Mikko Rantanen – McKeen's Hockey

NHL: CULLEN – 20 FANTASY POINTS – Major injuries at the Olympics, including Sidney Crosby, Mikko Rantanen, and Kevin Fiala, plus young players like Matt Savoie and Jimmy Snuggerud getting bigger opportunities and so much more!

Scott Cullen — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:27:31 +0000

Each week, I dig into the stats to find information that can help you make better fantasy hockey decisions. This week, some major injuries at the Olympics, including Sidney Crosby, Mikko Rantanen, and Kevin Fiala, plus young players like Matt Savoie and Jimmy Snuggerud getting bigger opportunities and so much more!

#1 Not only did Canada lose in overtime of the Gold Medal Game at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, but they lost captain Sidney Crosby to a lower-body injury against Czechia in the quarterfinals. The Pittsburgh Penguins captain suffered an apparent knee injury after getting hit by Radko Gudas and it is expected to keep him out of the lineup for another four weeks. The Penguins have responded to the loss of their captain by shifting veteran Rickard Rakell to centre, with rookie Avery Hayes taking left wing, on Pittsburgh’s top line. Hayes, 23, had 30 points (19 G, 11 A) in 36 AHL games and scored a pair of goals in his NHL debut at Buffalo on February 5.

#2 The Dallas Stars lost their leading scorer Mikko Rantanen to a lower-body injury suffered at the Olympics. Rantanen is considered week-to-week, with head coach Glen Gulutzan saying that he will be back before the end of the season, which is not the most encouraging timeline for fantasy managers! With Rantanen out, consider Mavrik Bourque, who has been getting more ice time in Dallas and has produced seven points (4 G, 3 A) and 20 shots on goal in his past nine games. He’s on the Stars’ top line with Wyatt Johnston and Jason Robertson, so this is a prime opportunity for Bourque to break out as an offensive performer in the NHL.

#3 One of the more devastating injuries at the Olympics was suffered by Swiss winger Kevin Fiala, who broke his leg after a hit from Tom Wilson. Fiala is second on the Kings with 40 points and with the trade to acquire Artemi Panarin, the Kings had reason to hope that they could be poised to make a push for the playoffs after the Olympics. They have since lost their first two games out of the break and, with Fiala out, Corey Perry is playing in the Kings’ top six as well as on PP1. Perry has zero points in his past five games, but did have 13 points (4 G, 9 A) in the 12 previous games.

#4 An upper-body injury suffered in the opening game at the Olympics has landed Winnipeg Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey on the injured list. With Neal Pionk and Colin Miller also out, the Jets are missing some puck movers on the back end, so Logan Stanley is getting first crack at quarterbacking the power play, though the Jets also have Ville Heinola available. He had 21 points (3 G, 18 A) in 40 AHL games and while he has struggled to earn a regular NHL role, he has the mobility and puck skills to play an offensive role on the blueline.

#5 Staying in Winnipeg, Jets winger Nino Niederreiter is out week-to-week with an undisclosed injury that he suffered at the Olympics. The veteran winger’s production is down this season, as he has 19 points (8 G, 11 A) in 55 games, and the tough thing for the Jets is that they don’t have great options to bolster the third line in his absence. Gustav Nyquist has zero goals and nine assists in 36 games. Vladislav Namestnikov has 13 points (7 G, 6 A) in 56 games, and Jonathan Toews has 19 points (7 G, 12 A) in 57 games, so there is not a lot of reason for optimism beyond their top scorers.

#6 With Jiri Kulich and Jordan Greenway already out of the lineup, the Buffalo Sabres are also missing winger Zach Benson, who suffered an upper-body injury before the Olympic break. Benson had nine points (3 G, 6 A) and 19 shots on goal in his last 13 games before getting hurt and the 20-year-old has been a solid complementary winger with 26 points (7 G, 19 A) in 42 games. If looking for potentially undervalued players in Buffalo, consider Peyton Krebs, who has moved to left wing on the top line and has contributed 11 points (5 G, 6 A) in his past 12 games, though he has a total of 11 shots on goal in those 12 games, which is rather low when it comes to offensive sustainability.

#7 The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired defenceman Sam Girard from the Colorado Avalanche in a trade for veteran Brett Kulak. Girard is undersized but is a quality puck mover and should be a good addition for a Penguins team that has elder statesmen Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang leading their blueline. The deal does look like a downgrade for Colorado, even if Kulak was better for the Penguins than he was in Edmonton to start the season. From the Avalanche’s perspective, Kulak can fill a third-pair role at a lower cost, giving Colorado more flexibility when it comes to possible moves at next week’s trade deadline.

#8 Edmonton Oilers rookie winger Matt Savoie came out of the Olympic break skating on left wing with Leon Draisaitl at centre and Jack Roslovic on the right side, and Savoie put up five points (1 G, 4 A) with four shots on goal in the first two games. Savoie may not be a driver of results at this stage of his career, so when he does get a prime opportunity like this, it bears watching.

#9 St. Louis Blues rookie winger Jimmy Snuggerud went into the Olympic break on a high, with nine points (3 G, 6 A) and 13 shots on goal in six games, and while he was held off the scoresheet in his first game back, Snuggerud is likely to get plenty of reps down the stretch for a Blues team that is a long way from playoff contention. With Robert Thomas out of the lineup, Snuggerud has been on a line with Dalibor Dvorsky, the rookie who was thriving in a bigger role with Slovakia in the Olympics, scoring six points (3 G, 3 A) in six games. Dvorsky has one assist with four shots on goal in his past five NHL games, but he should have ample opportunity to play late in the season. Maybe he’s not offering great value now but could very well handle a bigger role as the season winds down.

#10 With Anthony Cirelli and Nick Paul injured, the Tampa Bay Lightning have made some adjustments to their forward lines. Jake Guentzel has shifted to centre and Gage Goncalves has been lifted to play left wing on the top line with Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov. Goncalves contributed three points (1 G, 2 A) against Toronto on Wednesday, and anyone playing on that line would have fantasy appeal, but Goncalves is probably a short-term fix who will lose his prime spot when Cirelli and Paul return to action.

#11 After missing time in December with a lower-body injury, Seattle Kraken winger Jared McCann returned to action and has been in fine form ever since, producing 23 points (11 G, 12 A) and 56 shots on goal in his past 23 games. He didn’t record a point in the first two games coming out of the break, but McCann is as dangerous offensively as anyone on the Kraken roster, skating on the top line with Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle in addition to getting first unit power play time.

#12 One of the players who gives the Penguins hope to survive Crosby’s absence is that rookie Ben Kindel continues to get better and in his past seven games, he has seven points (6 G, 1 A) and 18 shots on goal. He is centering the third line right now but has towering wingers Anthony Mantha and Justin Brazeau on his flanks and those guys have been productive, ranking second and fourth, respectively, in goals for the Penguins this season.

#13 Over the course of his career, Vegas Golden Knights winger Ivan Barbashev has had some ups and downs in his career, but when he heats up, he can be a serious contributor. In his past nine games, he has nine points (5 G, 4 A) and 17 shots on goal while playing nearly 18 minutes per game. His strength is playing a solid physical game, but he can do it alongside skilled linemates and that’s what is happening in Vegas, where he is skating on the top line with Jack Eichel and Mark Stone, and when Barbashev is scoring like this, he is much more appealing for fantasy managers.

#14 As the Buffalo Sabres have been climbing the standings across the past few months, it’s not only the top guys getting the job done. Consider right winger Jack Quinn, who has 15 points (5 G, 10 A) and 42 shots on goal in his past 16 games. He may not have the highest ceiling, but his line with Ryan McLeod and Jason Zucker is outscoring opponents 17-11 during five-on-five play.

#15 Veteran St. Louis Blues defenceman Justin Faulk continues to deliver strong fantasy results even on a Blues squad that is having a tough season. Faulk has nine assists with 16 shots on goal in his past seven games. It’s noteworthy that Faulk isn’t hitting as much as he had in previous seasons, with 44 hits in 58 games, but the points and shot rate for a guy who is quarterbacking the top power play are both valuable for fantasy managers.

#16 At the Winter Olympics, plenty of top players delivered expected production, but some players also stepped up in bigger roles for their home nations. One example is New Jersey Devils winger Timo Meier, who has managed a meagre four points (3 G, 1 A) despite recording 65 shots on goal in his past 18 games for the Devils. Playing for Switzerland in the Olympics, though, Meier had seven points (3 G, 4 A) in five games and played the physically punishing style that he does when he’s at his best. On the Devils, Meier is skating on a line with Nico Hischier and Dawson Mercer

#17 Nashville Predators centre Erik Haula may be on the trade block as the deadline approaches and he’s not hurting his value with his recent play. Haula is riding a five-game point streak in the NHL, scoring a goal and four assists in those games and had six points (3 G, 3 A) in six games for Finland at the Olympics. Another Finland forward, who had strong showing on the way to the bronze medal, was Kaapo Kakko, who had five points (3 G, 2 A) in six games and he has been playing well, when healthy, for Seattle. In his past 27 games, Kakko has 19 points (6 G, 13 A) and 38 shots on goal.

#18 It’s a difficult time for fantasy hockey managers if they still need a goaltending answer, but there are a few who are likely to see significant playing time down the stretch and are still available in a good percentage of leagues. The Vancouver Canucks are not likely to win games, because they haven’t been winning this season anyway, but rookie goalie Nikita Tolopilo is showing that he is ready for this league. He has a .908 save percentage in 10 games for the Canucks and with Thatcher Demko out for the rest of the season, Tolopilo should see lots of time in the Canucks’ crease. Former Canucks – and current Penguins – goaltender Arturs Silovs is sharing time with Stuart Skinner, but in his past eight starts, Silovs has a .928 save percentage, which is the level of play that will force his way into more playing time.

#19 This season has been difficult for the Florida Panthers, and the playoffs may not be in the cards for them, but there could be some players that have surprising value late in the season. Evan Rodrigues is centering the Panthers’ top line, between Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart, and in his past seven games, he has six points (2 G, 4 A) and 28 shots on goal while averaging 19:48 of ice time per game. If he keeps playing that much, with high quality linemates, Rodrigues could deliver fantasy value.

*Advanced stats via Natural Stat Trick

MCKEEN’S 2025-26 NHL YEARBOOK – DALLAS STARS – Team Preview/Player Profiles/Predictions

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 17:51:49 +0000

EDMONTON, AB - MARCH 26: Dallas Stars Right Wing Mikko Rantanen (96) in action in the second period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Dallas Stars on March 26, 2025 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswear)

For three years running, the Stars came up short of returning to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2020, losing in the Western Conference Final. Dallas dueled with the Winnipeg Jets atop the Central Division but came up 10 points short of the Presidents’ Trophy winners. A 106-point season is nothing to sneeze at, although the second-place finish led to a first-round battle with the Colorado Avalanche that went seven incredible games. A second-round battle with Winnipeg saw the Stars come out on top in six games, but by the time they met Edmonton for the second straight year, they were completely out of gas and lost in five. Dallas is an elite team whose five-on-five metrics and power play performance are average but have a top five penalty kill and one of the best goalies in the NHL in Jake Oettinger. Oh yeah, they’ve also got elite scorers like Mikko Rantanen, Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnston and a resurgent Matt Duchene to go with defenders like Miro Heiskanen and Thomas Harley. They’re more than set but getting over the hump in the playoffs is proving to be difficult.

What’s Changed?

After losing in the Western Conference Final for the third straight season, the Stars dismissed coach Pete DeBoer and brought back former head coach Glen Gulutzan. A lot’s changed in Dallas since Gulutzan ran the Stars bench the first time from 2011 to 2013. He spent the past seven seasons as an assistant coach in Edmonton and coached the Calgary Flames for two years prior to that. While Jamie Benn is still around, everyone else is a new face for him to coach. The Stars’ offseason saw them send Mason Marchment to Seattle for draft picks and Matt Dumba and a pick to Pittsburgh for defenceman Vladislav Kolyachonok in salary cap moves. Dallas re-signed Matt Duchene to a four-year, $18 million deal and captain Benn for one year, $1 million ($4 million with bonuses). They also brought back Radek Faksa in free agency for three years, $6 million and Colin Blackwell for two years, $1.55 million.

What Would Success Look Like?

Nothing short of a return to the Stanley Cup Final will sit well in Dallas. After getting so close for three straight years, losing to Vegas once and Edmonton in back-to-back years, the time has been right now for the Stars to win their second Stanley Cup. With Robertson, Rantanen, Johnston, Duchene, Heiskanen, Harley and Oettinger as their core, they’re built to win. Their depth is also exceptional all over the ice, albeit slightly thinner after cap moves this summer. Still, Dallas has drafted well for years and has plenty of talent that’s arrived and is on the way up.

What Could Go Wrong?

Making a coaching change with a team that’s already an established winner can be tricky. If Gulutzan can’t hit the same notes or change things for the better with the Stars, it’ll lead to a lot of second guessing about his hiring and DeBoer’s dismissal. There have been rumours abounding about Jason Robertson’s future in Dallas and whether or not the 26-year-old impending RFA will be able to re-sign with the Stars or not given the salary cap situation. Although the cap is going up over the years, Rantanen’s eight-year, $96 million extension set the bar, right or wrong. If Dallas struggles, talk of moving Robertson will no doubt increase, especially since the Stars will also need to re-sign RFA-to-be Thomas Harley as well. If Dallas comes up short of the Stanley Cup, it could set up next summer to be a very difficult one to navigate.

Top Breakout Candidate

Although he wasn’t banked upon in big minutes or situations, we got a glimpse of what Mavrik Bourque can do in the NHL last season. He had 11 goals and 14 assists in 73 games last season while averaging 12:41 in ice time. With Logan Stankoven gone to Carolina and Mason Marchment in Seattle, it’s Bourque’s time to shine for the Stars. Two years ago, Bourque had 77 points in the AHL including 26 goals and was a 20-goal scorer the season prior to that with Texas. He’s learned the way to produce there and now with an increased role with Dallas, it’ll offer him the opportunity to show what he can do.

Forwards

Jason Robertson

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	37	40	77	0.94

Those wondering what happened to Jason Robertson since his 109-point season should look no further than his shot and setup rates. He isn’t the same high shot volume player he used to be and while the rate he creates scoring chances at has stayed pretty level, but he isn’t taking shots from all over the zone like he used to and that catches up to you sometimes. He’s also not setting up as many shots and part of that is not having Pavelski hanging out of in front of the net to tip in errant pucks and passes. Robertson still manages to produce at a high level despite that. He is an excellent finisher, making the most out of fewer shooting opportunities and has elite-level hockey sense with knowing where to be an anticipating where the puck is going. His defensive game is probably never going to get the love it deserves either, as the Stars are rarely hemmed in their own zone when he is on the ice. He’s not a fast skater but makes up for it with great positioning and making quick one-touch passes to get through the zone. Robertson’s poor start to the year hurt some of the national media perception, with only nine goals in the first three months of the season, but he finished the season strong to get to the 35-goal mark for the third time in his career. The best players always find a way and Robertson is someone who can take awhile to start heating up. Once he does, the goals start coming in bunches and he can carry Dallas’ offence on his back.

