NHL Barometer: Risers and Fallers

This week's article includes Chicago's young phenom, a buy-low candidate for a winger who's moved up the depth chart thanks to a spot vacated by an injured teammate, a sell-high candidate who's scoring at a career-best pace and a slew of injuries to report.

First Line (Risers)

Connor Bedard, C, CHI – Bedard scored two goals in consecutive games to take over the lead in goals and points among rookies. It's going to be a long season for the Hawks, but Bedard is worth tuning in. Lauded as a goal scorer and proving he has the talent on a nightly basis, Bedard is on pace for 56 goals, which would break the single-season record for most goals by a rookie in the cap era, set by Alex Ovechkin in 2005-06 with 52 goals.

Robert Thomas, C, STL – Thomas punctuated his five-game goal streak with four assists in an 8-2 demolishment of the Avs, putting him at over a point-per-game pace following consecutive seasons where he scored at least 65 points. He's the top center on a team trying to start a new era without a teardown and is also shooting the puck far more often than he ever has. That's usually a sign that he's going to keep scoring.

Wyatt Johnston, C, DAL – Johnston scored just one goal over a stretch of five games but he's been lighting it up with three goals and five points in his past two games. His all-round game doesn't always translate to fantasy, but the puck is certainly bouncing his way now. Only the Stars' top line has skated more minutes at 5-on-5 than Johnston's line with Jamie Benn and Evgenii Dadonov.  

Alexis Lafreniere, RW, NYR – Is the breakout season finally happening? Derided as one of the most forgettable No. 1 picks in history, Lafreniere is now scoring at a 41-goal pace thanks to his three goals in his past two games. He's already over a third of the way to his career-high (19) with 68 more games to play, and unlike last season, his shooting percentage is now languishing near the league average. He's finally found a home playing on his off-wing opposite Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck.

Sam Reinhart, RW, FLA – In a contract year, Reinhart is putting all his chips on the table. With four consecutive multi-point games, Reinhart is scoring at a 123-point pace. He's scored more than 70 points just once in his career, but thanks to an increase in ice time and a ridiculous 23.4 shooting percentage, he's been the league's hottest player and was named the first star for the week ending Nov. 12. He's the second-fastest Panther to score 10 goals behind Pavel Bure (nine games) and tied Matthew Tkachuk and Jonathan Huberdeau for the fewest games played to reach 20 points.

Kyle Connor, LW, WPG – It was a down year for Connor last season, as he finished with just 31 goals, 16 fewer than the season prior. While he remains extremely streaky, he's coming off a good week, with five goals and three assists in three games. He was named the second star of the week ending Nov. 12 and is tied for third with Reinhart and two others with 11 goals on the season.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson, D, FLA – The embattled veteran is having a nice bounceback season following a surprising buyout from the Canucks. Signed as a stopgap before the inevitable returns of Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad, Ekman-Larsson has quarterbacked the power play and provided some offense from the blueline with three goals and six points in his past five games. It likely won't continue once Montour and Ekblad return, but when Ekman-Larsson is this productive, it'll be hard to cut back his minutes.

Tristan Jarry, G, PIT – That's back-to-back shutouts for Jarry, who stopped 20 shots in a road win against the Ducks and then blanked the Sabres with 35 saves at home. When healthy, Jarry can be a top-tier goalie, and he narrowly avoided a big scare after taking a shot to the head and a puck to his face. With backup Alex Nedeljkovic still injured and the Pens already falling behind in the playoff race, he's going to have a big workload for the rest of the season.

Mackenzie Blackwood, G, SAN – The record's never going to look good, but Blackwood has been piling up the saves, ranking second in the league with 343. It's actually impressive Blackwood has a .900 save percentage even though it's a mediocre number by most standards. He's been far more effective than Kaapo Kahkonen, who's become the backup after entering the season as the incumbent starter, and Blackwood's 3-2 win against the Oilers might end up being the Sharks' biggest accomplishment of the season.

Others include: Mark Scheifele, William Nylander, Nikita Kucherov, J.T. Miller, Quinn Hughes, Filip Hronek, Brock Boeser, Tim Stutzle, Clayton Keller, Vincent Trocheck, Sebastian Aho, Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Cale Makar, Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman, Brayden Schenn, Pavel Buchnevich, and Jason Robertson.

Buy Low

Valeri Nichushkin, RW, COL – With news that teammate Artturi Lehkonen is week-to-week with an upper-body injury, a door has opened for Nichushkin to play more minutes and take Lehkonen's spot on PP1. The big power forward has been slow to get going, with only two goals in 13 games. Nichushkin fell out of favor in fantasy earlier this season but it's now time to get back on the wagon if he's sharing the ice with both Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen.  

Training Room (Injuries)

Trevor Zegras, C, ANA – Zegras has sat out the past two games due to a lower-body injury and his status for Tuesday's game against the Predators is questionable. It's already been a tough season for the talented playmaker, who's scored only two points in 12 games and has also been benched at various points by head coach Greg Cronin for his lackadaisical play.

