It is all about active point streaks in this week’s edition of Who’s Hot and Who’s Not with Toronto’s Mitchell Marner and Dallas’ Jason Robertson trying to become the third and fourth players since the 2011-12 season to have points in 20 games in a row.
Marner has Toronto tied for the third-most points in the NHL, with the NHL playoff odds listing the Maple Leafs (+700) with the third-best odds to win the Eastern Conference title.
There are some surprising names on the Who’s Not list this week. Keep on reading for information on the hottest forwards, defensemen and goaltenders in the NHL, as well as those players struggling in recent games.
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
- Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota Wild: Kaprizov has four straight multi-point games. He has four goals and six assists during that stretch with three of those goals coming on the power play.
Kaprizov has points in 10 straight games, with Minnesota going 6-3-1 in those contests. Minnesota lost the first two games when Kaprizov had at least two points, but has won seven of the last eight times that Kirill the Thrill had a multi-point effort. - Mitchell Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs: Marner went a perfect 15 for 15 in the month of November as he had points in every game in the month.
Known more for his playmaking abilities, Marner has goals in each of the last four games with all of them coming at even strength.
Marner has points in each of the last 18 games. He is looking to join Patrick Kane, Sidney Crosby and Paul Stastny as the only active players with points in 20 games in a row. He also has led the Maple Leafs to an 8-0-2 record over the last 10 games. - Jason Robertson, Dallas Stars: Yet another week on this list for Robertson as his three-goal game in a win over Anaheim on Thursday extended his point-scoring streak to 17 games.
Robertson leads the NHL with 22 goals, 13 coming over the last 10 games. Dallas is 1-4-1 in the last six games when Robertson fails to record a goal.
After eight games in a row without scoring on the power play, Robertson had a pair of goals with the man advantage the last time out.
JASON ROBERTSON HATTY!!! 🧢🧢🧢
THE BEST GOAL SCORER IN THE @NHL! pic.twitter.com/JxAgOH43t0
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) December 2, 2022
According to the Las Vegas odds, Robertson (+1000) is third in the Hart Memorial Trophy race.
Defensemen
- Josh Morrissey, Winnipeg Jets: Apparently Morrissey’s breakthrough season was no fluke.
Morrissey had a career-high 12 goals in 2021-22 after averaging 5.6 in his first five full NHL seasons. Morrissey didn’t have a goal in his first 10 games this season but has scored five times over the last 11 contests.
In his last five games, he has four goals and five assists to go with a defensive rating of +7 as Winnipeg is 4-1 during that stretch. - Vince Dunn, Seattle Kraken: St. Louis might be rethinking the decision to make Dunn available in the expansion draft. Dunn has 11 goals and 40 assists in 96 games with the Kraken after spending his first four NHL seasons with the Blues.
Dunn has two goals and five assists and is +8 during that time, including a game against San Jose when he was +5. He is one of the reasons why the Kraken is second in the Pacific Division with 33 points. - Rasmus Sandin, Toronto Maple Leafs: Other defensemen might be putting up more points, but it is hard to argue with the fact that Sandin has been on the ice for one even-strength goal scored against Toronto in the last six games. He is +8 during that stretch.
The reward for his rock-solid play has been additional time on ice. He played at least 20 minutes just twice in his first 20 games. He has been over 20 minutes in four of the last five contests. His increased playing time coincides with Toronto’s current five-game winning streak. Sandin also had a two-point game in a recent win over Detroit.
Scoop on Free Play from the Locker Room
And now, the Locker Room offers clients/users a free bonus. The code Locker Room earns you a $50 free and the best news is there is no deposit required. For those already enjoying the benefits of a BetUS account, deposit another $50 and your account will get that doubled so you can play with a nice, crisp $100.
Don’t forget the ongoing World Cup, BetUS has you covered there, too. Play the beautiful game bracket contest and you can not only see your favorite countries and players triumph but clients have a chance to win the grand prize of $25,000. There is a sweet consolation pool of $25,000 for those who check in second through 10th. You have a goal: Play the World Cup contest to win big bucks.
Goalies
- Darcy Kuemper, Washington Capitals: Kuemper suffered six regulation losses in his first seven starts in November. He is 3-0-1 over his last four starts with a .946 save percentage and goals-against average of 1.50 as he is getting used to the new surroundings in his first season with the Capitals.
