NHL Barometer: The King Is Tired

ROTOWIRE BAROMETER
Jan Levine, RotoWire Hockey Writer

This week's article includes a new top center in Buffalo, Johnny Hockey on fire, a top-winger down in Pittburgh and the King playing like a pawn, especially against the Lightning.

First Liners (Risers)

Zemgus Girgensons, C, BUF - The Sabres are red-hot, and while Jhonas Enroth is a big reason why, Girgensons has also played a huge part in it. Coming into the season, many believed Girgensons could take the next step in his development, building off his rookie season, during which he started to establish himself as one of the better young two-way players in the league. Girgensons got hit and was moved to the top line three weeks ago, which has also transpired with Buffalo playing better. If for some reasons Girgensons is out there, run, don't walk to get him.

Tyler Johnson, C, TB - Johnson burst on the scene last year, notching 24 goals and 26 assists, producing when Steven Stamkos was in and out of the lineup. His fine play sparked visions of another diminutive former Lightning player, Martin St. Louis, and resulted in a Calder nomination. With all the talent in Tampa, there were some questions if Johnson could maintain that scoring pace and/or if he would fall prey to a sophomore slump. So far, that worry looks unfounded, as Johnson has eight goals and 19 assists and extended his point streak to four games and six points, including four assists, after he picked up an assist Tuesday against the Sabres.

Mike Santorelli, RW, TOR - Santorelli got off to a hot start last year in Vancouver, scoring 26 points his first 39 games, before slumping slightly and requiring season-ending surgery to repair a torn labrum. He signed a one-year, $1.5 million deal this off-season with Toronto, where he has moved from center to wing. That switch has worked out well for the player and team, especially lately, as Santorelli has notched seven assists in his current four-game point streak and has three goals and 13 assists in 24 games.

Blake Comeau, LW, PIT - Comeau has made himself at home to the left of Evgeni Malkin, scoring three goals with two assists his last four games. With Chris Kunitz now sidelined and Jayson Megna on the right of Malkin, Comeau's production - both at even strength and on the second power play unit - takes on even more importance. As long as Comeau stays on this line, he could challenge his career-best numbers of 22 goals and 24 assists set in 2010-11 when he was with the Islanders.

Johnny Gaudreau, RW, CGY - Johnny Hockey has continued his fine play lately, with four points his last two games. Gaudreau, the reigning Hobey Baker Award winner, has not missed a beat in moving from BC to Calgary, notching four goals, 15 assists and a plus-11 rating through Tuesday's game. If Filip Forsberg is 1a for the Calder Trophy, then Gaudreau is 1b.

Tyson Barrie, D, COL - Barrie is clearly the top dog on the Colorado blue line, notching three goals and 16 assists in 25 games this year. Included within that total are two goals and seven assists in his last eight games, as he has put his slow start way behind him. Part of that rough beginning might have been him getting fully back to 100 percent after recovering from the knee-to-knee hit by Matt Cooke that knocked him out of last year's playoffs and possibly cost Colorado the series.

John Carlson, D, WAS - Carlson is red-hot, notching six points his last three games, giving him four goals and 14 assists in 24 games on the year. While in the past most of the focus was on Mike Green and if he could regain his form, Carlson was developing into a top-defenseman in the Nation's Capital. He had 37 points last year and is on pace to obliterate that number this season. One word of caution though, as Carlson is only averaging 1:30 on the man-advantage after seeing 3:09 last year, which could result in a slump down the road.

Jhonas Enroth, G, BUF - As noted above, the Sabres have been red-hot and Enroth is a big reason why. He's won five of his last six starts, giving up just one goal four times in that span. Earlier this season, Enroth and the Sabres were looking like a lock to win the Connor McDavid sweepstakes while Enroth was splitting time with Michal Neuvirth. Now, Buffalo could be costing themselves that first overall pick while Enroth has a firm hold on the top spot between the Buffalo pipes.

Jonathan Bernier, G, TOR- After a rough start, Bernier has won four of his last five starts, allowing 12 goals in that stretch. While the goals-against average isn't phenomenal, that and the save percentage associated with it are a marked improvement over where he was. James Reimer was possibly poised to steal additional playing time, but with this stretch, Bernier is fairly established as the top netminder in Toronto.