Roope Hintz

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
79	26	39	65	0.82

There’s being streaky and then there’s Roope Hintz’s 2024-25 season. Almost half of his points came during a 33-game stretch including a torrid month of March where he had 21 points in 13 games. This isn’t suggesting that he had a bad first half of the season because he was one of Dallas’ only consistent goal-scorers to start the year, finding the back of the net 18 times in the first 35 games. The assists were just nowhere to be found. This carried over into the post-season where he had a respectable 12 points in 17 games, with all of them coming over seven games. Similar to Robertson, he set the bar so high for himself a few years ago that his 2021-23 form might be impossible to reach again. With Hintz, the decline in offence happened when the game wasn’t played off the rush, which was a team-wide issue for Dallas last season. He struggled to get pucks back and find ways to get open when he couldn’t play in open ice and it was a little strange to see because he was one of the Stars best players when they were a forecheck-dominant team for years. The rest of the team has also improved at playing off the rush, so Hintz has become less of a go-to guy there, which means fewer puck touches and he can’t quarterback the offence like he might prefer to. He was also attached at the hip to Robertson for most of the year, so their production tends to mirror each other, and Hintz wasn’t getting as many setups while Robertson was going through his slump. The Stars can still make do with Hintz if he’s a 65–70-point guy now with game-breaking skill off the rush, they’re just hoping for more consistency with how he gets those points.

Mikko Rantanen

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
80	40	52	92	1.15

Rantanen’s roller coaster season was well documented. A contract dispute with the Avalanche led to a mid-season trade to Carolina and he ended up in Dallas after letting the Hurricanes know he had no interest in signing there. His brief stint with the Hurricanes was filled with him creating a boatload of chances but struggling to score and this trend continued in Dallas. In the playoffs, they structured their forwards corps around getting him going and it paid off in the Colorado series. They deferred to Rantanen for most of their offence, as he led the team in zone entries, exits and overall shot assists. He exploded late in the Dallas series, essentially winning Game 7 on his own and carried them through the early stages of the Winnipeg series too. Unfortunately, he scored only one goal for the rest of the playoffs after his Game 1 hat trick against the Jets but it wasn’t for lack of trying on his part. This has been the story with Rantanen for most of his career, the goals come in bunches and he is borderline unstoppable when he’s on. It’s then followed by 10-15 game stretches where he can’t score but will have at least four great chances a game. Being the focal point of the offence is what Rantanen wanted after thriving for years as MacKinnon’s wingman and he’s proved that he can carry the ball for stretches. He plays at a slower, deliberate pace which went against how Dallas played most of the season, so it was easy to understand why there was adjustment period with him. A full year with a more stable environment will let us know if he is truly a star player on his own or not.

Wyatt Johnston

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	36	39	75	0.91

Keeping with the theme of the rest of Dallas’ roster, Johnston his second 30-goal season in a row despite scoring only three in his first 21 games. It followed a similar pattern to how his sophomore year went. It’s unclear why Johnston scores in bunches like he plays a more straight-forward game compared to the rest of Dallas’ top forwards. He can create his own shot without needing someone to set him up, goes to the net and has the hands to elevate the puck. He’s also filling the void Pavelski left by becoming excellent at getting chances off deflections, so it’s always frustrating for the Stars to see Johnston start the year so slow when he’s always doing the right things. Sometimes you have to preach patience in situations like this and while it doesn’t always pay off, Johnston eventually finds ways to produce regardless of how the year starts. His reputation in Dallas as a clutch playoff performer also grants him some leeway, scoring another series-clinching goal against Colorado. Becoming more of a driver off the rush is where he can improve next, as that’s the only area where he defers to his linemates more. He’s a good skater, but lanky and doesn’t maneuver around defenders with the puck as smoothly as he does away from the play or in the offensive zone. He’s a very good player right now with room to grow.

Matt Duchene

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
78	25	42	67	0.86

Probably the most skilled player in the league who will never be considered a superstar, evidenced by the Stars getting him to re-sign at a $4.5 million cap hit despite an 30-goal, 82- point season that would get most players a huge payday in the open market. The only things working against Duchene are his age and his reputation as a poor playoff performer. His performance this past spring didn’t do anything to help that either, as he scored only one goal though 18 playoff games. This is despite him being one of Dallas’ better players at producing scoring chances, so it wasn’t for lack of trying. The offence doesn’t come as easy for Duchene in the post-season, as he’s a player who thrives when he can play with speed and start give-and-gos off the rush. When the game slows down and he has to play in more confined areas, he doesn’t create the same level of chances. He can still get to loose pucks and has the skill to make plays to the front of the net, but the passes are rarely on the tape and the chances are rushed with more defensive pressure. Watching him closely is a good barometer of how thin the margins are in the playoffs. Grade A chances turn into blocked shots or Grade B chances very quickly, and Duchene always seems to struggle to find the space he needs to be a game-breaking player. Still, his regular season play is quietly among the best in the league, and he helped carry the stars through the early part of the season while their top guys were struggling. He might not be a playoff performer, but he’s a player who will at least get you there.

Jamie Benn

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
74	14	27	41	0.55

Now one of the longest-tenured players in the league, Benn enjoyed a nice career renaissance under Pete Deboer, becoming a fixture on the power play again and producing like a top sixer. This year saw a return back to earth for the Stars captain, scoring only 10 points with the man advantage despite consistent deployment here. He moved all over the lineup at even strength, which is the burden you carry as a center/wing hybrid sometimes. Benn had his issues with playing Dallas’ up-tempo style for most of the year. He can carry the puck in and lead the rush when the play is connected out of the zone, but he had issues making plays out of his own end under pressure. Covering for some of the Stars weaker puck-movers on defence is part of the job description and Benn had his issues getting knocked off pucks with a defence that couldn’t always bail him out. He also had a habit of getting caught flying the zone when Dallas tried to go off the glass and the turnovers were tough to recover from. It wasn’t all bad, though. His line could generate chances, and Benn still plays a strong game fighting for pucks along the goal line. His five-on-five game offensively is still good enough and some of the issues he had defensively can be covered up with more structure. Re-signing in Dallas on a cheap one-year deal, Benn will likely accept whatever role he gets, but he can still play relatively high in the lineup if needed.

Tyler Seguin

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
64	18	26	44	0.69

Limited to only 20 regular season games with yet another hip surgery, Seguin was another player that carried Dallas through the early part of the season. Not only did he score at a point-per-game pace, but he was also producing chances at a rate that was among the league’s elite. It was a true “turn back the clock” moment before he was sideline for essentially the rest of the regular season. He couldn’t match this production in the playoffs, scoring only one goal and seeing his five-on-five scoring chance contribution rate drop from 13 chances per 60 minutes to eight per 60 minutes. Still above the league average but a far cry from what he was doing in the regular season. The effects of the hip surgery wasn’t affecting his ability in terms of getting around on the ice, as he could rely on his linemates to do the puck-carrying and be the trailer. His finesse and execution was just off. There were a lot of passes that were just off the mark and he didn’t have the burst to take the puck to the net when he needed to, instead looking for tips from the perimeter. Seguin’s return to form after numerous hip procedures has been nothing short of spectacular, as there was a brief period where we wondered if he would ever be an effective NHLer again. He was on pace for another 20-goal season before going on injured reserve this year too. While not the same player he used to be, Seguin is a great guy to have in the middle of the roster, and we will see how he does after a full offseason of rest and recovery.

Mavrik Bourque

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
77	21	25	46	0.60

Expectations are high for Bourque as one of the stars of Dallas’ AHL club, but there wasn’t a need for the rookie to produce immediately with the depth of Dallas’ roster. He could do a little of everything to excel at the pro level. He’s always first to pucks, has a lethal wrister and has the speed to play whatever role you want. Dallas eased the youngster into their lineup, playing him sparingly but giving him linemates who would allow him to play his game in the offensive zone instead of worrying about checking. Bourque’s role was mostly away from the puck, acting as the trailer or the high forward on most of his goals and taking advantage of some great setups from the likes of Duchene and Benn. He scored a few goals into open nets through great anticipation and showed off a nice one-timer on the power play on a few others. As a righty with a heavy shot, it’s a weapon most teams wish they could have. Even after 73 games, we’ve still only seen glimpses of what Bourque can do because he didn’t get a lot of puck touches per game. There weren’t a lot of direct setups from him and this year seemed more about getting his feet wet than cutting him loose. 11 goals with that deployment isn’t nothing, though. Forcing the coaching staff to keep him in the lineup in the post-season is next on the checklist for Bourque.

Sam Steel

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
79	7	20	27	0.34

Becoming part of the penalty kill can take you from a fringe roster player to a regular, just ask Sam Steel. While the former first rounder of Anaheim hasn’t scored like he was projected, he has found a niche in Dallas as a defensive workhorse. Playing more of the possession-oriented style of defence, Steel along with Colin Blackwell did an excellent job of intercepting cycles and turning them into rushes the other way. Scoring on them was a secondary concern while they were on the fourth line. Steel himself plays with a high motor and thrives on the forechecking game, using his speed to disrupt breakouts and he has the skill to capitalize on turnovers when they happen. He was a trusted player for Pete Deboer, playing more minutes than your typical fourth liner while getting some spot duty in the net-front position on the power play. With the new coaching staff and similar players on the roster it’s uncertain if Steel will have the same level of trust but his resume on the penalty kill makes him hard to take out.

DEFENCE

Miro Heiskanen

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
78	9	38	47	0.60

There is nobody happier about Thomas Harley’s emergence as a number one defenceman than Miro Heiskanen (and maybe the Stars coaching staff). They don’t always play together but they are a dominant defence pair when they do. Heiskanen’s late season injury robbed the Stars of seeing more of these two together and Miro himself was putting up excellent numbers at even strength, as Dallas owned 59% of the expected goals with him on the ice. Dallas’ shift to becoming more of a rush team had some effects on Heiskanen. He was less involved with the offence than he was the last few seasons, always helping start exits but not leading many himself. The Stars defence had a tendency to go off the glass more if they didn’t have an outlet and it limited some of what Heiskanen could do offensively. He was still among the league leaders for defencemen in controlled entries but deferred to the forwards after gaining the line since the Stars wanted the puck on their sticks more. Playing alongside Harley also affected some of his offence, as Harley was the more dynamic of the two in the offensive zone and he had no problem handing the reins over in that instance. It’s somewhat of a return to what Heiskanen was early in his career where he did everything you wanted offensively but never got rewarded for it on the scoresheet because he wasn’t one of the last two players to touch the puck. A surprising decline in power play production also hurt him in this department, but Dallas doesn’t have much to worry about when it comes to their stud blue liner.

Thomas Harley

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
79	17	38	55	0.70

There were a lot of things working against Thomas Harley. Dallas didn’t have a consistent partner for him, he was only on the second power play unit early in the season, and his main support guy in Miro Heiskanen was lost to injury. He still thrived and established himself as an undisputed number one defenceman. He is a powerful skater with great range and is elite at anticipating where the play is going. It made him thrive with Dallas’ emphasis on rush play this year because he could quickly turn defence into offence and he’s excellent at acting as the extra forward when leading or joining the rush. His anticipation was a weapon in the offensive zone as well, scoring most of his goals by reading where the puck was going and not needing to call for a pass or set up a shot. This was especially true in overtime where he scored a couple of big goals including the series winner against Winnipeg. He gets from the blue line to the top of the face-off circles without much effort and he was doing this more regularly after Heiskanen’s injury. Some defencemen play more conservatively when tasked with more responsibilities, but Harley went in the opposite direction, playing more aggressive but also with a lot of composure. It earned him a reserve spot on Team Canada’s Four Nations roster and it won’t be a shocker to see him in the Olympics next year.

Esa Lindell

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
81	5	20	25	0.31

You’ll be hard pressed to find a defenceman with a more rigidly defined role than Esa Lindell. He is out there to block shots; break plays up and just be a general disruption in any way he can. He’s one of the best in the game at using his stick to kill plays and is automatic with clearing the puck out of the zone, which can be a good or bad thing depending on who you ask. It is common for him to play the entire two minutes of the penalty kill because of how trusted he is with the coaching staff and how well he conserves his energy. He is on a shortlist of players who fit the “defensive defenceman” role to a T because you can watch him play one shift and figure out what his role is. The problem with how Dallas uses Lindell has always been more about the players around him rather than his own play. Dallas likes using him with other slower shutdown defencemen in the playoffs and it hurts Lindell’s’ game more than it complements. His specialty is putting out fires in the defensive zone and it becomes a prolonged game of chasing the play around with no one to help get the puck out. His pair routinely gets exposed for a high number of chances and goals against in the post-season because of this. It’s a balance the Stars are still trying to figure out.

Nils Lundkvist

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
44	1	7	8	0.18

The hope for Lundkvist is that he can get a fresh start with the new coaching staff. Early in his Stars career, it was common for him to only play a few shifts before getting benched for the rest of the night. His ice time was a little more consistent last year on the third pair, but he was still heavily sheltered. As a smaller, offensive defenceman, it can be difficult to earn the trust of the coaching staff. Every mistake you make gets magnified and Lundkvist never had much confidence to play his own game. A surprising stat with him is that he was one of the worst defencemen on the team at generating controlled zone exits, which is troubling considering he’s a puck mover. The one thing the has going for him is that he brings something different to the table from the other Stars defenders competing for a third pair spot. He could complement a taller defenceman like Liam Bischel nicely and he brings a little more upside than Lyubushkin or Petrovic. The downside is that his calling card is the power play and the two spots are occupied by both Heiskanen and Harley. The league is also moving away from smaller defencemen unless they’re game-breakers and Lundkvist hasn’t shown enough to be in that category.

GOAL

Jake Oettinger

Predicted Stats
GP	W	L	OT	SO	SV%	GAA
62	37	17	6	4	0.911	2.42

For better or for worse, the Dallas Stars are embracing the old-school era of goaltending - and they're sticking with a single de facto starter in net, rising and falling with Jake Oettinger and the contract that's going to pay him $8.25 million every year until 2033. It remains an intriguing strategy for a team that hasn't managed to walk away with a championship since the turn of the century, particularly given that Oettinger, who was nearly a Vezina finalist in 2023, hasn't managed to replicate his league-leading statistical performance in either of the two years since then. Perhaps most frustrating of all is that for Dallas, his middling numbers don't accompany any sort of linear regression that analysts can point to in his game from a read, tracking, or structural proficiency standpoint. Most of his lack of magic looks like fatigue and energy preservation; he still plays the game with some of the best precision in the league, but he doesn't make the daring saves and utilize the kind of explosive energy that he might be able to with even 10-15 fewer starts on the regular season. That could change if Dallas opts to give backup Casey DeSmith a bit more game time action, which they would be well within their right to do; his numbers last season looked great, and he's proven during his tenure in Pittsburgh that he could easily handle those extra 10-15 games to give Oettinger a bit more usage management.

