NHL Who’s Hot, Who’s Not: Plenty of Fight in Fleury
Once again a goalie from the Boston Bruins is among the players making the Who’s Hot list while Clayton Keller of the suddenly surging Arizona Coyotes is also on the list.
Goalies don’t get suspended that often in the NHL. However, a struggling Jordan Binnington managed to accomplish that feat due to his actions in a recent loss to Minnesota and that drew quite a bit of attention in the NHL news. That is only part of the reason why he landed on the “Who’s Not” list.

The Bruins continue to lead the way at +350 in the odds to win the Stanley Cup title, according to the Las Vegas odds.
Keep reading for information on the hottest forwards, defensemen and goaltenders in the NHL, as well as those players recently struggling.
Who’s Hot
Forwards
- Pavel Buchnevich, St. Louis Blues: Buchnevich has points in each of his last 10 games after scoring three times in an 8-5 loss to Minnesota.
He has five goals and nine assists in the seven games he has played in this month and has multi-point efforts five times over the last eight games.
Despite missing 12 games, Buchnevich is second on St. Louis with 38 assists and 61 points and among the forwards who have played in at least half the games, he is the only with a positive plus/minus rating.
- Clayton Keller, Arizona Coyotes: While it has been another difficult season for the Coyotes, it is hard to blame Keller for the struggles.
Keller has points in each of his last six games with four multi-point efforts during that stretch. Keller has seven goals and six assists over the stretch as Arizona has gone 5-0-1. Not many people making NHL predictions had the Coyotes as one of the hottest teams during the last couple of weeks. He has had a hand in more than half of the goals scored by the Coyotes during that stretch.
The former first-round draft pick has already established career-highs with 31 goals and 72 points.
- Tim Stutzle, Ottawa Senators: While the Senators are fading in the Eastern Conference playoff race, the 21-year-old Stutzle is soaring.
He has at least two points in four of the last five games. During the Senators’ four-game losing streak, Stutzle has either scored or assisted on eight of Ottawa’s 10 goals.
Stutzle assisted on three of the four goals in a loss to Colorado and that came two days after he had two of the three goals in a loss to Edmonton.
Stutzle’s 34 goals matches the combined total from his first two seasons in the NHL. He has also established career-highs with 42 assists and 76 points.
What a shot by Tim Stützle. 🚨
He breaks the Senators record for most goals in their first 3 Seasons. That’s his 34th of the season. pic.twitter.com/NhnOB5cDbb
— Lalime’s Martian (@LalimesMartian) March 15, 2023
Defensemen
- Miro Heiskanen, Dallas Stars: Heiskanen leads all defensemen with 15 points in the month of March.
Heiskanen has points in each of the last nine games and has assists in six consecutive games.
He also has two game-winning goals during the month as he continues to be in contention for the Norris Trophy according to the Las Vegas hockey odds.
- Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche: The former Norris Trophy winner was held scoreless when he returned to the ice after missing two weeks. Since then he has three goals and 10 assists over the last seven outings.
Makar has two goals and five assists During Colorado’s current four-game winning streak. He is also +4 during that stretch.
Colorado is 6-2-2 in the last 10 games when Makar is in the lineup. That is one of the reasons why the NHL picks have the defending Stanley Cup champions as the favorites at +250 to win the Western Conference title.
- Jared Spurgeon, Minnesota Wild: Other defensemen might be piling up more points, but it is hard to match the run that Spurgeon is on for the streaking Wild.
Spurgeon hasn’t had a negative plus/minus number in his last 17 games and during that stretch the Wild is 12-1-4.
Spurgeon had a goal and an assist in a recent win over San Jose with Minnesota 5-0-1 this season when he has at least two points.
Goalies
- Pheonix Copley, Los Angeles Kings: With Jonathan Quick now with the Vegas Golden Knights, Copley has taken over as the No. 1 goalie in Los Angeles.
Copley is 4-0-1 over his last five starts and in four games in March, he allowed five goals on 103 shots as Los Angeles is just a point behind first-place Vegas in the Pacific Division standings.
- Marc-Andre Fleury, Minnesota Wild: Fleury got more attention for his failed attempt to get into a goalie fight with Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis Blues.
