moments in this series.

Zach Hyman vs. Brock Boeser

Going into the 2023-24 campaign, few would have guessed that Hyman and Boeser would lead their respective teams in goals. Hyman had set a career high with 36 markers in 2022-23, but that was overshadowed by Draisaitl (52) and McDavid (64). Meanwhile, Boeser entered the season having never reached the 30-goal milestone and falling short of even 25 in each campaign from 2019-20 through 2022-23.

Still, both of them enjoyed career years with Hyman supplying 54 tallies and Boeser finishing with 40. They’ve carried that success into the playoffs too. Boeser led Vancouver to victory in Game 4 with a hat trick while Hyman earned a hat trick of his own in Game 1. It’s likely that both of these two will come up big in the second round as well.

X-FACTOR

Vancouver Canucks: Goaltending is the big question mark for Vancouver. As already noted, it’s hard to count on Silovs to build off his recent success given his relative lack of NHL experience and the skill level of the Oilers. Demko returning would be huge for the Canucks, but at the time of writing, it’s still not clear when that will happen. Pettersson is the other big X-Factor for the Canucks after being limited to three assists in the first round. For what it’s worth, he did look great in the 2020 playoffs, providing seven goals and 18 points in 17 appearances, so it’s not like he has a history of postseason disappointment.

Edmonton Oilers: Given how badly Skinner struggled against Vancouver in the regular season, how he’ll perform in this series is a massive question mark. If he doesn’t do well, Calvin Pickard is still an option after posting a respectable 12-7-1 record, 2.45 GAA and .909 save percentage in 23 regular-season outings. There’s also that outside chance Jack Campbell, who did rebound with AHL Bakersfield to provide a 2.63 GAA and a .918 save percentage in 33 minor-league games, could see action in this series, but if Edmonton gets to that point, then things have probably already gone very wrong for the Oilers.

PREDICTION

Vancouver has a strong team this year, but Demko’s health creates such a huge potential hole. Even if he misses just one or two games, that could prove to be the difference in a tight series. Sure, Edmonton’s goaltending situation isn’t ideal either, but the main argument in favor of Vancouver is that the Canucks are the more balanced squad. If this series devolves into a shootout, then that likely favors Edmonton, even if just marginally.

I’m going to take Edmonton in 7, but Demko being 100 percent for the start of the series would shift the edge in Vancouver’s favor.

2024 NHL PLAYOFF PREVIEW: Nashville Predators vs Vancouver Canucks

Robert Howard — Sun, 21 Apr 2024 17:33:39 +0000

VANCOUVER, BC - OCTOBER 31: Nashville Predators center Liam Foudy (18) and Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes (43) vie for the puck as Nashville defenseman Jeremy Lauzon (3) and Vancouver defenseman Filip Hronek (17) watch the Vancouver Canucks game versus the Nashville Predators on October 31, 2023, at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, B.C. (Photo by Ethan Cairns/Icon Sportswire)

Nashville Predators vs Vancouver Canucks

This has the potential to be an exciting series between two teams who have defied expectations this season after missing the playoffs last year. Vancouver was 6^th in the Pacific with 83 points while Nashville was fifth in the Central with 92 points last year. The outlook at the start of the season for both teams was modest. McKeen’s team pre-season predictions (along with most hockey media) had them both just outside of a playoff spot.

Both teams were led by new coaches who should both receive some voting consideration for coach of the year.

Rick Tocchet led the Canucks in his first full season, after replacing Bruce Boudreau in January 2023 last season. With new captain Quinn Hughes replacing the departed Bo Horvat, the team bought into their new coach’s stability and his systems from the get-go, ultimately winning the Pacific Division handily with 109 points. Hughes emerged as a Norris trophy favourite registering 92 points while finishing fourth in the league with a +38. Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller rose to another level and are legitimate superstars. Thatcher Demko had a much-needed redemption season after a tough 2022-23.

However, the Canucks reward for winning their division and qualifying for the playoffs after missing for the last three seasons is to meet one of the hottest teams in the league over the last two months of the season.

In the first season in franchise history in which David Poile was not GM, after being replaced by longtime franchise fixture as coach (15 years) in Barry Trotz, the Preds return to the playoffs. The rookie GM moved quickly to put his stamp on the team with key buyouts (Matt Duchene), trades and free agent signings (Ryan O’Reilly among others) but significantly did not touch three foundational superstars in Roman Josi, Filip Forsberg and goaltender Jusse Saros, despite some pressure to take the rebuild to the foundation. Josi and Forsberg responded with exceptional seasons. Josi continued his dominant play from 2022-23, while Forsberg remained healthy for a full season for the first time in a while, burying 48 goals along the way. Saros had an up and down season but is peaking at the right time and returning to his elite form.

