HITS
Anaheim’s Nick Ritchie was credited with a stunning nine hits on Oct. 25 and he recorded four hits in each of the contests that proceeded and followed that outing. He did fail to register a hit on Friday, but that still leaves him with 37 in nine games. Patric Hornqvist has recorded at least one hit in all of his first nine contests and he’s on a four-game multi-hit streak. He has been credited with 28 hits so far and finishing 2015-16 with 160 hits in 82 contests. Maple Leafs forward Leo Komarov has also registered at least one hit in his first nine contests. He’s up to 30 hits now and posted 283 last season. Finally, a lot has been made of Shea Weber’s offensive play lately, but the Canadiens defenseman has been throwing his body around too. He’s gotten at least two hits in all of his nine games thus far, bringing him to a total of 25 this season.
BLOCKS
If we’re bringing up Weber, it feels natural to mention Predators blueliner P.K. Subban as well. Subban hasn’t been particularly active from a hits perspective, but he has blocked at least two shots in each of his first eight contests. He has 22 blocks so far after recording 80 in 68 games in 2015-16. Alexander Edler’s got in front of seven shots on Oct. 23 alone and that was after blocking five shots just one day prior. He was also busy in that regard on Saturday as he finished with four blocks. In total he has 31 blocks in nine contests this season. Flames defenseman Mark Giordano is on a six-game multi-block streak. He now has 27 in 10 contests after recording 193 blocks in 2015-16. Dion Phaneuf got in front of 89 shots in 81 games last season, but he’s on course to easily surpass that total this season. So far he has 21 blocks in eight games, including six against Edmonton on Sunday.
DRAWS
Ryan Getzlaf won 11-of-14 draws on Oct. 13 and so far has claimed 64 of his 112 faceoff opportunities. That 57.1 winning percentage is in stark contrast to 2015-16 when he finished with a 49.4% success rate. Jonathan Toews has won at least 64% of his faceoffs in each of his last five games. He now has won 136 of his 220 draws for a 61.8 winning percentage. http://www.nbcsports.com/edge/player/NHL/1739/Tyler-JohnsonTyler Johnson won 25 of 41 faceoffs over three games from Oct. 27-30. He has a 55.4% success rate so far, which is up from 2015-16 when he finished at 48.6%. Antoine Vermette has won at least 60% of his faceoffs in each of his first nine games. In total he’s come out victorious in 96 of his 136 opportunities, which translates to an incredible 70.6 winning percentage.
