This week's article includes Nazar rolling in the Windy City, hot wingers in both St. Louis and New York, Ingram the man in net for Edmonton, concerns over Draisaitl, and Vasi slumping.
Discover who's been filling up the scoresheet with RotoWire's NHL Trending Players page.
First Liners (Risers)
Frank Nazar, C, CHI: Nazar saw his five-game point streak end Saturday. During that span, Nazar posted three goals and five assists. He got off to a strong start to the season but missed 11 games with an injury and struggled following his return his return with just a goal and two assists his next 11 contests. Nazar's hot streak has the second-year center up to 10 goals, 32 points (nine on the power play), 106 shots on net, 35 blocked shots, 25 hits and a minus-15 rating over 50 appearances. He looks to be the perfect complement down the middle for Chicago to Connor Bedard.
Anze Kopitar, C, LA: Los Angeles' acquisition of Artemi Panarin has also kickstarted Kopitar's game. The future first-ballot Hall of Famer has four goals and as many assists in 10 games since the end of the Olympic break. Kopitar's two power-play goals Saturday elevated him to 1,308 career regular-season points, surpassing Marcel Dionne as the Kings' all-time leader in points. In addition, his second tally was the 450th of his brilliant career as Kopitar tries to rally LA to a playoff berth.
Dylan Holloway, LW, STL: Holloway lit the lamp again
This week's article includes Nazar rolling in the Windy City, hot wingers in both St. Louis and New York, Ingram the man in net for Edmonton, concerns over Draisaitl, and Vasi slumping.
Discover who's been filling up the scoresheet with RotoWire's NHL Trending Players page.
First Liners (Risers)
Frank Nazar, C, CHI: Nazar saw his five-game point streak end Saturday. During that span, Nazar posted three goals and five assists. He got off to a strong start to the season but missed 11 games with an injury and struggled following his return his return with just a goal and two assists his next 11 contests. Nazar's hot streak has the second-year center up to 10 goals, 32 points (nine on the power play), 106 shots on net, 35 blocked shots, 25 hits and a minus-15 rating over 50 appearances. He looks to be the perfect complement down the middle for Chicago to Connor Bedard.
Anze Kopitar, C, LA: Los Angeles' acquisition of Artemi Panarin has also kickstarted Kopitar's game. The future first-ballot Hall of Famer has four goals and as many assists in 10 games since the end of the Olympic break. Kopitar's two power-play goals Saturday elevated him to 1,308 career regular-season points, surpassing Marcel Dionne as the Kings' all-time leader in points. In addition, his second tally was the 450th of his brilliant career as Kopitar tries to rally LA to a playoff berth.
Dylan Holloway, LW, STL: Holloway lit the lamp again Sunday, giving the winger three goals and six assists over eight outings this month. After posting 26 goals and 37 helpers in 77 contests last season, his first in St. Louis, Holloway has suffered through an injury-plagued (missing 23 of 24 games from mid-December to end the of January) campaign. Due to those absences, Holloway sits at 14 goals and 16 assists in 44 appearances with those numbers improved by his current hot streak. Holloway and Jimmy Snuggerud have each been red-hot in March.
Alexis Lafreniere, LW, NYR: Lafreniere was named the NHL First Star of the Week due to his five goals, two assist performance in four contests from March 9-15. The former first overall selection in the 2020 draft, Lafreniere had been viewed as a mild disappointment when you compare where he was selected to his production. Artemi Panarin's trade to LA opened a spot on the top line next Mika Zibanejad and Gabe Perreault as well as on the first unit power play, which has jumpstarted Lafreniere's game.
Jamie Benn, RW, DAL: Last week I profiled Mavrik Bourque. This week, Benn gets the bold treatment. Benn missed the first six weeks of the regular season after undergoing surgery for a collapsed lung. He got off to a little bit of a slow start, but he has found his game the past six weeks or so. Since January 29, a span of 12 contests, Benn has seven goals and 15 points. He has also added 21 hits, showing that the physical part of his game remains intact despite being 36 years old. Roll with Dallas' captain, who is just 15 points shy of 1,000 in his career, while he is hot.
Erik Karlsson, D, PIT: Karlsson posted 56 and 53 points, respectively, the last two seasons. He is on pace to possibly surpass those numbers this year, aided by his recent hot streak, during which he has scored two goals while adding nine assists in nine games since February 28. Karlsson has gone over the 900-point mark this season and is 84 points shy of 1,000 in his Hall of Fame career. He would be just the ninth blueliner to post that total, evidencing just how special his career has been.
K'Andre Miller, D, CAR: Miller, traded from the Rangers to the Hurricanes last offseason, is quarterbacking Carolina's power play while Shayne Gostisbehere is sidelined. He has posted six assists his last six contests, giving the 26-year-old blueliner 26 helpers to go with four goals on the season. The 30 points matches Miller's second-best season mark set two campaigns ago in New York. Miller may finish the season with 100 hits for the fifth straight season but looks like he will finish shy of the 100 blocked shot mark for the first time in four campaigns.
