NHL Barometer: Risers and Fallers

ROTOWIRE BAROMETER
Jan Levine, RotoWire.com

This week's article includes a hot winger in Tampa, a red-hot defenseman in Toronto, Rinne on a roll, a top-line winger out for the year in Pittsburgh and a sniper struggling in his new locale.

First Liners (Risers)

Nick Bjugstad, C, FLA - Much of the focus coming into the season was on the expected rise of Aleksander Barkov. Lost in that hype was that Bjugstad led the Panthers in scoring, albeit with just 38 points. Bjugstad got off to a slow start with just one point his first 10 games. He has righted the ship quickly, notching seven points his last six games and he should surpass the career-high in points he set last year.

Anze Kopitar, C, LA - Earlier in the season, that 70s line was the hottest trio in LA, led by Jeff Carter. Due to their hot start and a less than optimal one from Kopitar, his fantasy value had declined a bit. Well guess what, he's back. Kopitar had two assists Tuesday, giving his seven points his last five games after notching just three his first 11 contests. His main value is more so in real rather than fantasy hockey, but ride the hot streak while it lasts.

Nikita Kucherov, RW, TB - Kucherov continued his fine play with a goal Monday against the Rangers and an assist Tuesday versus the Islanders to give a three-game point streak. He had a tremendous end to the preseason, but got off to a mildly slow start to the regular season. Kucherov righted the ship quickly; notching 15 points in his last 13 games, and is now up to 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in 20 games. In addition, his production has mainly come at even strength as just two of his 17 points have come with the man advantage.

Jaden Schwartz, LW, STL - Last week, it was Jori Lehtera's time to be in the spotlight, this week, it's Schwartz's. Schwartz saw his six-game point streak end Tuesday, but he still has three goals and 10 points in his last seven games, recording a plus-8 rating in that span. After notching 25 goals and 31 assists with a plus-27 in 82 games last year, Schwartz - selected 14^th overall in 2010, is producing at a point-per-game clip through 18 games this season. The sky may be the limit.

Kris Versteeg, RW, CHI - Versteeg, who started his career in Chicago after being selected 134^th overall in 2004, bounced to Philly, Toronto and then Florida, signing a four-year deal with the Panthers in July 2012. The grass isn't always greener on the other side; he struggled mightily in the Sunshine State last year before returning to the Windy City, though that did little to alter his fate. This year, with Patrick Sharp sidelined with a leg injury, Vertseeg has made the most of his time on the second line, netting two goals and five points in his last four games. Versteeg is up 10 points (five goals) in 14 games makes him worthy of a short-term look, but be ready to jump when Sharp returns.

Cody Franson, D, TOR - Franson stretched his point streak to eight games and 10 points by tallying an assist in Toronto's 9-2 pasting by Nashville on Tuesday. Overall, Franson is up to three goals and 10 assists in 17 games. Maybe we all should have seen this coming, as after scoring 21, 29, 21 and 29 points from 2009-10 to 2012-13, the latter a strike-shortened season, Franson set a career-best in points (33) last season and had 28 assists, 17 of which came with the man advantage. Eventually the ride will end, but enjoy it while it does.

Mike Green, D, WAS - For a few years, Green was the Erik Karlsson of his day, notching points at will from the blue line. From 2007-08 to 2009-10, Green tallied 56, 73 and 76 points, respectively. Then injuries wreaked havoc with his game and body, relegating him to at best, sub status on most fantasy squads. This year, Green was expected to take a back seat to Matt Niskanen and John Carlson, but a surprising thing happened on the way to the Nation's Capital, as he has mildly turned back the clock. Despite not having a goal for 12 contests, Green has 12 points over 17 games while playing 2:45 nightly on the PP.

Pekka Rinne, G, NAS - Rinne missed four months with a hip injury last season and had to fight for playing when he returned. He showed in the World Championships that he could still be an elite goalie and he has carried that fine play into this year. Rinne's won six of his last seven starts now and hasn't given up more than two goals in any of those wins. When allowing two or fewer goals in a game, Rinne's gone 11-0-1 this year and he is bolstered by a better offense around him than he has seen in years. It would not be shocking to see him boast career-best numbers across the board.

Jaroslav Halak, G, NYI - Halak has been the "Halak Ness Monster" for the Islanders lately. His 5-2 victory over the Lightning on Tuesday gave him five straight wins, upping his season mark to 8-4. His 2.54 GAA and .914 save percentage are middle of the road, but those numbers are impacted by his poor two-week stretch from Oct. 18 to November 1. In his five-game streak, he has stopped 132-of-139 shots with back-to-back shutouts. The Islanders are on a roll, so take advantage of Halak's fine play.

