This article is part of our NHL Barometer series.
This week's article includes Cates hot in Philly, Hyman pumping in goals for the Oilers, Fowler rolling in the Arch City, Ovechkin back and scoring, while Nelson is slumping on the Island.
HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EDITION!
First Liners (Risers)
Noah Cates, C, PHI: Cates' goal-scoring streak ended at five Sunday. Despite being shut out Sunday, he found the scoresheet in all but one of his last nine appearances, tallying six goals and two assists in that stretch. Cates is up to seven goals and 13 total points across 33 games this season, evidencing just how slow his start was based on most of his production coming recently. Two caveats, he is centering Philly's third line and has an unsustainable 20 percent shooting percentage, so be ready to jump quickly.
Steven Stamkos, C, NSH: Stamkos has found his game since being moved back to center. He has four goals and five assists over his last nine games, getting on the scoresheet in seven of them. Stamkos, in his first season with the Predators after spending the first 16 seasons of his career with Tampa after being drafted first overall in 2008, is now up to 11 markers and as many apples in 37 contests. Stamkos has found success centering Jonathan Marchessault and Filip Forsberg in Music City.
Zach Hyman, RW, EDM: That slow start by Hyman? A faded memory. He entered the NHL's Christmas break on fire, scoring in six straight games and eight of his last nine,
This week's article includes Cates hot in Philly, Hyman pumping in goals for the Oilers, Fowler rolling in the Arch City, Ovechkin back and scoring, while Nelson is slumping on the Island.
HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EDITION!
First Liners (Risers)
Noah Cates, C, PHI: Cates' goal-scoring streak ended at five Sunday. Despite being shut out Sunday, he found the scoresheet in all but one of his last nine appearances, tallying six goals and two assists in that stretch. Cates is up to seven goals and 13 total points across 33 games this season, evidencing just how slow his start was based on most of his production coming recently. Two caveats, he is centering Philly's third line and has an unsustainable 20 percent shooting percentage, so be ready to jump quickly.
Steven Stamkos, C, NSH: Stamkos has found his game since being moved back to center. He has four goals and five assists over his last nine games, getting on the scoresheet in seven of them. Stamkos, in his first season with the Predators after spending the first 16 seasons of his career with Tampa after being drafted first overall in 2008, is now up to 11 markers and as many apples in 37 contests. Stamkos has found success centering Jonathan Marchessault and Filip Forsberg in Music City.
Zach Hyman, RW, EDM: That slow start by Hyman? A faded memory. He entered the NHL's Christmas break on fire, scoring in six straight games and eight of his last nine, tallying 10 goals with one assist and a plus-9 rating in that span. Hyman potted just three markers the first 20 contests of the season, causing his fantasy teams and the Oilers to scratch their heads as to what was wrong with the winger who lit the lamp 54 times last season. Some regression was expected, but not at that level. Hyman certainly has found his goal-scoring form again.
Jonathan Huberdeau, LW, CGY: Huberdeau closed out the pre-Christmas part of the schedule on a roll. He dented the scoresheet in nine of the last 10 games while piling up six goals and 13 points for the Flames. That hot streak upped Huberdeau's season marks to 15 tallies and 12 helpers in 36 contests. After tallying 55 and 52 points his first two seasons for Calgary, Huberdeau, who continued his hot streak by potting two goals Saturday, is on early pace to exceed those marks, but he is still saddled with a minus-8 rating despite his fine play lately.
Cam Fowler, D, STL: Fowler, acquired Dec. 14 by St. Louis from Anaheim, has settled in seamlessly with his new team. The 33-year-old has already earned more points with the Blues – five over eight contests – than the four assists he logged across 17 games with the Ducks to begin the campaign. St. Louis needed offense from the blueline with Torey Krug sidelined for the season. Colton Parayko has upped his production, while Justin Faulk has had his moments. Adding Fowler has lengthened and deepened the D corps in the Arch City.
Luke Hughes, D, NJ: Hughes continues to produce offensively for New Jersey. Despite being held off the scoresheet Saturday, Hughes has two goals and six apples his last nine games. Hughes, selected fourth overall in 2021, scored nine goals and 47 points across 82 contests en route to a Calder Trophy nomination last season. He missed the first part of the year due to an offseason shoulder injury. But he has found his form after notching just one assist his first 10 games, as he is up to 17 points in 30 contests.
Adin Hill, G, LV: The Knights are receiving excellent netminding from both Hill and Ilya Samsonov. He's notched seven wins in his last eight starts, allowing three or more goals just three times in that span. Hill is now 16-5-2 on the year while sporting a 2.63 goals-against average (GAA) and a .904 save percentage through 23 starts. Injuries have adversely impacted the number of games Hill has been able to play each of the prior three seasons, Because of that, he sits just three wins shy of his career-high of 19 victories set last season.