Andrew Brunette replaced John Hynes as coach in the offseason. His impact on the team became apparent as the season went on with the team finishing on an absolute tear. A cancelled team outing to a U2 concert at the Sphere in Vegas might be given credit as a catalyst for a blazing finish, but the foundation had been laid all season. Brunette has his team cooking at the right time.

Over the last two months of the season (Feb 18 to April 18) the Nashville Predators owned the best win percentage in the league (19-5-3, .759%) while the Vancouver Canucks ranked 18^th (13-10-3, .558%). Nashville ranked second in xGF (5v5) per game (68.34 total, 2.53 a game) while Vancouver ranked 14^th in xGF (5v5) per game (54.7 total, 2.11 per game). Over the course of the season, Nashville ranked sixth with a xGF% of 53.04% and Vancouver was not far behind at eighth with 52.27%.

While Vancouver won all three head-to-head matches outscoring Nashville 13 to 6 this season this is likely to end up a much closer matchup than the respective records might indicate given recent performance. They matchup well as both like to have possession of the puck. They are side by side among the leaders in offensive time zone percentage (NHL Edge) at fourth (Nashville 43.7%) and fifth (Vancouver 43.0%) behind the Oilers, Panthers and Hurricanes. They are also side by side in CF%, they are ninth (Nashville 51.46%) and 10^th (Vancouver 51.45%). Both will be looking to transfer to offense quickly and the team that wins that battle could hold the edge.

KEY MATCHUPS

Jusse Saros vs Thatcher Demko – Saros has the ability to be a difference maker here if he can outperform Thatcher Demko. He has played at an elite level in the past. This season Moneypuck.com has Demko at second in the league with 22 saves above expected in 51 games while Saros is at -3.0 in 64 games. A complete reversal from 2022-23 when Saros led the league with approximately 47 goals saved above expected while Demko was near the bottom with -5.7. Demko is just returning from injury but looks to be fine. The series could swing on which goalie shows up and gets dialed in early.

Vancouvers Power Play vs Nashville Power Play – Given the personnel both teams can roll out, on paper Vancouver should have the dominant unit. Nashville’s top unit is comprised of a core of Forsberg, O’Reilly, Nyquist and Josi. Vancouver has Miller, Hughes, Pettersson, Boeser along with a much stronger supporting cast, although they have been overly reliant on the big four for minutes all season. In the last two months of the season Nashville has been firing at 26.9%, good for fourth in the league. Vancouver is 20^th at 21.6%. Compared to their full season totals Vancouver is at 22.7% (11^th) versus Nashville at 21.6% (16^th). Can Vancouvers stars get to another level? Can Nashville keep a hot hand?

Quinn Hughes vs Roman Josi – Both are their respective team captains and likely direct competitors for the Norris trophy as best defenseman, with Hughes as the current favourite in the media. They finished number one and number three in defense scoring. Both play critical minutes, and it can be argued who carries a bigger load, with perhaps an edge to Hughes. He is emerging at the start of a long career, while Josi has been dominant for a long time. Hughes analytics fair better as well over the season but in a head-to-head seven game series either player can put their team on their back and make a difference.

X-FACTOR

Vancouvers depth should win out as they grind through the playoff series. Their strength down the middle in Miller, Pettersson and Lindholm should be a clear edge over Ryan O’Reilly, Tommy Novak and Colton Sissons. They are much deeper through all four lines over the Predators up front. On defense they may be comparable after their top two studs. Hronek had a very strong year to provide a slight edge.

FANTASY PLAYERS TO TARGET

There is a lot of firepower at the top of the line-up to target on both teams that we have already mentioned. Some sleeper picks could include Gustav Nyquist with 33 points in his last 26 games, who will likely be available late in your draft. On Vancouver Conor Garland has been hot down the stretch with 19 points in 26 games. Ryan O’Reilly always shows up for the playoffs and may be worth a late round flyer.

PREDICTION

Vancouver should be able to beat Nashville in six games with a much deeper roster. How their young players respond to playoff pressure as the home team could be a factor as well. The Predators are led by some stabilizing veterans with more playoff experience. That along with the momentum the Predators are carrying into the matchup, along with goaltending, could be equalizers. At the end of the day, it is hard to bet against a Canucks group that has come far this season.