NHL Barometer: Risers & Fallers

This week's article includes a cold center in the Desert, a hot Flame, a rookie D-man in the winged wheel, the Windy City netminder back in action and the Bob slumping in Columbus.

First Liners (Risers)

Jack Eichel, C, BUF - Eichel notched three apples Saturday, as the Sabres' top line of Eichel, Jeff Skinner and Jason Pominville combined for nine points in a victory against the Kings. The 21-year-old center now has nine points (three goals, six assists) in nine games to begin the season after tallying 64 points in 67 games in his third campaign last year. With Rasmus Dahlin and additional talent imported this offseason, Eichel should have a career season in Buffalo.

Timo Meier, LW, SJ - Meier extended his point streak to five games with an assist Saturday. In that stretch, Meier has posted three goals, five points and a plus-6 rating and now has four goals and two assists this season. Meier notched 21 goals and 15 assists in his first full season last year and appears likely to blow past those numbers this year. Skating on the second line with Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl, Meier is seeing two more minutes of ice time this season, with more than half of that rise coming with increased action on the power play.

Mark Stone, RW, OTT - Stone doubled his season output, tallying a pair of goals and an assist Saturday. With all the changes in Ottawa this offseason, Stone is one of the few remaining constants in the lineup. Signed to just a one-year, $7.35 million contract, Stone is one of the most attractive unrestricted free agents to be, and, so far, he is doing little to hurt his status due to his strong start to the season.

Elias Lindholm, RW, CGY - Playing on a line with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan more than agrees with Lindholm. With five goals and three assists in nine games, Lindholm is on a very early pace to far exceed his career-high 45 points, set two years ago. Reunited with coach Bill Peters in Calgary, Lindholm has always tantalized fantasy owners with his talent but his production failed to match his skill level. Now on a line with two elite players, Lindholm should produce as expected.

Dennis Cholowski, D, DET - Cholowski, drafted 20th overall in 2016, earned a spot on the Red Wings' blueline with his strong play in training camp, filling the breach left by the injury to Mike Green. His power play goal and assist Saturday gave the 20-year old five points in seven games this season. Ignore the poor plus-minus to a certain extent, since that is a product of the poor team he is on, and focus on the 21-plus minutes, including nearly 2:30 a game on the man-advantage.

Marc-Andre Fleury, G, LV - Fleury's slow start looks to be in the past. The Flower stopped 17 shots to pick up the victory Saturday, his third consecutive win. With that victory, Fleury moved into sole possession of 10th place on the all-time wins list with 408 in his career. Since 2006-07, Fleury has won at least 30 games in a season eight times. Last season, he finished with 29, but that was because of injuries, as he posted career bests in save percentage and goals-against average. If he can stay healthy in 2018-19, Fleury should be a solid No. 1/2 goalie in your league.

Others include Brock Nelson, Bo Horvat, Nathan MacKinnon, Paul Byron, Dylan Larkin, Aleksander Barkov, Matt Duchene, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Max Domi, Kyle Connor, David Perron, Patrick Kane, Sebastian Aho, Mikko Rantanen, Joonas Donskoi, Clayton Keller, Mike Hoffman, Cam Atkinson, Alex DeBrincat, Tomas Hertl, Zach Parise, Oliver Ekman-Larsson (breaks through Saturday), Brent Burns, Keith Yandle, Mathew Dumba, Kris Letang, Josh Morrissey, Morgan Rielly, Laurent Brossoit, John Gibson, Linus Ullmark (in spot duty), Devan Dubnyk and Jaroslav Halak.

Buy Low

Derek Stepan, C, ARI - Stepan notched his first point – an assist – of the season Saturday against the Jets. His assist broke a six-game pointless drought, which was uncharacteristic since he had 56 points in 82 games last year. Stepan tallied between 53 and 57 points each of the last five seasons, so with one point in seven contests, acquiring Stepan would appear to be a good, buy-low opportunity. The 28-year-old lacks foot speed and may not be the threat he once was, but he has fired 24 shots on net and is still working with the team's top power-play unit, which should result and in an uptick in production.

