NHL Barometer: Duck Taking Flight

This week's article includes McMichael finding his way again, OEL turning back the clock, Cooley red-hot in net for the Flames, Fox possibly sidelined long-term and Knight regressing slightly in the Windy City.

Discover which players are filling up the scoresheet with RotoWire's NHL Trending Players page!

First Liners (Risers)

Connor McMichael, C, WAS: McMichael is centering the Capitals' third line, but his production recently has been more that of like a first liner. He recently had a three-game, four-point scoring streak (two goals, two assists and 14 shots) after struggling much of the season. McMichael, popped with the 25th overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, had a career-best season in 2024-25, posting 26 goals and 31 assists. He could swap spots with Justin Sourdif, centering the second line with Pierre-Luc Dubois sidelined. 

Leo Carlsson, C, ANA: Carlsson is racking up points for the Ducks. His goal and an assist Sunday gave the third-year center 14 tallies and 22 helpers in 26 contests, 10 of those points coming on the power play. The second overall pick in 2023, Carlsson has seamlessly stepped into the role of Anaheim's first-line center. For Carlsson, the sky appears to be the limit, as 100 points looks to be in reach this season as well as a probable spot on the Swedish Olympic hockey team. 

Brandon Hagel, LW, TB: Hagel extended his goal streak to five with a pair of tallies Saturday. During that span, Hagel has lit the lamp eight times. As of the end of Tampa's game Saturday, Hagel had 12 markers in November, which tied him with Jason Robertson for the most goals this month. He has completely turned around his slow start to the season, as Hagel notched just three goals in October, all of which came the final three contests of the month. Coming into 2025-26, Hagel had 116 goals the prior four seasons. 

Artemi Panarin, LW, NYR: Bread has been delivering for the inconsistent Rangers. An unrestricted free agent after the season, Panarin been surging in November, posting five multi-point efforts in his last 13 games, notching six goals and 13 assists. On the season, Panarin is up to eight tallies and 18 helpers in 27 games, those totals evidencing just how slow his start was. Since joining the Rangers after the 2018-19 season, Panarin has posted 194 goals and 382 assists in 457 contests 

Brandt Clarke, D, LA: Fantasy players have been waiting for Clarke to take a step forward. Maybe, just maybe, we are seeing this happen. Drew Doughty is sidelined, creating a major hole on the LA blueline with Clarke filling that role. He notched a pair of assists Friday, giving him a goal and those two helpers the past two contests. That production is in direct contract to Clarke managing just two assists through the first 10 games in November. A tacit up arrow for Clarke, making him one to monitor, cognizant that I highlighted him as Faller last week. 

Oliver Ekman-Larsson, D, TOR: OEL has provided Toronto all they could have hoped for and more this season. Signed to a four-year, $14 million deal in July 2024, Ekman-Larsson notched four goals, 25 assists, a plus-14 rating and 108 blocks in 77 contests. OEL posted a goal and an assist Saturday, giving him a nine-game point streak and a total of 20 points in 25 outings this season. He is averaging just under 21 minutes a contest, 1:51 coming on the power play, while dishing out 36 hits and blocking 28 shots, 

Devin Cooley, G, CGY: Dustin Wolf is the No. 1 goalie for the Flames, though he has experienced more than a little bit of a rough patch this season. Filling the breach in net lately has been Cooley, whose recent performance warrants him additional playing time between the pipes, at least until Wolf regains his rookie form. Cooley won three straight starts, including Friday's outing, before losing 1-0 on Sunday, and hasn't given up more than three goals in an outing all season. He has posted a 3-3-1 record with a 1.89 goals-against average (GAA) and a .931 save percentage through nine appearances 

Jordan Binnington, G, STL: Binnington hasn't been elite lately, but he certainly has looked a lot better than he did earlier in the season. He had gone six straight starts without taking a regulation loss, delivering a 3-0-3 record with a 2.75 GAA and a .909 save percentage during that span. Those numbers may not look like much, however, when compared to a 6-5-5 mark overall with a 3.11 GAA and .882 save percentage on the season, his current performance looks Vezina-like. Of course, Binnington was pulled Monday, so consider this inclusion written in erasable ink. Joel Hofer had been struggling, though he recovered with a shutout win Saturday, so a timeshare likely will remain in place. 