NHL: DADOUN – TRADE DEADLINE ROUND UP – What we can expect from some of the bigger players now?

Ryan Dadoun — Sat, 08 Mar 2025 18:58:23 +0000

BOSTON, MA - FEBRUARY 27: Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand (63) during a game between the Boston Bruins and the New York Islanders on February 27, 2025, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire)

Friday’s trade deadline has to stand out as one of the best in recent memory. Over the last week, 45 trades occurred with almost $170 million worth of cap hit changing hands, per PuckPedia. More than just the quantity, though, was the quality.

Brock Nelson, a man who has breached the 30-goal milestone in each of the previous three campaigns was added by Colorado, while Seth Jones, a top four defenseman signed through 2029-30, was acquired by Florida in the leadup to deadline day, and yet neither of them ended up being the headline additions of this trade season. Jones didn’t even end up being the biggest name to join the Panthers.

Instead, Florida shocked the hockey world with its last-minute addition of Brad Marchand. Granted, Marchand is 36, in the final season of his contract and dealing with an upper-body injury, so there are some big caveats to consider when assessing his impact, but still, it’s Brad Marchand. There aren’t many active players out there who are so heavily linked to the team they play for than he is. To see him with the Panthers will be weird, to say the least.

Of course, he might just be a rental, so we’ll see what happens this summer. One star player who opted not to go to free agency, though, is Mikko Rantanen. The Hurricanes were clearly hoping to lock him up long term -- it's fair to say they wouldn’t have acquired him from Colorado if they didn’t think they had a shot -- but in the end, terms weren’t agreed upon, so Carolina cut its losses by sending Rantanen to Dallas, which promptly signed him to an eight-year, $96 million contract.

It's a huge payout, but a justified one with the cap going up. Rantanen recorded over 40 goals and 100 points in each of the previous two seasons and has 27 goals and 70 points in 62 appearances this campaign. Dallas has now set itself up to enjoy a duo of Rantanen and Jason Robertson for years to come, which should make the Stars one of hockey’s best teams in the medium term.

That’s just scratching the surface of what happened today, so let’s start digging deeper. Typically, I highlight teams based on what their upcoming schedule is like with a bias towards teams that will be playing a lot or facing favorable opponents in the week to come. This week, I’ll be highlighting the squads I feel had the most interesting trade deadline -- including the days leading up to it -- so that I can discuss what’s changed and how this might impact various players for the remainder of the campaign.

Boston Bruins

It’s not overly dramatic to suggest that trading Marchand to Florida marked the end of an era for the Bruins. Sure, they still have David Pastrnak, but if you look back at the 2018 Bruins who made it to the Stanley Cup Final, Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy are the only ones remaining.

No more Marchand. No more Patrice Bergeron. No more David Krejci. Torey Krug is gone. So are Zdeno Chara and Tuukka Rask. Brandon Carlo and Charlie Coyle were members of the Bruins’ 2018-19 squad, but they were traded to Toronto and Colorado, respectively, on Friday.

Of course, the Bruins of old have been fading away for a while. Boston was able to maneuver with a series of trades and signings to extend their dominance for a long time, but if you look at the Bruins’ recent drafting history, you can see why this decline happened. Goaltender Jeremy Swayman, despite his struggles this campaign (18-21-6 record, 3.00 GAA and .896 save percentage in 45 appearances) has proven to be a steal for a fourth-round pick, but he was taken back in 2017. From 2018 to the present, no Bruins draft pick has logged 150 or more games, and the only players over the past four drafts to even make it to the NHL among Boston’s picks are Matthew Poitras and Fabian Lysell -- the latter of which has played in just one game.

Of course, part of that was the Bruins suffering from success, which led to late draft picks, but it is nevertheless at the heart of why Boston couldn’t replenish fast enough as its old guard left.

Still, the Bruins’ moves suggest they’re looking to retool rather than rebuild. While Boston did stock up on draft picks, including a conditional first-round pick from Toronto and a conditional second rounder from Florida, the Bruins also picked up Fraser Minten, who is a 20-year-old prospect who might factor into Boston’s roster on a regular basis next year, and Casey Mittelstadt, who is in the first season of a three-year, $17.25 million contract and is a solid option up the middle.

Boston also has to keep in mind that it’ll get Hampus Lindholm (kneecap) back next season after the top four blueliner was limited to just 17 appearances in 2024-25, and there’s also the likelihood that Swayman will do better next campaign. In other words, Boston fans might not have to go long between playoff appearances.

In the meantime, though, Cole Koepke and Mark Kastelic might get top six minutes, even though neither is particularly suited for the role. We also might see them get ice time on the second power-play unit, and Nikita Zadorov could feature there as well. Boston still has one strong line in Morgan Geekie, Pavel Zacha and Pastrnak, but the team’s offense overall figures to be dreary, and as a result, Boston might slip even further than its current 28th rank in goals per game (2.69).

Carolina Hurricanes

Losing Rantanen hurts, especially after Carolina gave up a package that included Martin Necas to pry him from Colorado. At least the return from Dallas was strong: The Hurricanes got Logan Stankoven, two first-round picks and two third-round selections. It’ll be years before we know how good or bad those draft picks are for the Hurricanes, but Stankoven is an interesting piece to get in the meantime.

The 22-year-old is playing in his sophomore campaign and had 29 points (nine goals) in 59 appearances with Dallas before the trade. He didn’t have consistent linemates, which might have made the task of adapting to the NHL a little more challenging. Stankoven did show a ton of potential in the minors, though, supplying 24 goals and 57 points in 47 outings with AHL Texas in 2023-24.

Stankoven figures to get a top six role with Carolina as well as power-play time. The tricky thing is that the Hurricanes don’t have any high-end forwards outside of Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis and Andrei Svechnikov, who might end up spending a fair amount of time together on the top line. When Carolina opts to take that path, that would leave Stankoven on a rather barren second unit. It’s a similar situation to the one Taylor Hall finds himself in. Since joining the Hurricanes from Chicago, Hall has just a goal and three points in 13 outings while averaging 14:32 of ice time. Part of that’s because the 33-year-old Hall has declined in recent years, but he’s also finding himself alongside Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jackson Blake, neither of whom have reached the 15-goal or 30-point marks this season.

With that in mind, Stankoven might not be much of an offensive force for the remainder of the season.

Colorado Avalanche

Colorado has been extremely busy on the trade front all year -- in addition to the Rantanen trade back in January that got the Avalanche Necas, Colorado also has an entirely different goaltending duo than the one it began the campaign with -- and the Avalanche didn’t slow down as the trade deadline approached.

Colorado added Brock Nelson from the Islanders, Coyle from the Bruins and Erik Johnson from Philadelphia this week. It did cost the Avalanche -- in addition to draft picks and prospects, Colorado also parted ways with Mittelstadt – but Colorado looks like a major Cup contender.

Nelson and Coyle make the Avalanche extremely talented up the middle. We’ll probably see Nelson assume the second-line center spot. Although that would keep him out of the enviable position of skating alongside Nathan MacKinnon or Necas, Nelson would still have plenty to work with alongside Jonathan Drouin and Valeri Nichushkin. It wouldn’t be surprising if Nelson largely maintained his scoring pace in Colorado after contributing 20 goals and 43 points across 61 appearances with the Islanders in 2024-25 before the trade.

That would leave Coyle on the third line. He’d see a meaningful decline in his workload compared to his average of 17:38 of ice time, including 1:55 with the man advantage, with Boston this season, but he kind of deserves that dip after collecting just 15 goals and 22 points in 64 outings. He did exceed the 40-point mark in three consecutive seasons from 2021-22 through 2023-24, so having him on the third line is a nice luxury to have, but he’s unlikely to challenge Nelson for the top-six spot, and it’s also not a given that Coyle will get regular time on the power play.

Jack Drury will probably center the fourth line. He doesn’t bring much offensively to the table anyway (seven goals, 13 points in 53 outings this season), but he is effective on the draw (57.1 conversion rate) and helps kill penalties, so Drury still has a clear role. The biggest loser in this will probably be Parker Kelly, who might spend a fair amount of time in the press box after dressing in the Avalanche’s first 63 games.

Speaking of the press box, I don’t expect Johnson to play much. It’s nice to see him back in Colorado, but unlike his first stint with the team, there isn’t really a clear role for him. Maybe if the Avalanche are forced to deal with injuries, the 36-year-old will get some work, but that’s about it.

Dallas Stars

Dallas made only one trade this month, but it was a huge one. As already noted above, the Stars acquired Rantanen in exchange for picks and Logan Stankoven. Dallas also signed Rantanen to an eight-year, $96 million contract extension.

Rantanen didn’t look great in Carolina, recording just two goals and six points in 13 appearances, but he still has 70 points (27 goals) in 62 outings this campaign, and his resume is fantastic. He should do great in Dallas, likely on the first line alongside Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz.

Hintz and Robertson have typically played together this campaign, but the third member of that trio hasn’t been consistent. Wyatt Johnston has gotten a fair amount of work in that role, though, and that’s likely at an end. Johnston might not be on the second unit either given that Mason Marchment, Matt Duchene and Mikael Granlund have done well together. Instead, Johnston might primarily center the third unit. That’s an odd position for a player with 23 goals and 59 points in 62 outings, but Dallas isn’t a typical team, and that would still leave him to play with Jamie Benn, who remains a solid contributor at the age of 35 (15 goals, 39 points).

Johnston may see a bit of a decline in his production down the stretch, but Dallas should remain happy given that it will be rolling out three very effective lines. The Stars’ embarrassment of offensive riches will get even better if Tyler Seguin (hip) is available for the playoffs. He was fantastic early in the campaign with nine goals and 20 points in 19 appearances. Maybe he’ll end up alongside Benn and Johnston.

Florida Panthers

The Marchand trade was jaw-dropping, especially given that the price was just a conditional second-round pick, which will turn into a first-round selection only if Florida wins at least two rounds and Marchand participates in a minimum of 50 percent of those playoff games. The latter condition speaks to Marchand’s health -- before the trade, he missed Boston’s past three games. Florida GM Bill Zito thinks Marchand will be out for a couple more weeks, but he also added that the team doctors will look at him, per Florida Hockey Now, so we’ll see.

Presuming that Marchand returns before the end of the regular season, it will be very interesting to see how he fits into the lineup. Will he play alongside another talented troublemaker in Sam Bennett? They did see some work together on Team Canada during the 4 Nations Face-Off. Matthew Tkachuk (groin) is done for the remainder of the regular season, but should he return for the playoffs, he might join that duo to form a line that no one would want to play against.

Perhaps Florida will attempt to balance out the grit by separating the trio of Carter Verhaeghe, Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart. Maybe we’ll have something like Bennett-Verhaeghe-Tkachuk and then Marchand-Barkov-Reinhart. Whatever they decide to do, that will be a strong top six. While Tkachuk and Marchand are out, Mackie Samoskevich and Evan Rodrigues will see increased roles, but that duo is likely to serve strictly in the bottom six when everyone is healthy. Samoskevich in particular might see a drop in usage once Marchand is back, but for now, he’s enjoying the extra work -- Samoskevich has three goals and four points across his past six appearances while averaging 15:30 compared to eight goals and 17 points in his first 48 outings with an average of 11:41.

On the back end, Jones logged 20:40 of ice time over his first two appearances with the Panthers. Aaron Ekblad seems to have maintained his spot on the top power-play unit and has cashed in with a power-play assist in each of his past two outings. If Jones’ role with the man advantage has been diminished by the move to Florida from Chicago -- and that seems to be the case -- then his fantasy value will take a significant hit. Of his 27 points in 2024-25, 15 have been recorded on the power play.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Tampa Bay loves first-round picks, and sometimes when you love something, you have to let it go. The Lightning have drafted in the first round just once dating back to 2020 -- Isaac Howard (31st overall) in 2022 -- and it seems they’ll be waiting a while before doing so again. The Lightning gave their 2026 and 2027 first-round picks to Seattle in a three-team trade that brought Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde to Tampa Bay. The Lightning were already missing their 2025 first-round pick as part of the Tanner Jeannot trade back in 2023.

While that’s a significant cost, the Lightning are looking like a well-rounded team going into the playoffs. Obviously, they already had the trio of Jake Guentzel, Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov as their headline unit -- Guentzel has two hat tricks this season and still might be the worst player on that line, which is wild -- and that’s complemented by a strong second line in Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli and Nick Paul.

Now Bjorkstrand and Gourde can man the third line, perhaps alongside 24-year-old rookie Gage Goncalves. Bjorkstrand has 17 goals and 38 points in 62 outings while Gourde has done worse this season (six goals, 18 points in 37 appearances) but has recorded over 30 points in each of his previous seven seasons. That doesn’t give the Lightning the same level of forward depth that Dallas is rocking, but that’s still really good.

These moves also probably cost Mitchell Chaffee his spot on the power play. That’s not a huge deal, but four of his 12 goals in 2024-25 have been scored with the man advantage.

Toronto Maple Leafs

There was an arms race in the Atlantic Division. Florida and Tampa Bay both made significant additions leading up to the deadline, and Toronto made some maneuvers too. The Maple Leafs acquired Brandon Carlo from Boston and Scott Laughton from Philadelphia, though in the process, Toronto surrendered, among other things, two first-round picks as well as prospects Nikita Grebenkin and Fraser Minten.

At a glance, those sacrifices would suggest Toronto is going all in, and while it’s undeniable that the farm system has taken a hit, it’s a bit more complicated than that. Carlo is signed through 2026-27 and Laughton is under contract through 2025-26, so these aren’t just rentals.

In terms of what they bring to the table, it’s nothing headline-grabbing, but it is important. Laughton is a solid third-line center, which will allow Max Domi to shift to the wing. His presence might also push Nicholas Robertson out of the top nine, though Pontus Holmberg and Bobby McMann might also occasionally shift down in the depth charts, especially when Max Pacioretty (undisclosed) is able to return.

Carlo might end up being a good shutdown partner for the offensive-minded Morgan Rielly. He might even enable Rielly to take more chances and bolster his scoring pace down the stretch. The 30-year-old Rielly has seven goals and 32 points in 62 appearances in 2024-25, which is down from 58 points in 72 outings last year.

Philippe Myers, who has gotten some looks alongside Rielly lately, probably won’t be a consideration for that role going forward. Instead, Myers will probably shift to the third pairing, and once Chris Tanev (upper body) is back, Myers might find himself competing with Simon Benoit to stay in the lineup.

