We are still at the start of the season, but we are already starting to see surprises.
Some of those stunning starts can be attributed to their strong power play performance. Valeri Nichushkin has 11 points, including five on the power play. Nick Ritchie has four points in five games, all with the man advantage. However, we knew they would both be among the best power-play units on their teams. Same thing with Calen Addison in Minnesota and Artturi Lehkonen in Colorado.
Some players get time on the power play, but they’re still under the radar in many fantasy leagues. Below are 10 players who have surprisingly had a lot of power-play time this year. Note that many players on this list don’t produce that much. However, getting those power play minutes is a good indicator that they could turn things around.
Of course, not everything is fixed. There is no guarantee that the players on this list will continue to get this time with the man advantage. It was Justin Schultz, not Vince Dunn, who surprisingly started the season in the lead group in Seattle. It lasted three games. Dunn is now in that top spot, as many expected at the start of the season.
10. Chris Wideman
Last season, with Jeff Petry struggling hard in Montreal, the team changed their power play and placed Wideman in the top unit. It contributed to an improvement and Wideman finished with a career-high 12 power-play points. This year, Wideman started on the number one group, but Wideman is useless (at even strength and on special teams). Wideman’s time of 2:55 a night is fourth on the team, and more than double second-best defender Kaiden Guhle at 1:17. Montreal has one goal on the power play and the second worst power play in the league (the only worst team is Columbus, which has yet to score a power play goal). Last year, Montreal opted for a line of five forwards on the power play for several games. If the team and Wideman don’t start producing soon, it won’t be long before Wideman is replaced by someone else.
9. Andrei Kuzmenko
In the first game of the season, Kuzmenko scored a power play goal early in the second period. That goal gave Vancouver a 3-0 lead, which was also the last time Canucks fans had anything to celebrate. Since then, Kuzmenko has gone useless with the man advantage, but not for lack of trying. He’s there for the majority of the team’s power-play minutes and averages 3:50 a night. While that ice time is a good sign that the coaching staff hasn’t lost faith in the rookie, it will be interesting to see if anything changes as Vancouver finally looks to win a game.
8. Dominik Kubalik
In his first two years in the league, Kubalik posted a 55-point and 56-point pace. He experienced a significant drop last year to 33 points. In the offseason, he went to Detroit, and not much was expected of him as a third-line winger. Then Tyler Bertuzzi suffered an upper body injury. Kubalik was the beneficiary, earning a top-six berth and a berth in the top power-play unit. He didn’t disappoint, with four power-play points in his last two games, including three on Sunday. Teammate Oskar Sundqvist also benefits, rising to the top of the group on the power play and has two power-play points in his last three games.
7. James van Riemsdyk
JVR left the game with an injury early in Sunday night’s game and did not return. For this section, we won’t include that game in his stats since the injury happened before the Flyers had a power play. In his first five games with the Flyers, JVR’s average power-play time on the ice per game is one minute per game higher than last year, and the most of his career. Whether that’s due to injuries or new coach John Tortorella remains to be seen, Van Riemsdyk thrives early on as he already has three points on the power play. There are a few other Flyers with higher-than-expected power play times, including Joel Farabee.
6. Stefan Noesen
Noesen started the season as a healthy scratch but now has points in three straight games, including two points with the man advantage. Those two power play points are already a career high. Most of his human advantage minutes have been on the top unit with Sebastian Aho, Martin Necas and Andrei Svechnikov. The 29-year-old is now part of his sixth team in seven seasons and has never been put in a position to produce like he is now. If you go after him on the waiver wire, keep in mind that he’s still on the evenly-strength fourth line.
5. Taylor Raddych
At the start of the regular season, we knew there were vacancies on the Blackhawks’ top power-play line, but it wasn’t clear who would slip into those roles. One of those spots went to Raddysh, but there hasn’t been a reward yet for anyone who took a flyer on the Blackhawk. He has zero power-play points in five games, despite playing 60% of Chicago’s power-play minutes. Sunday night, he was on the ice for 90.6 percent of Chicago’s power-play minutes, so the team doesn’t seem to be worried about his lack of production in that role.
4. Luke Kounin
A year ago, Kunin averaged 57 seconds of power-play time per game, his highest since averaging 1:17 per game in 2018-19. This year, he’s at 2:45 per game, good for 53% of all San Jose human-advantage minutes. He was in the top unit, but was demoted to the second group on Sunday evening. However, there weren’t many power play chances, so it’s hard to say if this was a one-off. Even on the second unit, he should still crush his previous high in power-play minutes. Although he has just two power-play points in eight games, he also gets the first six minutes at even strength. San Jose got off to a slow start. Once the big guns are launched, they will have a ripple effect on Kunin.
3. Casey Mittelstadt
It may sound strange to hear, but for the first time in a long time, the Sabers have enough talented players on offense to debate who will go to the front row on the power play. While Victor Olofsson, Jack Quinn, Peyton Krebs, JJ Peterka, Dylan Cozens and Kyle Okposo are either on the second unit or not used at all with the man advantage, Mittelstadt continues to get reps on the upper group and lasts on average almost three minutes. by night. He rose to the challenge and racked up power play points in three straight games.
2. Gabriel Vilardi
Vilardi has been one of the stunning surprises so far this season, scoring seven points in seven games. To put that into perspective, he had seven points in 25 games a year ago. He also saw his average power play time double to 3:42 per night, and was used quite frequently on the top unit. Surprisingly, only one of his seven points has been with the man advantage, but hopefully more will come if he continues in that role.
1. JJ Moser
I wrote about Moser in last week’s column, but he also deserves to be listed here. The 22-year-old defenseman is in his second season but is used on the top line on the power play. Thanks to all the power plays the Coyotes have received, Moser averages nearly five minutes on the power play per night. He has three points on the power play so far, one behind the team leader. It would still be nice if he shot the puck more frequently, but the Coyotes don’t have anyone else who can fill that role, so expect to see him in that situation more as the season progresses.
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