This article is part of our NHL Barometer series.
This week's article includes the other center in Edmonton, a hot Canadiens wing, Darcy who, another man down in the Desert and Kessel not Phil-ing up nets.
First Liners (Risers)
Nolan Patrick, C, PHI - Patrick, the second overall pick in 2017, has been somewhat overshadowed by Nico Hischier, who was drafted first. After a slow start, Patrick has really upped his game lately. Through Friday's games, Patrick has seven goals and 15 points, along with a plus-4 rating, in the last 20 games. That hot streak has increased his season total to 26 points; just shy of the 30 he tallied as a rookie. Patrick is centering Philly's top line with Claude Giroux and Travis Konecny, but check his status as he left Sunday's game early with a laceration.
Leon Draisaitl, C, EDM - Connor who? Just kidding, but Draisaitl is having a stellar season in his own right. The third overall pick in 2014 notched a goal and an assist Monday, giving the German-born forward 41 goals and 42 assists this year. Draisaitl's 83 points are a career high and with less than 20 games remaining, reaching 100 is not out of the question. The team around McDavid and Draisaitl, save for a few pieces, needs a lot of work, but that duo is keeping the Oilers on the fringes of the postseason race.
Brendan Gallagher, RW, MTL - Gallagher tallied a career-high 31 goals last season, rebounding from a career-low performance the
This week's article includes the other center in Edmonton, a hot Canadiens wing, Darcy who, another man down in the Desert and Kessel not Phil-ing up nets.
First Liners (Risers)
Nolan Patrick, C, PHI - Patrick, the second overall pick in 2017, has been somewhat overshadowed by Nico Hischier, who was drafted first. After a slow start, Patrick has really upped his game lately. Through Friday's games, Patrick has seven goals and 15 points, along with a plus-4 rating, in the last 20 games. That hot streak has increased his season total to 26 points; just shy of the 30 he tallied as a rookie. Patrick is centering Philly's top line with Claude Giroux and Travis Konecny, but check his status as he left Sunday's game early with a laceration.
Leon Draisaitl, C, EDM - Connor who? Just kidding, but Draisaitl is having a stellar season in his own right. The third overall pick in 2014 notched a goal and an assist Monday, giving the German-born forward 41 goals and 42 assists this year. Draisaitl's 83 points are a career high and with less than 20 games remaining, reaching 100 is not out of the question. The team around McDavid and Draisaitl, save for a few pieces, needs a lot of work, but that duo is keeping the Oilers on the fringes of the postseason race.
Brendan Gallagher, RW, MTL - Gallagher tallied a career-high 31 goals last season, rebounding from a career-low performance the year before. He is showing that year was no fluke, as he is already up to 28 markers this season following his goal Friday. Gallagher, heading into Saturday's game, had six goals in his last seven games while skating on a line with Phillip Danault and Tomas Tatar. Max Domi has rightly received a ton of attention, but Gallagher has been a main driver for Montreal sitting in the first wild-card spot.
Gabriel Landeskog, LW, COL - Landeskog rebounded from his worst full season in 2016-17 to tally 25 goals and 37 assists. While the Rocky Mountain High has been broken up, Landeskog continues to score. His three assists Friday gave Landeskog 35 this season with his 33 goals for a career-high 68 points. With a third of the year remaining, Landeskog could end up with 80-plus points and set career bests in every category.
Justin Schultz, D, PIT - Schultz broke his leg the fourth game of the season, sidelining the blueliner for four months. His two assists Friday gave Schultz six points (one goal, five helpers) in eight games since returning to action, with three of his assists coming with the man advantage. Once Kris Letang (upper body) is back on the ice, however, Schultz's power-play time will be reduced, making it tough for him to maintain that pace even given the talent around him on the Pens' roster. But Letang remains sidelined, increasing Schultz's value.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson, D, AZ - Ekman-Larsson has found the scoresheet in six of his last seven games, scoring two goals and adding six assists in that span. The dynamic defenseman is up to 35 points through 64 games but is a minus-12 to this point in the season. That mark, though, is a material improvement over the minus-28 and minus-25 he posted the prior two seasons. Of his 35 points, 19 have come on the man-advantage while OEL has also posted 122 hits, adding to his value.
Darcy Kuemper, G, AZ - Kuemper, profiled a month ago, receives another mention due to his recent strong play. Following Saturday's victory, Kuemper had notched seven consecutive wins while posting an impressive 1.53. Since Jan. 4, he is 15-3-3 with a .926 save percentage. Overall, Kuemper is 20-14-5 with a 2.54 GAA and .918 save percentage in 39 games this season. Arizona is somehow staying in the race despite myriad injuries thanks to the fine play of Kuemper between the pipes. Kuemper, who was brilliant in L.A. but struggled after being traded to Arizona last season, has run with the job since Antti Raanta was sidelined.