Toronto’s xGA/60 in 2024-25 has been 3.19, which ranks 23rd in the league. That suggests the Maple Leafs have made life somewhat hard on their goaltenders this season with their defensive play. Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll have mostly been able to make up the difference, but their work should be easier after Toronto’s recent moves.

Vegas Golden Knights

It’s weird for Vegas not to be the one making a blockbuster trade. In fact, the Golden Knights didn’t make any move Friday, but they did pick up Reilly Smith from the Rangers on Thursday in exchange for Brendan Brisson and a 2025 third-round pick.

It’s not earth-shattering, but it’s a nice bit of business. Although Smith has underwhelmed this campaign with 10 goals and 29 points in 58 appearances in 2024-25, he had some amazing campaigns with Vegas. In particular, Smith provided 26 goals and 56 points in 78 regular-season games in 2022-23 and went on to supply another four goals and 14 points across 24 playoff outings to help Vegas win the Cup in 2023.

This change of scenery might be what Smith needs to rebound. He’s not too old at 33, so he still should have something left in the tank. However, the Golden Knights are a deep team. Even with William Karlsson (lower body) and Victor Olofsson (lower body) out, Smith might still find himself in a bottom-six role, and when everyone is healthy, it’s inevitable that Vegas will have to make a healthy scratch out of someone who would play regularly on most teams. Perhaps that will be Brandon Saad on occasion, but Nicolas Roy and Smith are also on that bubble.

For that reason, I recommend tempering your expectations when it comes to Smith’s reunion tour.

NHL: 20 FANTASY POINTS – TRADE DEADLINE EDITION – Rantanen, Marchand, Nelson, Cozens, Jones, and much more!

Scott Cullen — Sat, 08 Mar 2025 16:14:05 +0000

RALEIGH, NC - FEBRUARY 27: Carolina Hurricanes right wing Mikko Rantanen (96) talks to a Buffalo Sabres player during the NHL game between the Buffalo Sabres and the Carolina Hurricanes on February 27, 2025 at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Katherine Gawlik/Icon Sportswire)

Each week, I dig into the stats to find information that can help you make better fantasy hockey decisions. This week, a look at the movers and shakers from the NHL trade deadline, including Mikko Rantanen, Brad Marchand, Brock Nelson, Dylan Cozens, Seth Jones, and much more!

#1 The biggest blockbuster of deadline day saw the Carolina Hurricanes trade Mikko Rantanen to the Dallas Stars for Logan Stankoven and a couple of first-round picks. Rantanen has been massively productive, ranking eighth in the league with 649 points in 548 games since the start of the 2017-2018 season, but he did struggle in his short stint with Carolina, managing just six points (2 G, 4 A) in 13 games. Rantanen certainly should be a premier scorer in Dallas, where he could skate with fellow Finn Roope Hintz on the Stars’ top line, and Hintz is cooking, with 16 points (3 G, 13 A) in his past seven games. If he does recapture the form he showed in Colorado, Rantanen will raise the Stars’ offensive ceiling. Going the other way, Stankoven is officially a rookie and has 43 points (14 G, 29 A) in 83 career NHL games. He ought to have a regular spot in Carolina’s top six and it would not be a stretch to imagine an extra minute or two of ice time per game for the new Hurricanes winger.

#2 It is the end of an era in Boston, as the Bruins have traded captain Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers. He is out of the lineup for three-to-four weeks with an upper-body injury, so that time frame means Marchand is likely of little value to fantasy managers. When he is healthy, Marchand could join Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk on a line that could wreak havoc in the postseason.

#3 The Colorado Avalanche made a big push to upgrade their roster, acquiring Brock Nelson from the New York Islanders and Charlie Coyle from the Boston Bruins. Nelson has 43 points (20 G, 23 A) in 61 games, marking the ninth season of his career in which he has recorded at least 20 goals. He is playing a career high 19:21 of ice time per game and that ice time could fall a little in Colorado, but Nelson should have better linemates with the Avalanche, so he may have a little more upside with his new team.

#4 In addition to Nelson, the Avs added Charlie Coyle, sending Casey Mittelstadt to Boston. After scoring a career high 60 points for the Bruins last season, Coyle has stumbled to 22 points (15 G, 7 A) through 64 games this season. He is likely going to fill the third-line centre role for the Avalanche, which doesn’t make him that appealing in most fantasy leagues. Mittelstadt is looking for a fresh start after putting up just 34 points (11 G, 23 A) as Colorado’s second line centre this season. Given the situation in Boston, where the Bruins are clearly rebuilding, it’s not the ideal scenario for Mittelstadt to enjoy a big finish to the season.

#5 The Buffalo Sabres dealt centre Dylan Cozens to the Ottawa Senators, bringing back centre Josh Norris as part of the return. Cozens had career highs of 31 goals and 68 points in 2022-2023 but he has not approached those numbers since and has a modest 31 points (11 G, 20 A) in 61 games this season. He is likely to see some improvement in shooting percentage, as his current rate of 7.9 percent is below his career mark of 10.0 percent, but moving to Ottawa does not suddenly mean an offensive breakout is coming. That’s the challenge for the Senators, to figure out if they can get Cozens back to his level of production from a couple of years ago. Norris has shown that he can put the puck in the net, scoring 77 goals in 173 games across the past four seasons. His biggest issue has been recurring shoulder injuries that have cost him playing time. The opportunity in Buffalo isn’t necessarily going to be that different for Norris, and the Sabres have enough quality to surround him with skilled wingers, but his fantasy appeal will be tied largely to how consistently he stays in the lineup.

#6 Defenceman Seth Jones had made it clear that he was ready to move on from the Chicago Blackhawks, so they traded him to the Florida Panthers. While Jones will probably not be required to play as much in Florida as he did in Chicago, where he averaged more than 25 minutes of playing time over the past four seasons, there will be a clear upgrade in talent around him. At least initially, it’s possible that Jones could have less appeal as a scorer in Florida, because he is on the Panthers’ second power play unit and 15 of his 27 points (7 G, 20 A) this season have come via the power play.

#7 Going the other way in that deal was goaltender Spencer Knight, the 13th pick in the 2019 Draft who missed all of last season, but has rebounded nicely in 2024-2025. Knight had a .907 save percentage in 23 games for the Panthers and has stopped 77 of 81 shots in his first two starts for Chicago. Knight is just 23 years old and should be Chicago’s goaltender of the future and even the goaltender of the present after the club dealt Petr Mrazek to Detroit. While the Blackhawks aren’t winning enough to make Knight especially valuable this season, he could grow into a star goaltender as the team in front of him improves.

#8 Dealing with some injuries in their forward group, the Minnesota Wild added wingers Gustav Nyquist and Justin Brazeau in separate trades with the Nashville Predators and Boston Bruins, respectively. Nyquist returns to Minnesota, where he had a solid stint late in the 2022-2023 season, contributing 10 points (1 G, 9 A) in nine regular-season-plus-playoff-games after he was acquired from Columbus. The veteran winger had a career-high of 75 points (21 G, 54 A) last season, but had managed just 21 points (12 G, 9 A) in 57 games for the Predators before the trade. Brazeau is a late bloomer who is playing his first full NHL season at age 27. The 6-foot-6 winger has 20 points (10 G, 10 A) in 57 games and while that does not scream offensive production, both Nyquist and Brazeau are capable of playing in Minnesota’s top nine and contributing secondary offense.

#9 The Tampa Bay Lightning turned to Seattle to add right winger Oliver Bjorkstrand and centre Yanni Gourde, bolstering a Lightning lineup that was already starting to make a strong push towards the postseason. Bjorkstrand is a five-time 20-goal scorer who had a career high of 59 points last season. He had 37 points (16 G, 21 A) in 61 games for Seattle and scored a goal in his first game for the Lightning. Gourde returns to Tampa Bay, where he was an integral part of their 2020 and 2021 Stanley Cup teams. He is feisty and can contribute offensively, though he has just 18 points (6 G, 12 A) in 37 games after recording an assist in his return to the Tampa Bay lineup. Winger Michael Eyssimont was part of the deal going to Seattle and while he has struggled this season, he showed some potential last season and there could be a more consistent role for him in Seattle for the rest of the season.

#10 The Pittsburgh Penguins were busy shedding forwards to stockpile draft picks. They sent Michael Bunting to Nashville, and he has scored 79 goals across the past four seasons, making him a useful secondary scorer, in addition to his ability to agitate the opposition. In the short term, he is recovering from an appendectomy, so his contributions will have to wait. The Penguins also sent Anthony Beauvillier to Washington, and he has bounced around a lot since leaving the Islanders in 2022-2023. Beauvillier has 20 points (13 G, 7 A) in 63 games this season and it’s not likely that he will see much of an increase in playing time upon arriving in D.C. to join his new team, so his fantasy appeal will be limited. Cody Glass was traded to New Jersey, and he will give the Devils some additional help up front in the wake of Jack Hughes’ season-ending injury, but it’s not like Glass is going to fill the void created by Hughes’ absence. The sixth pick in the 2017 Draft, Glass had career highs of 14 goals and 35 points for Nashville in 2022-2023, but had just 15 points (4 G, 11 A) in 51 games for the Penguins at the time of the trade.

#11 It wasn’t all sending players away from Pittsburgh, as the Penguins brought in Tommy Novak from Nashville in the Bunting deal. After back-to-back seasons with more than 40 points, Novak looked like he could be on his way to holding down a second line centre spot, but this has been a challenging season and he had just 22 points (13 G, 9 A) in 52 games. Novak is one of the players who moved at the deadline who should see an uptick in ice time. He averaged 13:14 per game for Nashville, but it would be entirely reasonable for the Penguins to bump Novak up to 16 minutes per game to see if he can fulfill the role of the bona fide second line centre.

#12 Looking to add some depth to their roster, the Edmonton Oilers traded for Boston Bruins forward Trent Frederic and San Jose Sharks defenceman Jake Walman. Frederic hit career highs with 18 goals and 40 points last season but has just 15 points (8 G, 7 A) in 57 games this season. He is a big physical presence and could have some sneaky appeal in the playoffs, but his injury makes it seem likely that Frederic is not going to make a major difference during this regular season. Walman is an unheralded blueliner, yet one who produced a career high of 32 points (6 G, 26 A) in 50 games for the Sharks. He is a quality puck mover who has had some strong defensive numbers in the past when he played for Detroit. It's more difficult to put up strong defensive numbers in San Jose. Walman may see his ice time dip a little from the 23 minutes per game that he is averaging, but he should still hold a top four role and get second-unit power play time.

#13 Veteran winger Reilly Smith tallied a career high 26 goals on his way to 56 points in 2022-2023 and the Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup. Smith has struggled in two seasons since then, first with Pittsburgh and, this season, with the New York Rangers. Going back to Vegas, Smith could fulfill a secondary scoring role for the Golden Knights, though it also could be more challenging for him to secure a regular spot in Vegas’ top nine.

#14 The Toronto Maple Leafs, looking to improve their centre depth, brought in Scott Laughton from the Philadelphia Flyers. Laughton has limited offensive upside, hitting a career high of 43 points (18 G, 25 A) in 2022-2023, and with two points in his past 12 games, Laughton has 27 points (11 G, 16 A) in 60 games this season. However, he does have 129 hits in 60 games, so if he is contributing even a little bit offensively, there is a chance that Laughton will provide enough value to draw fantasy appeal in deep or banger leagues.

#15 After contributing five points (2 G, 3 A) in seven games for the Philadelphia Flyers following his trade from Calgary, winger Andrei Kuzmenko is on the move again, joining the Los Angeles Kings. Kuzmenko had career highs of 39 goals and 74 points for Vancouver in 2022-2023 but has been nowhere near that level of production in two years since then. He comes at a low cost for the Kings and Kuzmenko has enough skill that he could help upgrade the Kings’ offense. It looks like he could join Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe, which would certainly be a quality situation for him, and might make him a fantasy sleeper at this stage of the season, but if Kuzmenko doesn’t produce in that spot, he could quickly lose relevance.

#16 For a player with little offensive output, Luke Kunin does hit enough to put him on the radar of fantasy managers. Acquired from the San Jose Sharks by the Columbus Blue Jackets, Kunin has 18 points (11 G, 7 A) in 63 games but he also has 163 hits in 63 games, so there is at least a chance that if Kunin plays in a top nine role for Columbus, that he might be able to contribute enough to earn some deep league fantasy attention.

#17 The Ottawa Senators made another move to address their goal-scoring woes, picking up Fabian Zetterlund from the San Jose Sharks. Zetterlund had 36 points (17 G, 19 A) in 64 games for the Sharks this season, playing nearly 17 minutes per game for the team with the worst record in the NHL. If he moves to a line with, say, Cozens and Drake Batherson, that should give Zetterlund a good chance to provide secondary scoring.

#18 Although he has just five points (2 G, 3 A) in 19 games this season, Daniel Sprong has shown that he can score in limited opportunities, scoring 39 goals in his previous two seasons despite playing fewer than 12 minutes per game. The Devils are reeling, with injuries knocking out centre Jack Hughes and defencemen Dougie Hamilton and Jonas Siegenthaler, but if Sprong gets a chance to play consistently, he could be worth tracking.

#19 Even if Fraser Minten isn’t likely to play much for the Boston Bruins down the stretch, after he was acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for defenceman Brandon Carlo, Minten is an intriguing long-term pickup. A second-round pick in 2022, Minten contributed four points (2 G, 2 A) in 15 games for the Maple Leafs this season and 13 points (6 G, 7 A) in 26 games for the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. On a Bruins team that is going through a rebuilding process, Minten could have a real shot to play in the NHL next season.

#20 The Chicago Blackhawks decided not to move veteran forward Ryan Donato, who has set career highs with 23 goals and 47 points in 61 games. The 28-year-old second generation NHLer is on a seven-game point streak and has 18 points (8 G, 10 A) in his past 12 games. Expect the Blackhawks to ink Donato to some kind of contract extension, giving him a chance to remain in a bigger role than he has typically been afforded at other stops in his NHL career.

*Advanced stats via Natural Stat Trick

NHL: CULLEN – 20 FANTASY POINTS – Canucks send Miller to Rangers, Sharks ship Granlund to Dallas, Sanderson, Perfetti, Byfield, Knies, and Wright are among the young players gaining appeal and much more!

Scott Cullen — Sat, 08 Feb 2025 18:51:21 +0000

NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 07: New York Rangers left wing J.T. Miller (8) in action during the third period of the National Hockey League game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Rangers on February 7, 2025 at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY. (Photo by Joshua Sarner/Icon Sportswire)

Each week, I dig into the stats to find information that can help you make better fantasy hockey decisions. This week, the Canucks send J.T. Miller to the Rangers, the Sharks ship Mikael Granlund to Dallas, Jake Sanderson, Cole Perfetti, Quinton Byfield, Matthew Knies, and Shane Wright are among the young players gaining appeal and much more!

