Editor’s Note: Rotoworld’s partner FanDuel is hosting a $2,000 Fantasy Hockey league for Tuesday night’s NHL games. It’s just $10 to join and first prize is $400. Starts Tuesday at 7pm ET. Here’s the FanDuel link.
Hits
Mark Fistric has only played in 22 games this season, but when he’s in the lineup, he’s one of the most physical players in the league. He was credited with 20 hits in four contests last week to bring him up to 90 in 2013-14. Jarome Iginla recorded 15 hits in three contests last week to give him 89 in 45 games this season. He’s recorded at least four hits in each of his last three games, which is his personal best in 2013-14. Toronto leads the league when it comes to hits and a large part of that is thanks to the efforts of Cody Franson and Dion Phaneuf. Franson recorded 20 hits in four contests last week and ranks second in the NHL with 173 in 45 games. Phaneuf sits in 20th place with 124 hits after recorded 17 in four matches last week. No other team has two defensemen in the NHL’s top 20.
Blocks
Francois Beauchemin blocked an outstanding 11 shots on Saturday alone to help Anaheim earn a 5-3 victory over Phoenix. To put his efforts into context, only six other players recorded 11 blocked shots over the entirety of last week. Beauchemin ended up with a league-leading 22 blocks in four contests last week and now has 87 in 38 games. His teammate Ben Lovejoy was also a big contributor last week with 11 blocks in four contests. He’s got 84 blocks this season and 112 hits. He’s tied for 27th place in blocks, but of those that are above him in that category, only two have registered more hits than him. One of them is Ladislav Smid, who also happens to be one of just two players in the NHL with over 100 hits and blocked shots with 118 and 106 respectively over 45 games. He was credited with 15 in four contests last week. Roman Josi has blocked at least one shot in nine straight games and had 12 in four matches last week. With 82 in 37 games, he should comfortably surpass his career-high of 98 set in his 2011-12 rookie campaign.
Draws
Jarret Stoll has won at least 60 percent of his faceoffs in each of his last four contests. He won 40 of 58 last week and has a success rate of 55.0 percent in 42 games this season, although that’s still a touch shy of his career average. Sean Couturier hasn’t been nearly as effective on the draw, but he managed to win 36 of 60 faceoffs last week. He still has just a 47.8 faceoff percentage in 2013-14. Nazem Kadri had a strong week overall. He had three assists, 13 hits, and won 33 of 54 faceoffs, including a nine-for-11 effort on Sunday. That being said, his faceoff percentage of 44.4 is one of the worst in the league among eligible players. Jonathan Toews is near the other end of the spectrum after winning 57.0% of his draws through 48 contests. He had another strong week with a 39-for-65 record.
