This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
With Jack Eichel returning to action after missing a real chunk of time with an injury, and with Connor McDavid dominating, the top two players taken in the 2015 NHL Draft are both on the ice, and both are playing well. Artemi Panarin, a rookie of a different color, is still going strong, and Shayne Gostisbehere has justified all of us learning to spell his name. On the other hand, a couple of last year's standout rookies are suffering what could be called "sophomore slumps," to use a tired phrase.
Dylan Larkin wasn't as high a draft pick as McDavid or Eichel, but he was still a highly thought of prospect, and he impressed en route to scoring 23 goals and 45 points. Also, if I remember correctly, he set a new record over All-Star weekend in the fastest skater competition. This year, though, he's got a mere eight points. Granted, seven of those are goals, and he's projected to score 24 of those. The one assist is troubling, though, and it means you can't blame his iffy numbers on a bad shooting percentage. It's Anthony Duclair, though, who has fallen the furthest. Last season, he has 20 goals and 44 points. This year, though, he only has one goal and three assists. He's only taken 25 shots on goal in 22 games. While Max Domi, who was also a Coyote rookie last season, is off to a respectable start, Duclair is currently make folks wonder if he's still going to be a major part of Arizona's future.
Featured Matchups
Blackhawks (PP: 17, PK: 30) at Flyers (PP: 3, PK: 23), 1:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Corey Crawford (12-6-2, 2.27, .927), Steve Mason (7-8-3, 2.91, .899)
Key Injuries:Jonathan Toews (back), Sean Couturier (knee), Boyd Gordon (upper body), Brandon Manning (concussion), Michal Neuvirth (lower body)
Expect a ton of goals in this one. The Flyers have gotten sketchy goaltending all season, and it took some real effort from Mason and Philadelphia just to get his GAA under three. There's no denying the offensive talent the Blackhawks have, even if Toews can't play in this one. They are super top heavy, though, with Patrick Kane, Artemi Panarin, and Artem Anisimov all notching at least 20 points so far. The depth is a concern though. Ryan Hartman does have five goals, but he's also only averaging 11:10 per game, and his 12.8 shooting percentage seems a bit high. Hartman also only has one assist. On the flipside, don't expect the Blackhawks to shut down the Flyers. Crawford has a very good save percentage, but his performance in 5-on-5 play has been unsustainably good. We've also got Philadelphia's power-play going up against Chicago's league-worst penalty kill. Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn, and Jakub Voracek all have at least eight power-play points. After scoring 32 goals last season, Simmonds already has 11 this year.
Capitals (PP: 24, PK: 13) at Lightning (PP: 2, PK: 21), 7:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Braden Holtby (10-6-1, 2.23, .919), Ben Bishop (7-9-0, 2.99, .902)
Key Injuries:Ryan Callahan (lower body), Steven Stamkos (knee), T.J. Oshie (shoulder)
Washington's power-play issues may be in part due to the fact only one of their defensemen, Karl Alzner, has more than one goal. In fact, John Carlson, Matt Niskanen, Brooks Orpik, and Nate Schmidt all have failed to light the lamp yet. Will that chance against Bishop, considering how he has tended goal this season? He's got Andre Vasilevskiy breathing down his neck now. Evgeny Kuznetsov, whose 77 points last season helped give the Capitals some actual depth, only has three goals and nine points in 22 games. In his stead, Marcus Johansson has chipped in 15 points, although the team is still built around Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. With Stamkos out, more may be asked of Valtteri Filppula, who has five goals and 16 points. Twenty-year-old rookie center Brayden Point also has to take on a larger role now. He has 11 points, including two goals, but with a 4.3 shooting percentage he could be in line for more goals in the future. Anton Stralman returned to action Thursday. He played 25 minutes, which is an encouraging sign. He has seven points in 16 games, and provides much needed support behind Victor Hedman, who is on a tear with 18 points.
