December already? This hockey year is just flying by, much like the lede to today’s Ramblings…

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Before we get to the 11 games that were on tap in the NHL last night, I want to quickly discuss two young players who will face each other on Sunday afternoon. Between Mika Zibanejad and Gustav Nyquist, Nyquist is far and away the more ballyhooed fantasy asset at the moment. But don’t sleep on Zibanejad, who gave me more this past week and who I’m modestly higher on at the moment.

Five games ago Zibanejad’s minutes spiked as he was bumped into Ottawa’s top-six forward group (alongside Jason Spezza). This past week the Swedish forward gave fantasy owners 2 goals, 0 assists, was -2, had a PPP, and recorded 7 shots and 6 hits. That’s an OK weekly line for a guy available in 95% of fantasy leagues, but nothing eye popping.

Thing is: it’s comparable production to what Nyquist provided this week and everyone’s rushing to pick him up. Also, Mika’s the modestly better bet for the balance of this season I suspect. Consider that since Mika joined Jason Spezza’s line at even-strength, he’s “Corsi’d” near 60% at even-strength. He’s been a minus player in more games that not as a top-six forward, however, because of an ~.850 on-ice sv% (and a 916 PDO) during that stretch. Those tough bounces won’t continue, but it seems very possible that the Zibanejad, Spezza, Michalek line will continue to crush it possession-wise…

Nyquist is the other side of the coin. In his five NHL games so far this season, Nyquist’s PDO is up near 118, thanks both to an on-ice save percentage north of .960 and an on-ice sh% that is hovering near 16%. Those are some damn lucky bounces…

All of which is to say that if you’re in a deeper league and need a multi-cat player, Zibanejad looks promising and is likely to crank it up if he continues to see big minutes in Ottawa…

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Okay, let’s move onto the afternooner. Chris Kreider broke out and rung up a hatty against the coach who used to bench him, or make him ride the train to Connecticut. Kreider has been fantasy gold over the past couple of weeks and we all could sort of smell a game like this coming. Perhaps more notable is that Kreider was shifted up and onto New York’s top-line with Rick Nash and Derek Stepan, and that group had instant success and chemistry (obviously). Kreider owners should be happy, it’s not difficult to imagine the big forward’s production spiking if he continues to skate on the top-line…

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Alex Burrows continues to rack up hits, which is some consolation I suppose for his lack of goal scoring, but is crazy snakebit. Burrows has put up more than 20 even-strength goals like clock work for years, but he’s yet to score his first this season despite a myriad of opportunities.