Before our weekly check-in on the hottest players in the league, let’s first examine this week’s upcoming schedule.
The Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, Florida Panthers and New Jersey Devils all hit their bye week this week, playing two games or fewer. The Carolina Hurricanes, Arizona Coyotes and Sacramento Kings are also on a short schedule. Any borderline fantasy relevant players off of these clubs should be dumped for players with a denser schedule of games. Target Sabres as the only team playing five games this week.
Now, let’s see who has been hot:
Mikael Granlund – C/W – Minnesota Wild – 5 goals, 17 points in his last 12 games
Granlund put the cherry on top of his still-running 12-game scoring streak with his first career hat trick on Saturday evening.
The line of Granlund, Mikko Koivu and Jason Zucker continues to produce offence at an absurd rate. They have pushed for more minutes. Granlund and Koivu, skating on the second power play unit for much of the year, have started to take over as the number one unit.
The percentages suggest that there is a bubble set to burst at some point. The Wild have scored on 12.7 per cent of shots at 5-on-5 while Granlund has been on the ice. The league average is closer to eight per cent. Elite talents can drive those percentages up but we have consistently seen players and lines with rates this high regress back to earth. Consider the Triplets line from a couple of years ago.
Of course, Tampa Bay’s Triplets line sustained those elite rates for almost two seasons before finally collapsing. Maybe the regression won’t come for Granlund this season but it will come eventually. Everyone assumes a hot run will continue, until it inevitably doesn’t.
Brad Marchand – LW – Boston Bruins – 13 goals, 24 points in his last 15 games
This is the kind of scoring run that a superstar puts up. The Bruins’ top line of Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak is one of the league’s absolute best. They tilt the ice in a huge way, controlling the majority of the shots while they are out there. Now that Bergeron has found his scoring touch, they are producing goals at a rate commensurate to their possession numbers.
In case you think that this isn’t for real, Marchand’s 5-on-5 on-ice shooting percentage is slightly below average at 7.1 per cent. This isn’t some fluke. Marchand and the Bruins’ top line is elite. The only question is if Marchand can quit blatantly tripping folks and avoid any run-ins with the Department of Player Safety.
Chris Kunitz – LW – Pittsburgh Penguins – 1 goal, 4 points in his last 4 games
This isn’t much of a hot streak, so consider this more of a hunch that Kunitz is about to get onto one.
With Conor Sheary out of the lineup for the next few weeks, Kunitz is free to reprise his role alongside Sidney Crosby. He notched a pair of assists in this spot in Pittsburgh’s last game out. Look for more in the coming weeks.
Adam Henrique – C – New Jersey Devils – 3 goals, 6 points in his last 4 games
An ill-timed bye week could derail Henrique’s momentum here as he is clicking on a line of speedsters with Michael Cammalleri and Miles Wood.
Lines like this can go on hot runs because of their ability to score in a hurry but they don’t produce consistently enough to warrant consistent usage. Henrique has all the makings of a 45-50 -point scorer and indeed he is pace for 46 points. Enjoy the hot streaks, drop during the cold streaks.
Matt Niskanen – D – Washington Capitals – 2 goals, 11 points in his last 11 games
Skating on the top power play unit with John Carlson out, Niskanen went on quite a run. Carlson has returned from injury but Niskanen continues to see top PP minutes. Eventually, Carlson will get back to 100% and reclaim his spot on the top unit, but enjoy Niskanen’s production while he remains hot.
Did you lose Robby Fabbri to a torn ACL yesterday? Consider these under-owned waiver wire options in your league:
Anders Lee – LW – New York Islanders
He skates with John Tavares at even strength and on the power play.
Josh Bailey – LW/RW – New York Islanders
Ditto for Bailey.
Viktor Arvidsson – LW/RW – Nashville Predators
He is skating on the top line with Filip Forsberg and Ryan Johansen, plus he piles up huge shot totals.
Andre Burakovsky – LW/RW – Washington Capitals
Burakovsky is only a third-line guy for Washington but this is a team firing on all cylinders.
Patrick Eaves – RW – Dallas Stars
Eaves has quietly developed into one of the league’s top net-front men.
Evander Kane – LW – Buffalo Sabres
Kane is wielding a hot stick since Jack Eichel returned from injury.
Alex Killorn – LW – Tampa Bay Lightning
He is clicking alongside Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov.
Steve Laidlaw is the Managing Editor of Dobberhockey. Follow him on Twitter @SteveLaidlaw.
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