#1 Ending a saga that had been going on in Vancouver all season, the Canucks finally traded J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers. Since the start of the 2021-2022 season, Miller has scored 323 points (112 G, 211 A) in 285 games, which ranks 13th in the NHL. He also has 692 hits in that time, so Miller offers a lot for fantasy managers. He can be a handful and eventually wore out his welcome in Vancouver, but he makes the Rangers better immediately.

#2 One of the players reaping the rewards from Miller’s arrival in New York is Mika Zibanejad, who has been enduring a difficult season, but has shifted to right wing on a line with Miller and Artemi Panarin. Zibanejad suddenly has six points (1 G, 5 A) and 10 shots on goal in his past three games, after managing just two points (1 G, 1 A) in his previous eight games.

#3 Going to Vancouver in the Miller deal, centre Filip Chytil should get a better opportunity with the Canucks. He was stuck behind Zibanejad and Vincent Trocheck down the middle of the ice for the Rangers. Chytil had 20 points (11 G, 9 A) in 41 games for the Rangers, but has two points (1 G, 1 A) in three games with the Canucks, averaging more than 20 minutes of ice time per game with his new team. Chytil is centering Drew O’Connor, who was recently acquired from Pittsburgh, and Brock Boeser on the Canucks’ second line as well as getting first-unit power play time, so he is getting a chance to be a more significant contributor than he was in New York.

#4 In another deal, the San Jose Sharks dealt forward Mikael Granlund and defenceman Cody Ceci to Dallas. Ceci is a veteran stay-at-home defenceman, with little appeal for fantasy managers, but Granlund has produced 106 points (27 G, 79 A) in 123 games for the Sharks across the past two seasons. While Granlund is not likely to play as much in Dallas as he did in San Jose, he is skating on a line with Mason Marchment and Matt Duchene, effectively replacing an injured Tyler Seguin in the Stars’ lineup.

#5 After what had been an uninspiring start to the season, Ottawa Senators defenceman Jake Sanderson has produced 10 points (3 G, 7 A) with 18 shots on goal during a six-game point streak. Four of those 10 points have come via the power play and Sanderson now has 20 power play points this season, which ranks third behind only Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes.

#6 Emerging from a month-long slump that saw him contribute two assists in 14 games, Winnipeg Jets winger Cole Perfetti has tallied eight points (4 G, 4 A) with 13 shots on goal in his past six games. Perfetti’s ice time is still worth keeping an eye on, but when he’s producing, he tends to have a good situation with Nikolaj Ehlers and Vladislav Namestnikov on Winnipeg’s second line.

#7 After breaking through for 55 points (20 G, 35 A) last season, Kings forward Quinton Byfield has not been scoring at the same pace this season, despite playing nearly two minutes more per game. He has had some recent success, with seven points (2 G, 5 A) and 13 shots on goal in his past six games. Byfield is skating at centre on a line with Kevin Fiala and Alex Laferriere, a line with decent offensive potential and Fiala has started to break through lately, too.

#8 Toronto Maple Leafs left winger Matthew Knies is busting out in his second NHL season. His ice time is up from 13:41 per game last season to 18:24 per game this season and he has 17 points (10 G, 7 A) in his past 13 games. His 21 goals this season is tied for second on the team with John Tavares, behind only William Nylander (33). Knies also plays a physical game, which sets him apart from Toronto’s other top scorers, and he has 115 hits in 50 games, which makes him even more valuable to fantasy managers.

#9 Although the season is not going the way that the Seattle Kraken would have hoped, they can take some small victories in the process and it appears that they are starting to realize the potential of centre Shane Wright, the fourth pick in the 2022 Draft. Wright has seven points (3 G, 4 A) in his past seven games and is skating on a line with Jared McCann and Andre Burakovsky, a pair of skilled veteran wingers. It’s not like Wright has suddenly become a top-tier forward, but he is a 21-year-old who is handling third-line minutes and second-unit power play time, so there is going to be continued growth.

#10 After being sidelined for nearly two months, Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz returned to action Thursday and stopped 26 of 27 shots in a win at Seattle. Stolarz has a .929 save percentage, which is tops among goalies with at least 10 appearances, and has 15.39 Goals Saved Above Expected. While Stolarz has never been able to handle a starter’s workload for a full season, topping out at 28 games for Anaheim in 2021-2022, his quality play ensures that he will have a significant role for the Maple Leafs down the stretch, sharing time in the crease with Joseph Woll.

#11 His first couple of seasons in Calgary were pretty rough, at least relative to his best seasons in Florida, but Flames left winger Jonathan Huberdeau has been more dangerous this season. He has eight points (3 G, 5 A) in his past nine games while playing more than 21 minutes per game, a far cry from the 16:52 per game he played a few years ago in his first season with the Flames. Huberdeau, who has largely been known as a playmaker throughout his career, is up to 21 goals, with only 19 assists, on the season.

#12 After having his contract terminated by the St. Louis Blues, left winger Brandon Saad signed on with the Vegas Golden Knights, looking for a chance to win and, presumably, an opportunity to contribute more than he was in St. Louis this season. In his last 20 games for the Blues, Saad recorded six points (3 G, 3 A) and all three of his goals in that time happened in one game (vs. Ottawa). In Vegas, Saad is not getting power play time, which is not altogether unusual for him, but he is skating on a line with Brett Howden and Mark Stone at even strength and has one goal in his first three games for the Golden Knights.

#13 New York Islanders right winger Mathew Barzal is out of the lineup once again, this time due to a lower-body injury. Barzal is averaging a career-high 20:21 of ice time per game this season but has a modest 20 points (6 G, 14 A) in 30 games. With Barzal out, the door is open for Anthony Duclair to move up the depth chart, but Duclair has been struggling, with just two points (1 G, 1 A) and 19 shots on goal in his past 16 games. A more appealing option for the Islanders could be Simon Holmstrom, who has six points (3 G, 3 A) in his past five games.

#14 The Nashville Predators have called up top prospect Joakim Kemell from Milwaukee of the AHL, where the 17th pick in the 2022 Draft had recorded 25 points (9 G, 16 A) in 38 games. He is slated to make his NHL debut Friday and could have a plum assignment to start his NHL career, skating on a line with Filip Forsberg and Steven Stamkos. That’s not taking a skilled young player and burying him on the fourth line. It’s taking that player and giving him a chance to succeed.

#15 San Jose is giving some prospects a chance to play, too. Collin Graf, who was signed out of Quinnipiac in the spring, had 30 points (8 G, 22 A) in 33 games for the San Jose Barracuda and has averaged more than 17 minutes of ice time, scoring one goal in two games since he was recalled to the Sharks. Graf is skating with Luke Kunin and Barclay Goodrow at even strength but does get second-unit power play time. The Sharks have also promoted veteran pro Andrew Poturalski, a 31-year-old centre who was leading the AHL with 45 points (18 G, 27 A) in 41 games at the time of his promotion. He has two assists in eight career NHL games, but the Sharks are giving him a chance to skate between Fabian Zetterlund and Will Smith, so there is a chance for him to provide some offense.

#16 Florida Panthers goaltender Spencer Knight has been steadily getting better and while he is clearly in a backup role, he is a much more valuable backup now. Since the calendar flipped to 2025, Knight has a .937 save percentage and an astounding 11.12 Goals Saved Above Expected in eight games. It has not been the easiest path for the 2019 first-round pick, who sat out last season, but he is showing that his talent is still there and at just 23 years old, he should have a promising future in this league.

#17 It’s not time to panic over Mikko Rantanen’s move to Carolina, even if the premier winger has just two points (1 G, 1 A) in his first six games for the Hurricanes. Rantanen also has 21 shots on goal and 40 shot attempts in those six games, so the chances are there, but this player who has scored on 16.1 percent of his shots in his career is scoring on just 4.8 percent of them since the trade. That will regress soon enough, and this slow start with his new team could make Rantanen a little bit of a buy-low option.

#18 While he has tallied 10 power play goals in 26 games for the Montreal Canadiens, Patrik Laine has hit a scoring slump. The sharp-shooting winger has no points and eight shots on goal in his past six games and that highlights what happens when things go wrong for Laine. He stops generating shots and while he tends to be dependent on others to create chances, he can surely put himself in better positions to get shots because 1.3 shots per game is obviously not nearly enough for a player with his shooting talent.

#19 Another player enduring an offensive slump is Kings winger Adrian Kempe, who has zero points in his past six games but the part that is encouraging about Kempe is that he has 21 shots on goal in that stretch. He remains on the Kings’ top line, alongside Anze Kopitar and Alex Turcotte, as well as holding a spot on the Kings’ first line, so it is easier to see Kempe resuming his scoring ways. Kopitar is enduring his own slump, with one assist and 11 shots on goal in his past seven games, so they should be ready to get back on track at any moment.

#20 Red Wings goaltender Cam Talbot lost his first game after the Wings made their coaching change over the holiday break in December, but in 10 games since then, Talbot has nine wins and a .916 save percentage. Since Detroit is back into the playoff mix, that makes Talbot much more valuable for fantasy managers because the wins have become more accessible.

*Advanced stats via Natural Stat Trick

NHL: CULLEN – 20 FANTASY POINTS – Avalanche and Hurricanes make blockbuster deal, Flames and Flyers swing four-player swap, the Islanders renovate their blueline, McTavish, Smith, and Slafkovsky are some young forwards picking up steam and much more!

Scott Cullen — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 13:30:21 +0000

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 28: Carolina Hurricanes Right Wing Mikko Rantanen (96) in action prior to the National Hockey League game between the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Rangers on January 28, 2025 at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY. (Photo by Joshua Sarner/Icon Sportswire)

Each week, I dig into the stats to find information that can help you make better fantasy hockey decisions. This week, the Avalanche and Hurricanes made a blockbuster deal, the Flames and Flyers swing a four-player swap, the Islanders renovate their blueline, and Mason McTavish, Will Smith, and Juraj Slafkovsky are some young forwards picking up steam and much more!

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

#1 The Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche made a massive trade last week, a rare in-season move involving star players. The Hurricanes landed Mikko Rantanen from the Avalanche and Taylor Hall from the Blackhawks in the three-team deal. Rantanen is one of the league’s premier forwards and since the 2020-2021 season, he has averaged 1.27 points per game, ranking seventh in the league. In his first three games with Carolina, Rantanen has a goal and an assist, but also has 13 shots on goal despite seeing his average time on ice drop to 19:06 per game after averaging 22:30 per game in Colorado. Hall’s ice time was reduced in Chicago this season but his 1.88 points per 60 minutes ranked second on the Blackhawks among forwards to play at least 500 five-on-five minutes (behind Ryan Donato). So, while Rantanen might play less after joining a team with Carolina’s depth of talent, Hall might actually find his way to more ice time with the Hurricanes.

#2 Colorado acquired right winger Martin Necas and centre Jack Drury from Carolina. Necas had 55 points in 49 games with Carolina before getting traded and he has put up four assists in three games. The Avalanche have also taken to giving Necas the same kind of role that Rantanen held, so Necas has averaged 23:08 of ice time per game in his first three games for the Avs after playing 18:05 per game in Carolina. Drury is more of a depth option, though he has scored two goals in his first three games for Colorado.

#3 The Calgary Flames and Philadelphia Flyers are both in the hunt for playoff spots and the teams swapped players Thursday. Calgary acquired winger Joel Farabee and centre Morgan Frost, sending wingers Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier, along with a couple of draft picks, to Philadelphia. Farabee is a solid complementary winger who scored a career-high 50 points (22 G, 28 A) last season, but has just 19 points (8 G, 11 A) through 50 games this season. He could use the fresh start. Frost has had a bit of a tumultuous run in Philadelphia, especially with John Tortorella as head coach. Frost is a talented player but had one assist and seven shots on goal in his last seven games with the Flyers.

#4 Kuzmenko is a 28-year-old winger who tallied 39 goals and 74 points for Vancouver in 2022-2023, his first season in the NHL, but he has just four goals and 15 points in 37 games this season. He did cross paths with Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov back in the KHL, as Kuzmenko was the leading scorer for SKA St. Petersburg in 2022-2023 when Michkov was just getting his feet wet with that team in the KHL. Perhaps Kuzmenko can help shake Michkov from the slump that has seen him produce just seven points (3 G, 4 A) in his past 24 games. Pelletier was a first-round pick in 2019, but it has taken a while for him to show that he belongs in the NHL. He did have six points (3 G, 3 A) in his last nine games for the Flames and the small skilled winger can hope to secure more consistent playing time in Philadelphia.

#5 Injuries have forced the New York Islanders to address their blueline and they have signed Tony DeAngelo, who was playing in the KHL, and acquired Scott Perunovich in a trade with the St. Louis Blues. DeAngelo had 32 points (6 G, 26 A) in 34 games for St. Petersburg in the KHL but still fell out of favor. He has one assist in three games for the Islanders but has averaged more than 25 minutes of ice time per game and is quarterbacking the Islanders top power play unit. Perunovich has recorded an assist in both of his first two games for the Islanders.

#6 Anahiem Ducks centre Mason McTavish started relatively slowly this season, with 19 points (6 G, 13 A) through 40 games. He does have seven points (6 G, 1 A) and 14 shots on goal in his past five games, however, so it’s worth keeping tabs on the 22-year-old. He is skating with Cutter Gauthier and Robby Fabbri at even strength, but McTavish is also getting first-unit power play time.

#7 San Jose Sharks rookie Will Smith has taken some time to find his groove during his first NHL campaign, but it looks like the fourth pick in the 2023 Draft is getting comfortable. He is riding a six-game point streak, during which he has amassed seven points (2 G, 5 A) and is skating on a line with veteran Mikael Granlund and Fabian Zetterlund. Granlund has eight points (3 G, 5 A) in his past six games, and with 46 points on the season, he looks like a good bet to hit the 60-point plateau for the fifth time in his career.

#8 There have been some uneven moments in the development path for Montreal Canadiens winger Juraj Slafkovsky, the first pick in the 2022 Draft. Despite enjoying great success with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield last season, Slafkovsky has been moved down the depth chart at times this season and he scored four goals (plus 19 assists) in the first 40 games of the season. Since then, Slafkovsky has six points (4 G, 2 A) in eight games and looks a lot more like the power forward who finished last season with 35 points (16 G, 19 A) in his last 40 games.

#9 When the Nashville Predators struggled early in the season, there was concern that centre Tommy Novak wasn’t up to the task of providing much-needed secondary scoring, and he managed just nine points (5 G, 4 A) in his first 35 games. After that inauspicious start to the season, Novak has contributed seven points (3 G, 4 A) in his past five games, and is having some success skating with rookies Fedor Svechkov and Zachary L’Heureux.

