NHL Barometer: Risers and Fallers for the Week

This week's article includes Q rolling in LA, Eberle hot since returning from injury, Hanifin stepping up in Vegas, Fox back on Broadway and Markstrom struggling since his return. 

First Liners (Risers)

Quinton Byfield, C, LA: Q has certainly found his goal-scoring touch, His overtime tally Saturday against Nashville extended his goal streak to six games. A look behind the numbers show that this streak is a bit gilded, as he has taken 13 shots during his scoring binge. He had no shots while being held scoreless Monday. Byfield, after a sluggish start and extended goalless streak, is now at 17 goals, 40 points, 126 shots on net, 67 hits, 26 blocked shots and a plus-11 rating over 66 appearances. He sits just nine points shy of his career-high set just last season.

Jordan Eberle, RW, SEA: Eberle, after missing 40 games due to pelvic surgery, took a few contests to settle back in, going scoreless his first three appearances after returning. Since then, Eberle has notched a goal and added eight assists in eight contests, including seven points his last four games played. Eberle bookended 44-point campaigns around a 63-point effort his first three seasons in Seattle. He won't match either total due to the time missed, but Eberle still has 20 points in 28 games played. 

Alex Tuch, RW, BUF: Tuch got back on the scoresheet Monday after two games off and has seven goals in 12 contests. His hot streak has bumped his season total to 26 markers, the third straight campaign in which he has topped the 20-goal mark. Tuch also has 24 assists in 66 games. While he has had a good season, Tuch might finish with his point total dropping for a second straight campaign after he posted career-highs with 36 markers and 43 apples in 2022-23. He has one year remaining on the seven-year, $33.25 million contract extension he signed with the Golden Knights in October of 2018. 

Mackie Samoskevich, RW, FLA: Samoskevich has taken advantage of the opportunity afforded him due to injuries, scoring in every second game since Feb. 25, racking up five goals and three assists over 10 contests in that span. The Panthers, missing Brad Marchand (upper body) and Matthew Tkachuk (groin), have not missed a beat thanks to the surprising production of Samoskevich, a first-round pick in 2021. For the season, Samoskevich has 13 goals, 25 points, 101 shots on net, 105 hits and a flat plus-minus rating through 59 appearances, with much of that production coming recently. 

Noah Hanifin, D, LV: Hanifin, despite not denting the scoresheet his last three games, has taken full advantage of the absence of Shea Theodore (arm). He has erupted for three goals and eight points over the last nine contests with five of those points (one goal, four helpers) coming on the power play. Vegas, when Theodore is healthy, has four blueliners who can play on the top pair in almost any organization. With Alex Pietrangelo slumping, Hanifin has raised his game to help the Knights survive the absence of Theodore.

MacKenzie Weegar, D, CGY: Weegar sometimes gets overlooked playing in Calgary. As we have seen, that is a big mistake. Fantasy owners know just how good the former Panthers blueliner is. Weegar has a goal and six assists over his last seven outings and is up to 39 points (seven goals, 32 assists), 146 shots on net, 178 hits, 146 blocked shots and a plus-11 rating over 65 appearances. While he likely won't match or exceed the career-high 52 points he notched last season, he has a shot at posting his second-best total of his career, surpassing the 44 points he notched in 2021-22, his last campaign in Florida.  

Darcy Kuemper, G, LA:  Kuemper had a bit of a rough patch coming out of the Four Nations Face-Off. giving up 12 goals while posting a record of 0-2-1 from Feb. 28 to March 5. He certainly is back on the beam since, winning four straight starts until losing Monday, including the last two by shutout while stopping 97 of 99 shots in that span. Kuemper's gone 22-8-7 with a 2.16 GAA and a .918 save percentage over 38 appearances in what's shaping up to be one of the best seasons of his career, especially when you consider how poorly he played the last two seasons in Washington.

Igor Shesterkin, G, NYR: The Czar of New York has been ruling between the pipes lately. After struggling for a bit, Shesterkin has raised his game, allowing just four goals on 73 shots while going 2-1 in his three starts, including a shutout, before falling to the Oilers on Sunday. He started in that contest, marking the first time this season he was in net in back-to-back contests. Shesterkin needs to remain hot to have a shot at 30 wins for the fourth straight season, which looked like a long shot coming out of the Four Nation's Face-Off break. 

