This week's article includes a Brock star in Colorado, Ovi being red hot, Byram on a roll, Gibson powering the Red Wings, Demko out again and Kadri in a major slump.
Discover who's been filling up the scoresheet with RotoWire's NHL Trending Players page!
First Liners (Risers)
Brock Nelson, C, COL: Nathan MacKinnon is one of the best players of the league and Colorado's first-line center. Nelson, acquired last year from the Islanders, has settled in as the team's second-line center, filling that role with aplomb. The 34-year-old is on a tear with eight goals and five assists over his last nine outings. The center is now at 22 tallies (the fifth straight season he has hit the 20-goal mark), 38 points (11 on the power play), 98 shots on net, 36 blocked shots and a plus-11 rating over 45 appearances this season. One caveat is that Nelson is shooting at a 22.4 percent clip, which will drop off.
Jack Eichel, C, LV: Eichel missed seven games and two weeks with a lower-body injury; he has picked right up from where he left off since his return. He lit the lamp again twice Sunday, giving him goals in three straight contests and seven points in five games since he rejoined the lineup. Eichel, who had a career-high 94 points last season, is up to 16 tallies and 33 helpers in 37 contests with 18 of those apples coming on the man advantage. A member of the US Olympic
This week's article includes a Brock star in Colorado, Ovi being red hot, Byram on a roll, Gibson powering the Red Wings, Demko out again and Kadri in a major slump.
Discover who's been filling up the scoresheet with RotoWire's NHL Trending Players page!
First Liners (Risers)
Brock Nelson, C, COL: Nathan MacKinnon is one of the best players of the league and Colorado's first-line center. Nelson, acquired last year from the Islanders, has settled in as the team's second-line center, filling that role with aplomb. The 34-year-old is on a tear with eight goals and five assists over his last nine outings. The center is now at 22 tallies (the fifth straight season he has hit the 20-goal mark), 38 points (11 on the power play), 98 shots on net, 36 blocked shots and a plus-11 rating over 45 appearances this season. One caveat is that Nelson is shooting at a 22.4 percent clip, which will drop off.
Jack Eichel, C, LV: Eichel missed seven games and two weeks with a lower-body injury; he has picked right up from where he left off since his return. He lit the lamp again twice Sunday, giving him goals in three straight contests and seven points in five games since he rejoined the lineup. Eichel, who had a career-high 94 points last season, is up to 16 tallies and 33 helpers in 37 contests with 18 of those apples coming on the man advantage. A member of the US Olympic Hockey Team, Eichel centers the Knights' top line both at even strength and on the man advantage.
Alex Ovechkin, LW, WSH: Ovechkin saw his four game goal-scoring surge, during which he lit the lamp five times, end Tuesday. That streak upped his season mark to 20 tallies with 20 assists in 47 contests. Ovi has topped 20 goals every season he has been in the league with his lowest output 24 goals in 45 games in 2020-21. He also has 80 hits this season, showing a bit more physicality than we saw last season when he was going for the all-time goal record. Enjoy the roll that Ovechkin is on.
Clayton Keller, LW, UTAH: Keller, named to the US Olympic Hockey team, has three goals and 10 assists his last 10 contests. For the season, the Mammoth's first line winger is up to 13 tallies and 28 helpers in 45 games. Keller has scored at least 76 points each of the past three seasons and has a chance to hit that mark again this season. Utah is batting for a wild-card spot and might need Keller to raise his game even more for that to happen.
James van Riemsdyk, LW, DET: JvR has nicely filled a secondary scoring role for the Red Wings, helping push Detroit into a playoff spot. He's notched three goals and five helpers in six January games, upping his season totals to 12 tallies and seven helpers in 38 contests. Van Riemsdyk, on his fourth team in four years, is skating on Detroit's third line but seeing first unit power play duty, where he has notched seven of his 19 points. As long as JvR remains on the first power play unit, he should continue to have solid value.
Bowen Byram, D, BUF: Byram, on pace for a career-best season, has surpassed Owen Power as the second offensive weapon on the Buffalo blueline behind Rasmus Dahlin. He has four goals and seven assists over his last nine outings, hitting the 10-goal mark for the third time in four years Saturday, and is one shy of matching his career high from 2023-24. The 24-year-old defenseman has 24 points, 58 shots on net, 55 blocked shots, 27 hits and a plus-5 rating over 43 appearances this season, putting him in striking distance of the career-best 38 points he posted last season.
John Gibson, G, DET: Those who read this column regularly know that I prefer to not profile two players from the same team. This week though, Gibson is more than worthy of joining James van Riemsdyk. Gibson has posted four straight wins, capped by his third shutout of the season Saturday against the Canadiens. In his first season with the Red Wings following his offseason trade from the Ducks, Gibson is 17-9-1 with a 2.75 GAA and .903 save percentage.
