This article is part of our NHL Barometer series.
This week's article includes hot Seguin, Schenn on a roll, Grubauer leading Avalanche charge, Chabot back in action and Drouin slumping,.
First Liners (Risers)
Tyler Seguin, C, DAL – Remember when Stars' owner Jim Lites called out Seguin for basically not being elite? Maybe that was the catalyst that woke Seguin up. Regardless of the spark, Seguin has been excellent recently. After going nine games without scoring, Seguin lit the lamp in three consecutive contests and also had 10 assists in those nine contests. Seguin is up to 31 goals and 42 assists, the sixth consecutive season he has tallied at least 70 points, capped by 84 in 2013-2014.
Max Domi, C, MTL – The Domi for Alex Galchenyuk deal looks lopsided in Montreal's favor. The son of former NHL player, Tie, Max has exploded for 26 goals and 41 helpers while wearing the bleu, blanc et rouge. Domi's play, along with resurgence from Carey Price, has Montreal in the wild card hunt with less than two weeks remaining in the season. Domi hasn't been as dominant as he was earlier in the season, but still has four goals and as many assists his last 12 contests.
Rickard Rakell, LW, ANA – Rakell only has 14 goals and 23 helpers over 64 games after tallying 34 lamplighters and 35 apples in 73 games last season. The good news for Rakell owners is that he is closing the season strong with 11 points in 13 March games
This week's article includes hot Seguin, Schenn on a roll, Grubauer leading Avalanche charge, Chabot back in action and Drouin slumping,.
First Liners (Risers)
Tyler Seguin, C, DAL – Remember when Stars' owner Jim Lites called out Seguin for basically not being elite? Maybe that was the catalyst that woke Seguin up. Regardless of the spark, Seguin has been excellent recently. After going nine games without scoring, Seguin lit the lamp in three consecutive contests and also had 10 assists in those nine contests. Seguin is up to 31 goals and 42 assists, the sixth consecutive season he has tallied at least 70 points, capped by 84 in 2013-2014.
Max Domi, C, MTL – The Domi for Alex Galchenyuk deal looks lopsided in Montreal's favor. The son of former NHL player, Tie, Max has exploded for 26 goals and 41 helpers while wearing the bleu, blanc et rouge. Domi's play, along with resurgence from Carey Price, has Montreal in the wild card hunt with less than two weeks remaining in the season. Domi hasn't been as dominant as he was earlier in the season, but still has four goals and as many assists his last 12 contests.
Rickard Rakell, LW, ANA – Rakell only has 14 goals and 23 helpers over 64 games after tallying 34 lamplighters and 35 apples in 73 games last season. The good news for Rakell owners is that he is closing the season strong with 11 points in 13 March games through Saturday's games. Anaheim is playing out the string with the only drama, where they pick in the lottery. Rakell, though, has a shot at 40 points for the fourth consecutive season with a reasonable finish.
Teuvo Teravainen, RW, CAR – The Hurricanes lead the wild card race, aided by Teravainen's fine play in March. His goal and two assists gave TT nine points (one goal, eight assists) in his last eight games. The goal was his first in 11 games, but despite that slump, he still has 19 goals – four shy of his career high set last season – and 51 assists for 70 points, the third consecutive campaign his point total has increased.
Brayden Schenn, LW, STL – St. Louis is all but a lock to make the postseason. Jordan Binnington's play between the pipes and Vladimir Tarasenko's resurgence are two major factors in the Blues' rise in the standings. But don't overlook Schenn's play since the All-Star break. His goal and assist Saturday gave Schenn 21 points – four on the power play – in 21 games. His new linemates have a lot to do with his success. As we wrote in our update Saturday: "the line of Schenn, Ryan O'Reilly and Tarasenko has now combined for 62 points in 16 games when grouped together with the team 16-0-0 in those contests." Those numbers went to 73 and 17-0-0 Monday.
Zach Werenski, D, CLM – I own Werenski in my home league and keep thinking he is having a poor season by comparison. But then I looked up at his numbers again and realized that perception wasn't reality. Werenski has been far from consistent, but he still has 11 goals and 31 assists, not far from the career-high 47 points he scored as a rookie two campaigns ago. The minus-13 rating is unsightly, but 14 of his 42 have come with the man advantage, and he does have eight points in 12 March games.
Mark Giordano, D, CGY – Gio is owned in any and all formats. But sometimes you just have to highlight a great season even if that is the case. As we noted in our Saturday update: "Giordano has 72 points (16 goals, 56 assists) in 73 contests this year, becoming only the third blueliner over 35 years old to eclipse 70 points – joining Nicklas Lidstrom (twice) and Sergei Zubov. He's the first Flames defenseman to reach that mark since Al MacInnis in 1993-94." Those are pretty special numbers, especially coming off back-to-back campaigns of 38 and 39 points.
