This article is part of our NHL Barometer series.
This week's article includes the second pick from the 2015 draft on a roll. Zet-ting forward. Big Buff playing large, Bobby Lu sidelined and a slumping Staal.
First Liners (Risers)
Jack Eichel, C, BUF – The Eichel train rolls on in Buffalo. The second overall pick from 2015 tallied two more goals while adding an assist on Tuesday. Those three points pushed him over the 100-point mark in his career, achieving this feat in only 127 games. Eichel became the third youngest player in Buffalo history, behind Pierre Turgeon and Phil Housley, to reach the century mark while also extending his point streak to 11 games.
Joe Pavelski, C, SJ – Pavelski quietly goes about his business, racking up points in relative anonymity on the West Coast. A goal and assist Thursday gives him eight markers along with nine assists in his last 16 games, putting him at 24 goals and 35 assists in 66 games. Pavelski has tallied at least 61 points his last five full seasons, a mark he should easily hit this year.
Alex Burrows, RW, OTT – Burrows has paid immediate dividends after coming to Ottawa in a trade from Vancouver. He scored at least two points in two of his three games as a Senator but has been shut out his last two. After 20 points in 55 games as a Canuck, Burrows is playing top-six minutes, which has aided his transition to the East Coast. Ottawa gave up a solid prospect in Jonathan Dahlen and inexplicably signed Burrows to a two-year extension worth $2.5 million per season, though that might have been to expose him in the expansion draft.
Henrik Zetterberg, LW, DET – Zetterberg looked to be all but washed up six weeks ago. The perception of the captain has changed, as he has scored 17 points in 23 games since late January and 53 points in 65 games. Detroit is on the outside looking in for playoff positioning but Zetterberg is doing his part to keep the team in the race.
Nikita Kucherov, RW, TB – The Lightning are making a postseason move, spurred on by Kucherov's play. He scored twice and added an assist Thursday to give him 30 goals and 36 assists in 59 games, matching his total of last year from 77 contests. With 17 points his last eight games, Kucherov is carrying the Tampa Bay offense, holding the fort until the possible return of Steven Stamkos.
John Klingberg, D, DAL – Klingberg has had a disappointing season, but has recently looked more like the puck-moving, high-scoring defenseman we saw the past few years. He failed to score Wednesday, but all that did was halt a six-game point streak consisting of three goals and five assists. Klingberg is now up to 11 goals and 29 assists, matching his 2014-15 production and exceeding the 10 goals he scored last season. Of course, the Swede added 48 assists compared to 29 this season, but he clearly is back on the beam.
Dustin Byfuglien, D, WPG – Big Buff has been big on the scoreboard of late. His point streak – during which he scored twice and added seven assists – ended Monday but he went right back to scoring, notching a goal Wednesday. On the year, Byfuglien has 10 goals and 35 assists, and is within reasonable range of exceeding his career-high in points of 56, set in 2013-14. Add in 165 hits and 107 blocked shots and you have a very complete season.
Sergei Bobrovsky, G, CLM – Bob is on fire. He stopped 33 shots against the Devils on Tuesday to pick up his third straight shutout. The Russian netminder is up to 35 wins, along with a GAA around 2.00 and a .930 save percentage. Those kind of stats make him a likely Vezina Trophy finalist.
Brian Elliott, G, CGY – I am not a big proponent of highlighting players in back-to-back weeks, but Elliot warrants it. He continued his second surge, stopping all 24 shots he faced Thursday against Montreal. That made Elliot 8-0-1 with just 16 goals allowed in his last nine starts. He is now up to 19 wins on the season, and while the GAA and save percentage numbers are subpar, his recent play likely means you can toss those stats out the window.
Others include Tyler Bozak, Ryan Getzlaf, Patrice Bergeron, Ryan O'Reilly, Evgeni Malkin, Mikael Backlund, Nicklas Backstrom, Joe Thornton (assist #1000), Nazem Kadri, Calle Jarnkrok, Sidney Crosby, Anders Lee, Johnny Gaudreau, Filip Forsberg, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Cam Atkinson, Brad Marchand, Rickard Rakell, Gustav Nyquist, Josh Bailey, Mitch Marner, Patrick Kane, Patrik Laine, Viktor Arvidsson, David Pastrnak, Sebastian Aho, Alex GoligoskiTorey Krug, Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns, Brady Skjei, Brent Seabrook, Matt Murray, Craig Anderson, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Henrik Lundqvist (passed Grant Fuhr into tenth place with 404 career wins).
Training Room (Injuries)
Roberto Luongo, G, FLA – Bobby Lu worked out briefly Wednesday but "didn't feel great" after. He is a week or two away from returning to action, though that depends on how quickly his lower-body injury progresses. Luongo was injured Mar. 2, transferring the burden between the pipes to James Reimer.
Others include Kyle Turris (finger, may not play until Tuesday), Ryan Spooner (concussion, could return in 5-10 days), Alexander Radulov (lower-body injury, missed last three games), Michael Grabner (hip, could play Sunday), Michael Cammalleri (shoulder, out until at least Mar. 14), Bryan Rust (arm, out until at least Mar. 15), Kyle Okposo (ribs, no set return date), Patric Hornqvist (possible concussion), Jesper Fast (shoulder, out 1-2 more weeks), Loui Eriksson (lower-body, week or two away from returning), Kris Letang (undisclosed, but not related to prior concussion or stroke), Scott Darling (hand, out three weeks), and Ondrej Pavelec (knee scope, out 2-3 weeks).
Fourth Liners/Press Boxers (Fallers)
Eric Staal, C, MIN – Staal scored two goals Sunday, stemming the tide of his second-half slide. Prior to that contest, he had one non-empty net goal in his prior 19 games with just five assists. Overall, it's been a highly successful rebound campaign for Staal with 48 points in 65 games, numbers made more impressive when you factor in this recent slump. However, with two more years at $3.5 million per year, there will be concerns over how he will finish that deal gain if he continues to struggle.
Michael Del Zotto, D, PHI – Remember when Del Zotto scored 41 points, including 14 on the man-advantage, in 2011-12? What about when he posted 37 points as a 19-year old rookie in 2009-10, with 22 coming on the power play? Or 2014-15, when he seemed to resurrect his career with 32 points in 64 games? That was then and this is now. MDZ scored just 13 points last year in 52 games, so maybe 12 in 37 this year is a step forward. No goals since Dec. 14 has a way of landing you on this side of the ledger in this column.
Patrick Maroon, LW, EDM – Maroon was rolling earlier this season, but he has hit a bit of a lag of late. Since Feb. 16, he only has a goal and an assist in his last nine games. Maroon is still skating on Connor McDavid's wing, so this slump should be a short-term bobble; although, at nine games, it already has gone into long-term territory.
Robin Lehner, G, BUF – Lehner has a .920 save percentage on the season, but his 2.67 GAA leaves a lot to be desired. While his overall GAA is nice, he has posted a 3.94 GAA and .894 save percentage in his last six games.
Others include Martin Hanzal, Claude Giroux, Derek Stepan (second straight mention, with no goals in 23 games), Daniel Sedin, Max Pacioretty, Calvin de Haan and Cory Schneider.