He stopped 63 of 64 shots in back-to-back wins over Calgary and Vancouver as Washington has moved within three points of the final playoff spot after a tough start. - Matt Murray, Toronto Maple Leafs: Murray began the season by losing two of his first three games. He has turned things around with a four-game winning streak, allowing eight goals on 141 shots.
The highlight came when he stopped 34 of 35 shots against the Metropolitan Division-leading New Jersey Devils.
Goaltending has not been a strength of Toronto in recent years. Perhaps the former Stanley Cup champion while with the Pittsburgh Penguins can change that. - Ilya Sorokin, New York Islanders: Sorokin has allowed two goals or less in each of his last four games and that included a 49-save shutout against an Edmonton Oilers team led by former MVPs Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Sorokin is third in the NHL with a 2.18 goals-against average. The Islanders have scored one goal or less in four of his six losses this season.
Who’s Not
Forwards
- Derek Stepan, Carolina Hurricanes: Stepan’s goal-scoring days are behind him as he had just 10 goals in 78 games over the last two seasons. However, no goals and one assist in 23 games is not going to get it done
It hasn’t helped that he has played less than 10 minutes in each of his last eight games. His playing time doesn’t figure to increase any time soon due to his lack of production. - Nazem Kadri, Calgary Flames: The signing of Kadri away from the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche was one of the biggest moves in the offseason.
Things started off well with Kadri having four goals and five assists in his first six games. Calgary was 5-1 to start the season. Things have headed in the other direction, however.
Kadri doesn’t have a point in his last seven games. It is not a result of a lack of effort as he has 16 shots on goal over the last four games.
Kadri’s last even-strength goal came on Nov. 5. Since that time the Flames are 5-6-2. - Bryan Rust, Pittsburgh Penguins: Rust has three consecutive 20-goal seasons. However, he has scored just once in his last 14 games. The good news is that Pittsburgh is 9-3-2 during that stretch, so the Penguins are doing fine even without production from the usually reliable Rust.
More will be needed from him moving forward for Pittsburgh to continue to remain in playoff position.
Defensemen
- Erik Gudbranson, Columbus Blue Jackets: The well-traveled Gudbranson is playing for his sixth team in the last four seasons. He was brought in to add a veteran presence on the blue line for the Blue Jackets.
Gudbranson has a -4 rating over the last five games and hasn’t recorded a point in his last five games as Columbus is in last place in the Metropolitan Division with 16 points. - Seth Jones, Chicago Blackhawks: The good news is that Jones returned to the ice after missing nearly a month of action. The bad news is he has -3 defensive ratings in each of his last two outings.
In the four games since he has been back, Chicago has been outscored 9-2 at even strength when Jones is on the ice.
Some of those numbers can be attributed to his rather impressive ice time as he had been on the ice for 27:22, 23:33 and 28:08 in the last three contests. The only reason he didn’t approach the 27-28 minute mark against Winnipeg was because the game got out of hand early on. - Torey Krug, St. Louis Blues: Krug has been on the ice for 12 even-strength goals scored and just two goals for the Blues over the last five games.
Krug has posted a negative number in each of the last five games and his -18 defensive rating is the worst of his NHL career.
Krug does have four goals and four assists over his last 14 games.
Goalies
- Jordan Binnington, St. Louis Blues: Binnington is 1-4 with a 3.62 goals-against average and save percentage of .857 over his last five games. He has allowed 17 goals over his last four starts.
Binnington had won six games in a row before things headed in the other direction. - Carter Hart, Philadelphia Flyers: It is hard to include Hart on this list as the run of injuries has him playing with a completely different team than the one he could be playing with.
Hart is 1-3 with a save percentage of .880 over his last four games. It hasn’t helped that the Flyers have scored seven goals during that stretch. - Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers: The Vezina Trophy winner has allowed 11 goals over his last three games. He has a save percentage of .884 over his last two games as the Rangers lost to Edmonton and New Jersey.
He is still among the NHL leaders with a 2.58 goals-against average and is tied for third in the odds to win the Vezina Trophy according to the sportsbook.