Filip Gustavsson, G, MIN: Gustavsson has more than established himself as the No. 1 netminder in Minnesota. Marc-Andre Fleury has been solid as a backup, but the Gus Bus is the main man between the pipes for the Wild. By virtue of notching wins in each of the two starts since returning from injury, Gustavsson improved his season-marks to 16-6-3, with a 2.26 GAA and a .923 save percentage over 25 appearances. He sits just six victories shy of tying his career-high in wins set in 2022-23.
Others include Sebastian Aho, Blake Coleman, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Brayden Point, Jake Evans, Bobby McMann, Brett Howden, Timo Meier, Filip Forsberg, Victor Olofsson, Dylan Holloway, Charlie McAvoy, Josh Morrissey, Brent Burns, Noah Hanifin, Brandt Clarke, Mackenzie Blackwood, Logan Thompson, Jacob Markstrom, Calvin Pickard and Jeremy Swayman.
Buy Low
Jack Roslovic, RW, CAR: After a fallow period, Roslovic is back on the beam. He netted two goals and added a helper Saturday, giving the veteran winger a four-game point streak consisting of three goals and three assists. Roslovic, in his first season in with the Hurricanes, is now leading Carolina with 16 goals, and he's up to 24 points through 36 appearances. His career-high of 22 tallies, set in 2021-22 with Columbus, looks close to being exceeded.
Training Room (Injuries)
Alex Ovechkin, LW, WAS: Ovechkin, out since November 18 with a broken fibula and profiled last week, gets another mention, as he returned to action as expected right after the NHL's Christmas break. After managing just 31 goals last season – with the majority coming in the second half after an extremely slow start-- the elite winger was rolling to open the 2024-25 campaign with 15 goals in 18 contests. Ovechkin had 868 goals and was closing in on the all-time goal-scoring record held by Wayne Gretzky (894). He tallied goals in his first two games back and still could break the record this season if he stays hot.
Others include Elias Pettersson (undisclosed, missing two-game road trip this week), Joel Eriksson Ek (lower body, missed 11 straight games, played Sunday), Jonathan Drouin (upper body, out 16 games, expected to play Tuesday), William Eklund (undisclosed, missed third straight game Tuesday), Jake Walman (lower body, missed fourth straight game Tuesday), Shayne Gostisbehere (upper body, missed Saturday's game), Quinn Hughes (undisclosed, week-to-week) and Vitek Vanecek (struck by puck Dec. 17, placed on IR)
Fourth Liners/Press Boxers (Fallers)
Brock Nelson, C, NYI: Nelson is in the midst of a significant scoring drought, failing to light the lamp for the past month. In those 13 games, Nelson only has four assists and endured a six-game pointless stretch. After posting 75 and 69 points the past two seasons, Nelson sits with just 10 goals and 11 helpers in 36 games this season. An unrestricted free agent after the season, could Nelson be gripping the stick a bit too tightly to try and justify he is deserving a big new contract?
Yegor Sharangovich, LW, CGY: Sharangovich had a brilliant first season in Calgary after coming over from New Jersey, setting new personal bests with 31 goals, 28 assists and 17 power-play points while averaging 17:19 of ice time. An injury delayed the start to his season and Sharangovich has yet to catch up. He finally looked to have gotten back on the beam, scoring in three straight contests in late November, but has just one goal and two helpers his last 13 games. Sharangovich is skating on the Flames' third line, which doesn't bode well for his future production.
Jordan Binnington, G, STL: Binnington ended a five-game losing streak with a shutout against Detroit in St. Louis' last game before the break. But he reverted to form, allowing four goals on 16 shots in losing to Buffalo on Sunday. In this stretch, Binnington is now 1-5-1 and has allowed 20 goals on 160 shots. The Blues could turn more often to Joel Hofer, who has had his own difficulties at times, but has played fairly well this season.
Others include Adam Henrique, Nick Bjugstad, Martin Necas, Will Smith, Dawson Mercer, Alexis Lafreniere, Daniel Sprong, Ty Dellandrea, Jared Spurgeon, Philip Broberg, John Carlson, Igor Shesterkin, Jesper Wallstedt and Philipp Grubauer.
Sell High
Olen Zellweger, D, ANA: The Ducks have several young blueliners in their system, including Zellweger. Determining who will step forward and be the future PP lead will be one of the main goals for the organization. Zellweger is certainly in the mix, as he leads the blueliners in power play time on ice, though his production has waned, as his last goal came on November 18. Since then, Zellweger has just four helpers in 16 games despite seeing close to three minutes a game on the man-advantage, and he was a healthy scratch Sunday.