Jack Roslovic, C, CLM – Roslovic fractured his ankle on Sunday and will be out up to six weeks. This is an unfortunate turn for Roslovic, who had been skating on the top line for a few games and was on pace to score at least 40 points for the third consecutive season. It puts an immediate stop to what had been arguably the best season of his pro career so far.

Artturi Lehkonen, LW, COL – This is a big blow to a team that already lacks quality depth. Lehkonen had scored eight points in 12 games at the time of his upper-body injury, suffered Nov. 9 against the Kraken, and he's expected to miss multiple weeks. Following Gabriel Landeskog's injury, Lehkonen was the Avs' first option on the left wing, a spot that will now be filled by a rotating cast of left wingers including Jonathan Drouin and Tomas Tatar.

Alex Tuch, RW, BUF – Tuch's upper-body injury has kept him out of the past two games and forced the Sabres to re-jig their top line. The Sabres were slow to start, but with 10 points in 13 games, Tuch is still on pace to notch his second straight 60-point season. There is no return date set for Tuch and he's not expected to miss a big chunk of time.

Jordan Eberle, RW, SEA – Eberle suffered a cut in his leg at practice, forcing him to miss the past three games, and there's still no timetable for his return. The veteran winger has finished third in team scoring in each of the past two seasons of the Kraken's existence, but that streak is in jeopardy now between his current injury and his modest total of four points in 13 games.

Taylor Hall, LW, CHI – Hall has missed four of the past seven games for the Hawks, including Sunday's game due to a lower-body injury. He's considered day-to-day, but it's also the third separate time Hall has missed games due to an injury already this season. Upon his return, there's no guarantee he will play with Connor Bedard, further dampening his already-low fantasy value.

Jacob Markstrom, G, CGY – Markstrom missed both games over Hall of Fame weekend and his status is questionable for Tuesday's game in Montreal, the final stop in Calgary's three-game road trip. Despite his .896 save percentage, Markstrom's played quite well this season, only to be betrayed by poor defense and even poorer goal support. If top prospect Dustin Wolf continues to impress, there's no hurry to get Markstrom back in action.

Darcy Kuemper, G, WAS – Considered day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, Kuemper missed his scheduled weekend start in a back-to-back for the Caps. Backup Charlie Lindgren and minor-league starter Hunter Shepard ended up splitting the starts, and that will be the tandem going forward until there's more clarity on Kuemper's ailment.

Others include Jamie McBain, Ryan Lindgren, Pavel Francouz, Erik Cernak, Jordan Harris, Anthony Mantha, Andreas Athanasiou, Adam Pelech, Jonathan Quick, and Chandler Stephenson.

Fourth Liners/Press Boxers (Fallers)

Dylan Strome, C, WAS – Strome has now gone five games without a point and has switched spots with Evgeny Kuznetsov, who now centers Alex Ovechkin. That's the prime spot for any center on the Caps, and instead Strome is now flanked by Sonny Milano and T.J. Oshie, who have combined to score two goals this season.

Rickard Rakell, RW, PIT – Rakell's disappointing season so far with zero goals in 13 games is baffling. Among players who have yet to score a goal this season, Rakell leads the punchless bunch with 37 shots. Though he's never been a good finisher with a career 11.0 shooting percentage, Rakell is obviously snakebit. The Pens' thin top six means Rakell maintains his spot on the second line, but any more of this and they might have to think about switching things up.

Torey Krug, D, STL – The Blues are on a roll with four wins in five games and Krug's on a three-game point streak, but note that on Nov. 9 against the Coyotes, there was a brief moment where Krug was replaced by Scott Perunovich on PP1. It might've sparked something in Krug, who scored two points in the following game, but up until that point, Krug was struggling with zero points in 10 games. Krug's play has been declining for more than a season now, and he was going to be traded in the summer until he enacted his no-trade clause. His hold on the quarterback job on PP1 is precarious.

Jonas Johansson, G, TAM – Johansson was supposed to be a stopgap option anyway, but Andrei Vasilevskiy cannot return soon enough. In his past three starts, Johansson has lost all three games and allowed 15 goals even though he's faced less than 35 shots in each contest. With Vasilevskiy returning soon, this spells the beginning of the end of Johansson's fantasy value for the 2023-24 season.

Others include T.J. Oshie, Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Larkin, Anders Lee, Marcus Johansson, Bobby Brink, Tyson Foerster, John Klingberg, and Nils Hoglander.

Sell High

Jaden Schwartz, LW, SEA – Everything about Schwartz's production screams regression. He's scored over 60 points just once in his career even though he's on pace for 76 right now, and his shooting percentage is skewing much higher than his career average. On a team crowded with wingers, no one is averaging more than 18 minutes per game, though Schwartz comes closest. Without a bonafide playmaking center, it's going to be hard for Schwartz to maintain his current scoring pace. Only three players in Kraken history have scored more than 70 points — Jared McCann, Vince Dunn and Jordan Eberle — and all were accomplished last season when the Kraken exceeded all expectations. This season has been about normalization.