NHL Barometer: Missing the Carnival

ROTOWIRE BAROMETER
Jan Levine, RotoWire Hockey Writer

This week's article includes a hot rookie Finn in the Arch City, Calder candidates in Music City and the Sunshine State and the top-center in Minnesota scuffling.

First Liners (Risers)

Jori Lehtera, C, STL - The entire STL line could have landed here but Lehtera gets the nod. As a primer, here is what we wrote in our preseason outlook: "A former third-round draft pick by the Blues in 2008, Lehtera has spent the last several seasons honing his game overseas while the St. Louis organization anxiously tracked his development. After back-to-back 40-point seasons with Novosibirsk Sibir of the KHL, Lehtera decided to make the jump to the NHL, agreeing with the Blues on a two-year, $5.5-million contract in July." His size at 6-2, 210, is ideal and he has adapted quickly to the smaller ice surface. Lehtera is riding a five-game point scoring streak, during which he has scored four goals and four assists and is locked in on a line with Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz.

Sean Monahan, C, CGY - Monahan had a solid rookie year with 22 goals and 12 assists in 75 games, including nine points his first eight contests. Expectations were a bit higher for Monahan, who made the team after being the squad's first round pick last year. To date, he has not disappointed, notching six goals and five assists in 17 games, helping lead Calgary to a strong start to the season.

Patrick Marleau, LW, SJ - All Marleau does is produce. Last season, Marleau was coming off a so-so strike-shortened season but he tallied 33 goals and 37 assists. The team's playoff collapse resulted in the rumor that Marleau was going to be dealt this offseason. He obviously remained in San Jose, but lost the A on his jersey. That change has had no impact on Marleau, as so far this season, he has 16 points in 17 games.

Filip Forsberg, RW, NAS - Forsberg lit the lamp for the fifth straight game Tuesday against Edmonton. That goal extended his point streak to six games, during which he has scored 10 points. By scoring in five straight, as we noted in our Rotowire update, Forsberg became the first rookie to tally goals in that many consecutive contests since the Flyers' Sean Couturier achieved the feat during the 2011-12 season. With 17 points in 15 games along with a stellar plus-17 rating, Forsberg has to be the early favorite for the Calder Trophy. Do you think Washington wished they had kept Forsberg rather than trading him for Martin Erat?

Jakub Voracek, RW, PHI - Voracek took a step forward in 2012-13, notching 46 points in 48 games. Last year, he got off to a slow start, but when Craig Berube took over as coach, he reunited Voracek with Claude Giroux and Voracek took over, finishing with 62 points in 82 games. This season, Voracek is making that season look like a pauper, as he is on fire. Voracek has six goals and 16 assists in 14 games after notching a three-assist game Saturday, which extended his point streak to eight games and 15 points (four goals, 11 assists). Ride the wave.

Aaron Ekblad, D, FLA - Ekblad, the first overall pick in this past year's draft, has gotten off to an excellent start in the Sunshine State, posting a goal and seven assists with a flat plus-minus rating in 13 games. Almost as if not more impressive is that Ekblad is seeing 21:38 nightly, including 2:41 on the man-advantage. Before the season started, there was some speculation as to whether Ekblad would spend the year with the team or go back to juniors. That question has been clearly answered. Ekblad will have his struggles as all defensemen do, plus defensive growth is not linear, so there will be bobbles but the future is very bright.

Sami Vatanen, D, ANA - Vatanen has been a bit of a one-trick pony this season, but has that trick been impressive. All 10 of his points have come on the man-advantage. That likely is unsustainable all season, but you would expect him to start producing at even-strength. The departure of Stephane Robidas opened a full-time role for Vatanen, and he has taken advantage of it, seeing five more minutes of ice time nightly.

Ondrej Pavelec, G, WPG - Pavelec hasn't been helped much lately by his offense, but he continues to put forth solid efforts nightly. Overall, Pavelec is 7-5-2 with a 1.99 goals-against average and .928 save percentage. Included within that is a 3-1-2 mark with a save percentage of .914 in each of those six contests. These save and GAA numbers are career bests for Pavelec, so some regression is expected, meaning there is a bit of buyer beware.

Ben Bishop, G, TB - The Lightning are off of to an excellent start, and while the offense has played a huge role in it, Bishop's play between the pipes hasn't hurt. A good blue line, even with Victor Hedman out, has helped Bishop but he also has been a good last line of defense. His ancillary numbers are a bit down from last year, though solid at 2.39 and .915 to go along with a 9-1-2 mark. Expect Bishop to get 40 wins this season.

