Crazy saves, streaks and Jevpalovs…

Life, school and an annoyingly good Butler have been occupying a ton of my time, but this will be the sixth week of consistent ramblings and the show will go on.

Nicolaj Ehlers is having a historic season, and currently has a 25 game point streak going on. 59 points in 25 games. That is pretty great, and the Jets are thanking the Canucks every night for taking Virtanen and leaving them such a special prospect. Don’t get me wrong, it is way too early to predict those two players’ NHL careers, but I don’t think too many people would take Virtanen (who has 37 points in 29 games, but has been doing better lately) at #6 if we held a redraft tomorrow.

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Tell me who the top scoring defenseman was for last year’s World Junior’s. Didn’t think you could.

It was Matt Grzelcyk, who is having a solid, unspectacular season in the NCAA. Despite being a higher draft pick with a similar skillset to Gustav Forsling, he no longer has anywhere near the hype that Forsling does. I said sell high, and sell high the Canucks did. Hopefully you did too, like our own Laidlaw did in getting Alec Martinez in a multicat league. If you have him, send out some offers and see if you can get a useful, if minor, piece.

Adam Clendening is an excellent aquisition for the Canucks, and they were lucky his wavier status made him available. He might be worth a speculative add, even in one-year leagues. Currently, he is getting second-unit powerplay time, and is a very noticible improvement over Hamhuis and Tanev. At the very least, some more production on top of last night’s assist should keep him in the lineup ahead of current partner and former Rockford teammate Ryan Stanton.

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Did you know that Karlsson has eight goals in 21 games this season? 

Melker Karlsson that is. He really, really shouldn’t be scoring right now. Half a point per game in the SHL, then half a point per game in the AHL for 20 games, and now 13 points in 21 games at the NHL level while seeing time with Joe Thornton? He is though, and he’s even bought himself some Melkman shirts to celebrate.

He is certainly worth a pickup in keeper leagues; if you can still get him, it is worth riding this out and see where he settles on the Sharks roster. I don’t need to tell you that he isn’t going to generate four scoring chances a game with 15 minutes of ice while shooting 19%, but he could have long term secondary-scoring value. With almost two shots a game, and a hit a game in those limited minutes, he certainly won’t hurt those peripherals.

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One sleeper to take a look at is Nikita Jevpalovs, who has scored 12 goals, a contract with the San Jose Sharks, 15 assists and a QMJHL first star of the month award in 12 games. Yes, he has had a scoring explosion this year with .84 goals per game, and yes he is overage, but 54 points in 51 games last year to go along with a camp invite isn’t so bad. Don’t expect much more from him than you would from Dane Fox, last year’s 20-year-old scoring sensation who is now toiling in the ECHL, but the upside is there.

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A really interesting post from 2011 that Corey Pronman dug up: How birth month affects projected production. 

Basically, the gist of it is that if you have two draft-eligible players with relatively equal qualities and production, one with a much later birth-month projects to be a much better player.

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No longer a prospect, but I’m glad Adam Larsson has found his mojo. I don’t want to blame DeBoer, but, well, I think I will. Before DeBoer fired: Two games over 20 minutes in ice time. Since, its been two games where he has not had at least 20 minutes and they were his first two. Since then he has been getting around 23 minutes, scoring a half point per game and doing fairly well with hits, blocks and shots. All he needs is some consistent powerplay time, and the 22 year old will finally be fantasy relevent in the way everyone hoped.

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After getting sent down, Leon Draisaitl has 17 points in 7 games. Just wanted you all to know that the Oilers haven’t undone him. Yet.

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How’s Carter Hutton doing? You know, just honing his telekinetic skills, no big deal.

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I don’t think Marek Mazanec is Edit: Zero starts (Rinne is back)  with the way Hutton has been doing (one shutout, zero blowouts). Hutton is 29 though, and I don’t know if he will be in Nashville past next season when his contract ends, which would leave the spot open for a then-25 Mazanec.

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We are doing a pretty major audit of every team’s Top 10 prospects and identifying profiles that are in real need of updates (or even existence). If you disagree with any of the recently updated Top 10’s, make sure you let us know below.