NHL Who’s Hot and Who’s Not: Pasta Still on Menu in Beantown

With the season in full swing, it is a perfect time to take a look at the players on the roll and those off to difficult starts.

When looking at the NHL playoff odds, the early results haven’t changed too much with the Colorado Avalanche (+500) still favored to win a second straight Stanley Cup title.

Keep on reading for information on the hottest forwards, defensemen, and goaltenders in the NHL, as well as those players trending in the other direction.

Let’s check the latest NHL picks, stats, injury reports, and NHL predictions. We’ve plenty of NHL expert picks for you to consider.

Who’s Hot

Forwards

• Jesper Bratt, New Jersey Devils: One of the steals in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, Bratt has points in all seven games for New Jersey. After being held without a goal in his first five games, Bratt has scored three times in the last two contests.
• Bratt has three goals and nine assists in the first nine games. He didn’t record his 12th point until his 16th game during the 2021-22 campaign.
• David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins: Pastrnak posted his third straight multi-point game for the red-hot Boston Bruins.

Pasta wasn’t missing out on this party. 🍝 🎉 pic.twitter.com/PxOtMFd0CB

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 28, 2022

Pastrnak has three goals and four assists in wins against Minnesota, Dallas and Detroit, with five of those points coming on the power play as Boston has won four games in a row. With Pastrnak leading the way, the Bruins are priced at -135 according to the NHL odds to score first as well as last in Friday’s game against Columbus.

• Andrei Svechnikov, Carolina Hurricanes: Svechnikov has six goals over the last four games and he has scored three times on the power play during that time. He had two goals and an assist against Seattle and followed that up with a three-goal outburst against Edmonton.

Defensemen

• Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo Sabres: The former No. 1 overall pick had a career-high 13 goals last season. It looks like he is just getting started as Dahlin leads all NHL defensemen with five goals and nine points this season. He also has a defensive rating of +7 for what has been one of the worst defensive teams in the NHL in recent years.
• Erik Karlsson, San Jose Sharks: Karlsson is starting to resemble the player who took the league by storm during his days in Ottawa. He had a goal and two assists in the upset of Toronto on Thursday night to give him three multi-point games this season.
• Karlsson has four goals and three of them are game-winners. He had the winning goal in each of San Jose’s three wins and that includes overtime victories against Toronto and the New York Rangers.
• Shea Theodore, Vegas Golden Knights: Theodore leads the NHL with a +10 defensive rating. He was +3 in wins over San Jose and Seattle.
  Theodore is taking a large role in the offense with two goals and four assists over the last six games after being held without a point in the first two contests of the season.

Goalies

• Jordan Binnington, St. Louis Blues: Binnington has stopped 48 of 50 shots over the last two games, and that included a 23-save shutout of the explosive Edmonton Oilers.
• Binnington is 3-1 with a 1.74 goals-against average. The Blues are allowing more than four goals per game when Binnington is not between the pipes.
• Carter Hart, Philadelphia Flyers: Hart seems to be back. After a disastrous 2021-22 season, he is once again playing like one of the elite goalies in the NHL.
• Hart has been asked to make more than 30 saves in four of his five starts this season. The last time out, he stopped 48 of 51 shots in a win over Florida and improved to 5-0.
• Jake Oettinger, Dallas Stars: Oettinger has not allowed more than two goals in any of his six appearances this season. He is coming off a 27-save shutout against the Washington Capitals to improve his record to 5-1. The NHL betting lines will have Oettinger as a front-runner for the Vezina Trophy with the way he has been playing.

Who’s Not

Forwards

• Christian Dvorak, Montreal Canadiens: Dvorak has scored at least 11 goals in his full NHL season. However, he has no goals and just one assist in the first eight games of the season.
  His lack of scoring is not due to a lack of opportunities as he has 13 shots on goal.
• Alex Newhook, Colorado Avalanche: Newhook was one of the players expected to have a larger role after salary-cap restrictions led to the loss of some key players for the Stanley Cup champions.
• However, after scoring 13 times in 71 games as a rookie, Newhook has no goals and no assists through the first seven games. He only has 10 shots on goal and is -4 so far.
• Cole Sillinger, Columbus Blue Jackets: Sillinger broke into the NHL as an 18-year-old when he had 16 goals and 15 assists. So far in his second season, Sillinger has no goals and one assist. Part of the issue is that he is playing just 12½ minutes per game so there aren’t as many opportunities for him to find the back of the net.

Defensemen

• Eric Gudbranson, Columbus Blue Jackets: The well-traveled Gudbranson is on his sixth team in the last five seasons and early returns have not been good.
• Columbus has a shot differential of -73 when Gudbranson is on the ice and that is not going to get it done. Never much of an offensive presence, Gudbranson has no goals and three assists over his first eight games with Columbus.
• Torey Krug, St. Louis Blues: Krug does have a game-winning goal. However, his defensive rating of -7 is not ideal for a player who sees more than 20 minutes on ice per game.
• The offense will come, especially when St. Louis is on the power play. However, there will be some work to do in his own zone.
• Darnell Nurse, Edmonton Oilers: Nurse is tied for the most giveaways (14) in the NHL and he has just two takeaways, so puck possession has been an issue for one of the mainstays of the Edmonton defense.
  Nurse does have two goals and three assists, although somehow he failed to come away without a point in Thursday’s wild 6-5 win over Chicago.

Goalies

• Kaapo Kahkonen, San Jose Sharks: Kahkonen began the season by allowing eight goals on his first 43 shots. There have been signs of improvement. He picked up his first win of the 2022-23 season after stopping 22 of 25 shots against Toronto.
• His .875 save percentage and 3.33 goals-against average is not what the Sharks were looking for when they acquired him last season.
• Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings: The former Stanley Cup champion is in the conversation as being the best American-born goalie in NHL history. However, his 16th season with Los Angeles is off to a rocky start.
• Quick allowed five goals in his most recent appearance. He has a save percentage of .878 and 3.41 goals-against average, and both would be the worst marks of his career.
• Karel Vejmelka, Arizona Coyotes: Vejmelka has allowed at least five goals in three of his four appearances this season. The last time out, he surrendered six goals on 32 shots.
  Not having veteran defenseman Jakob Chychrun hasn’t helped and neither has playing three defensemen 23 or younger.