Others include Nathan MacKinnon, Mika Zibanejad, Nick Suzuki, Roope Hintz, Nikita Kucherov, Luke Evangelista, Sam Bennett, Zachary Bolduc, Pavel Buchnevich, Joel Farabee, Jamie Benn, Darren Raddysh, Nick Blankenburg, Vladislav Gavrikov, Jakob Chychrun, Jeremy Swayman, Jake Allen, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Brandon Bussi.

Buy Low

Gabriel Landeskog, LW, COL: Landeskog last played in the regular season in the 2021-22 season. Injuries wreaked havoc on Landeskog, forcing him to miss the 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 regular seasons before returning in the playoffs this past year. Landeskog started the season extremely slowly but has been heating up of late. Over the last nine games, Landeskog's racked up five goals and eight points, after managing just four points (all helpers) over his first 16 contests while skating on the second line.

Training Room (Injuries) 

Brady Tkachuk, LW, OTT: Tkachuk returned to action Friday after missing 20 games with a broken thumb. He notched an assist in his returning, giving the winger four assists in four games played this season. Tkachuk had his least productive season in his last four campaigns in 2024-25 but still posted 14 power-play goals. He is even more valuable in leagues that go beyond just the offensive categories, racking up four-plus shots a game and 200+ hits a season 

Adam Fox, D, NYR: Fox was injured Saturday when he was checked into the boards by Brandon Hagel. The puck was o the ledge where the glass and boards meet and Hagel checked him while his left arm was up as he reached for the puck. Fos is being evaluated but the injury certainly looked like it would sideline Fox for a while. If that happens, Braden Schneider, Vladislav Gavrikov or Scott Morrow could all see time on the top power-play unit. Fox has three goals and 23 assists in 27 games. 

Others include Brayden Point (undisclosed, missed fourth straight game Saturday), Kyle Palmieri (torn ACL, injured Friday, requires surgery, will miss 6-9 months), Kirill Marchenko (upper body, missed four straight contests), Jack Roslovic (undisclosed, to miss several weeks), and Pyotr Kochetkov (lower body, missed second straight game Friday). 

Fourth Liners/Press Boxers (Fallers)

Barrett Hayton, C, UTAH: Hayton, the surprise fifth overall pick in the 2018 draft, had what looked to be a breakout season in 2022-23, notching 19 goals and 24 assists. Injuries and ineffective play limited Hayton to just 10 points the following season, resulting in Utah inking Hayton to just a two-year, $5.3 million contract in July of 2024. Hayton rebounded to post 20 goals and 26 assists last season, centering one of the top two lines, The roof has caved in this season, as Hayton has just three tallies and two apples in 24 contests, resulting in a slide down to the bottom-six and possible move out of town this offseason.

Trevor Moore, LW, LA: Based on his career performance, Moore's 31 goals and 26 assists in 2023-24 looks even more like an outlier and less like a portend of things to come. Prior to that season, Moore's highs were 17 tallies and 31 helpers two seasons prior, but he fell to 29 points in 57 appearances. Last season, Moore's output fell to 18 and 22 and 71 contests, though that' still a solid campaign. He has regressed again this season with just three goals and six assists in 24 games despite second line deployment. 

Jared Spurgeon, D, MIN: Spurgeon remains in a key role on the Minnesota blueline and provided some value, just not for those in offensive only leagues. His point drought hot 11 games Saturday, during that time however, he is a plus-7 with 21 blocked shots and 11 hits, and he's still on the Wild's second power-play unit. Eventually, his luck will turn, but with Zeev Buium and Brock Faber also on the Wild defense, Spurgeon's production ceiling is capped somewhat, impacting his overall value. 

Others include Sean Monahan, Noah Laba, Fabian Zetterlund, Anthony Duclair, Kris Letang, Alexander Nikishin, Dustin Wolf and Kevin Lankinen. 

Sell High 

Spencer Knight, G, CHI: Knight has come back to earth slightly after his blazing hot start. He went 1-2-2 with a 2.79 GAA and a .905 save percentage over his next five starts. That's a significant drop from the 2.59 GAA and .914 save percentage he posted in October. Chicago improved the talent on their team but their blueline is young and growing pains are expected. We likely will see spikes and troughs during the season from the team and Knight, so be prepared to ride those waves. He got back in the winning column Sunday, stopping 23 of 26 shots against Anaheim.