One of the strategies many fantasy general managers implement at the start of the season is to choose a cut-off date before deciding when to drop underperforming players. 

Some GMs choose 10 games, others like to wait until the 20-game mark before giving up on a player. Note that we’re not talking about those couple of player spots that you planned to stream depending on matchups, but are those that you drafted that you imagined were going to stick on your squad for the whole season. 

No team has hit that 10-game mark yet, and one (Dallas) is still at six games played. So while patience may be needed, that same patience is wearing thin for numerous general managers. However, depending on the size of your league, deciding to drop certain players can be a tough decision. Last year, those who held on to Jonathan Huberdeau and John Klingberg for too long ended up with regrets, but those who dropped K’Andre Miller, Kyle Connor and Jamie Benn early regretted those moves as well. 

Some players are easy drops. Hampus Lindholm is pointless in eight games. Bowen Byram is Colorado’s third option and rarely gets power-play time. Juraj Slafkovsky picked up a point in Montreal’s first game and has been pointless in seven contests since. Torey Krug hasn’t picked up a point yet. 

Some others aren’t playing as badly as you may believe. For all the talk about Alexander Ovechkin and his struggles, he still has eight points in eight games. Tage Thompson had one point in his first six games, but has five in his last three. 

While one goalie does make this list, it’s not unusual to see goalies struggle early. Normally, scoring is higher at the start of the season and before players get injured and the grind of the season starts to wear on them. Ilya Samsonov, Filip Gustavsson, Devon Levi, Jacob Markstrom, Philipp Grubauer and Joonas Korpisalo would all make the list if this were just about netminders. 

Below are 10 players you should be concerned about as we hit the 10-game mark. 

10. Matt Coronato

Calgary is a mess, and numerous Flames could be on this list, but let’s focus on Coronato. The 20-year-old rookie started the season on the top power play, lost it for a few games, and now has it back, but he only has one power-play point to show for it. On the season, he has two points total. At even-strength, he switches from a bottom-six role to a top-six option, so we can’t count on consistent deployment. Going into Sunday’s action, the Flames had the fifth-worst power-play in the league. Players like Jonathan Huberdeau and Elias Lindholm won’t lose their power-play spot no matter how poorly they play, but Coronato is not guaranteed the same treatment. 

9. Nazem Kadri

I mentioned in the offseason that the Kadri you saw last year was the usual Kadri, and there was nothing to bounce back to. However, this year’s Kadri is not the normal Kadri. Even after scoring Sunday night, he has just two points in nine games. To make matters worse, he’s not producing anywhere else. His minus-10 is tied for the second-worst in the league. His 2.8 shots per game is the first time in four years he’s been under 3.0. He has only two hits in those nine games. His goal on Sunday was his first power-play point of the season, despite ample use on the top power-play unit. 

8. Tyler Bertuzzi

I was a big proponent of Bertuzzi in the offseason, even listing him high up on my list of Top 10 Potential First-Time 70-Point Forwards for 2023-24. That was going to be a tall tale without top power-play time, but playing on the top unit with Mitchell Marner and Auston Matthews should have been enough, especially since Bertuzzi signed a one-year deal and is looking for a long-term deal. Bertuzzi has struggled, and with only three points in eight games, is on pace for 31 points. This has led to him being shifted to the second line. That’s still a pretty good line, with John Tavares and William Nylander, but if he can’t produce there, it’s just a short trip to the third line with David Kampf and Max Domi. 

7. Cam Fowler

We knew it was going to be a matter of time before Fowler was usurped for the top power-play unit, but it is a slight surprise that it happened so soon, and who did the usurping. In each of the last two years, Fowler has put up 42- and 48-point seasons (led by 18 and 14 power-play points in each of those seasons). This year, he has three points in eight games, and only one has come in the last six games. With Jamie Drysdale on the shelf with a lower-body injury, 19-year-old rookie Pavel Mintyukov has been getting the power-play time, on the ice for 62.2 percent of Anaheim’s power-play minutes in the past six games. It looks like Fowler is going to be hard-pressed to get any power-play time, and a reduction of power-play points will drop him to a 30-point defenseman. 

6. Kaapo Kakko

Many were hoping this was going to be Kakko’s breakout season. He had a great preseason and was slotted to start the season in a top-six role. He’s on Mika Zibanejad‘s line, which you would think would be a boost for his production. It hasn’t turned into anything resembling a productive start, as he has just two points in eight games. He’s only averaging 1.4 shots per game, no power-play points and not even a single hit. He’s pointless in his last three games, and you have to wonder how long they will continue to have Kakko in a top-six role if he can’t be effective. 

5. Dawson Mercer

Most would look at Mercer’s situation and think the Tyler Toffoli trade to New Jersey has impacted Mercer more than even the most pessimistic of us would have guessed. But his ice time is only down a minimal amount from last year and his power-play time is up, even though he’s on the second power-play unit. His lack of points has led him to playing with Erik Haula and Curtis Lazar lately. He just hasn’t been able to do anything with it. He’s pointless in eight games, and only has six shots, three of which came in the first game of the season. 

4. Jack Campbell

Maybe the biggest surprise of Campbell’s season is that he somehow has a win. That’s his only victory in four games. It wouldn’t be so bad if he was losing, but playing well, but he’s been awful in almost every game. He currently sits with a 4.35 GAA and a .876 SV%. He’s allowed at least four goals in three of his first four games, and his numbers would have been worse if wasn’t pulled in the first game of the season against Vancouver. The only bright side for Campbell’s season is Stuart Skinner has only one win in five games. 

3. Erik Karlsson

Not too many people expected Karlsson to replicate his crazy season of last year, when he became the first defenseman since 1991-92 to finish with 100 points. However, this season has seen too much of a decline. He has four points in eight games, but three of those points came in one game. He is pointless in his last four contests, during which he has just five shots. He has yet to pick up a power-play point, which probably goes a long way to explaining why Pittsburgh had the third-worst power-play leading into Sunday’s action. He also has the lowest number of blocked shots per game of his 15-year career. Not only is he not scoring, he’s not producing in peripheral categories like we would expect. 

2. Nico Hischier

Hischier has been one of the big surprises the past couple of years, posting 60 points in 70 games two years ago, and following that up with an 80-point season last year. While his power-play production buoyed those numbers, he was still a 50-to-60-point player at even strength. This year, he hasn’t been close to that, with two goals and no assists in seven games (he missed Sunday’s match with an upper-body injury). His shots-per-game mark has dropped from 3.2 a year ago to 2.0 this season, and he has just one power-play point. And it’s not like he has seen a drop in the quality of linemates; According to Natural Stat Trick, last year he played mostly with Tomas Tatar, Jesper Bratt and Dawson Mercer. This year, it’s been Ondrej Palat, Bratt and Mercer. This may be one of those slumps we simply have to ride out. 

1. Trevor Zegras

Even though he scored on Saturday, this has been a frustrating season for Zegras owners. He has only two points in eight games, and one has to wonder how much of an impact his contract negotiations had. He missed almost all of training camp until the deal was signed. His season was so bad that he was benched and taken off the top power-play unit for a game last week against Columbus. His goal on Saturday was his first power-play point of the season. At least he’s shooting the puck, averaging three shots per game so far, but anyone who was expecting him to reach a point-per-game mark is severely dissatisfied.