Each week, theScore looks at the teams, players, and other hockey figures trending upward and taking a step back.
▲ Chad Johnson
The Calgary Flames' goaltending situation looked to be a major weakness early on, but it's been stabilized by an unlikely force.
Chad Johnson shut out the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night, improving to 8-4-1 with a 2.06 GAA and a .930 save percentage in 13 games.
It was his third shutout and sixth win in his last eight contests.
Meanwhile, Brian Elliott is 3-9-1 with a 3.31 GAA and .885 save percentage in his first 13 games with the Flames after being acquired from the St. Louis Blues over the summer.
Pittsburgh certainly didn't look like a defending Stanley Cup champion Wednesday night in a 5-3 loss to the basement-dwelling New York Islanders.
Matt Murray let in four goals on 25 shots, and his club allowed the third-worst team in the league to tie an NHL record by scoring twice in a three-second span.
The Penguins fell to a pedestrian 4-5-1 in their last 10 games and 5-5-2 away from PPG Paints Arena, where they remain 8-2-1.
It's not time to panic just yet, but it is cause for concern.
▲ Brian Burke
The Flames dominated online discourse before Wednesday's game thanks to a dynamite radio segment featuring their always forthright president of hockey operations.
Burke echoed general manager Brad Treliving's denial when asked about rumors the club is shopping defenseman Dougie Hamilton.
The outspoken executive told TSN 1050 that the only way Hamilton would be available is if a team were to offer 20 first-round picks, adding that the rumors are being peddled by "an army of people who have no goddamn idea what they're talking about."
Please never leave us, Brian.
▼ The Avalanche
Colorado was expecting to be reinvigorated under new head coach Jared Bednar, but the Avalanche have looked flat so far.
They've lost three in a row, they sit in the basement of the Central Division, and only the Arizona Coyotes have a record as bad as the Avalanche through 21 games.
Colorado is second-last in the NHL in terms of goals scored per game (2.24), and that's coupled with the eighth-worst goals-against average (2.95).
After the St. Louis Blues general manager acquired 2012 first overall pick Nail Yakupov at a bargain-basement cost - prospect Zach Pochiro and a conditional third-round pick went to Edmonton - Armstrong remains hopeful the young forward can be a positive contributor, despite not cracking the lineup in seven of the past 12 games.
"I have a lot of confidence in Yak that he’s going to keep his nose to the grindstone and when he gets his opportunity, he’s just got to make the most of it. We look at it from how our team is doing, not how each individual player is doing, and our team is doing well. He’s part of our team."
Yakupov recorded four points in his first six games with the Blues, but managed just one assist in the following ten games while seeing diminished ice time.
Fellow Russian Vladimir Tarasenko praised Yakupov's attitude, noting his playfulness - despite the scratches - as evidenced by Yakupov carrying his teammates' helmets after losing a bet during practice.
"He tries to work hard in practice and he helps other guys," Tarasenko said. "When people don’t play, they give really good boost to us when they don’t react selfishly and they support us all the time. He’s a really good player, and same as I believe in our team success, I believe in his success."
For his part, Yakupov is trying to keep a level head, while staying ready to play.
"I’m trying to be the good teammate, but I’m not trying to create something and be like a clown in the locker room," he said.
"I’m obviously working hard, just waiting for my chance, that’s all I can do. I’m not trying to do something crazy and show coaches how good I am. They already know who I am as a person, who I am as a player."
Marc Bergevin is loving life. What a difference a few months makes.
After the Montreal Canadiens general manager watched his team collapse in spectacular fashion last season, Bergevin set out to right the ship. And so far, so very good: The Habs are the best team in the league.
Alex Galchenyuk is blossoming into the star everyone thought he could become, and he was Bergevin's first draft pick, third overall in 2012, two months into Bergevin's tenure as Habs GM and executive vice president. The 22-year-old has 22 points in 23 games - and is averaging only 16:03 of ice time per contest. Shea Weber, who Bergevin acquired one-for-one for P.K. Subban in one of the most polarizing trades in recent memory, is second on the team in scoring with eight goals and 10 assists. Weber's tied in scoring with Alex Radulov, whose return to the NHL has gone about as smoothly as possible.
