This article is part of our NHL Barometer series.
This week's article includes the other "other" center in Toronto, a hot veteran winger in Tampa, a blueliner on a roll, a backup netminder playing like a No. 1 and a veteran center slumping in Big D.
First Liners (Risers)
Nazem Kadri, C, TOR – With all the focus on the sophomore centers and wingers in Toronto, the veterans sometimes get lost in the shuffle. That may have happened with Kadri this season. After tallying a career-high 32 goals and adding 29 assists last season, Kadri may have slid in drafts, as he isn't Auston Mathews or Mitch Marner or even Patrick Marleau. But his current hot streak has Kadri up to 26 goals and 21 assists in 67 games.
Carl Soderberg, C, COL – After scoring 48 and 44 points his first two seasons with Boston, the team dealt his negotiating rights to the Avalanche, who inked the center to a five-year, $23.75 million contract in July 2015. Soderberg scored 12 goals and added 39 assists his first season in Colorado, but he fell off a cliff last season, tallying just six goals and eight assists with a nightmarish minus-26 rating. He was off to another slow start this year but has rebounded lately, posting four goals and as many assists in his last seven games.
Nick Bjugstad, LW, FLA – Bjugstad was drafted and broke in as a center, but the presence of Aleksander Barkov and Vincent Trocheck relegated the first-rounder to third-line status.
This week's article includes the other "other" center in Toronto, a hot veteran winger in Tampa, a blueliner on a roll, a backup netminder playing like a No. 1 and a veteran center slumping in Big D.
First Liners (Risers)
Nazem Kadri, C, TOR – With all the focus on the sophomore centers and wingers in Toronto, the veterans sometimes get lost in the shuffle. That may have happened with Kadri this season. After tallying a career-high 32 goals and adding 29 assists last season, Kadri may have slid in drafts, as he isn't Auston Mathews or Mitch Marner or even Patrick Marleau. But his current hot streak has Kadri up to 26 goals and 21 assists in 67 games.
Carl Soderberg, C, COL – After scoring 48 and 44 points his first two seasons with Boston, the team dealt his negotiating rights to the Avalanche, who inked the center to a five-year, $23.75 million contract in July 2015. Soderberg scored 12 goals and added 39 assists his first season in Colorado, but he fell off a cliff last season, tallying just six goals and eight assists with a nightmarish minus-26 rating. He was off to another slow start this year but has rebounded lately, posting four goals and as many assists in his last seven games.
Nick Bjugstad, LW, FLA – Bjugstad was drafted and broke in as a center, but the presence of Aleksander Barkov and Vincent Trocheck relegated the first-rounder to third-line status. Bjugstad tallied his first career hat trick last Thursday, and now has six goals and 18 points in 19 games since the beginning of February while playing the wing.
Sam Reinhart, RW, BUF – Like Bjugstad, Reinhart was drafted and broke in as a center but the presence of Jack Eichel and Ryan O'Reilly pushed him down the depth chart. Reinhart has 10 goals and 15 assists over his last 25 appearances, leaving him just two points shy of his third straight 40-point campaign.
Chris Kunitz, LW, TB – Kunitz peaked with 35 goals and 33 assists with 22 of those points coming with the man-advantage in 2013-14 as a member of the Penguins. His production declined to 40 points in each of the next two seasons and plummeted to just 29 points in 71 games last year. Pittsburgh opted not to bring the veteran winger and Tampa pounced on the four-time Cup winner. Kunitz has struggled most of the season but has slightly rounded into form recently, posting seven points, including four goals, in his last 12 games. His true value will come in the postseason.
Zdeno Chara, D, BOS – Chara isn't the offensive weapon he was years ago but is still fairly productive. His lamp-lighter Sunday gives the big blueliner seven goals to go with 16 assists, 52 PIM, 125 shots and a plus-25 rating. Add in 134 hits and 113 blocked shots while playing 23-plus minutes a game and you have a complete defenseman. The 40-year old Czech will be an unrestricted free agent after the season, but if he wants to return, look for him to be back in Boston. One caveat is that Chara left Tuesday's game with an injury. X-rays were negative, but it's worth monitoring.
Seth Jones, D, CLM – Jones tallied twice more Monday before leaving the game with an upper-body injury, so check his status, though he may play Thursday. Those two markers gave the defenseman a career-high 15 goals to go along with a career-high 33 assists. However, he also took a hit to his last week which eventually forced him to miss Sunday's practice, and perhaps he is dealing with a lingering issue. Jones has increased his scoring output each of the last four seasons since his rookie campaign and looks to have taken that next step forward as an elite blueliner.
Cam Talbot, G, EDM – It hasn't been a great year for the Oilers or Talbot, but maybe the tide has turned. Edmonton's No. 1 netminder went from losing five in a row in the beginning of February to winning three of four but then followed that up by losing three in a row. Talbot had won his last three straight starts, the last two with stellar efforts, before giving up just one goal and losing Tuesday. He is up to 25 wins, though that's a far cry from the 42 he racked up last year.