Connor Ingram, G, EDM: Ingram, based on his solid play coupled with the struggles of Tristan Jarry, is now the Oilers' No. 1 goalie. He is 3-0-1 in his last five appearances with a 2.53 goals-against average (GAA) and .897 save percentage. That save percentage is not ideal, but Ingram has shown the ability to make the key save at the key moment, which is the mark of good lead netminder. Ingram is a role model for those who deal with mental illness, aided by the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program.
Others include Noah Laba, Nick Suzuki, Michael Misa, Bo Horvat, Artemi Panarin, Jimmy Snuggerud, Conor Garland, Jason Zucker, Cole Caufield, Gabe Perreault, Charlie McAvoy, Alexander Nikishin, Vladislav Gavrikov, Miro Heiskanen, Lukas Dostal, Alex Lyon, Joel Hofer and Igor Shesterkin.
Buy Low
Alex Nedeljkovic, G, SJ: San Jose remains in playoff contention with 17 games left in the regular season. The team's young stars have played a major part but like all good squads, surprising support has also been received. Nedeljkovic is one of those players who have raised his game this season, especially lately with Yaroslav Askarov out with an injury. Nedeljkovic has allowed three or fewer goals in each of his last nine appearances, a streak in which he owns a 2.00 GAA and a .931 save percentage while going 6-1-1 for the Sharks.
Training Room (Injuries)
Leon Draisaitl, C, EDM: That sound of panic you heard came from Edmonton as the fanbase waits with bated breath for the results of the evaluation being performed on Draisaitl, resulting from the hit he took from Nashville's Ozzy Wiesblatt on Sunday. Prior to suffering the injury, Draisaitl extended his point streak to nine games during which he amassed six goals and 11 assists, giving him 35 tallies and 97 points across 65 appearances this season. any extended absence by Draisaitl could hurt Edmonton's playoff as they are just five points north of San Jose who are on the outside looking in.
Others include Auston Matthews (Grade 3 MCL tear, out for the remainder of the regular season), Dylan Larkin (right leg, injured March 6, out at least two weeks), Troy Terry (upper body, out since February 25, played Sunday), Igor Chernyshov (upper body, injured Saturday, out Sunday) John Carlson (lower body, out since start of post-Olympics schedule, suited up for first time as a Duck on Sunday) and Yaroslav Askarov (lower body, remains sidelined).
Fourth Liners/Press Boxers (Fallers)
Elias Pettersson, C, VAN: Vancouver is suffering through another brutal season, sitting in last place in the NHL by a wide margin. Last season, JT Miller was dealt to try and change the culture and manage the differing personalities between him and Pettersson. That change has done little to help Pettersson's production, as he has notched just 13 goals with 25 assists in 58 contests. Putting his two poor seasons in context – Pettersson tallied 89 points in 2023-24, he has just 83 points in 122 games since.
Rasmus Andersson, D, LV: The acquisition of Andersson improved the Knights' defense but did little for his fantasy value. After posting 30 points in 48 games for the Flames, Andersson has just two goals and five helpers in 18 contests for Vegas. Andersson is seeing almost three minutes fewer of ice time, half of the decline occurring on the power play. Barring injury to the top pair, don't look for Andersson's production to pick up substantially the rest of the way in the Desert.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, G, TB: Vasilevskiy and the Lighting have hit a little bit of a speed bump lately. He is 3-5-0 in his last eight outings, and Tampa has lost seven of its past nine games. The potential Vezina Trophy winners allowed 24 goals in those eight games for an .889 save percentage. Vasilevskiy is 30-12-3 with a 2.30 GAA and .914 save percentage this campaign, and his recent slump could cost him winning the Award again. In addition, the team's slump moved the Lightning behind Buffalo in the Atlantic Division and just two points ahead of Montreal.
Others include Aatu Raty, Sean Couturier, Tyler Toffoli, Alex Ovechkin, Zayne Parekh, Artyom Levshunov, Jacob Markstrom, Tristan Jarry.
Sell High
JJ Peterka, LW, UTAH: Peterka was acquired by the Mammoth this offseason to try and push the team over the top into a playoff spot. He seemed to be the perfect fit after notching 27 goals and 68 points in 77 outings last season. That's up from 50 points (28 goals) in 2023-24 and 32 points (12 goals) in 2022-23. Peterka's season has been good, not great, as he does have 22 goals but just 18 assists in 67 contests, numbers that are significantly down from his 2024-25 breakout campaign for Buffalo. Utah will need Peterka to raise his game down the stretch to help the team reach the postseason.