Others include Joe Thornton, Zemgus Girgensons, Eric Staal, Mike Ribeiro, Patrice Bergeron, Markus Granlund, Jeff Carter, Jori Lehtera, Ryan Strome, Sean Monahan, Tyler Seguin, Kyle Okposo, Jussi Jokinen, Filip Forsberg, Gustav Nyquist, Jimmy Hayes, Marian Gaborik, Ryan Callahan, Clarke MacArthur, Nino Niederreiter. Max Pacioretty, Matt Moulson, Jiri Sekac, Rick Nash, Michael Frolik, Jakub Voracek, Beau Bennett, Drew Stafford, Tomas Tatar, Brock Nelson, Johan Franzen, Brent Burns, Dennis Wideman, Aaron Ekblad, Kevin Shattenkirk, Sami Vatanen, Mike Green, Jake Muzzin, Michael Hutchinson, Jimmy Howard, Braden Holtby, Devan Dubnyk, Marc-Andre Fleury, Tuukka Rask, Jimmy Howard, Brian Elliott and Jonas Hiller.

Training Room (Injuries)

Pascal Dupuis, RW, PIT - Dupuis was diagnosed with a blood clot in his lung and will be sidelined for at least six months. This is a terrible blow to Dupuis, who was limited to just 39 games due to tearing his ACL. Dupuis was able to rehab and return, but it looks like we all should have played closer to attention to his undergoing treatment for another blood clot last January while recovering from the knee injury. He had been off to a magnificent start to the year, notching six goals and 11 points in 16 games but this ailment could end his career. Now that Dupuis may miss the rest of the season, Patric Hornqvist, who started there, or Beau Bennett, recently called up, could get the first look at replacing him on the Penguins' top line

Valeri Nichuskin, LW, DAL - Nichushkin, bothered by groin and hip soreness since training camp, finally landed on the injured reserve on November 9. It was then decided that surgery was necessary. Nichuskin underwent successful surgery on his hip Tuesday and will be sidelined for approximately four months. The future is still extremely bright for the 20-year old winger, but he likely won't get a chance to fulfill it, unless Dallas makes it to the playoffs.

Ryan McDonagh, D, NYR - McDonagh, sidelined since November 1 with a separated shoulder, started skating Tuesday. He increased his activity to shooting wrist shots while puck-handling Wednesday. McDonagh, who has missed nine games, may be back in two weeks.

Others include Mikael Backlund (abdomen, skating on his own), Brandon Dubinsky (abdomen, suffered setback), Pavel Datsyuk (groin, traveling with team), Kyle Palmieri (ankle injury, made season-debut Sunday), Corey Perry (mumps, back in action), Zach Parise (concussion, returned to action with a bang), Brendan Smith (hand infection, 7-day IR), Victor Hedman (fractured finger, just started skating in full gear, out until December) and Semyon Varlamov (groin, DTD).

Fourth Liners/Press Boxers (Fallers)

Olli Jokinen, C, NAS - Jokinen's season-long pointless streak hit 18, as he was unable to dent the score sheet in Nashville's 9-2 win over the Maple Leafs on Tuesday. Jokinen's struggles mirror his 2012-13 season, when he plummeted from 61 to 14 points. He rebounded last year with 43 points while still a member of the Jets. Jokinen joined a Predatord team that revamped their offense, but he has yet to share in the wealth.

Jarome Iginla, RW, COL - Iginla has two goals and eight assists on the season, but just three assists in his last 12 games. He believes his struggles are mainly mental, saying "... sometimes, I get watching the play and thinking too much, and then I stop moving, I need to get moving and doing a little less thinking. You always want to be thinking, but I need to do more moving, be physical, be intense, be good along the wall and in front of the net." Iginla, who had 30 goals and 31 assists last year with Boston, may be trying too hard to live up to the three-year, $16 million deal he signed with the Avalanche last offseason. One would expect his fortunes to turn around quickly, as he is playing on a line with Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog.

Matt Carle, D, TB - Carle picked up an assist Tuesday against the Islanders, which was just his second assist of the season and first point in 10 games. He used to be a decent offensive blue liner, but his role and consequently his output have declined the past few years. Even though Victor Hedman has been sidelined, Carle has been unable to take advantage of his additional ice time, both at even strength and on the man-advantage.

Frederik Andersen, G, ANA - Andersen has received a golden opportunity to latch on to the top netminding spot in Anaheim with John Gibson out and he so far, is not maximizing that chance. He is 0-0-4 in his last six starts, but after a pair of solid outings in his first two efforts, he has allowed 13 goals on 81 shots in his last four and was pulled from two of them. Jason LaBarbera is not a real threat to him, but Gibson will be once he returns if Andersen is unable to right the ship.

Others include Cody Hodgson, Nazem Kadri,Patrick Marleau, Chris Kreider, Patrik Elias, Ales Hemsky, Matt Frattin, Charlie Coyle, Mats Zuccarello, Andrej Nestrasil, Seth Jones, Calvin de Haan, Steve Mason, Kari Lehtonen, Ray Emery and Curtis McElhinney.