Ducks (PP: 8, PK: 12) at Oilers (PP: 13, PK: 3), 10:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:John Gibson (8-7-3, 2.43, .915), Cam Talbot (12-9-2, 2.58, .915)
Key Injuries:Simon Despres (head), Clayton Stoner (lower body), Nate Thompson (achilles), Brandon Davidson (shoulder), Andrew Ference (hip)
This is a nice, even-steven type matchup. The projected starting goalies even have the same save percentage! Neither team has a clear special teams advantage. Of course, only one of these teams has the league's leading scorer. That would be McDavid, naturally. He's already got 34 points, and he's playing the second-most minutes of any Oiler, including defensemen. McDavid hasn't taken the most shots for the Oilers, though. That would be Jordan Eberle, who has put 76 pucks on the net. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has register 70, but he only has three goals and a 4.3 shooting percentage. If you are looking for an Oiler who could be primed for an upswing, it might be the Nuge. McDavid has nine power-play points, but so does Leon Draisaitl, and six of Draisaitl's are goals. After only scoring 13 goals last season, Ryan Getzlaf only has two this year. However, last year Getzlaf had a 7.3 shooting percentage, which was well below his career average. This year, it's all the way down at 4.8, so more goals should assuredly be coming. In the meantime, Getzlaf still leads the Ducks in points thanks to 17 assists. Oddly, Corey Perry has also been a bit snakebit, as he's only notched four goals. So who's lighting the lamp for the Ducks? Well, Rickard Rakell has nine in 15 games, and Jakob Silfverberg has eight. Nick Ritchie has five in 22 games on 45 shots on goal. The 20-year-old only scored two in 33 games last year, so he's at least heading in the right direction. It seems like the Ducks may actually have some secondary scoring this season.
Other Matchups
Bruins (PP: 22, PK: 5) at Sabres (PP: 4, PK: 29), 1:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Tuukka Rask (12-4-1, 1.64, .938), Robin Lehner (5-7-3, 2.40, .921)
Key Injuries:Zdeno Chara (lower body), John-Michael Liles (upper body), Frank Vatrano (foot), Zach Bogosian (knee), Tyler Ennis (groin), Dmitry Kulikov (back)
Given how Buffalo's offense has struggled on the whole, and considering how their goaltenders have played, it's a bit odd to see their power play doing so well, and their penalty kill struggling so much. David Krejci is up to 12 assists now, and his 5.7 shooting percentage is bound to rise. The same goes for Patrice Bergeron's 4.0 shooting percentage.
Hurricanes (PP: 10, PK: 1) at Rangers (PP: 5, PK: 9), 1:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Cam Ward (7-7-4, 2.21, .919), Henrik Lundqvist (11-7-1, 2.50, .914)
Key Injuries:Eddie Lack (concussion), Elias Lindholm (lower body), Jordan Staal (concussion), Pavel Buchnevich (back), J.T. Miller (knee), Mika Zibanejad (leg)
This is a great battle of special teams. It's kind of amazing to see Ward with better numbers than Lundqvist on the season, but it's a good reminder how fickle goaltending can be in the NHL. Both teams offenses will take a hit with these injuries.
Devils (PP: 22, PK: 7) at Predators (PP: 7, PK: 6), 2:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Cory Schneider (8-6-4, 2.63, .912), Pekka Rinne (10-5-3, 2.03, .934)
Key Injuries:Ryan Ellis (upper body), James Neal (upper body), Beau Bennett (leg)
Speaking of the fickle nature of goaltending, remember when Rinne had a .908 save percentage last season? P.K. Subban and Roman Josi are both doing what was expected of them, with the two of them tallying 15 and 14 points respectively. Michael Cammalleri has been red hot since returning to action, notching nine points in his last five games. He's also taken 20 shots on goal in that time.
Maple Leafs (PP: 12, PK: 8) at Canucks (PP: 24, PK: 4), 7:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Frederik Andersen (10-6-3, 2.92, .912), Ryan Miller (4-9-0, 2.80, .907)
Key Injuries:Nathan Horton (back), Joffrey Lupul (abdomen), Alexander Edler (finger), Jannik Hansen (ribs), Chris Tanev (lower body)
Despite their stout penalty kill, Miller's overall numbers are clearly iffy, and the Canucks are 25th in goals allowed overall. As such, there's still likely to be plenty of scoring opportunities for the Maple Leafs. To mention a Toronto player outside the usual young guns, let's note that Tyler Bozak has 16 points, as many as William Nylander. Zach Hyman only has three goals for the Leafs, but he's taken 50 shots on goal
Jets (PP: 19, PK: 25) at Blues (PP: 6, PK: 2), 7:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Connor Hellebuyck (9-9-0, 2.76, .908), Carter Hutton (2-4-0, 2.98, .891)
Key Injuries:Shawn Matthias (lower body), Tyler Myers (lower body), Nicolas Petan (lower body)
St. Louis clearly has the special teams edge in this matchup. Having Hutton in net complicates things a bit, though. His career .908 save percentage does not inspire. Patrik Laine's 15 goals are exciting, but that 21.7 shooting percentage he's sporting is unsustainable. Since finally coming to terms with the Jets, Jacob Trouba has three assists and 21 shots on goal in 11 games.