Jacob Markstrom, G, VAN - Markstrom may cede time to Thatcher Demko with Vancouver looking to the future, but he has a solid season and is worth a look when between the pipes. He had just four wins in February but posted a 2.31 goals-against average and .930 save percentage. Markstrom's 2017-18 and 2018-19 numbers are eerily similar – 23 wins in each season, 2.71 GAA in both years and a .912 save percentage last year and .914 save percentage this year. The difference is that Markstrom has played 10 fewer games this season, meaning he should far surpass 23 wins.
Others include Mikael Backlund, Joe Pavelski, William Nylander, Sidney Crosby, Mika Zibanejad, Kevin Hayes, Paul Stastny, Bo Horvat, Sean Couturier, Jonathan Toews, Sebastian Aho, Connor McDavid, Casey Cizikas, Brayden Point, Max Domi, Teuvo Teravainen, Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, James van Riemsdyk, Nikita Kucherov, Alex DeBrincat, Mike Hoffman, Jimmy Vesey, Paul Byron, Reilly Smith, Brendan Lemieux, Blake Wheeler, Vinnie Hinostroza, Sean Monahan, T.J. Oshie, Ryan Donato, Claude Giroux, Travis Konecny, Seth Jones, Vince Dunn, Nate Schmidt, Brady Skjei, Nikita Zadorov, Roman Josi, Rasmus Dahlin, Aaron Ekblad, Damon Severson, Michal Kempny, Frederik Andersen, Tuukka Rask, Robin Lehner, Sergei Bobrovsky, Jordan Binnington and Mikko Koskinen.
Buy Low
Jesper Bratt, LW, NJD - Bratt doesn't receive a ton of attention, but those who are in the know realize just how good he has been this season. The unsung New Jersey winger has four goals and 13 points in his last 13 games. After scoring 35 points in 74 games as a rookie, Bratt already has 33 points in 50 games this season, despite missing time with injuries. Bratt has benefitted from skating with Nico Hischier (check injury status as he left Saturday's game) as well as from several players being sidelined, moving him up the depth chart.
Training Room (Injuries)
Derek Stepan, C, AZ - Stepan will miss 4-6 weeks with a left leg injury suffered Thursday. Arizona has now become a MASH unit due to all the injuries with Stepan the latest to be sidelined. Stepan was having a rough campaign with just 13 goals and 19 assists in 64 games after posting 14 and 42 last year, his first season in Arizona. He signed a six-year, $39 million extension with the Rangers in July 2015 that will run through the end of the 2020-21 season – clearing cap space was the main reason why New York dealt him last season.
Others include Ryan Getzlaf (upper body, still sidelined), Brett Howden (knee, could return Sunday), David Perron (upper body, sidelined since Jan. 17), Evander Kane (mid body, day-to-day), Jesse Puljujarvi (hip surgery, out for the season) Taylor Hall (knee surgery, rehabbing), Kyle Palmieri (lower body, week-to-week), Erik Karlsson (out with groin injury), Kris Letang (upper body, will miss at least the next two games), James Reimer (undisclosed injury, out a week), Carter Hutton (sustained lower-body injury at practice Thursday) and John Gibson (upper body, missed three weeks, returned to action Friday).
Fourth Liners/Press Boxers (Fallers)
Robert Thomas, C, STL - The future is bright for Thomas, but he needs time to reach the lofty status in line with his draft position and pedigree. Thomas, a 2017 first-round pick, has 22 points in 52 games, though he could be encouraged to shoot more, with only 57 shots on goal this season. He has put together a solid rookie year while skating mostly bottom-six minutes. Once Thomas is moved up to the top six, possibly next season, look for his output to spike accordingly.
Noah Hanifin, D, CGY - Hanifin, who came to the Flames with Elias Lindholm from Carolina this past offseason, has five goals and 28 points this season. He is just four points shy of his career high set last season, but struggled in February. Hanifin, entrenched on the second pair in Calgary, primarily skating with Travis Hamonic, accumulated just a goal and two assists in 13 games in February. His down tick in production likely means he warrants a place on your bench.
Craig Anderson, G, OTT - With Ottawa conducting a full-scale sell-off, the team is in tank mode. Unfortunately, though, with Colorado owning the Senators' first-round pick, the team won't benefit from their struggles this season. Anderson, who has not won since Dec. 17, is now 14-21-3 with a 3.50 goals-against average and .904 save percentage. Stay away, stay far, far away.
Others include Scott Laughton, Alexander Wennberg, Adrian Kempe, Brock Boeser, Alex Tuch, Warren Foegele, Mattias Ekholm, Keith Kinkaid and Jonathan Quick.
Sell High
Phil Kessel, LW, PIT - Kessel's goalless drought hit 15 on Saturday. In that span, Kessel has still posted nine assists, giving him 43 this season. Kessel posted a career-high 92 points last season, but with just 64 this year, he is far from matching or coming close to that total this year. Kessel is still valuable, but with a minus-16 and a drop in output, his value is nowhere where it was last year. But he could get hot at any time, meaning he still warrants a place in your lineup.