Radulov has four goals and 14 assists, and has found instant chemistry playing with Galchenyuk. Signed to a one-year, $5.75-million contract, Radulov is arguably proving to be the summer's best big-money free-agent signing.
Here's a look at how the big-ticket 2016 free-agent class - those players signed on July 1 and earning an average annual salary of $5 million or more - is faring so far, a quarter into the season:
Player
Contract
Cap hit
Age on July 1
Points
GP
Radulov (MTL)
1 year/$5.75M
$5.75M
29
18
21
Milan Lucic (EDM)
7 years/$42M
$6M
28
17
24
Kyle Okposo (BUF)
7 years/$42M
$6M
28
15
21
Frans Nielsen (DET)
6 years/$31.5M
$5.25M
32
13
23
Loui Eriksson (VAN)
6 years/$36M
$6M
30
10
23
David Backes (BOS)
5 years/$30M
$6M
32
9
18
Andrew Ladd (NYI)
7 years/$38.5M
$5.5M
30
4
22
Some takeaways:
Yes, Radulov's on a one-year deal, so comparing him to guys who signed long-term deals is a bit apples and oranges - but he's being paid well, and Bergevin certainly took a risk in signing him. Based on the fit so far, it's not a stretch to think an extension may be on the way.
Radulov turned 30 on July 5, so this is his age-30 season.
Loui Eriksson turned 31 on July 17. The Vancouver Canucks are eventually going to have to face reality and embrace a true rebuild, and it's difficult to imagine how Eriksson fits into that plan.
If anyone deserved seven-year contracts, it was Milan Lucic and Kyle Okposo, who are still a couple of years away from 30. And so far so good on both fronts. They're producing. Lucic is living the life alongside Connor McDavid in Edmonton, and lord knows the Islanders miss Okposo.
Paying for past performance is always risky business, especially with unrestricted free agents north of 30. As the game gets younger, these deals only get riskier. On July 1, buyer beware.
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The breakout players of the 2016-17 NHL season are beginning to cement themselves as viable fantasy options. Perceived early luck and reliance on skilled teammates have transitioned into sustained production.
While the majority of fantasy hockey owners continue to let this production go wasted on the waiver, here's a look at what can realistically be expected from five of the top breakout players thus far:
LW Viktor Arvidsson, Nashville Predators
Arvidsson has been jostled around the Predators' lineup a little bit, but he has consistently been used in a top-six role. His most common linemates at 5v5 have been C Ryan Johansen and RW James Neal, while LW Filip Forsberg has recently joined Arvidsson and Johansen, forcing the former to his off wing.
Per Corsica.Hockey, all three of the line combinations of which Arvidsson has been a part have had Corsi For ratings well above 50 percent. In 28.58 minutes played together at 5v5, Forsberg, Johansen and Arvidsson have accumulated a Corsi For of 63.33 percent. Their PDO of 114.29 is doomed to regress, as they've outscored their direct opponents 3-0.
Arvidsson has totaled seven goals and seven assists through his first 22 games of the season while averaging better than two shots on goal per game and 15:32 of ice time. He has played 23:24 of 5v4 time this season, ranking eighth among team forwards. He has one goal and two assists on the power play, adding a goal and an assist while shorthanded.
Just one of his four assists at 5v5 have been primary. Johansen works as the main distributor on the Predators' top line, working with two elite finishers on his wings at nearly all times. As part of such a skilled trio, Arvidsson can be expected to have skewed counts between primary and secondary assists.
End of year projection:
G
A
SOG
PIM
+/-
25
35
250
10
10
RW Patrick Eaves, Dallas Stars
The 32-year-old winger has played almost exclusively with Stars C Tyler Seguin and LW Jamie Benn at 5v5 this season. Exposure to two of the best forwards in the league has him nearly halfway to the career-high 20 goals he scored in his rookie season, when he played mostly with Ottawa Senators C Jason Spezza and RW Daniel Alfredsson.
Eaves hasn't been able to top 14 goals ever since the rookie season. His career high of 18 assists came back in his sophomore campaign, a number he is more than a third of the way to matching already this season. He is halfway to topping his career best of 32 points set in 2006-07. His 16:51 of ice time is more than three minutes higher than his previous best single-season average.
