In this week's Eastern Edge, we'll discuss players who had strong showings in 2021. We'll be looking at regular season stats from this past calendar year (i.e. January 1^st, 2021 to December 27^th, 2021). As such, it's worth highlighting that this year-long sample includes games from both last season – where we only saw divisional matchups – and this season, which features normal interdivisional play. I mention this because statistically, it probably makes more sense to separate these two samples and analyze them separately. However, for the purposes of a casual, year-end review, this unconventional window gives us a unique sample to look at.  

Adam Fox

The 23-year-old blueliner established himself as one of the league's premier players in 2021. As I write this, he leads all defenseman with 78 points through 85 appearances. Even if you look at points per game, Fox still ranks second among defensemen (0.92 points/game), bested by only Cale Makar (1.04 points/game).

Fox has been especially good with the man advantage this year, racking up 36 power-play points. Only Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have more PPPs in 2021.

Steven Stamkos

I feel like Tampa Bay's captain doesn't get the respect he deserves. Expectations were sky-high for Stamkos after he scored 60 goals in 2011-2012, but public perception gradually fell as he failed to break the 50-goal mark since then, taking a backseat to Tampa's other superstars in recent years. While public perception may be skewed, he clearly remains a superstar, posting a 90-point pace in five of his last six seasons. In 2021, he's tallied 69 points in 67 outings. That's 1.03 points per game, which ranks 20^th among NHL skaters. He's been especially good this season, tallying 35 points in 29 games. That production becomes all the more impressive when you consider Stamkos has spent a large chunk of the campaign without Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov.

Drake Batherson

The 23-year-old forward has 62 points in 79 outings during the calendar year. Notably, he has 28 points in 23 appearances this season, which has the early makings of a breakout campaign. Over the past few years, Ottawa has been a team that many avoided when playing fantasy hockey. The Sens lacked the offensive potential to make much of an impact in most fantasy formats but were particularly undesirable in leagues that tracked plus/minus. This year, young guns like Batherson, Josh Norris and Brady Tkachuk have taken great strides in their development, showing they can produce at a high level in the NHL. Not only is that good news for each of them individually, it's good news for other fantasy-relevant Senators like Thomas Chabot, who should benefit from playing with a stronger team. 

Carter Verhaeghe

Heading into 2021, Carter Verhaeghe was a 25-year-old forward with just 52 games of NHL experience. The calendar year was great for him as he added 71 games to his body of work, racking up 58 points in the process. Verhaeghe's production becomes all the more impressive when you consider most of his production has come at even strength. Only four of his points came with the man advantage, which makes sense considering he only saw 25% of the team's power-play time this year. Given Florida's star-studded roster, we probably won't see Verhaeghe's role with the man advantage increase significantly any time soon – which places a firm limit on his offensive ceiling going forward. Regardless, he's been great at even strength, showing good chemistry with Aleksander Barkov this past year. As a result, he should continue seeing a prominent role in the team's top six.

Jack Campbell

In 2021, Campbell boasts an impressive 32-8-4 record, 2.04 GAA and .930 save percentage. To provide some perspective, Andrei Vasilevskiy – widely considered the best goalie in the world – sports a 48-14-4 record this year, with a 2.19 GAA and .926 save percentage. I'm not saying Campbell is as good a goalie as Vasilevskiy, but it's interesting that they're valued so differently in single-season fantasy leagues when there isn't a huge difference in their recent numbers.  

When Campbell went on an 11-game winning streak to start the year, many were quick to downplay his achievements, attributing his success to a small sample size. As we near the end of the year, that sample size has grown considerably, making it harder to ignore Campbell's status as one of the most valuable goaltenders in fantasy formats.

Tristan Jarry

Your most salient memory of Tristan Jarry in 2021 is probably his poor performance in the playoffs, where he dropped four of his six starts against the Islanders, posting a 3.18 GAA and .888 save percentage. It's remarkable how such a small sample can dominate our perception of a player who had a really good showing overall in 2021. It's unfortunate that his worst moments came on a big stage, when more of us were paying attention. This past calendar year, Jarry boasts a regular season record of 40-14-7, alongside a 2.42 GAA and .918 save percentage. Those are pretty impressive numbers considering the number of significant injuries the Penguins endured in 2021. Healthy lineups seem like a thing of the past thanks to COVID-19, but with Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust and Evgeni Malkin all nearing returns, Jarry and the Penguins could be even better in 2022.