We are going to look at some sell-high candidates from the Western Conference. I'm going to look at shooting percentage, PDO and 5on5 shooting percentage (5on5%).

It's not that some of these players won't get to the levels they are currently at some time in the future, but they will have a very difficult time sustaining their production in 2024-25.

This also isn't to suggest you have to sell these players, but just know that they will slow down at some point, and it is bound to be sooner than later. Enjoy the ride if you do have them on your roster.

Here are some short primers on two of the stats we will be looking at.

5on5 shooting percentage (5on5%) is the shooting percentage at 5 on 5 for the player's team while he is on the ice. Most forwards are around eight or nine percent, which is no coincidence with the league average save percentage at even strength being around 91.5. The league's better forwards tend to sit between 12 and 14. This stat is similar to PDO but ties in more with production. Players with low or high 5on5% will usually trend back towards eight or nine percent.

PDO averages around 100 and is a combination of the team's save percentage and shooting percentage while the player is on the ice at even strength. If a player has a low or high PDO, it doesn't necessarily correlate to an increase or decrease in that player's production, but just the percentage of goals for and against, should trend to 100 over time. It can be an indication of a correction for a player's production and/or plus/minus.

Selling High

Rasmus Andersson (8-4-6-10) Calgary – D

Andersson has a 31.8 shooting percentage on 13 SOG, a 5on5 shooting percentage (5on5%) of 18.4, a PDO of 114.6 and points per sixty minutes at 3.2. His career averages in all those categories are 4.8%, between 8.5 and 9.5%, between 98.5 and 102.5 and 0.9 to 1.6 points per 60.

Jonathan Huberdeau (8-4-3-7) Calgary – F

Huberdeau has just one point in his past four games, but still has had a start reminiscent to his four years in a row at a point per game or more. Unfortunately, his shooting percentage is at 36.4, his 5on5% is 21.8 and his PDO is 118.0. Even at his most productive, his 5on5 shooting percentages were between 8.6 and 11.3. His career shooting percentage is 12.4.

Ross Colton (9-7-1-8) Colorado – F

Outside of a 21.9 shooting percentage, Colton's production to start 2024-25 is not that out of the realm of possibilities. His career shooting percentage is 13.2, so if he can maintain the spike of 3.6 shots per game up from his career average of about 1.9 he should smash through his career-high of 22 goals. His biggest benefit has been the four PPGs he has scored while playing 69.3% of the time on the PP. His offensive zone starts have gone from 39.1% in 2023-24 to 63.1% in 2024-25 so far.

Alex Laferriere (9-4-3-7) Los Angeles – F

Laferriere has had an impressive sophomore campaign but has been on the PP 58.6% of the time and is still yet to get a power play point. His shooting percentage is slightly high at 19.0% and his 5on5% of 14.5 and PDO of 109.8 will come down. He should improve upon his rookie output of 81-12-11-23, but he will probably settle in somewhere around 20 goals and assists.

Jake Middleton (8-2-4-6) Minnesota – D

Middleton is usually a lock for 100 hits and blocks and can chip in with 20-25 points. He has begun 2024-25 with his usual hits and blocks and some unexpected production. He has a shooting percentage of 18.2 (career average is 6.2) and three of his four assists were secondary. If you can convince someone that he has a 30-35 point year in him, then by all means do it.

Marco Rossi (8-3-4-7) Minnesota – F

This might not be the breakout for Rossi that it appears so far. He has a shooting percentage of 23.1 after being at 12.6 in 2023-24. His 5on5% is at an unsustainable 17.6 and his PDO sits at 111.0 after eight games. I'm sure he will get to the 70-point level at some point, but it might not be now.

Jared McCann (9-5-7-12) Seattle – F

McCann has been streaky before but has never had a shooting percentage above 19.0 and has a career average of 12.6. He sits at 26.3% after nine games. His 5on5% is at 23.4 which is very high. He's had two years at 12.6 and 13.5. His PDO sits at 112.0 which should come down. He's certainly capable of 70 to 80 points, but a lot will need to go right for him to get there.

Jordan Eberle (9-6-2-8) Seattle – F

Eberle is the epitome of this article. If you have him, sell him now! His shooting percentage is at 40.0 and his 5on5% is 20.7, while his PDO is 109.2. He's had two seasons in his career with a 5on5% above 10. In his past 10 seasons, Eberle has had between 16 and 25 goals in each of them. His career shooting percentage is 12.9.

Philip Broberg (9-2-5-7) St. Louis – D

It's tough to look at a player like Broberg who had played 81 games and had two goals and 11 assists before moving to the Blues for 2024-25. He has a 25.0 shooting percentage on his eight SOG and three of his five assists have been secondary. None of the other advanced stats indicate he's too outside the norm, so I would consider him as arrived in the NHL but temper your production hopes to 25-30 points.

Kiefer Sherwood (7-2-3-5) Vancouver – F

Sherwood had a bit of a breakout year with Nashville in 2023-24 (68-10-17-27) and posted 234 hits. He signed in 2024-25 with Vancouver and the hopes were that he could duplicate his 2023-24 for two years. He has 50 hits in seven games which is more than seven per game (he averaged 3.44/g in 2023-24), and has put up five points thus far. His 5on5% is high at 15.3 and two of his three assists were secondary. The hits will come down and the production will decrease but he has had a great start in Vancouver.

Danton Heinen (7-2-2-4) Vancouver – F

Heinen has had a start to 2024-25 that might have people thinking that he can put up 20-25 goals and 20-25 assists. He will be hard-pressed to get there with a 33.3 shooting percentage, a 5on5% of 13.8 and a PDO of 111.2. He should settle into his 12-18 goals and assists, which would be just fine.

Jack Eichel (9-3-12-15) Vegas – F

Having Eichel here is not to say that he couldn't reach 100 points in 2024-25. This is the start he needs to get there. He's just not going to continue on a 135-point pace. His 5on5% is at 20.9 and his PDO is at 110.5, but more importantly eight of his 12 assists have been secondary. Vegas is just scoring way above the level they'll eventually settle in at.

Mark Stone (9-4-13-17) Vegas – F

Stone is in the exact same situation as Eichel above. He's more than capable of getting 100 points in the NHL, but he'd need to play 80 games. His 5on5% is at 21.1, his PDO is at 110.3 but his primary assists are much better than Eichel's with eight of 13 being primary.

Ivan Barbashev (9-7-5-12) Vegas – F

Barbashev is almost 29 years old and has played 524 NHL games with career-highs of 26 goals and 60 points. He has a current shooting percentage of 36.8 (15.8 career average), 5on5% of 21.3 and a PDO of 109.8 while four of his five assists have been secondary. Production will slow considerably for Barbashev at some point in 2024-25.

Nino Niederreiter (8-4-4-8) Winnipeg – F

The Jets have started out as well as you can hope and as a result most of their players have produced a little higher than normal. Niederreiter is a player who is unlikely to sustain his point per game pace. He has a shooting percentage of 21.1, which is higher than his career-high of 16.7 in 2021-22 when he had 24 goals (25 is his career-high). His 5on5% is 11.7, which is just slightly high, and his PDO is 109.6, which is also likely to come down.

Neal Pionk (8-1-9-10) Winnipeg – D

There are no secondary stats that indicate Pionk is way out of his current production element. His 5on5% is 10.8, which is only slightly high, and his PDO is 99.8, while six of his nine assists have been primary. We know that Pionk is not going to explode for 60-65 points, but his career high of 45 might be in danger.

Thank you very much for reading and if you have any comments, please leave them below or follow me on Twitter @gampbler15