Panthers (PP: 24, PK: 15) at Senators (PP: 21, PK: 11), 7:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Roberto Luongo (9-6-1, 2.04, .930), Mike Condon (2-1-1, 2.20, .931)
Key Injuries:Jonathan Huberdeau (lower body), Craig Anderson (personal), Clarke MacArthur (concussion), Bobby Ryan (hand)
Tragedy in Anderson's life leaves the Senators having to rely on Condon. He's been great this year, but his career .906 save percentage raises questions. Mike Hoffman has been hot recently, with 10 points in his last five games. We're still waiting to see how things shake out in Florida now that Gerard Gallant is no longer the coach. Aaron Ekblad has a team low minus-9 rating, but he also has a team high 77 shots on goal and he's tied for second on the team with six goals.
Red Wings (PP: 20, PK: 14) at Penguins (PP: 11, PK: 26), 7:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Petr Mrazek (6-5-3, 2.83, .907), Matt Murray (7-2-0, 2.02, .929)
Key Injuries:Justin Abdelkader (knee), Andreas Athanasiou (knee), Tyler Bertuzzi (ankle), Darren Helm (upper body), Jimmy Howard (groin), Alexey Marchenko (upper body), Brendan Smith (knee), Joe Vitale (concussion), Chris Kunitz (lower body), Derrick Pouliot (undisclosed), Daniel Sprong (shoulder)
The injuries are stacking up for the Red Wings, and they don't really have the depth to deal with it. It's given Anthony Mantha an opportunity though, as he has five points in nine games and he's averaging 2:30 a night on the power play. Patric Hornqvist has three points in two games since returning from an injury.
Blue Jackets (PP: 1, PK: 17) at Coyotes (PP: 27, PK: 22), 8:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Sergei Bobrovsky (13-5-2, 2.08, .929), Mike Smith (4-2-2, 2.74, .923)
Key Injuries:Brad Richardson (leg), Matt Calvert (upper body)
Smith has looked good since returning from injury, although in his last start he allowed four goals on 33 shots. He also has a potential problem on his hands if he has to spend too much time fighting off Columbus' potent power play. That doesn't extend to Brandon Saad, though. He's got zero points with the extra man, but he still has seven goals and 19 points. Tobias Rieder is second on the Coyotes with six goals in 20 games.
Stars (PP: 15, PK: 28) at Avalanche (PP: 18, PK: 24), 9:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Antti Niemi (5-3-3, 3.20, .902), Semyon Varlamov (5-10-0, 3.09, .905)
Key Injuries:Gabriel Landeskog (lower body), Ales Hemsky (hip), Jiri Hudler (illness), Mattias Janmark (knee), Johnny Oduya (lower body)
It's rare that you see two goalies with goals against averages this high squaring off. However, the Avalanche are 28th in goals scored, so they might not be primed to take advantage of it. Rene Bourque, of all people, is leading the Avalanche with eight goals, but he also has a 21.1 shooting percentage. Here's our second surprising Ritchie of this article. Brett Ritchie has six goals and eight points, with those six goals coming on 54 shots on net.
Recommended Pickup
Bryan Little, C, WPG – Little was injured in his first game of the season, and he's only just returned. However, in his two games since returning, he seems no worse for the wear. He's taken six shots on goal, and he's played at least 17:13 in both games. Little also missed, ahem, a little time last season, but in 57 games he had 17 goals and 42 points, and he put 127 shots on net. In his last two (relatively) healthy seasons, he's had at least 23 goals. Now that Little has returned to the ice, he's ready to help your fantasy team once more.