Others include Victor Rask, Aleksander Barkov, Nicklas Backstrom, Derick Brassard, Tyler Bozak, Kyle Turris, Derek Stepan, Mike Ribeiro, Ryan Strome, Joe Thornton, Brayden Schenn, Claude Giroux, Brian Boyle, Jonathan Toews, Elias Lindholm, Peter Holland, Leo Komarov, Vladimir Tarasenko, Andre Burakovsky,Nick Foligno, Riley Nash, Johan Franzen, Rick Nash, Boone Jenner, James van Riemsdyk, Jaden Schwartz, Marcus Johansson, Tyler Toffoli, Jiri Sekac, Phil Kessel, Patric Hornqvist, Scott Hartnell, Ryan Callahan, Kris Letang, Jason Garrison, Tobias Enstrom. Cody Franson, Marc Giordano, Dougie Hamilton, Michael Del Zotto, Niklas Kronwall, Justin Faulk, Corey Crawford, Jonas Hiller, Henrik Lundqvist, Jaroslav Halak and Pekka Rinne.

Training Room (Injuries)

David Krejci, C, BOS - Krejci missed Wednesday's game against Toronto and will not play versus Montreal on Thursday. The injury is believed to be the same hip ailment that that likely resulted in him missing the Bruins' first three games of the season. Boston will be cautious with his return and are using Chris Kelly on the first line with Krejci out.

Corey Perry, LW, ANA - Perry and Francois Beauchemin are both sidelined with what first was believed to be the flu. The diagnosis then became a viral gland infection, which now has been revised to the mumps. Yes, the mumps. Perry is no longer contagious and has been cleared to return while Beauchemin is receiving IV fluids. No timeframe has been given for when Perry will return to action, as he likely needs to regain some strength, but the good news is he should be back soon.

Dan Boyle, D, NYR - Boyle, sidelined since Opening Night with a broken hand, will return to the lineup Thursday against Colorado. He still has some lingering pain in the hand, which could impact his ability to handle and shoot the puck, but will slot back against the Colorado. Boyle played the point on the top power play unit and was paired on defense with Marc Staal in practice Wednesday.

Others include Brandon Dubinsky (abdomen, targeting November 18 for return), T.J. Oshie (concussion, still sidelined), Joe Colborne (still sidelined with his wrist injury), Valeri Nichuskin (groin/hip, landed on IR), Radim Vrbata (leg, DTD), Ryane Clowe (head, IR), Zach Parise (concussion, remains sidelined), Ryan Murray (week-to-week with knee injury), Alex Stalock (landed on IR on Wednesday with an injury) and Sergei Bobrovsky (broken finger, IR, still not ready to return).

Fourth Liners/Press Boxers (Fallers)

Mikko Koivu, C, MIN - Koivu failed to score for the fourth straight game Tuesday and has just two goals and an assist on 14 games for the year. Last season, Koivu - due to a drop in shooting percentage - scored just 11 goals but he had 43 assists while playing 20:56 (7^th in the league among forwards) in 65 games. With Thomas Vanek joining Jason Pominville, Parise and Coyle, expectations were high in Minnesota, but Koivu is struggling mightily.

Tomas Fleischmann, LW, FLA - Fleischmann had just one assist the first 11 games of the year and then found himself in the press box as a healthy scratch. He scored his first of the year in his return to the lineup Tuesday against the Sharks but played just 12:35. Fleischmann is in the final year of the four-year, $18 million contract he signed with the Panthers in July of 2011. He surprisingly scored 61 points his first year of that deal, but has regressed steadily since then, bottoming out with just two points in 12 games so far. It would not be too far-fetched to expect Fleischmann to be elsewhere before the end of the year.

Matt Niskanen, D, WAS -Niskanen scored 35 points in 2008-09 only to tally just 15 points the following season. The reason I mention this is that a pattern could be occurring. Niskanen had several so-so seasons in a row, before posting 10 goals and 36 assists with a plus-33 rating next season. He parlayed that year into a seven-year, $40.25 million contract with the Caps in July. Niskanen has just five assists in 15 games, looking like an early free agent bust. It may not all be his fault, as a rebounding Mike Green along with John Carlson are the top offensive weapons on Washington's blue line, adversely impacting his production.

Antti Niemi, G, SJ - I debated about putting Tuukka Rask here off Wednesday's debacle, but he had won four straight before the meltdown. Same with Semyon Varlamov, but he was profiled last week. Therefore, Niemi gets the "glory." Niemi allowed four goals on 30 shots in his loss to the Panthers on Tuesday, his third consecutive defeat during which he has allowed 11 goals. The only saving grace for Niemi is that Alex Stalock landed on the disabled list, giving Niemi, who struggled late last year, some job security.

Others include Paul Gaustad, Tomas Plekanec, Matt Moulson, Daniel Briere, Charlie Coyle, Ales Hemsky, Jarome Iginla, Rene Bourque, Rasmus Ristolainen, Alex Goligoski and Semyon Varlamov.