Aaron Ekblad, D, FLA - Ekblad, who notched 16 goals and 22 assists last season, has yet to dent the score sheet this season. Saturday was a good sign that maybe he is on the cusp of breaking through, as he put six shots on net, nearly matching his total from the first five games of the season. Ekblad is playing more than 24 minutes a game, including two-plus on the power play, so it's only a matter of time – so I hope as an Ekblad owner – before he starts racking up points.

Juuse Saros, G, NAS - Pekka Rinne's undisclosed injury has landed the goalie on injured reserve. Stepping into the breach between the pipes for Nashville is Saros, who got off to a nice start, stopping 31 shots in shutting out the Oilers on Saturday after turning aside nine shots after replacing Rinne on Friday. The 23-year-old Saros is 4-0-0 with a .945 save percentage and 1.54 goals-against average (GAA) this season. If he is still available, run, don't walk, to add Saros, as he will play in place of Rinne the next few games, at minimum.

Training Room (Injuries)

Corey Crawford, G, CHI - Crawford, sidelined since suffering a concussion on Dec. 23, 2017, returned Thursday, stopping 27 of 30 shots in a 4-1 loss to Arizona. He notched his first win since Dec. 17, 2017, making 37 saves Saturday in a 4-1 win over Columbus. Now healthy, look for Crawford between the pipes most nights, despite not Sunday on the second end of a back-to-back, as he gives Chicago the best chance to win and possibility of a playoff spot.

Others include Ryan Getzlaf (groin, activated off IR and played Saturday), Elias Pettersson (concussion, could return Wednesday), Alexander Radulov (undisclosed, sat out Friday's game), Brady Tkachuk (torn ligament in his leg, out a month), Ty Rattie (mid-body, muscle injury, will miss several weeks), Jakob Silfverberg (hand, placed on IR), Alex Galchenyuk (lower body, could play Tuesday), Seth Jones (knee, in lineup Tuesday), Charlie McAvoy (injured on hit against Edmonton last Thursday, scratched Saturday and Tuesday), Cory Schneider (hip, assigned to AHL for a conditioning stint) and Scott Darling (lower body, assigned to AHL Charlotte for a conditioning stint).

Fourth Liners/Press Boxers (Fallers)

Pierre-Luc Dubois, C, CLM - Dubois, one of the hot breakout candidates coming into the season, has struggled the first few weeks of the year. After notching 20 goals and 28 assists as a rookie along with first-line pivot duties, Dubois was expected to see a marked rise in his production, Through seven games, Dubois only has a goal and a pair of assists, but he is seeing an average 1:38 more in ice time each game, the majority of that rise coming on the power play. This bodes well for future success, so hang tight if you do own him.

Anthony Mantha, LW, DET - Mantha went from 17 goals and 19 assists in his first full season in 2016-17 to 24 goals and as a many assists last year. Those lamplighters led the Red Wings and earned the power forward a two-year contract worth $6.6 million this offseason. The key for Mantha to take the next step in his development was consistency and improved toughness; the latter an area he attempted to address with boxing lessons after the prior year ended. Mantha looks lost on the ice and his own zone issues have landed him with a minus-12 rating. Look for him to possibly be a healthy scratch for a game or two.

Sergei Bobrovsky, G, CLM - I don't usually list two players from the same team, but Bob's poor performance warrants inclusion in this week's column. An unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, Bobrovky has gotten to a horrific start to the year, posting a 3.84 GAA and .876 SV%, a major drop from 2017-18, which saw a mild decline from his brilliant 2016-17 campaign. Bobrovsky is too good to struggle for so long, but you might want to bench him until he strings together a few solid performances in a row.

Others include Patrik Berglund, Martin Necas, Troy Terry, Pavel Buchnevich, Martin Frk, James Neal, Alex Goligoski, Tyler Myers and Mike Smith.

Sell High

Colin Miller, D, LV - Miller exploded last season after coming to Las Vegas from Boston in the expansion draft. His 10 goals and 31 assists were both career highs by a wide margin and his play was a key component in the Golden Knights' run to the Cup finals. Miller hasn't had an easy time to start the season, as he is sitting with just one point in eight games, despite a two-minute rise in playing time. Expecting anything close to a repeat performance may be a stretch.