NHL Barometer: Strome Strong

ROTOWIRE BAROMETER
Jan Levine, RotoWire Hockey Writer

This week's article includes the #1 or #1a center on Broadway on a roll, the Captain of the 'Peg doing what he does quietly, a hot netminder in San Jose and Edmonton's top pick this year struggling.

First Liners (Risers)

Ryan-Nugent Hopkins, C, EDM - It's been another season to forget in Edmonton, but at least lately, RNH is starting to live up to his high billing. Nugent-Hopkins has four goals and two assists in his last seven games, giving him 11 and 13 in 36 games so far this season. The overall production isn't great, but at least RNH is one of the few Oilers players pulling his weight.

Derek Stepan, C, NYR - Among Rangers' fans, many believe that Stepan is not a true #1 center. In fact, with Derick Brassard locked up long-term by the Blueshirts, Stepan may be the second or at best #1B pivotman in New York. Whether you think he is a true top center or not, his production since coming back from his fractured fibula has been top tier. Stepan had three assists Wednesday giving him six goals and 19 assists in 23 games since coming back to action.

Andrew Ladd, LW, WPG - Ladd is not a sexy player to own. He won't wow you with an end-to-end rush or pile up a ton of hat tricks, but what he has proven to be is fairly consistent. Ladd's last three full seasons - excluding the short-shortened campaign of 2011-12 - he tallied 59, 50 and 54 points, respectively. In the 48-game campaign in 2011-12, Ladd scored 46 points, so 50+ was a pretty likely option. Ladd, the Winnipeg Captain, tallied twice Wednesday, giving him 14 goals and 15 assists in 38 games, putting him well above 50-point pace. To add to his value, he has 91 hits for those who use that category in their leagues.

Ryan Strome, RW, NYI - Like Brock Nelson, Strome has benefitted from a move to wing from center. In Strome's case, he is playing with Frans Nielsen, who is so good defensively that it allows Strome to cheat a bit at times. In addition, Strome has meshed well with Anders Lee. Strome racked up a goal and three assists in the Islanders' 5-2 win over the Jets on Wednesday, giving him seven goals and 20 assists through 37 games in his breakout campaign.

Curtis Glencross, LW, CGY - Glencross has been up-and-down this season, but right now, he is on an upswing. He notched a pair of assists Wednesday to close out 2014, giving five points during a three-game point streak. Glencross now has eight goals, 26 points, a plus-9 rating, 30 PIM and 71 SOG this year, putting him on early pace to surpass his career high of 48 points set in 2011-12. That effort will be aided by his placement on one of the first two lines in Calgary.

Duncan Keith, D, CHI - Keith is unlikely to ever match the 69 points he scored in 2009-10 or the 61 he posted last year but that doesn't mean he is any less valuable. He notched a trio of assists Monday then added one in the Winter Classic, giving him to six goals and 18 helpers points to go with a tidy plus-13 rating, 12 PIM and 88 shots in 37 games this year, making him a top-15 d-man in most leagues. In addition, he has 45 hits in those 37 games, augmenting his value.

Keith Yandle, D, PHX - The minus-10 next to Yandle's name is unsightly, but he still is producing like an elite blueliner. Yandle had four goals and 20 assists in 37 games with 15 of his points coming on the man-advantage. His TOI of 24:38 is in line with last year (24:02), same with his PPTOI of 4:48 compared to 4:24 last season. Yandle is in the fourth year of the five-year, $26.25 million deal he signed in July 2011 and his name has started to come up in trade rumors, but regardless of where he plays, he should continue to be a top-two d-man.

Antti Niemi, G, SJ - Remember that rough patch Niemi had in November and calls for Alex Stalock to be the Sharks' top goalie? Forget them. Niemi is on an absolute roll right now, securing his job. Niemi delivered a 28-save shutout win over the Ducks on New Year's Eve. It's his third shutout of the season and second in his last six games. In addition, despite going 0-1-1 in his two starts prior to Wednesday, Niemi is still 8-1-1 in his last 10 and now sports a 2.38 goals-against average (GAA) and .919 save percentage (SV%).

Craig Anderson, G, OTT - Anderson has started five of Ottawa's last six games and appears to have taken a hold of the lion's share of playing time between the pipes from Robin Lehner. His 29-save effort over Buffalo in the team's 2-1 win made Anderson 3-1-1 in his last five starts and evened his overall record at 9-9-5. Three of those wins have come via shutout for Anderson, who has rebounded from his nightmarish season a year ago to post a 2.41 GAA and .927 SV%.

