1. Ross Colton, C/LW, COL - When the Avalanche traded for Ross Colton he was primed to take over the second line center position vacated by J.T Compher's free agent departure. His time in Tampa he was sparsely deployed and yeilded pretty good output on low average time on ice. All of that was for not though as Ryan Johansen was brought in to anchor the second line center spot, and to very much success. Ross is not a bad player at all, but his role with Colorado is a tad bit different then what he was doing in Tampa. While Colorado might put more numbers in the win column, it might just come to a detriment toRoss Colton's individual points total.
2. Victor Olofsson, Winger, BUF- Victor, a three time 20+ goal scorer with a high of 28, has seem to found himself on the outs with this coaching core. He finds himself occasionally occasionally scratched and is often deployed on the fourth line. Viktor's only value this year is if he sees himself traded, and it appears, Buffalo has been trying to do that since the summer. Viktor despite beyond deployed on a more grindy line is not offering any periphial stats as well.
3. Anders Lee, Winger, NYI- Lee, over his career has hovered around the 50 point mark. Going into this season, New York, had a glaring issue of a weak offense. Lee, 33, has seen himself all over the lineup on all three lines. His speed seems to have fallen off as well signaling he may not be able to steer a line by himself. As of writing this, his numbers are not completely dismal, but I fear regression. On the bright side, he is providing some decent stats coverage if you are in a bangers league.
4. Jonathan Drouin, Winger, COL- Drouin, a former third overall, after signing with Colorado was reunited with his junior line mate Nathan MacKinnon. The magic they made in Halifax is nowhere to be found. Drouin despite his size, 6'0 200lbs does not play a physical game. His career high in points is 53, and he appears to be in jeopardy of never coming close to that again. As of writing this, Drouin is on the third line with another player written on this article (Ross Colton). He also is only on PP2. If playing top line minutes with Nathan MacKinnon while having Makar distributing on the back end can't boost Drouin's point total I don't know what will.
5. Jack Campbell, Goalie, EDM- Edmonton's main way of winning games currently is to score their way out of games to save their bad defense. Given their cap restraints hope is not looming on the horizon either. Holland is under a tight rope to win while he has McDavid there in his prime. Campbell played 36 games last year and had a 3.61 GAA and a woeful .878 GAA. On 4 starts this season he has regressed to a 4.35 GAA and a .878 GAA. The only boon to his starts are lack of organizational depth at goalie, and his backup, Skinner, has not faired any better. If I had to guess though, the coach and GM will be playing musical chairs with their goaltending situation because they cannot afford a losing season.
Photo credit Katie Whitty
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