Odds and Ends: Leftover Stats From Week 5

Everything in the first month of the season is basically a hot take. But there's enough data on every team now to start making educated calls. 

Some food for thought after another week of fantasy hockey ... 

103

That's the number of offensive zone faceoffs Nikolaj Ehlers has participated in this season, the most in the league (min. 10 GP) and just one of four forwards in the top 20. (The other three: Tyler Seguin, Phil Kessel and Jake Guentzel). By comparison, Blake Wheeler is the second-highest among Jets forwards, and he only has 73. According to Hockey-Reference, Ehlers is starting in the offensive zone 70.7 percent of the time, shattering last year's career-high 57.5 percent and representing a 26 percent increase from last season. That has translated to Ehlers having one of the best starts to his career, and after a disappointing 37 points last season, he is on pace for 76. Relative to his 160.4 ADP (Yahoo), he's been one of the best mid-round draft bargains this season.  

18

That's the number of goals the Canucks have scored since last Monday, five of which have come on the power play. Elias Pettersson has 20 points in 14 games as he continues to ascend into superstar status, and all of his underlying numbers suggest it's no fluke. Him and bestie Brock Boeser combined for 16 points last week. He's in the McDavid-Matthews tier in keeper league values and it's little plays like these that make him look just a step above everyone else. 

15

That's the number of goals the Lightning's opponents have scored since last Monday, dropping them to 20th in goals against. That's OK if the Lightning are scoring at last year's pace, but they're far from it and continue to look inconsistent and listless most nights. Goaltending has not been a strength and Andrei Vasilevskiy is struggling with career-low numbers, and they may be without Victor Hedman for the two-game Global Series. It's been a trying season but the Lightning are too talented not to turn this around, or otherwise face one of the most epic collapses in history dating back to the playoffs. Perhaps now is a good time to buy low …

9

That's the number of goals Jakub Vrana has this season after scoring five last week, including a two-goal, eight-shot effort against Buffalo and a hat-trick performance against Calgary. The slick 23-year-old Czech winger was poised to have a breakout season (164.6 ADP on Yahoo), so his success should not come as a surprise, but he's been on an absolute tear and owned in just 35 percent of Yahoo leagues and 49 percent of ESPN leagues. His underlying possession numbers also indicate he's an above-average offensive player, and if he manages to stick the top power-play unit, look for a huge season.  

5

That's the number of wins Caps backup Ilya Samsonov has this season, one less than Braden Holtby in five fewer starts. We knew Samsonov was good, but it looks like Todd Reirden has stumbled upon a Boston-style timeshare, with the backup getting a big chunk of playing time to keep the starter fresh for the playoffs. He stopped 25 shots in a 4-2 win against the Flames on Sunday and the Caps don't have a back-to-back until Dec. 20, but look for Reirden to give Samsonov more consistent starts as long as he plays well. Samsonov is owned in just 32 percent of Yahoo leagues and 11 percent of ESPN leagues when his numbers should be more Jaroslav Halak-ian (44 percent on Yahoo, 25 percent on ESPN), and we're still not ruling out the slight chance that Samsonov takes the starting job sooner than later with Holtby being an impending UFA.

4

That's the number of power plays the Islanders received last week, once again a bafflingly low number. They're at just 22 in 13 games, on pace for 138 over the course of the season, which would shatter the previous 82-game low of 210 set by the 2017-18 Oilers in the cap era. They've been one of the best teams this season, but maybe having so few power plays is a good thing for them — according to Natural Stat Trick, the Isles are generating a league-low 52 unblocked shots per 60 minutes with the man advantage. Their top line of Mathew Barzal, Anders Lee and Josh Bailey have combined for 31 points, but only four have come on the power play and three belong to Bailey. It's encouraging they're scoring at evens, but in leagues that count special teams points, be sure to discount their values until the Isles start getting more power plays.

0

That's the number of points the Sharks had last week in three games, the same number as the Senators, except the Senators have played only once. We're just one month in but the Sharks are drowning and Logan Couture's captaincy is not off to a great start. They're slow and lumbering and the biggest insult to sharks since Jaws 3-D, and at this point Martin Jones is basically a victim from John Wick 1, 2 and 3 because he has so many holes. We aren't dumping the Sharks in fantasy, but know that all of them will come with an ugly plus-minus because Jones' $5.75 million cap hit makes it difficult to find a solution. He's only worth owning because he's the starter, but a fifth consecutive 60-game season seems unlikely with Aaron Dell now splitting the starts. This is easily the worst handcuff in the league.