Others include Mika Zibanejad, Dylan Larkin, Jack Eichel, Macklin Celebrini, Dylan Guenther, Gabriel Vilardi, Mathieu Olivier, Eeli Tolvanen, Marat Khusnutdinov, David Perron, Brandon Montour, Jackson LaCombe, Vince Dunn, Cam Fowler, Victor Hedman, Adin Hill, Linus Ullmark, Frederik Andersen and Connor Hellebuyck. 

Buy Low 

Elias Pettersson, C, VAN: Your opportunity to buy low on EP40 likely ended a week or two ago, but he is included here just in case a few owners have been sleeping on his turnaround. Saturday was Pettersson's second multipoint game in a row, and he has four goals and three assists over his last six outings. The 26-year-old center is up to 15 goals, 42 points, 1078 shots on net, 71 blocked shots, 69 hits and a minus-12 rating through 61 appearances. Those numbers are a far cry from what we have been accustomed to from Pettersson, evidencing just how rough his campaign has been, 

Training Room (Injuries) 

Adam Fox, D, NYR: Fox returned the Rangers' lineup Saturday after missing eight games with an upper-body injury, notching a short-handed assist two blocked shots and a plus-2 rating. Despite slid overall numbers, Fox has not impacted the game as we have become accustomed to seeing. Questions persist as to how healthy his knee is after taking a pair of knee-to-knee hits last season, one during the season by Sebastian Aho and the second in the first round of the playoffs by Nick Jensen. Fox still has 49 points (16 on the power play, three shorthanded), 100 shots on net, 85 blocked shots and a plus-7 rating through 59 appearances. 

Others include: Filip Chytil (concussion, caused by a check from behind by Chicago's Jason Dickinson). JJ Peterka (lower body, missed the last two games, traveled with Sabres as they kicked off a four-game road trip Monday in Boston), Andrei Svechnikov (upper body, didn't play last Friday, might suit up Thursday), Dougie Hamilton (lower body, will miss the rest of the regular season and first round of the playoffs), John Klingberg (undisclosed, missed his sixth straight game Sunday) and John Gibson (lower body, missed his sixth straight game Sunday).     

Fourth Liners/Press Boxers (Fallers) 

Ryan Strome, C, ANA: Strome seemed to have found his scoring touch late last month and early in March, notching three goals and as many assists in a five-game span. That certainly looks like fool's gold, as Strome has hit a bit of a rough patch, posting a sole helper his last six contests. Strome is a decent secondary or tertiary option in leagues and for the Ducks, but the 59 points he posted in 2019-20, his first season with the Rangers, certainly looks like an aberration based on his production throughout the rest of his career. 

Matias Maccelli, RW, UTAH: Maccelli certainly needs a change of scenery. He has been scratched 12 straight times and sits with just eight goals and 10 assists in 52 contests. That output is a vast disappointment and decline after Maccelli notched 17 goals and 40 assists last season, and 11 and 38 the prior campaign. Maccelli is in the second season of the three-year, $10.275 million contract he signed with the Coyotes in July of 2023, which could make it easier for him to be dealt this offseason.

Jacob Markstrom, G, NJ: Markstrom has struggled since returning from a knee injury, losing four of his last five starts. He has not been aided by playing behind a blueline missing both Dougie Hamilton (lower body) and Jonas Siegenthaler (lower body). Markstrom has posted a 4.23 goal-against average and an .828 save percentage over that stretch after being brilliant prior to being sidelined. New Jersey needs its netminder to be on his game with its lead for third place in the Metro Division down to six points.           

Others include Alex Newhook, Alexis Lafreniere, Jack Roslovic, Jake Middleton, Juuse Saros.

Sell High

Alex Pietrangelo, LV: Just two seasons ago, Pietrangelo matched his career-high with 54 points, 11 goals and 43 assists in 73 games. Since then, he has tallied 63 points in 128 games, including just 28 points through his first 64 appearances this season. Pietrangelo ended a 32-game goal drought with a long-range empty-netter Thursday. He still is one of the top four in Vegas, playing a huge part in their success, but the offensive component of his game has dried up a bit.