Connor Hellebuyck, G, WPG – Winnipeg has clinched a playoff berth and leads the Central Division. Helly's fine play has keyed the Jets' recent hot streak. His shutout Saturday was his second in his last three starts. Hellebuyck's overall numbers aren't as gaudy as his from last season, as his goals-against average is more than half-a-goal higher, but he's getting hot at just the right time. Prior to Monday's loss, he was 4-1 in his last five starts with just six goals allowed. Despite allowing four goals on 36 shots Monday, he of course should be in your lineup daily.
Others include Ryan O'Reilly, Jonathan Toews, Anze Kopitar, Patrice Bergeron, Mark Scheifele, John Tavares, Steven Stamkos, Aleksander Barkov, Bo Horvat, Ryan Johansen, Sean Couturier, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Kevin Hayes, Reilly Smith, Ryan Donato, Brady Tkachuk, Jake Guentzel, Josh Anderson, Brendan Gallagher, Tomas Hertl, Nikita Kucherov, Brett Connolly, Alexander Radulov, Jakob Silfverberg, Colin Wilson, David Perron, Matthew Tkachuk, Brock Boeser, Mike Hoffman, Kyle Connor, James van Riemsdyk, Ryan Ellis, Erik Gustafsson, Dougie Hamilton, Alexander Edler, Shea Weber, Dmitry Orlov, John Klingberg, Justin Faulk, Jacob Trouba, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Matt Murray, Jaroslav Halak, Tuukka Rask, Pekka Rinne, Ben Bishop and Jordan Binnington.
Buy Low
Philipp Grubauer, G, COL – Grubauer has been brilliant lately, carrying the Avalanche into a wild card spot with four teams battling for two positions. His win against Chicago on Saturday was his fourth straight and fifth in sixth starts. Even in a overtime loss Sunday, he was brilliant, allowing just two goals on 42 shots. Grubauer has seized the starting job for Colorado with a stellar 1.00 goals-against average (GAA) and .968 save percentage (SV%) over that stretch. His overall numbers – 2.71 GAA and .914 SV% – are pedestrian, but this time of year, ride the hot hand and don't worry about what he did the rest of the season.
Training Room (Injuries)
Thomas Chabot, D, OTT – Chabot broke his toe March 12 and was considered questionable to return this season. At the time of the injury, Chabot racked up 13 goals and 36 assists over 62 contests. The No. 1 blueliner in Ottawa made a much faster than expected recovery, returning to action with an assist last Saturday. Get him back in your lineup ASAP.
Others include Ryan Getzlaf (lower-body injury, sat Saturday), Joe Pavelski (undisclosed, missed fourth straight game Monday), David Pastrnak (thumb, returned to action last Tuesday), Marcus Johansson (chest, out since March 5, game-time decision Monday against Tampa Bay), Mikko Rantanen (undisclosed, day-to-day), Chris Kreider (lower-body, missed Saturday's and Monday's games), Erik Karlsson (groin, "still on the horizon" with respect to his return), Torey Krug (concussion, might play Wednesday), Jake DeBrusk (foot, missed five games, returned to action Saturday), and Robin Lehner (concussion, returned to action this past week).
Fourth Liners/Press Boxers (Fallers)
Jonathan Drouin, C, MTL – Drouin, playing left wing in Montreal, has been moved down to the third line. After a strong start to the season, Drouin's play and production have really fallen off. His goal and assist Thursday ended his goal drought at 17 games. Overall, his 18 goals and 34 assists leave Drouin just a point shy of a career high, but that mark looked like it would be broken weeks ago earlier in the campaign.
Josh Bailey, LW, NYI – With the Islanders battling for playoff positioning, Bailey is limping down the stretch. His two goals in 83 seconds Saturday were his first markers in the last 12 games, during which he only notched three helpers. Bailey tallied career-high 18 goals and 53 assists while on a line with John Tavares. With Tavares moving to Toronto, Bailey's production has as expected tailed off a bit, with the major decline coming in apples, as he has fallen from 53 to 37 in the same 76 games played.
Colin Miller, D, LV – Miller, a revelation last season after coming from Boston to Las Vegas, was a healthy scratch for consecutive games before opting back into the lineup Monday. For the season, he has three goals and 25 helpers in 59 games, with 12 of his 27 points coming with the man advantage. That production comes on the heels of 10 goals and 31 assists last year. Miller got off to a start to the year with 17 points in his first 36 games, but as seen by his overall numbers, he has really tailed off and found his way to the press several times recently.
Others include Mathew Barzal, Lias Andersson, Sam Bennett, Miles Wood, Robby Fabbri, Kevin Fiala, Patrik Laine, Oliver Kylington, T.J. Brodie, Mattias Ekholm, Cory Schneider and Craig Anderson.
Sell High
Carter Hutton, G, BUF – Hutton got off to a brilliant start but his season has cratered the past eight weeks or so. Since Feb. 1, Hutton has gone 2-8-2 in his last 14 starts while overall he is 17-22-5. Hutton's strong start quelled the calls for Linus Ullmark to take over in Buffalo, though Ullmark hasn't been much better. Signed to a three-year, $2.75 AAV contract by the Sabres in July 2018, Hutton could enter next season as the starter, though the contract isn't so large that having him as the backup wouldn't make sense.