Philipp Grubauer, G, WAS – Braden Holtby Signed a five-year, $30.5 million contract extension with the Capitals in July 2015 and has posted big numbers in years past, so he is entrenched as the Capitals' starter. But he is suffering through a major rough patch, winning just once in his last eight starts, opening the door for Grubauer to see more action. The German netminder defeated the Jets on Monday and now sports an impressive .926 save percentage and 2.23 GAA with a 10-8-3 record for the campaign.
Others include Ivan Barbashev, William Karlsson, Aleksander Barkov, Nathan MacKinnon, Leon Draisaitl, Kevin Hayes, Evgeni Malkin, Artem Anisimov, Eric Staal, Ryan Getzlaf, Vincent Trocheck, David Krejci, Jeff Carter, Connor McDavid, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Rickard Rakell, Zach Parise, Patrik Laine, Mikko Rantanen, Jamie McGinn, Johnny Gaudreau, Jamie Benn, Charles Hudon, Mats Zuccarello (goal No. 100 Monday), Jonathan Huberdeau, Sebastian Aho, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Alex Ovechkin (goal No. 600 Monday), Ivan Provorov, Morgan Rielly, Ryan Ellis, Zach Werenski, Alex Pietrangelo, Keith Yandle, Mark Giordano, Hampus Lindholm, Torey Krug, Sami Vatanen, Marc-Andre Fleury (win No. 400 Monday), Martin Jones, Pekka Rinne, Roberto Luongo, Connor Hellebuyck, Devan Dubnyk and John Gibson.
Training Room (Injuries)
Matt Murray, G, PIT – Murray, who suffered a concussion in the Penguins' morning skate on Feb. 26, has skated on his own and participated in some aspects of the team's game-day skates. With Pittsburgh all but locked into a playoff spot, the team will be cautious with his return. It's still possible that Columbus and New Jersey will get hot and pass Pittsburgh, moving the squad into a Wild Card spot, but that looks unlikely. The focus for the 23-year-old is to be ready in time for the playoffs, meaning we may not see Murray until late in the regular season, though he is traveling with the Penguins on their current road trip.
Others include Auston Matthews (shoulder, injured February 22, in non-contact jersey at practice), Patrice Bergeron (foot, has yet to skate after fracturing his right foot Feb. 24 against the Maple Leafs), Mark Scheifele (upper-body injury March 6, listed as day-to-day, but has missed four straight games), Mark Stone (leg, didn't play Monday and Tuesday against the Panthers and Lightning), Kevin Shattenkirk (meniscus surgery, skating in practice), Ryan McDonagh (out since Feb. 7 with broken hand, returned to action Saturday), Carter Hutton (neck, remains sidelined), Steve Mason (knee scope, out several weeks) and Mike Smith (lower body, out since February 11, activated from injured reserve and started Sunday), and Tuukka Rask (lower body, day-to-day, missed Tuesday's game).
Fourth Liners/Press Boxers (Fallers)
Jason Spezza, C, DAL – Spezza notched an assist Sunday, breaking a 14-game pointless streak — his longest in the last two seasons. The 34-year-old also sits at just 25 points (seven goals, 18 assists) in 68 games, half as many as he tallied in the same number of contests a year ago. Spezza is currently skating on the third line and averaging just 12:38 of ice time since the new year, showing how far he has fallen. Signed for one-more year at $7.5 million, Spezza could be a buyout candidate.
Conor Sheary, LW, PIT – Sheary scored 10 points in 44 games as a rookie, winning a Cup after a four-year collegiate career with UMass-Amherst. He was just scraping the surface, as Sheary earned a spot on the Penguins' top line with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel and posted 23 goals and 30 assists last season, winning another Cup. The 25-year old winger parlayed those two solid seasons into a three-year, $9 million contract extension. This season has seen Sheary take a step back, as his two tallies last Wednesday ended a 15-game goal drought and he now has just 14 goals and 24 points in 65 games.
Ryan Pulock, D, NYI – Pulock has a howitzer from the point, but he has struggled to put up points. The blueliner has just has just three points in his last 15 games and six goals and 15 assists in 55 games. Pulock's future is still bright, but he falls behind Johnny Boychuk, Nick Leddy and Thomas Hickey on the Islanders' depth chart. Stay the course with him, but temper your expectations the rest of the way.
Jimmy Howard, G, DET – The trade of Petr Mrazek to the Flyers provided Howard another lease on life. Howard wasn't playing well before that deal, and he has done little to indicate that a change in fortune is forthcoming anytime soon. In Howard's last five appearances heading into Monday's game against San Jose, he hadn't been able to notch a win, posting a sub-par .897 save percentage during the stretch.
Others include Alex Kerfoot, Oscar Lindberg, Logan Couture, Charlie Coyle, Richard Panik, Boone Jenner, T.J. Oshie, Jake Muzzin, Michael Del Zotto, Francois Beauchemin, Braden Holtby, Henrik Lundqvist and Scott Darling.