Others include Sam Gagner, Nazem Kadri, Pavel Datsyuk, Brad Richards, Nick Bonino, Vincent Trochek, Stephen Weiss, Derick Brassard, Linden Vey, Alex Killorn, Josh Jooris, Joffrey Lupul, Curtis Glencross, Henrik Zetterberg, Clarke MacArthur, Tomas Tatar, Jimmy Hayes, Mikkel Boedker, Tommy Wingels, Max Pacioretty, Ryan Strome, Alex Tanguay, Nikita Kucherov, Ondrej Palat, Kris Versteeg, Jiri Hudler, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Thomas Hickey, Roman Josi, Aaron Ekblad, Brent Seabrook, Justin Faulk, T.J. Brodie, Niklas Kronwall, Dion Phaneuf, Jaroslav Halak, Jake Allen, Marc-Andre Fleury, Martin Brodeur, Ben Bishop and Antti Raanta.

Training Room (Injuries)

Corey Crawford, G, CHI - Crawford, who I profiled last week as a Riser, lands on the Training Room side of the ledger this week. It was announced Wednesday that Crawford will miss two-to-three weeks with a left foot injury suffered when he missed a step leaving a concert over a weekend. Scott Darling, who was called up to fill Crawford's roster spot, and Antti Raanta will man the Chicago net while Crawford is sidelined.

Chris Kunitz, RW, PIT- Kunitz, who had finally showed signs of snapping out his slump with a three-game point streak, including his first goal in 11 games on November 29, will now miss a few weeks with a "light" fracture in his foot. His absence removes a major weapon from Pittsburgh, taking away Evgeni Malikn's running mate and fixture in the top power play unit. No word has been given how the injury occurred, but regardless of the why, Kunitz will be sidelined for a while.

Others include: Logan Couture (evaluated for possible concussion), Artem Anisimov (torn triceps, out 2-3 months), Brandon Dubinsky (abdominal surgery, traveling with team, could play Saturday), Michael Grabner (sports hernia, activated Wednesday), Bobby Ryan (broken finger, close to returning), Victor Hedman (fractured finger, back in action), Johnny Boychuk/Lubomir Visnovsky (UBI, each DTD), Jason LaBarbera (broken hand, out 1-to-3 weeks).

Fourth Liners/Press Boxers (Fallers)

Anze Kopitar, C, LA - Last week, Mike Richards got the Faller treatment. This week, it's his teammate that ends up on the wrong side of the ledger. Kopitar did notch two assists Tuesday, but they were his first points in six games, giving him just 12 in 22 this season. As we noted in our update for him, Kopitar's shot rate slightly declined last year, but he still produced. This year, that decline has continued but it has not been accompanied by the usual production. Kopitar is a #1 center but he is a pivot man that is more valuable in real rather than fantasy life and that variance between the two looks like it will be starker this year than it has been historically.

Tomas Hertl, LW, SJ - Hertl the Turtle was all the rage early last season, especially after he scored the between-the-legs goal against the Rangers. A knee injury limited him just 37 games, during which he scored 15 goals and added 10 assists. This year, Hertl has been up-and-down, unable to establish any consistency while he bounced between lines, including a stint on the final trio. The upside is still there, but temper your expectations.

Michael Del Zotto, D, PHI - The season is less than a-third old and MDZ may have already worn out his welcome in another location. Del Zotto had a big sophomore season in New York, society 41 points while the Rangers went to the Eastern Conference Finals, Rumors of him enjoying the New York nightlife a bit too much began the following year, as he struggled mightily and he ultimately was traded last year to Nashville for Kevin Klein. Del Zotto's defensive struggles, including his poor positional play, resulted in his the Predators allowing him to wak. He signed this year with Philadelphia, where he got off to a decent start but with the team struggling and MDZ not forcing the coaching staff to keep him in the lineup, resulted in him being a healthy scratch Tuesday.

Henrik Lundqvist, G, NYR - Tampa Bay has proved to be Lundqvist's kryptonite this year, as the King has played anything but against the Lightning, allowing 17 goals in 79 shots in three games over 15 days, including five on 20 shots Monday. After a slow start, Lundqvist had seemingly regained his form, but those three games, all losses, have made his record 9-7-3, raised his goals against average to 2.70 and lowered his save percentage to .905, a far cry from the norm for him. Lundqvist is too good to end up with these numbers at year end, but New York may need to give Cam Talbot more playing time, as they did early last season when Lundqvist got off to a slow start. That time off then paid dividends for Hank and may need to repeat again this year.

Others include Vincent Lecavalier, Patrik Berglund, Chris Kreider, Scott Hartnell, Jonathan Drouin, Mats Zuccarello, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Calvin Pickard. Mike Smith and Craig Anderson.