#10 Buffalo Sabres left winger JJ Peterka enjoyed a terrific start to the season and then went through a slump in late November and early December, but he has rebounded with 21 points (6 G, 15 A) in his past 20 games, highlighted by his three-goal, one-assist performance in Tuesday’s win over Buffalo. More recently, the Sabres have been running Peterka on a line with rookie Jiri Kulich at centre and Tage Thompson on right wing. Kulich has nine points (5 G, 4 A) in his past 12 games. Thompson, who is more widely rostered than his linemates, has 26 points (14 G, 12 A) in his past 26 games.

#11 Marco Kasper was the eighth pick in the 2022 Draft by the Detroit Red Wings and he was offering an unremarkable rookie season, with seven points (2 G, 5 A) in his first 35 games. Moving up the depth chart has done wonders for the young skilled winger, and he has put up 12 points (7 G, 5 A) and 24 shots on goal in his past 11 games. With Patrick Kane injured, Kasper is skating on the Red Wings’ top line, with Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond, as well as playing on Detroit’s first power play unit. Given their success, the trio might need to stay together even when Kane returns.

#12 The Toronto Maple Leafs do not get great production out of their defencemen, as Morgan Rielly is Toronto’s highest scoring blueliner with 22 points (3 G, 19 A) in 51 games. Just behind him, though, is veteran Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who has six points (1 G, 5 A) in his past five games, giving him 21 points for the season. Just as importantly, Ekman-Larsson is averaging more than 23 minutes of ice time per game in that stretch. The Maple Leafs run five forwards on their top power play unit, with Rielly and Ekman-Larsson on the second unit.

#13 Chicago Blackhawks rookie Frank Nazar was the 13th pick in the 2022 Draft and was tearing up the AHL this season with 24 points (11 G, 13 A) in 21 games and when the Blackhawks made a coaching change, they promoted Nazar shortly thereafter. While he did not have immediate success, there have been signs of progress. He has five points (2 G, 3 A) in his past eight games and is now skating on Connor Bedard’s wing on Chicago’s top line.

#14 Seattle Kraken winger Jared McCann has been one their most productive players since the expansion draft, scoring 110 goals and 221 points to lead the franchise. While McCann has been more of a goal scorer as he has emerged as a legitimate offensive threat, he has turned playmaker lately. In his past 13 games, McCann has 12 points (1 G, 11 A) and 17 shots on goal. That low shot total needs to improve because while McCann is not usually a high-volume shooter, 1.3 shots on goal per game is not the stuff of consistent top line scorers.

#15 As the Carolina Hurricanes appear to have pushed their chips all in for this season, there is an opportunity for centre Jesperi Kotkaniemi to fulfill a supporting role. Carolina’s addition of Taylor Hall offers the possibility that Kotkaniemi could have more skill on his wings and Kotkaniemi has produced six points (4 G, 2 A) in his past six games. After scoring 27 points in 79 games last season, Kotkaniemi has already chipped in 25 points (10 G, 15 A) in 52 games this season, so he is developing, even if it might be at a slower pace than the ‘Canes might have initially hoped.

#16 Mammoth Washington Capitals winger Aliaksei Protas is enjoying a breakthrough season and is thriving with a six-game point streak, during which he has seven points (3 G, 4 A) and 11 shots on goal. Protas has not been a huge shot generator, so he has been dependent on a shooting percentage of 23.3 percent to score 21 goals in 51 games. His 20 even-strength goals is tied for fifth in the league, behind only Leon Draisaitl (26), Mark Scheifele (22), William Nylander (22), and Tage Thompson (21).

#17 Los Angeles Kings netminder Darcy Kuemper has enjoyed some excellent seasons in his career but he had injury problems when he was with Washington last season, and it was hard to know whether he would be able to bounce back as a 34-year-old goaltender. Saskatoon native Kuemper has been excellent for the Kings, and since the calendar turned to 2025, he has a .938 save percentage in 10 games. Kuemper has 9.65 goals saved above expected this season, which ranks 10th in the NHL, a level of play that the Kings did not have much right to expect.

#18 The Washington Capitals started the season with a goaltending tandem of Charles Lindgren and Logan Thompson and that duo has helped the Capitals to the league’s best record. While there was an even split in the crease for a good portion of the season, Lindgren missed some time with injury, and it allowed Thompson to emerge as the No. 1 option between the pipes for Washington. In his past dozen starts, Thompson has a record of 11-0-1 while posting a .949 save percentage. He earned a six-year, $35.1 million contract extension, nice work for the former USports goaltender.

#19 Veteran Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson is getting a steady diet of starts in the Anaheim net, perhaps showcasing him for a potential trade. Lukas Dostal has played well, establishing himself as the Ducks’ goaltender of the future, and possibly the present, but in his past 11 appearances, Gibson has a .922 save percentage. That kind of performance should help to make Gibson more appealing to a playoff contender that is looking for an upgrade in goal and a move to a team that is more likely to win would certainly improve Gibson’s fantasy value.

#20 Dallas Stars standout defenceman Miro Heiskanen is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury, suffered following an unusual hit from Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone. Heiskanen will miss the 4 Nations Face-Off, and his absence from the Stars lineup will be every bit as challenging as it will be for Team Finland to be without the rock steady blueliner. With Heiskanen out, Thomas Harley should see more time on the power play. Only three of Harley’s 23 points this season have come via the man advantage.

*Advanced stats via Natural Stat Trick

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: DADOUN – FANTASY WEEK AHEAD – Ovechkin, McDavid in the hunt for Gretzky’s records – Teams and players to target this week

Ryan Dadoun — Sat, 28 Dec 2024 19:45:13 +0000

I remember almost a decade ago writing about the possibility of Alex Ovechkin someday breaking Wayne Gretzky’s goal record. It wasn’t in the context of a prediction that it would happen, but instead, it was about it was about what would need to happen for it to be possible. While Ovechkin surpassing Gretzky seems all but inevitable at this point, it’s taken remarkably good health -- his time missed this campaign due to a fractured fibula notwithstanding -- and complete defiance of Father Time in the back half of his career to make this possible.

Ovechkin never had a campaign like Gretzky enjoyed in his prime, but Gretzky fell hard in his 30s from a goal-scoring perspective, never hitting the 40-goal milestone after the 1990-91 campaign and collecting 176 goals over his last 562 career appearances after accumulating a jaw-dropping 718 markers over his first 925 games.

However you slice it, surpassing Gretzky’s goal record is still incredible and something that would have seemed impossible for anyone when Ovechkin started his NHL career. It made me wonder, though, if Gretzky’s goal record can be overcome, is there a world in which his all-time points record could be bested too?

Gretzky was an even more dominant playmaker than a goal scorer and finished with 2,857 points. To date, no one else has even crossed the 2,000 mark with Jaromir Jagr coming the closest at 1,921. Still, we seem to be in a new age of elite forwards. From 1996-97 through 2021-22, no player recorded 130 points in a single season. In 2022-23, Connor McDavid ended that by scoring 64 goals and 153 points, and then Nikita Kucherov, Nathan MacKinnon and McDavid all finished with over 130 points last year -- 144, 140 and 132, respectively.

It remains to be seen if anyone will breach this mark again in 2024-25, but MacKinnon (14 goals, 60 points in 37 games), Leon Draisaitl (24, 52 in 34) and Mikko Rantanen (20, 53 in 37) all have a shot. I also wouldn’t rule out McDavid breaching that milestone for the third straight year. Although he’s behind the pack with 15 goals and 49 points through 31 outings, McDavid has found his rhythm by providing 12 goals and 39 points over his past 20 contests.

So could any of them match Gretzky? Although it’s anticlimactic, the answer is almost certainly not. McDavid is the most interesting of them, but even in his case, he’s at 350 goals and 1,031 points in his age-28 season. By the end of Gretzky’s age-28 campaign, he already had 637 goals and 1,837 points. Like Ovechkin did, perhaps McDavid will enjoy greater longevity than Gretzky, but even then, the gap is too great. Let’s assume McDavid produces at a 120-point pace over the next 13 campaigns, including 2024-25. Even in that extremely unlikely scenario, that would leave McDavid with 2,542 points -- more than 300 shy of Gretzky.

No active player is in a better position than McDavid either. MacKinnon and Kucherov are both older than McDavid and have fewer career points. The Great One’s points record appears safe for at least another generation. Still, if McDavid does stay fairly healthy and continues to perform at an elite level into his late 30s, then a run at 2,000 points might be viable. That alone would be one of the greatest achievements in hockey history.

It's also arguably harder to score now than it was in Gretzky’s day. When Gretzky set the record with 215 points in a single season in 1985-86, the league average in goals per team per game was 3.97. The best McDavid’s ever seen by that metric is 3.14 in 2022-23 (it’s down to 3.03 this year). Just for the fun of it, let’s do some back-of-the-napkin calculations to attempt to normalize McDavid and Gretzky’s offensive contributions relative to their era. Do not take this seriously as these are some incredibly simplified calculations, but I’ve regressed or enhanced the scoring of each player for each season by a percentage equal to the gap between that campaign’s league average from 3.00 goals per team per game. For example, Gretzky’s 137 points in 1979-80 when the league was scoring at a rate of 3.51 becomes 117 points.

This little experiment is unquestionably to McDavid’s benefit. I was just interested to see if taking this extremely raw approach would be enough to close the gap. The answer is that Gretzky still wins handily. Even under those circumstances, Gretzky would have recorded 1,304 points over his first nine campaigns, including six consecutive campaigns of at least 150 points from 1981-82 through 1986-87. Gretzky’s 215-point campaign is brought down to 162 points, but that still tops anything that McDavid has done, whose 153-point campaign is lessened to 146 points. For McDavid’s part, he has 993 points over his first nine campaigns (running through 2023-24) under this adjusted standard.

Gretzky’s career point total would also still stand at 2,392 (keep in mind, league scoring did begin diminishing in the latter half of Gretzky’s career, so that period wasn’t diminished as much by these calculations as his early seasons), making it difficult for McDavid to overcome.

That goes to show how good Gretzky was, even when compared against the biggest star of his generation, McDavid. There is one record McDavid could realistically take from Gretzky, though: The all-time points total in an Oilers jersey. Gretzky accumulated 1,669 points during his time with Edmonton, and if McDavid re-signs with Edmonton after his existing contract expires in the summer of 2026, which seems reasonable after the Oilers locked up Draisaitl, then McDavid should be able to eventually become Edmonton’s all-time leading scorer.

Calgary Flames

Tues vs. VAN, Thu vs. UTA, Sat vs. NSH

The Flames have a somewhat light schedule with three games next week, but they’ll spend all that time at home. Calgary will host the Canucks on Tuesday, Utah on Thursday and the Predators on Saturday. Vancouver is having a solid campaign, but Utah and Nashville aren’t currently in a playoff position.

Jonathan Huberdeau has been fantastic in recent weeks, providing six goals and 13 points across his past 10 appearances. I still don’t love him long-term, though. Even after factoring in his hot streak, his 25 points through 34 appearances isn’t special, and while his 13 goals in 2024-25 is more impressive, that’s on the back of a likely unsustainable 21.7 shooting percentage -- his career average is 12.5 -- so I think it’s just a matter of time before his scoring pace slows. With that disclaimer out of the way, he's certainly a nice player to have for now.

Matthew Coronato is also hot, supplying two goals and four assists across his active four-game point streak. Taken with the No. 13 overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, Coronato excelled with AHL Calgary in 2023-24, recording 15 goals and 42 points over 41 appearances, but he’s been somewhat hit-and-miss at the NHL level this campaign, totaling nine goals and 18 points through 29 outings. In a couple of years, Coronato might be a mainstay on fantasy lineups, but for now, he’s more of a streaming option.

If you’re making a short-term play on Coronato, it’d be worth it to consider his linemate, Blake Coleman, too. The 33-year-old Coleman has eight goals and 17 points in 34 outings, but he’s also hot with three goals and six points over his last five games.

Carolina Hurricanes

Tues @ CBJ, Thu @ FLA, Sat vs. MIN, Sun vs. PIT

The Hurricanes have a strong 21-12-1 record, but that’s due to their strong start. More recently, Carolina has been a middling 7-7-1, so the Hurricanes have room for improvement as the calendar turns to 2025. They’ll look to get going on the road against Columbus on Tuesday and Florida on Thursday. Afterward, the Hurricanes will return home to host Minnesota on Saturday and Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Although Carolina has won just one of its last four games, some players have been effective over that stretch. Brent Burns had a goal and an assist in Friday’s 4-2 loss to New Jersey, marking his first multi-point game since Nov. 5. He has three goals and 11 points through 35 appearances, putting him on pace to finish with less than 30 points for just the second time dating back to 2013-14.

Losing his spot on the first power-play unit to Shayne Gostisbehere has significantly hurt him. Burns had 20 of his 43 points with the man advantage in 2023-24, but he has no power-play points this campaign. In terms of 5-on-5 points, he’s probably going to end up roughly in line with his total from last season, so his drop is pretty much entirely driven by that change in his usage. That’s worth keeping in mind in case circumstances result in him getting on the first power-play unit later in the campaign.

Sebastian Aho hasn’t had any problems collecting power-play points, already accumulating 14 of them in 2024-25. He’s also been a reliable contributor, being held off the scoresheet just three times over his past 16 outings (six goals, 19 points). He has 11 markers and 36 points in 35 outings overall. As long as he stays healthy, the 27-year-old should reach the 80-point milestone for the third time in four campaigns.

Jack Roslovic isn’t going to match Aho in terms of total points this season, but Roslovic has been a regular contributor recently. He has recorded a point in four of his past five appearances (one goal, four points). Interestingly, Roslovic has also recorded over 16 minutes in each of Carolina’s past two games, well above his season average of 13:40 of ice time across his first 33 outings. We’ll have to see if he continues to get that kind of workload, or if he regresses back toward his norm.

Colorado Avalanche

Tues vs. WPG, Thu vs. BUF, Sat vs. MTL

The Avalanche have been red hot recently, posting a 7-2-0 record from Dec. 7-22. They’ll look to maintain that strong play next week in home matches against Winnipeg, Buffalo and Montreal on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Although injuries were certainly a factor in Colorado’s up-and-down play early in the campaign, goaltending was a major problem. Recently, netminding has been part of Avalanche’s strength. Scott Wedgewood has looked fantastic since joining the Avalanche from Nashville, posting a 1.93 GAA and .932 save percentage across six appearances with Colorado. Similarly, Mackenzie Blackwood has been dominant with the Avalanche with a 3-1-0 record, 2.03 GAA and .931 save percentage in four starts since being acquired from San Jose.

Colorado made a big bet towards the idea that this new combo is everything that they want it to be by inking Blackwood to a five-year, $26.25 million contract extension Friday. That’s a startling commitment to a 28-year-old goaltender with a 3.05 GAA over 219 career appearances. However, the Avalanche’s decision isn’t without merit.

