This is a great time to mention that the Fantasy Hockey Guide will be available on July 29. Everything that you've come to know and love about the guide is included again this season – its 19^th year. Preorder yours today!

One of the sections I have been working on is hits. A few years ago, we made the shift from a section on penalty minutes leaders for each team to a section on hits. More leagues seem to be using hits instead of penalty minutes, as there's debate as to whether a stat that hurts a real-life team should help a fantasy team.

Today I'll bring up some hits leaders, not only for the hits stat alone but also when combined with other peripheral stats. In Frozen Tools, you can find these stats using the Multi-Category option under Peripherals (click More Stats when you land on the main stats page). As well, I'll flip the script and look for the "hitless wonders." In other words, those players who can bring the scoring but don't crack an egg when they skate into the boards.

Jeremy Lauzon

Lauzon wasn't mentioned very often in fantasy leagues until the 2023-24 season, when he led the league with 388 hits. In fact, he led the league by a wide margin, as Garnet Hathaway had 62 fewer hits despite having the second-highest hits total. Lauzon and Hathaway were the only two players to be credited with at least 300 hits.

Lauzon's hit total was so high that he also led the league in combined hits and blocks (499). Lauzon had so many hits that he led this combined category even though his block total wasn't particularly high relative to other defensemen. That's fine if you're in a points league where you are just taking a sum of the points you accumulate, but you'll still need to address blocked shots in a head-to-head categories league.

Lauzon will also benefit leagues that count penalty minutes, as he accumulated a career-high 98 PIM last season. That was also enough for him to lead the combined penalty minutes, hits, and blocks category (597). Call that the bangers buffet if you will. Keep in mind that Lauzon offers little in the way of scoring, as he also reached a career high in scoring in 2023-24 with… 14 points.

Michael Pezzetta

The Canadiens forward registered 242 hits, which was good for 10^th in the league. Yet what I'd like to turn your attention to is his hits per 60 total, which at 30.5 is the highest among players that have played at least 20 games. Pezzetta played in just 61 games while averaging under eight minutes of icetime per game. If he can find a way to secure a greater role in the Habs lineup, then he could be dominating this category very soon. Over three seasons, Pezzetta has a career high of 15 points, so like Lauzon he won't score much either.

Matt Rempe

One player who had a higher hits/60 than Pezzetta, although in just 17 games, is Matt Rempe. The tall (6-7) Ranger averaged 31.4 hits/60, registering 50 hits while logging just under six minutes per game. As brief as his time in the NHL has been, Rempe has made himself well-known. It sounds like the Rangers want to work with him to improve his overall game, which could mean that the Rangers have a dominant force on their hands if he can improve significantly.

Rempe has accumulated 71 penalty minutes in just 17 career games. The fact that he is training to be a better fighter could lead to some massive penalty minute totals this coming season.

That's a lot of Alberta Beef! #mattrempe practicing with one of the 🐐 @GeorgesLaraque pic.twitter.com/n0cDZHl3zb

— Brantt Myhres (@bmyhres) July 10, 2024

Brady Tkachuk

There's a reason that Tkachuk is drafted so high in bangers and other multicategory leagues. The younger Tkachuk brother led the league in the combined shots, hits, and blocks category (696 SOG+HIT+BLK). That number is mainly hits (294) and shots (357). Some players among the shots leaders provide over 100 hits, but Tkachuk is that unicorn that is top five in the league in both shots and hits.

It's also worth mentioning that Tkachuk was second in the league with 134 PIM. That meant he finished fifth in the league in the penalty minutes, hits, and blocks category (473 PIM+HIT+BKS). Three of the four players ahead of him are defensemen, who have an advantage in the blocked shots category because they block more shots than he does.

If you happen to draft Tkachuk early in a bangers league, you may want your next pick or two to be more of a scoring-focused player. For example, if you draft Alex Ovechkin as well, you may lose a bit on overall points. The key is to have balanced coverage in all categories as much as possible. As an alternative, you could opt to draft a player like Lauzon or Hathaway very late in your draft to ensure hits coverage. Or look for players throughout your draft that provide ample hits totals. 

Top 50 scorers with low hit totals:

Artemi Panarin: 49 G – 71 A – 120 PTS, 18 Hits

Brayden Point: 46 G – 44 A – 90 PTS, 16 Hits

Robert Thomas: 26 G – 60 A – 86 PTS, 16 Hits

Jack Hughes: 27 G – 47 A – 74 PTS, 10 Hits (in just 62 GP)

You may want to fill your other defense slots with hitters if you pick any of these defensemen:

Quinn Hughes: 17 G – 75 A – 92 PTS, 29 Hits

Zach Werenski: 11 G – 46 A – 57 PTS, 23 Hits

Shayne Gostisbehere: 10 G – 46 A – 56 PTS, 29 Hits

Luke Hughes: 9 G – 38 A – 47 PTS, 24 Hits

Notice something yet? Yes, all three Hughes brothers are not hitters. In other words, they're not the Tkachuks. A pond hockey game between the two sets of brothers would be an interesting contrast in styles.

Brady Tkachuk: 37 G – 37 A – 74 PTS, 294 Hits

Matthew Tkachuk: 26 G – 62 A – 88 PTS, 151 Hits

The Hughes brothers, however, have nothing on Johnny Hockey when it comes to avoiding hits.

Johnny Gaudreau: 81 GP, 12 G – 48 A – 60 PTS, 2 Hits! That's 0.1 Hits/60, or roughly one hit per 600 minutes. Year after year, Gaudreau is exceedingly light in this category, as he has never had more than 10 hits over the past five seasons. His career high is 26 hits from the 2015-16 season.

A player not far behind Gaudreau is Tommy Novak with 5 Hits in 71 GP. That works out to 0.3 Hits/60.

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