Dan Vladar, G, PHI: Vladar, who played the last four season for Calgary, is having a career-best campaign in his first season for Philadelphia. Prior to Monday's loss, he was 3-0-1 in his last prior four starts and 5-1-1 in his previous seven, helping the Flyers sit in a playoff spot. Overall, Vladar is 16-7-4 with a 2.42 GAA and .907 save percentage in 27 outings, taking over as the team's first netminder from Samuel Ersson. The magic run may end eventually but roll with Vladar while he remains hot and Philly continues to play well.
Others include Macklin Celebrini, Nick Schmaltz, Tomas Hertl, Logan Stankoven, Mika Zibanejad, Jason Robertson, Juraj Slafkovsky, Jake DeBrusk, William Eklund, Kirill Kaprizov, Mikko Rantanen, Patrick Kane (500 goals), Evan Bouchard, Cale Makar, K'Andre Miller, Brock Faber, Lane Hutson, Charlie Lindgren, Ilya Sorokin, Akira Schmid and Jesper Wallstedt.
Buy Low
Aaron Ekblad, D, FLA: Ekblad has increased his production the last month and now will benefit from an absence on the blue line. Since December 15 forward, Ekblad has a pair of goals and eight assists in 15 games, giving the d-man three tallies and 15 helpers in 43 contests. Seth Jones is out indefinitely with the injury he suffered in the Winter Classic, which will result in more responsibility and ice time on the man advantage falling to Ekblad, who also has 53 hits and 70 blocked shots this season.
Training Room (Injuries)
Thatcher Demko, G, VAN: Demko, injured Saturday, was placed on injured reserve Sunday. He will miss the next four games with the lower-body injury at a minimum, though there is no timetable for his return. Prior to Saturday's start. Demko had lost four of his last five starts, going 0-4-1, and was 8-9-1 with one shutout, a 2.79 GAA and a .900 save percentage across 19 appearances. Signed to a three-year, $25.5 million contract extension by the Canucks in July of 2025, Demko might warrant a spot on your waiver wire.
Others include Connor Bedard (shoulder injury, returned Saturday after a 12-game absence), Anze Kopitar (lower body, out since January 5, placed in injured reserve), Jonathan Marchessault (lower body, missed 12th straight game Sunday), Will Smith (upper body, out since mid-December, on four-game road trip with team), Bryan Rust (lower body, missed second straight game Sunday), Seth Jones (collarbone, injured in Winter Classic, listed as week-to-week, Carter Hart (lower body, week-to-week) and Igor Shesterkin (lower body, injured January 5, out at least another week).
Fourth Liners/Press Boxers (Fallers)
Nazem Kadri, C, CGY: Kadri is going through a massive slump. His last goal came December 18, 10 games ago, and during this stretch he has notched just one assist. For the season, Kadri has eight tallies and 24 helpers along with a minus-16 rating in 45 contests. Kadri's name has been thrown about as possibly available in a trade, which may be needed for him to regain the form we are used to seeing from the Flames' No. 1 center. If there is a sign of hope, his 6.1 percent shooting is vastly below his norm, which could bode well for him to possibly get hot.
Jake Neighbours, LW, STL: Neighbours ended an eight-game point drought, scoring a power-play goal Saturday. He started the season hot, notching sox goals his first eight games before being sidelined almost a month by an injury. Neighbours has been unable to regain that prior form, notching just four tallies and six assists in his next 25 games before lighting the lamp Saturday. St. Louis has been a tire fire at times this season, which is why Neighbours, who had 49 goals the last two seasons, is not recommended as a buy-low candidate.
Elvis Merzlikins, G, CLM: Merzlikins is now the second netminder in Columbus, seeing just two starts in the past month as Jet Greaves continues to be between the pipes in most contests. A 6-7-1 record with a 4.03 GAA and .877 save percentage don't provide much of a resume for Merzlikins to argue with his current predicament. He notched 26 wins in 53 appearances last season, but he entered the season with a tenuous hold on the goaltending job due to Greaves' hot close to the 2024-25 campaign.
Others include Shane Pinto, Jonathan Toews, Chris Kreider, Vasily Podkolzin, Dougie Hamilton, Mattias Ekholm, Jordan Binnington and Jake Allen.
Sell High
Thomas Harley, D, DAL: Harkey took another step forward last season, going from 47 to 50 points while stepping in as the Stars' top blueliner when Miro Heiskanen was sidelined. This season has been a nightmare for Harley, who missed 12 games with a lower-body injury and has scuffled overall. Harley has just two goals and 14 assists in 34 contests while also seeing Heiskanen regain his role as the top-dog in Big D. One saving grace for Harley is that he was chosen for the US Olympic hockey team.