Enjoy 🌸 x 🥊#mnwild pic.twitter.com/U2X2h4ouYK
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) March 16, 2023
However, don’t let that take away from the fact that Fleury has won his last six starts.
Fleury allowed two goals or less in the first five of those games and that included a 30-save shutout against Columbus. Even after giving up five goals in the 8-5 win against St. Louis. He has a .930 save percentage in four games in March as Minnesota has pulled within a point of Dallas for first place in the Central Division standings.
- Jeremy Swayman, Boston Bruins: While his teammate Linus Ullmark continues to lead in the Vezina Trophy race according to the NHL betting lines, Swayman has stopped 102 of 110 shots over his four starts in March,
Swayman stopped all 36 shots in a 3-0 shutout against Winnipeg on Thursday. It was Swayman’s third shutout of the season.
Who’s Not
Forwards
- Isac Lundestrom, Anaheim Ducks: It has been a difficult season after Lundestrom scored a career-best 16 goals last season.
Lundestrom has no goals and no assists over his last seven games as he remains stuck on four goals. He also has a -4 defensive rating and has managed just seven shots on goal over the last seven contests.
- Anton Lundell, Florida Panthers: Even with his team scoring nine times in the first two periods as the Panthers did in Thursday’s win over Montreal, Lundell couldn’t break his drought.
Lundell has no points over the last six games and he has scored one goal in the last 10 games as he is on pace to score 11 goals and add 24 assists after recording 18 goals and 26 assists as a rookie.
- Jesse Puljujarvi, Carolina Hurricanes: So much for the thought that a change of scenery would get the former fourth-overall pick going.
Despite joining a Carolina team with the second most points in the NHL, Puljujarvi has no points and no assists in three games.
Dating back to when he was with the Edmonton Oilers, Puljujarvi has not scored a goal in his last 11 games.
Jesse Puljujarvi’s plans for the @Canes: “Try to be a really good player for this team and help these guys get those big wins.”#LetsGoCanes pic.twitter.com/RKCg9Jecof
— Bally Sports: Canes (@CanesOnBally) March 12, 2023
Defensemen
- Mark Giordano, Toronto Maple Leafs: Points have been hard to come by since Giordano was acquired by Toronto last season.
He has no points over the last seven games for a player who had 74 points just four seasons ago. Giordano has managed 34 in his first 87 with the Maple Leafs.
- Olli Maatta, Detroit Red Wings: Maatta has no goals and no assists over the last seven games.
Maatta has also gone 11 games without a positive plus/minus rating. He is -7 in seven games played in March with Detroit going 2-4-1 during that stretch and 2-7-1 in the last 10.
- Ivan Provorov, Philadelphia Flyers: Provorov has no points in his last seven games and over the last two months he has a -8 defensive rating.
Provorov, one of four players to play in all 67 games for the Flyers, is on pace for five goals and 22 assists after averaging 10.6 goals over his last five seasons.
Good game Red Wings. Olli Maatta appreciation tweet. pic.twitter.com/3oLtbWtOX0
— Stacey Miller (@SpinMeWrite) March 12, 2023
Goalies
- Jordan Binnington, St. Louis Blues: It has been quite the month for the combustible Binnington.
The other 70 goalies who have appeared in games in March have a combined total of eight penalty minutes. Binnington had 17 in a loss to the Minnesota Wild. Binnington charged Ryan Hartman after Hartman scored and his skates collided with the St. Louis goalie. Binnington received a two-game suspension for his actions.
St. Louis has won 1 of the last 10 games that Binnington has played in. Over the last two games, he has allowed nine goals on 54 shots.
- Tristan Jarry, Pittsburgh Penguins: Jarry has allowed at least four goals in four of the last six games and that includes giving up four goals on seven shots in one period of action in a recent loss to Montreal.
Jarry has an .851 save percentage in the six games he has played in during the month of March.
- Mads Sogaard, Ottawa Senators: Sogaard is 1-4 with a 4.64 goals-against average and .841 save percentage in March.
Sogaard has fallen under the .900 save percentage mark in each of his last six games as he has allowed four or five goals in each of those appearances.