Others include Antoine Vermette, Sean Couturier, Sean Monahan, Carl Soderberg, Joe Pavelski, Nazem Kadri, Bryan Little, Pavel Datsyuk, Ryan Getzlaf, Claude Giroux, Tyler Johnson, Jamie Benn, Logan Couture, Jiri Hudler, Bobby Ryan, Nick Foligno, Jimmy Hayes, Chris Stewart, Nikita Kucherov, Jarome Iginla, Loui Eriksson, Jasson Pominville, Phil Kessel, Ondrej Palat, Devante Smith-Pelly, Reilly Smith, Eric Fehr, Gustav Nyqvist, Kevin Connauton, Brent Seabrook, Erik Karlsson, Shea Weber, Nathan Beaulieu, Jack Johnson, Roman Josi, Jake Muzzin, Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, Dion Phaneuf, Henrik Lundqvist, Pekka Rinne, Jaroslav Halak, Kari Lehtonen, Frederik Anderson, Braden Holtby, and Corey Crawford.

Training Room (Injuries)

Evander Kane, LW, WPG - Kane will be sidelined until February with a lower-body injured that occurred while blocking a shot Saturday, December 27. Prior to the injury, Kane had six goals and nine assists in 26 games, which is a mildly better pace than the 41 points he scored in a disappointing 2013-14 season. The talk of dealing Kane had died down a bit this year, but a split between the two parties may be best for all.

Ben Bishop, G, TB - Bishop did not play Wednesday against Buffalo because he re-aggravated a lower-body injury. That LBI is likely the same groin injury that sidelined Bishop before Xmas. He had just recently returned, winning a pair of games before aggravating the injury. Bishop came back Friday, but just for a short 10 minutes in which he gave up three goals. He's due to start Sunday.

Others include Jordan Staal (broken right fibula, made season debut Monday), Mikael Granlund (wrist, out four weeks), Joe Thornton (possible left shoulder injury suffered Wednesday), Jaden Schwartz (broken foot, hopes to begin skating in next few days), Corey Perry (knee, played Wednesday), Patric Hornqvist (LBI, out four weeks), Joffery Lupul (LBI, will receive MRI), Kris Versteeg (departed Winter Classic with left hand injury), Benoit Pouliot (shoulder, could be back within the week), Steve Downie (mumps, may play Friday), Tyler Myers (LBI, could be back within the week), Olli Maatta (UBI, skating but still about a month away) and Brian Elliott (sprained knee, returned to action Tuesday).

Fourth Liners/Press Boxers (Fallers)

Leon Draisaitl, C, EDM - Drasaitl, the third overall pick in the 2014 draft, hasn't had an easy rookie campaign. Following a strong pre-season, in which he seemed to show he could play at this level, Draisaitl hasn't adjusted well to the jump from juniors to the NHL. The Oilers decided to keep him in Edmonton rather than allowing him to play for Germany in the World Junior Championships, but a few days after it was too late for Draisaitl to play in the tourney, rumors started to come out that if his rights were acquired by the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL (the league's best team), Edmonton would send him down to further his development. Nothing like an organization having a clear direction on where they are going and how to handle a young player.

Dany Heatley, RW, ANA - Heatley had zero points in six games before landing on injured reserve with a groin injury in November. Following his rehab stint in Norfolk of the AHL, Anaheim opted to place the former 50-goal scorer on waivers. Heater went unclaimed and opted to report to the minors. Maybe consistent ice time with revive Heatley's game, which has fallen off substantially since he scored 53 points in 2011-12.

Brian Campbell, D, FLA - Campbell and Willie Mitchell have been excellent mentors to Aaron Ekblad. The difference is Campbell was expected to score while Mitchell was not. Lately, Campbell has not been scoring much, as his assist Sunday was his first point in seven games and his second over the Panthers' last 15 contests. In addition, he has just one goal on the season despite seeing almost three-and-a-half minutes of power play time each game.

Jake Allen, G, STL - Allen, who is 11-5-2 record but with an .899 save percentage and 2.76 GAA, had a shot to run with the Blues #1 netminding job and failed to do so. In fact, St. Louis went out and added Martin Broduer to provide a veteran presence and stabilizing force between the pipes. Now, with Brian Elliott back from his sprained knee injury, it's unclear how the playing duties will be divided, but Allen's playing time will be starkly reduced.

Others include Nick Bonino, Tomas Hertl, Jaromir Jagr, Brock Nelson, Calvin de Haan, Zach Redmond, Michael del Zotto, Mike Smith, Devan Dubnyk and Cam Ward (playing better but team has not).