This article is part of our NHL Barometer series.
This week's article includes a Flame on fire, Zucc rolling, Charlie Who in DC, Wheels grounded for the Jets and a young blueliner still trying to find his way.
First Liners (Risers)
Elias Lindholm, C, CGY – Lindholm closed November by going scoreless his last five games, but he's been red hot since the calendar flipped to December, with five goals and seven assists in nine games. After tallying a career-high 82 points — 35 goals and 47 assists — Lindholm lost Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau but gained Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri. Lindholm has taken a bit of time to mesh with his new teammates, but he appears to have found his prior form lately.
John Tavares C, TOR – Toronto almost has an embarrassment of riches up front. When saying the names of the top-six forwards, Tavares, despite his large contract, can sometimes get lost in the mix. He's almost quietly averaged closed to a point a game during his stint as a Maple Leaf, including this season. Given his scoring pace, Tavares — barring injury — should crack the 1,000-point mark. But for him to get true recognition, he needs to help lead Toronto on a long playoff run, or at least past the first round.
Jordan Kyrou, LW, STL – Kyrou has been red hot lately, notching six goals and four assists in his last four games, including his first career NHL hat trick Monday against Vancouver. After a slow
This week's article includes a Flame on fire, Zucc rolling, Charlie Who in DC, Wheels grounded for the Jets and a young blueliner still trying to find his way.
First Liners (Risers)
Elias Lindholm, C, CGY – Lindholm closed November by going scoreless his last five games, but he's been red hot since the calendar flipped to December, with five goals and seven assists in nine games. After tallying a career-high 82 points — 35 goals and 47 assists — Lindholm lost Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau but gained Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri. Lindholm has taken a bit of time to mesh with his new teammates, but he appears to have found his prior form lately.
John Tavares C, TOR – Toronto almost has an embarrassment of riches up front. When saying the names of the top-six forwards, Tavares, despite his large contract, can sometimes get lost in the mix. He's almost quietly averaged closed to a point a game during his stint as a Maple Leaf, including this season. Given his scoring pace, Tavares — barring injury — should crack the 1,000-point mark. But for him to get true recognition, he needs to help lead Toronto on a long playoff run, or at least past the first round.
Jordan Kyrou, LW, STL – Kyrou has been red hot lately, notching six goals and four assists in his last four games, including his first career NHL hat trick Monday against Vancouver. After a slow start, the 24-year-old has looked great since mid-November and is now up to 16 goals, 32 points (11 on the power play), 108 shots on net and a minus-16 rating through 30 contests overall. Those numbers look even more impressive when you note Kyrou had just three goals and an assist his first 11 games played. After breaking through with 75 points last season, Kyrou signed an eight-year, $65 million contract extension with the Blues in September. Keep in mind he left Monday's game following a hard hit, so check his injury status.
Mats Zuccarello, RW, MIN– Zuccarello, affectionally known during his time in New York as the Norwegian Hobbit, continues to rack up points. He notched a hat trick and registered an assist Friday, then added another assist Sunday, upping his season marks to 14 goals and 36 points in 31 contests. The 35-year-old is on a 10-game point streak and has contributed an incredible seven goals and 16 points over that span. After a rough first-season in 2019-20 as a member of the Wild, Zuccarello has 148 points in his last 142 games.
Tyson Barrie, D, EDM – I've given up trying to predict Barrie. Every time I think he's about to fall back slightly, he gets red-hot. On the inverse, when I think he's scuffling, you look at him and he's notching three assists in a contest, as he did Thursday. Evan Bouchard has clearly lost his spot on the Edmonton man-advantage, as Barrie is the clear top dog there, getting the nod over Darnell Nurse. Barrie added another power play helper Saturday, extending his point streak to six games, during which he's posted 10 apples, giving him 21 assists and four goals in 32 games.
John Carlson, D, WAS – Carlson has finished with at least 70 points in three of the past four seasons, an unheard of run for a defenseman. His production is not yet at that same level this year, but that doesn't mean he hasn't been valuable. Carlson has three goals and five assists his last 11 games, giving the high-scoring blueliner eight goals and 11 assists in 27 contests. While Carlson is unlikely to break the 70-point mark again, given the talent around him, don't rule anything out.
Charlie Lindgren, G, WAS – Lindgren, signed to a three-year, $3.3 million deal this past offseason by Washington, has more than earned his money lately. Darcy Kuemper (upper body) has missed the last eight games, and Lindgren has gone 7-1-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average (GAA) and .930 save percentage (SV%) during that stretch. Kuemper served as Lindgren's backup Monday and is ready to return to action, so Lindgren's time as the starter is likely coming to an end, but he's shown enough to give management confidence to turn to him more frequently, affording Kuemper additional rest when needed.