Eaves has a Corsi For percentage of 51.63 at 5v5 on his own, with the number improving to 56.46 percent with Benn and Seguin. His PDO of 96.6 is expected to improve toward a more standard 99.37, per Corsica. He is shooting at the highest rate of his career, providing some stability when his 15.5 shooting percentage inevitable falls toward his career rate of 8.4 percent.
End of year projection:
G
A
SOG
PIM
+/-
20
30
200
32
0
C/RW Charlie Coyle, Minnesota Wild
Coyle's ice time has been rising early in the season and sits at 18:08 per game, the highest mark of his five-year career. He has played exclusively with C Eric Staal, with their trio being used as either the first or second line. This usage has him at eight goals and 15 points through 22 games, easily trending toward career highs. He hasn't missed a game since the 2013-14 season.
On his own, Coyle has a Corsi For rating of 53.03 percent, and is at an even 50-percent clip skating with Staal and LW Zach Parise. Coyle's three power-play goals on the season have come in just over 59.03 minutes of 5v4 time, where he works predominantly with the same unit as at 5v5.
The increased special teams usage and top-six opportunity have him well on the way toward a career season. He has averaged just 1.70 shots on goal per game for his career, but he is tallying 2.41 per game this year.
Lindy Ruff is putting himself underneath the microscope.
The Dallas Stars head coach is preaching accountability as his team sits outside the Western Conference playoff picture, and that includes those standing behind the bench.
"I have to do a better job," Ruff said Wednesday, according to Mike Heika of the Dallas News. "I have to hold them more accountable. I've let too many guys off the hook."
The Stars had high expectations after winning the Central Division and coming within one win of the Western Conference Final last season, but following a 9-9-6 start, the club sits nine points behind first-place Chicago and one point back of a wild-card spot.
Last year's campaign, Ruff reminded, was not without struggles, giving reason to believe his players can pull themselves out of their collective funk.
"We went through this last year," said Ruff, pointing to 1-5-2 and 1-6-0 stretches Dallas endured last January and February. "I think we're struggling and saying, 'There's got to be an easier way.' But there is no easier way. You have to put the work in."
It's up to the coach to ensure everyone is on the right page, and Ruff admits he must do a better job.
"When I get my top guys on the right side, then we will win games on a consistent basis," he said. "I'm looking at the job I've been doing, and it hasn't been good enough because the guys I take so much pride in aren't on the right side for me, and that bothers me."
Singh's work on the Punjabi edition of "Hockey Night in Canada" is well-documented. His viral call of Nick Bonino's game-winner during the Stanley Cup Final earned him an invitation to meet the Pittsburgh Penguins on the day of their championship parade in June.
An unexpected coaching change hasn't prevented the Colorado Avalanche from falling further downhill.
There was a sense that Patrick Roy's abrupt departure was a bit of a blessing in disguise for Joe Sakic in that the team president and general manager was able to hire a more forward-thinking head coach in Jared Bednar. However, the team has stumbled to a 9-11-1 record through 21 games, good for 19 points and a share of last place overall.
Johnson, for one, acknowledges change could be afoot if things don't turn around soon, per Terry Frei of the Denver Post:
It doesn’t matter how many points you have or how much you’re playing, it’s the record that indicates how you’re playing. Clearly, the record is not good enough. … Nobody can look in the mirror and say we’re playing good enough because our record doesn’t indicate it. As a group of individuals who feels a lot of responsibility for the team, I think you go out and do your best every game and you realize there are consequences no matter what.
We could be a bunch of games over .500 and they still might see a reason to make a change. So that’s up to them upstairs and all we can do is go out and play hard every night and do our best to get this team back to winning. At the end of the day, it does fall on our shoulders until the job gets done, and so far it’s not good enough.
That core group is under contract until at least the end of 2018-19, with Johnson and MacKinnon signed through 2022-23.
With the coaching card having been forced upon Sakic, his next move could very well be shaking up the roster.
Duchene has been oft-mentioned in trade speculation, but is trying to focus on his game.
"I’m not making any decisions on this hockey team," he said. "I just go out and play every night."
Colorado's next opportunity to turn things around comes Thursday against Columbus.