While Blackwood didn’t look nearly as good with the Sharks -- he had a 3.00 GAA and .909 save percentage in 19 appearances before the trade -- he was doing well relative to the team in front of him. His goals saved above expected is plus-5.9 this campaign, per Moneypuck, which is good for 16th place. That suggests he’s been in the upper half of starters in 2024-25 when you separate him from the defense in front of him. It’s a similar story in 2023-24. He had an ugly 3.45 GAA and .899 save percentage in 44 outings with the Sharks, but San Jose was terrible, and Blackwood’s plus-2.4 goals saved above expected last campaign suggests he held his own under very difficult circumstances.

Blackwood was especially good in 2019-20. His 22-14-8 record, 2.77 GAA and .915 save percentage in 47 appearances might not scream dominant, but he ranked fifth in the league in goals saved above expected (plus-7.9) that year. It hasn’t always been good -- he struggled in that metric in 2020-21 and 2021-22, but when his career has been taken as a whole, it’s fair to say that he has been consistently put into difficult circumstances and made the most of them. Now in Colorado, which has been solid defensively, ranking 11th in xGA/60 at 2.93 this season, Blackwood is finally in a position to put up great top-line numbers in addition to solid analytics.

Dallas Stars

Tues vs. BUF, Thu vs. OTT, Sat vs. UTA

Dallas will spend the upcoming week at home, hosting the Sabres on Tuesday, the Senators on Thursday and Utah on Saturday. Of that competition, only Ottawa (18-14-2) entered Friday’s action in possession of a playoff spot.

The Stars have managed to score no more than three goals in any of their past seven games, and they’ve produced two or fewer in five of those contests. Losing Tyler Seguin (hip), potentially for the rest of the regular season, has been felt, but Matt Duchene has also fallen hard from his hot start. After scoring 12 goals and 27 points through 22 outings, the 33-year-old has just a goal and three points over his past 12 appearances. Getting Duchene going again will be critical to the Stars’ long-term success.

At least Jason Robertson has done well lately. His seven goals and 23 points through 34 games is still well below what you’d want to see out of a player of that caliber, but he does have two goals and eight points across his past eight appearances.

Roope Hintz has also found his scoring touch, netting nine goals over his past 16 outings, including four goals in four games from Dec. 16-23. Hopefully, the holiday break didn’t cool him off -- he was held off the scoresheet Friday, though he did record four shots.

The lack of offense has weighed on goaltender Jake Oettinger. He’s held the competition to 16 goals over his past seven appearances but has a mediocre 3-4-0 record over that span due to the lack of support.

New Jersey Devils

Tues @ ANA, Wed @ LAK, Sat @ SJS

The Devils are on the road next week, but the competition is favorable. They’ll play in Anaheim on Tuesday, LA on Wednesday and San Jose on Saturday.

Being on the road hasn’t been much of a problem for the Devils anyway. They have a 12-5-0 away record compared to 12-6-3 at home. Not every player has traveled well, though.

Timo Meier is a great forward to utilize in New Jersey with his eight goals and 18 points through 20 appearances, but he’s been limited to five goals and nine points on the road, so you might want to exercise caution with him next week. Ondrej Palat is a major offensive force in either scenario, but he’s also noticeably better at home (four goals and 10 points in 20 appearances) than on the road (three goals and five points in 17 outings).

On the flip side, Dougie Hamilton has been somewhat quiet in New Jersey with two goals and eight points across 21 outings, but he’s accumulated three goals and 15 points in 17 games during the Devils’ travels. Paul Cotter has held his own on the road too with five goals and nine points over 17 appearances, but his home production stands at just two goals and four points through 21 outings.

Jacob Markstrom is an interesting case. He’s 9-4-0 with a 2.09 GAA on the road and 10-2-2 with a 2.13 GAA at home, so clearly, he provides value in either scenario. However, his save percentage is starkly different at home (.898) compared to the road (.926). The Devils do allow significantly fewer shots at home (23.0) than they do away (27.6), so it seems Markstrom adjusts well to the higher workload, and his save percentage reflects that.

New York Rangers

Mon @ FLA, Thu vs. BOS, Sat @ WSH, Sun @ CHI

The Rangers have been in freefall, dropping 13 of their past 17 games. They’ll try to end the slump next week, starting with a game in Florida on Monday. New York will then host the Bruins on Thursday before playing in Washington on Saturday and in Chicago on Sunday.

If you’re looking for hot skaters, you’ll need to go elsewhere. No Rangers player has amassed more than two points over the team’s past six games. That’s just sad for a team with this much talent. Igor Shesterkin is doing well, posting a 2.63 GAA and a stellar .926 save percentage over his last six outings, but the Rangers have done so poorly offensively, that the 28-year-old netminder has just a 2-4-0 record over that span.

Outside of Shesterkin, is there anything at all here for fantasy managers? If you’re looking for help in other categories, then yes. The Rangers’ slump hasn’t impacted Vincent Trocheck on the draw, for example. He has been among the most dominant centers in that category this year, winning 393 of his 641 opportunities (61.3 percent), including 69 of 117 across (59.0 percent) the Rangers’ anemic past six games. Sam Carrick doesn’t get as many chances on the draw, but he has a 58.3 percent success rate across 283 faceoff opportunities this year and is 39-for-66 (59.1 percent) over the last six contests.

Will Cuylle is also still out there throwing his body around. He ranks fourth in hits with 127 and dished out 15 over the aforementioned six-game span. Trocheck has been even more aggressive in that span with 21 hits, bringing him up to 112 overall, which is good for 12th in the league.

Cuylle was especially good in fantasy earlier in the campaign because he was bringing offense as well as grit. He has been limited to four points (two goals) over his past 11 appearances, so the multi-dimensional aspect of his game is gone, but he has been getting tested on the first power-play unit recently, which is a rarity for him -- he basically wasn’t used with the man advantage at all over the first 16 games of the season -- and perhaps that will help spark him. If nothing else, at least he's bringing something to the table during the Rangers’ team-wide slump, which is more than could be said for some other members of the squad.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Tues vs. NYI, Thu @ NYI, Sat vs. BOS, Sun vs. PHI

The Maple Leafs will begin next week with a home-and-away series against the Islanders on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively. They’ll then host Boston on Saturday and the Flyers on Sunday.

Injuries have been a recurring storyline for the Maple Leafs this season, and right now there are two of great importance: Auston Matthews’ upper-body issue and Anthony Stolarz’s knee injury.

Stolarz’s knee problem is the clearer cut of them. He underwent a procedure to remove a loose body from the area on Dec. 18 and will be unavailable until mid-to-late January as a result. That puts more pressure on Joseph Woll, who has unfortunately gone cold at a bad time. Woll has allowed at least three goals in his four starts from Dec. 14-23, though he did hold the struggling Red Wings to two goals on 25 shots Friday. Matt Murray is also getting a chance to help fill the void, and he stopped 24 of 27 shots en route to a 6-3 victory against the struggling Sabres on Dec. 20.

Toronto was in a four-way tie for first in goals allowed per game with 2.55 through Dec. 12 because of how reliable the Woll-Stolarz duo has been for much of this campaign. Toronto has looks more vulnerable in terms of goaltending now, but perhaps the win against Detroit signaled the end of Woll’s cold spell. Even if it hasn’t, Stolarz should be back in the coming weeks.

The greater concern is Matthews. He missed nine straight games from Nov. 5-27 because of knee problems and those issues have pushed him back to the sidelines. By the time next week begins, Matthews will have missed Toronto’s past four games due to the injury, and it’s not clear when he’ll be back.

The priority is to get Matthews healthy for the playoffs, whatever that takes, especially because the 22-12-2 Leafs seem to be able to win even without Matthews. Still, the battle for playoff position in the Atlantic Division is fierce, and even if the absence of Matthews doesn’t cost Toronto many wins, it might still end up playing a role in the difficulty of the Leafs’ first-round matchup.

From a fantasy perspective, this is unfortunately the risk that you take with Matthews. He’s one of the best goal-scorers of his era and perhaps all time, but injuries have been a recurring problem. The 2023-24 campaign was just the second time in his career that he played at least 75 games.

Winnipeg Jets

Mon vs. NSH, Tues @ COL, Thu vs. ANA, Sat vs. DET

The Jets have a good schedule ahead of them. They’ll host Nashville on Monday, play in Colorado on Tuesday and then return home for matches against Anaheim and Detroit on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. Colorado is the only one of those adversaries with a winning record.

At the top, we highlighted just how amazing Wayne Gretzky was by showing just how big the gap is between his totals and McDavid’s potential career finish, even under ideal circumstances for McDavid. In terms of goaltending, the equivalent to Gretzky is arguably Martin Brodeur. In addition to being the all-time winningest goaltender -- no one comes even close to Brodeur’s regular-season total of 691 career victories -- Brodeur won the Vezina Trophy four times and stands as the last back-to-back winner of the trophy in 2007 and 2008.

Connor Hellebuyck might be the next to achieve that incredible feat. He won the award in 2024 after posting a 37-19-4 record, 2.39 GAA and .921 save percentage across 60 regular-season games, and he’s looking even better in 2024-25. Through 28 starts, Hellebuyck has a 22-5-1 record, 2.07 GAA and .927 save percentage. That gives him a clear edge over his closest competitors, Jacob Markstrom (19-6-2, 2.11 GAA and .914 save percentage) and Filip Gustavsson (16-5-3, 2.26 GAA and .922 save percentage). Hellebuyck also won the trophy in 2020, so he’d be just one behind Brodeur overall.

The 31-year-old Hellebuyck has continued to cruise as the campaign progresses, posting a 7-0-1 record, 1.85 GAA and .929 save percentage over his past eight games. It helps that the Jets have given him plenty of support offensively (they rank second in goals per game with 3.69) and are adequate defensively (they rank 15th in xGA/60 at 2.96).

On the offensive side of things, the top line of Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele and Gabriel Vilardi is on fire, supplying nine, eight and seven points, respectively, over the past four games. Connor is having the best campaign among those three overall with 21 goals and 47 points through 36 games, though Scheifele isn’t far behind with 21 goals and 42 points across 36 outings. There has been a bit of inconsistency with this unit in terms of its offensive production, but not to the extent where it’s been a meaningful problem. As long as the trio stays healthy, which was an issue last season, those three should go down as one of the top lines of 2024-25.

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 – FANTASY WEEK AHEAD – What to make of the Buffalo Sabres – Teams and players to target this week

Ryan Dadoun — Sat, 14 Dec 2024 16:41:42 +0000

_{ST. LOUIS, MO - FEBRUARY 25: Sabres center Tage Thompson (72) during a NHL game between the Buffalo Sabres and the St. Louis Blues on February 25, 2022, at Enterprise Center, St. Louis, MO. (Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire),}

How should we define the 2024-25 Buffalo Sabres? On paper, they’re not a terrible team. Tage Thompson is an elite goal scorer, and Alex Tuch is a good first-line forward and well suited to being Thompson’s accomplish. Rasmus Dahlin, though currently out with a back injury, is a high-end offensive blueliner, and the Sabres also have two promising young defensemen on the rise in Owen Power and Bowen Byram. In net, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has shown that he can be a solid option.

This isn’t a good team either, though. The Sabres do have some offensive depth, especially with Jason Zucker enjoying a comeback campaign (seven goals and 20 points through 29 appearances), but their overall scoring still isn’t anything special. The blueliners do have a mixture of talent and promise, but as a squad, the Sabres have struggled on defense, as evidenced by the team ranking 22nd in xGA/60 (3.13) per Moneypuck. Those shortcomings have trickled down to Luukkonen, who has an 8-8-3 record, 2.79 GAA and .903 save percentage in 20 starts despite a passable plus-2.6 goals saved above expected.

More than anything, Buffalo is inconsistent. Sometimes this group can click, which led to Buffalo looking like a potential contender for a playoff spot earlier in the campaign, but other times they fall apart. Buffalo has lost its last eight games, dropping its record to 11-14-4.

That kind of inconsistency would be more forgivable if Buffalo was a rebuilding team, but is that still an appropriate definition for the Sabres? They certainly do still have younger players like defensemen Power and Byram, forwards Dylan Cozens and Zach Benson as well as goaltender Devon Levi honing his game in the minors. None of those five have celebrated their 24th birthday yet, so it’s reasonable to believe their game will continue to grow.

At the same time, Tuch and Thompson are already in their prime, albeit in the early stages at 28 and 27 years old, respectively. Dahlin is still young but also in his seventh campaign, so ideally this is a foundation that should have started to get results by now.

But those results never come. You could easily make an argument that this is a rebuilding team even with those three either in or approaching their prime, but you could have made the argument that basically every Sabres team over the last decade has been a rebuilding squad. At some point, you need to transition from rebuild.

It’s been nine years since Jack Eichel was selected as the No. 2 overall pick to be the Sabres’ future. It’s been six years since Dahlin was selected as the No. 1 overall pick to headline Buffalo’s defense. It’s been four years since Power was taken with the top pick, giving the Sabres a potentially amazing blue-line duo. It’s been three years since that relationship soured to the point where Buffalo traded him to Vegas.

Buffalo hasn’t participated in a single playoff game over that span. That’d be bad enough, but the drought dates back even further. When Buffalo was last a playoff team in 2011, Tomas Vanek was the Sabres’ leading scorer and Thompson’s age. Tyler Ennis was among the team’s promising young forwards while Tyler Myers was a sophomore coming off a Calder Trophy-winning campaign. Ryan Miller was in his prime, having won the Vezina Trophy the previous year. Lindy Ruff was the bench boss… well, actually, that’s true now too… but there were six bench bosses for Buffalo between Ruff’s tenure with the team that ended during the 2012-13 campaign and his current assignment with the team.

The Sabres’ playoff appearance drought is the longest in NHL history. That’s got to way on the team, and you have to wonder if it will eventually lead to talented players getting frustrated in Buffalo as it has for others in the past. Still, it’s not as if this is a doomed team.

As stated at the top, there are positives to be found in this roster, and the place we’re judging the Sabres from now might be at or near their low point. There’s still season enough for them to turn this thing around. If they don’t, there is still hope for the future with this young group…even if that promise feels a little hollow after so many other failed rebuild attempts.

Calgary Flames (Tue vs. BOS, Thu vs. OTT, Sat vs. CHI)

The Flames have just three games scheduled for next week, but all those contests are at home, and it’s a pretty favorable schedule. Boston, which the Flames will host Tuesday, did have a 7-2-0 stretch from Nov. 21-Dec. 7, but the Bruins’ have fallen back after big losses to Winnipeg and Seattle over their past two games. After facing the Bruins, Calgary will host Ottawa and Chicago on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. Neither of those adversaries are in a playoff position.