Cam Talbot, G, OTT – Talbot, sidelined the first three weeks of the season due to a rib injury, struggled initially upon his return. Lately, however, Talbot has been more than solid, notching four straight victories, and going an impressive 7-2-0 over his last nine appearances. Talbot has improved his season marks to a 2.55 GAA and .916 SV%, a far cry from the poor stats he posted earlier this season. Ottawa is now in striking distance of a wild card spot thanks to Talbot's fine performance between the pipes.
Others include Brayden Schenn, Sam Steel, Clayton Keller, Mark Scheifele, Johnny Gaudreau, Brandon Hagel, Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall, Patrik Laine, Rasmus Sandin, Daniil Miromanov, K'Andre Miller, Jakob Chychrun, Ilya Samsonov, Lukas Dostal, Matt Murray, Marc-Andre Fleury and Pheonix Copley.
Buy Low
Nick Schmaltz, LW, AZ – An early-season injury is the main reason why Schmaltz appears as a buy-low. A rib injury sidelined him from the first game for a month and Schmaltz took a little while to find his game. Lately, he certainly appears to be in a groove offensively. In his last five games, Schmaltz has a pair of goals and five helpers, including three assists Friday. Schmaltz benefits from skating to the right of Clayton Keller, aiding his chances to remain hot.
Training Room (Injuries)
Blake Wheeler, RW, WPG – Wheeler, injured while blocking a shot Thursday, underwent groin surgery Saturday and will be sidelined 4-6 weeks. He has nine goals and 26 points in 29 games this season, including 16 in his last 13 contests before he was injured. Initially, Karson Kuhlman will take Wheeler's spot on the top line, while Cole Perfetti will take over his role on the first power play.
Others include Josh Norris (shoulder, out since Oct. 22, practiced in a regular jersey Friday), Filip Chytil (upper body, injured Sunday on hit by Sam Lafferty), Nicklas Backstrom (hip, out all season to date, practiced in a full-contact jersey Saturday), Aleksander Barkov (left knee, injured Saturday by Nico Hischier's stick, sat Monday), Anthony Duclair (Achilles surgery, resumed skating this week), Jakub Vrana (personal, out since second game of the season, practiced Friday in a non-contact jersey), Tim Stutzle (shoulder, will miss at least a week, placed on injured reserve last Wednesday and Nate Schmidt (upper body, will miss 4-6 weeks).
Fourth Liners/Press Boxers (Fallers)
Josh Anderson, RW, MTL – Saying Anderson is streaky is a mild understatement. After scoring no goals in seven straight games, Anderson tallied three times in a four-game stretch. He's followed that up by not lighting the lamp in his last four contests, though he did have an assist Monday. Anderson, who has eight scores on the season, should continue to get every change to succeed as he's still skating on the top-line with Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki. Expect stretches like this from Anderson, but his point production and hits delivered warrant a spot in deeper leagues.
Erik Brannstrom, D, OTT – Brannstrom, selected 15th overall in 2017 by Las Vegas, was the main piece acquired by Ottawa in the Mark Stone deal. To date, though, Brannstrom has been a major disappointment. Brannstrom has only three assists in 31 games this season, a number that looks even worse when you factor in he had two assists his first three games of the season. He had only 14 assists last season in 53 games and has seen his ice time drop from 19:46 in 2021-22 to 15:46 this season, contributing to his drop in production.
Elvis Merzlikins, G, CLM – Merzlikins has had a brutal campaign to date, which has shown no signs of abatement. In addition, he has dealt with a lower-body injury that landed him on the shelf for three weeks. Since making his return from that injury earlier this month, Merzlikins has a rough .862 save percentage over five appearances. Columbus has struggled, and with Merzlikins having his issues between the pipes, Daniil Tarasov has started the past three games.
Others include Kevin Hayes (benched Saturday by coach John Tortorella), Mathew Barzal (first goal in six games and second in 12 contests Friday), Jamie Benn, Dominik Kubalik, Patrick Kane, Mattias Ekholm, MacKenzie Weegar, Sergei Bobrovsky and Martin Jones.
Sell High
Matt Duchene, C, NAS – Duchene is having a nice year, but after the campaign he put together last season, nice must be viewed a mild disappointment, though not a surprise. 43 goals and 86 points in 78 games in 2020-21 were both career-best marks and tied him with Cale Makar for 20th in the league in scoring. This season, Duchene has 24 points in 30 games, including hitting the scoresheet in three straight contests. That output is mildly impressive, as he already had a pair of four-game streaks without hitting the scoresheet. Expect "nice" but not stellar numbers the rest of the way.