Jonathan Huberdeau’s eight-year, $84 million contract is looking like it might go down as one of the worst contracts in recent memory, but he’s at least hot at the moment, providing four goals and nine points across his past six appearances. Will he keep that up? It’s possible, but it’s hard to get too excited. His 11 goals and 21 points through 30 outings overall still puts him on pace to get 57 points, which isn’t bad, but it’s well below the type of numbers he put up in Florida. Additionally, he has a 21.6 shooting percentage compared to his career average of 12.5, so if anything, Huberdeau’s benefited from some good puck luck and is more likely to slow as the campaign progresses than maintain that overall scoring pace.

If Huberdeau has potentially overperformed, would Andrei Kuzmenko be at the other end of the spectrum? No one expects him to repeat his 39-goal, 74-point performance from 2022-23, but is his goal and 10 points through 28 outings in 2024-25 simply the result of bad luck? His 3.3 shooting percentage is unusually low, but I’m more concerned about his decline in shots. He’s averaging just 4.1 shots/60, down from 6.8 last year.

Of his 30 shots this campaign, 19 have been fired from high-danger locations, which does put him ahead of the league average for forwards of 12.8, so that is a little bit of a silver lining. He’s on track for 52 high-danger shots this campaign, which would be down from 60 last year, a drop of 13.3 percent, whereas his overall shot total is on track to finish at 82, compared to 121 in 2023-24, a decline of 32.2 percent. So a deeper dive suggests things might not be quite as bad as they seem -- at least in terms of shot quality -- but it’s still not good, just less bad.

It's fair to believe that Kuzmenko’s shooting percentage will climb as the campaign progresses, but unless he starts getting a bit more aggressive with the puck, I wouldn’t count on him putting up numbers sufficient to give him relevance in the majority of fantasy leagues.

We might see better from Nazem Kadri, though, at least relative to his current point pace. He has 10 goals and 19 points in 30 appearances this campaign, which is a far cry from his 75-point showing in 2023-24. Kadri has been a steady contributor recently, though, supplying five goals and 11 points through his past 13 outings. He’s not a safe bet to reach the 70-point milestone again, but he was getting significantly fewer assists than is normal early in the campaign, and that seems to be balancing out and is likely to continue to do so. There’s a good chance he’ll finish the season as Calgary’s scoring leader.

Colorado Avalanche (Mon @ VAN, Thu @ SJS, FRI @ ANA, Sun vs. SEA)

The Avalanche will start next week on the road, playing in Vancouver on Monday, San Jose on Thursday and Anaheim on Friday. Colorado will then conclude the week by hosting the Kraken.

Colorado acquired Mackenzie Blackwood along with Givani Smith and a 2027 fifth-round pick from San Jose in exchange for Alexandar Georgiev, Nikolai Kovalenko, a 2025 fifth-round pick and a 2026 second-round selection.

With Blackwood on side, the Avalanche have now completely changed their goaltending tandem. They started with Georgiev and Justus Annunen, and now have Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood. The 32-year-old Wedgewood started the campaign with Nashville, posting a 1-2-1 record, 3.69 GAA and .878 save percentage through five appearances, but he’s done far better since joining the Avalanche, going 3-2-0 with a 1.92 GAA and a .931 save percentage across five outings. Of course, that’s a small sample size, and Wedgewood typically hasn’t been more than an acceptable backup goaltender, so Blackwood will be needed too.

For his part, Blackwood had a 6-9-3 record, 3.00 GAA and .909 save percentage in 19 appearances with the Sharks before the trade. He has a plus-3.9 goals saved above expected this campaign, per Moneypuck, so he’s been solid when factoring out the Sharks’ defense. Speaking of that defense, San Jose ranks 29th in xGA/60 (3.36) while Colorado is 13th (2.95). That should lead to Blackwood putting up meaningfully better numbers post-trade, and naturally, his winning percentage should improve too now that he has the likes of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and defenseman Cale Makar providing him with goal support.

Having Valeri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen naturally helps too. That duo wasn’t available at the start of the campaign, but they’re in the lineup now, providing some critical secondary scoring. Nichushkin and Lehkonen have each supplied four goals through six games in December. They won’t match MacKinnon and Rantanen in terms of points, but they’re fantastic for Colorado to have on the top six.

Edmonton Oilers (Mon vs. FLA, Thu vs. BOS, Sat vs. SJS, Sun vs. OTT)

The Oilers will be at home next week, hosting the Panthers on Monday, the Bruins on Thursday, the Sharks on Saturday and the Senators on Sunday. Edmonton has been fantastic recently, winning seven of its past eight games to improve to 17-10-2 on the campaign, so the Oilers will be looking to stay hot.

Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have unsurprisingly been a major factor in Edmonton’s recent success, providing 15 points (five goals) and 14 points (six), respectively, over their past eight games. Vasily Podkolzin (three goals, five points) and Connor Brown (one goal, five points) have been less expected contributors. Podkolzin has benefited from playing in a top-six role, but he still might lose that job once Viktor Arvidsson (undisclosed) is available. It would be a little surprising if Arvidsson, who has been out since Nov. 12, returned next week, but he has resumed skating and might attend a team practice soon.

As for Brown, while there was some hope of him playing alongside his old OHL teammate, McDavid, when he first joined the Oilers, that’s never panned out. The 30-year-old has been playing strictly in a bottom-six capacity and has received almost no power-play time this campaign, so while his four goals and 10 points through 29 appearances aren’t bad under the circumstances, Brown isn’t in a position to increase that scoring pace.

In goal, Stuart Skinner has stabilized after a rough start to the campaign, posting a 4-1-0 record, 1.41 GAA and .947 save percentage across his past five starts. He had a similar track in 2023-24 with a rocky opening to the season followed by mostly strong play beyond that, so perhaps history is repeating.

Florida Panthers (Mon @ EDM, Wed @ MIN, Fri vs. STL, Sun vs. TBL)

Florida will open next week with road games against Edmonton and Minnesota on Monday and Wednesday, respectively. The Panthers will then host the Blues on Friday and play in Tampa Bay on Sunday.

Matthew Tkachuk was one of the hottest forwards in the league from Nov. 19-Dec. 7, supplying six goals and 19 points across 10 appearances. However, he’s been held off the scoresheet in each of his last two outings, so while he’s a fantastic forward regardless, his latest hot streak might be over.

To be fair, though, Florida as a squad has managed just one goal (excluding the shootout) over its past two games, so it’s not just Tkachuk who has cooled off. That’s just a mini-slump on the Panthers’ end, but Anton Lundell has been cold for longer. He hasn’t recorded a point across his past five appearances, leaving him at eight goals and 19 points through 29 outings in 2024-25.

Most of Lundell’s success came from an amazing start to the campaign in which he recorded six goals and 14 points in 14 appearances, but he was also averaging 18:49 of ice time. By contrast, he’s dropped to two goals and five points over his past 15 games and his average during that stretch is 15:39. The 23-year-old is capable, but when everyone is healthy, he typically serves on the third line, which limits his fantasy impact. If injuries result in him moving up to the top six, then he could be a great short-term play.

Los Angeles Kings (Tue @ PIT, Thu @ PHI, Sat @ NSH, Sun @ WSH)

The Kings have a full schedule with four games on the docket next week and just one of their upcoming opponents (the Capitals) occupy a playoff spot. The downside is the Kings will be on the road for the entire week. They’ll play in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Philadelphia on Thursday, Nashville on Saturday and Washington on Sunday.

When looking at the Kings’ campaign thus far, the player who has most impressed me is Anze Kopitar with his eight goals and 32 points through 29 appearances. We’re currently in a time where several forwards have excelled well past their prime -- Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby being the most obvious examples -- so Kopitar’s longevity has flown under the radar somewhat. The fact that he remains an effective playmaker at the age of 37, is still impressive, though. It wouldn’t be surprising at this point to see him reach the 70-point mark for the 10th time in his career.

Alex Laferriere was nearing his sixth birthday when Kopitar made his NHL debut, but the two are in their second campaign together and the sophomore Laferriere has been coming into his own with 12 goals and 22 points in 29 contests this season. Laferriere has continued to be a steady contributor lately, collecting three goals and seven points across his past seven games.

However, I am a little worried about Laferriere’s 20.0 shooting percentage. That seems rather high and his PDO of 1033 is a touch up there too, which suggests he has been getting a bit of puck luck. I don’t expect a crash, but his goal-scoring pace will likely decline somewhat.

Adrian Kempe’s shooting percentage of 17.9 is on the higher side too. Kempe did have a 16.4 shooting percentage in 2022-23 when he finished with 41 markers, so he’s not too far above his career high, but it’s still a notable step above his career average of 12.7. Like Laferriere, I don’t expect Kempe to collapse, but a small decline might be in his future. Kempe does have 14 goals and 28 points in 29 outings overall.

New Jersey Devils (Tue @ STL, Thu @ CBJ, Sat vs. PIT)

The Devils are set to play just three games next week, but the competition is favorable, so I decided to highlight them. New Jersey will play in St. Louis on Tuesday and Columbus on Thursday before hosting the Penguins on Saturday.

The Devils have a commanding 19-10-3 record compared to their mediocre 38-39-5 finish to 2023-24 and the difference is almost entirely at their end of the ice. New Jersey is allowing just 2.66 goals per game, which is a huge drop from 3.43 last year. But how much of that is thanks to Jacob Markstrom?

The Devils had an xGA/60 of 3.26 last campaign, which suggests that they were a poor defensive team independent of their goaltending. Kaapo Kahkonen and Jake Allen largely held their own with a plus-1.4 and minus-1.9 goals saved above expected, but when the defense is that bad, merely being okay leads to bad results. The Devils also employed Nico Daws, Akira Schmid and Vitek Vanecek, who did even worse by that metric.

Markstrom was brought in over the summer to stabilize the situation, but much like Kahkonen before him, he’s been acceptable, but not brilliant, posting a plus-1.5 goals saved above expected through 22 appearances. The difference is the Devils have burdened their goaltenders far less in 2024-25, as evidenced by their 2.70 xGA/60.

So, while Markstrom certainly hasn’t been a problem, he hasn’t necessarily been their savior. Either way, fantasy managers have can reap the benefits of Markstrom playing in a favorable situation, which has resulted in him posting a 14-6-2 record, 2.41 GAA and .906 save percentage. He’s also hot going into this week with a 3-0-1 record, 1.48 GAA and .933 save percentage over his past four outings.

Allen has been dealing with an upper-body injury, and the Devils’ schedule is spread out enough to allow Markstrom to start in all three games next week. Isaac Poulter will be with New Jersey for the duration of Allen’s injury, but Poulter is unlikely to get a start. The 23-year-old Poulter has struggled in the AHL this campaign with a 3.32 GAA and an .871 save percentage across nine appearances.

Poulter not getting playing time isn’t surprising, but it was a bit eyebrow-raising to see Tomas Tatar out of the lineup Thursday. Perhaps it shouldn’t be, though. Tatar has averaged just 10:41 of ice time this campaign, which is a far cry from even two seasons ago when he logged 15:07 per game. The Devils are a deep team, and it seems like there’s not much of a role for him. I’d be interested to see what would happen if the Devils traded the 34-year-old. He’s on a one-year, $1.8 million contract, so he’s movable, but New Jersey might ultimately decide that they’d rather have him on board as an insurance policy against injuries. If Tatar does find himself in a middle-six role, he might do enough offensively to have some fantasy relevance. As it is, he’s a non-factor in most leagues.

Seattle Kraken (Tue vs. OTT, Thu @ CHI, Sat @ VGK, Sun @ COL)

Seattle will host Ottawa on Tuesday, but the Kraken will spend the remainder of next week on the road, playing in Chicago on Thursday, Vegas on Saturday and Colorado on Sunday.

The Kraken have largely held their own this campaign without being anything special, posting a 15-14-2 record. Joey Daccord has been a major highlight with a 12-6-2 record, 2.42 GAA and .916 save percentage through 20 appearances. We just talked about how Markstrom is benefiting from plenty of support, but Daccord has had to do much more to keep the Kraken afloat. They are tied for 24th in xGA/60 (3.14) and are tied for 16th in goals per game (3.03). For his part, Daccord’s plus-9.2 in goals saved above expected ranks seventh in the league.

Seattle’s offense is mediocre in part because it lacks star power. Through Friday’s action, 48 players have scored at least 12 goals and none of them play for the Kraken. Seattle’s points leader, Jared McCann, (11 goals, 15 assists), is also outside of the top 47 in that category. The Kraken have nine players who have recorded at least five goals, which is respectable -- the league average is 7.7 per team -- but without a star leading the charge, the offense is still just okay.

Maybe Shane Wright will eventually fill that role. Taken with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, Wright had just a goal and an assist through his first 18 appearances in 2024-25. Then he spent three games as a healthy scratch from Nov. 17-23, and that seemed to do him plenty of good. He’s managed six goals and 11 points across 10 outings since that stint in the press box.

The 22-year-old Matty Beniers has promise too. He had 24 goals and 57 points as a rookie in 2022-23 but took a step back in 2023-24 with 15 goals and 37 points. The 2024-25 campaign has been a mixed bag -- he has four goals and 17 points in 31 games -- but he’s done well recently with seven assists across his past seven appearances.

Vancouver Canucks (Mon @ COL, Wed @ UTA, Thu @ VGK, Say vs. OTT)

The Canucks will split next week between two games at home (Monday vs. the Avalanche and Saturday vs. the Senators) and two road tilts (Wednesday in Utah and Thursday in Vegas). The Canucks are 15-8-5, which is pretty good, but in a tough Pacific Division, that’s only good for fourth place.

Going into the campaign, it wasn’t clear if Vancouver would be able to hold its own without starting goaltender Thatcher Demko, who was dealing with a knee injury. Fortunately for the Canucks, Kevin Lankinen stepped up and now has a 14-4-3 record, 2.52 GAA and .912 save percentage across 21 outings.

Lankinen became the clear starter during Demko’s absence, but his role is less clear after Demko made his return. The 29-year-old Demko made his season debut Tuesday, though he left something to be desired, stopping 21 of 25 shots en route to a 4-3 overtime loss to St. Louis. That was followed by Lankinen posting a 27-save shutout Thursday.

We shouldn’t judge Demko based on only one start, but it might take him some time to shake off the rust. With Vancouver’s upcoming schedule relatively full, the Canucks will probably split the workload between Lankinen and Demko, which will give the latter more time to get eased in. If Lankinen keeps playing like he has been, and Demko eventually finds his rhythm, then Vancouver would have a great 1A/1B situation on its hands.

The Canucks also got J.T. Miller back, who was absent for 10 games due to personal reasons. He looked good in his return Thursday, providing two assists, including one on the power play. Now that he’s back, Pius Suter is likely to serve in a reduced capacity. During Miller’s 10-game absence, Suter had five goals and nine points while averaging 18:14 of ice time, but Suter dropped to 15:15 on Thursday and wasn’t used at all with the man advantage for the first time since Nov. 14. If you’ve been enjoying Suter’s recent success, now might be the time to explore your alternatives.