This week on Frozen Tools Forensics we are going to take a break from point production and look at players who are contributing across multiple potential fantasy categories.

To gather the data for this review I ran the Multi-Category Report on the Dobber Reports page. This report gives us basic scoring information as well as several peripheral categories that includes shots, hits, blocks, plus/minus, and penalty minutes. It also gives us some of those stats combined. All of these categories are already split for us on a season and per game basis for easy analysis. For the purposes of this article, I am focusing on shots, hits, and blocks (no penalty minutes). All of the data here is also going to focus on the 24-25 season, we won't be hitting projections in this specific review.

To make the tables we will be looking at, I have exported the report and done some rearranging of the columns to focus on the relevant information. The tables start with basic player information on the left (name, position, team) and then the current season information (games player, shots per game, hits per game, blocks per game, and combined blocks, shots, and hits).

Today we are going to specifically target forwards. The following table contains those players who are putting over two shots per game, about 1.5 hits per game or higher, and about one block per game. We actually had no forwards putting up over one block per game in the data, so we are getting the top list here.

Vincent Trocheck leads the way with the highest block rates, the second highest hit rates, and almost two and a half shots per game. The combination is incredibly valuable on its own and when you also factor in that he has averaged a 65-point pace over the past five seasons, Trocheck has been fantasy gold for a lot of managers. If your league counts faceoff wins, even better as Trocheck has consistently put up in the range of 10 per game. Historically, 24-25 was a bit of an odd year. Trocheck's shot rate was the second lowest of his last five years, while his hit rate was the highest. He also saw a big increase in blocks over the last two years, as he used to be closer to half a block per game. That likely has to do with an increase in short-handed time. Something to keep an eye on is the arrival of JT Miller. After his arrival in February Trocheck saw about 30 seconds less of the team's power-play. The amount of power-play time, or disruption of his usual linemate in Artemi Panarin could impact his shot rates, and if he takes too much of a time on ice hit, his hit and block numbers too.

I am not sure there really needs to be much else said about Tom Wilson at this point. While 2024-25 wasn't a high-water mark for him, it was well within the range we have come to expect over the last four seasons for shots, hits, and blocks. He is averaging a little over two shots, almost three hits, and about one block per game. With the exception of 2023-24 (and a slight breakout in 24-25), he has also been putting up ~55-point seasons. Like Trocheck, he has been consistently very valuable in your multi-cat leagues.

Frank Vatrano has been a pretty decent shooter for a while, but his other stats have been all over the place. He has now been hitting about twice per game for the last two seasons but was much closer to once per game the three seasons prior. He has three straight seasons of flirting with one block per game, but prior to that he was generally well below a half block per game. Anaheim did bring in some offensive reinforcements during the off season, plus they have a new coach, so it really remains to be seen where in the lineup Vatrano will end up. He has had some strong peripheral numbers over the last two seasons with 17 plus minutes of ice time, but was not necessarily able to do the same the prior seasons where he was consistently getting 15 or less. Hopefully he is beyond the 15:00 TOI mark at this point in his career, but there are a number of young up and comers in Anaheim in addition to the veterans they just brought in that will all be vying for ice time.

Like Wilson, Timo Meier hits this mark for about the 4th time in a row. His shot rates have fluctuated between three and four per game, his hit rates between about one and a half and two, and has generally been close to .8 blocks per game. He is certainly upholding his peripheral contributions, even if his point production hasn't necessarily been up to what folks were hoping for after his transition to New Jersey.

For Blake Coleman, playing a supportive depth role is nothing new, and he has consistently been shooting and hitting at reasonable rates for several years. The blocking is a bit of a new addition, only really in the last two seasons has he put up notable block rates. He will be turning 34 in November, so we have to imagine at some point this style of play will catch up with him and he won't be able to maintain the peripherals, but there isn't currently a sign of slowing down.

Honorable mention in this category goes to Rickard Rakell, Fabian Zetterlund, and Owen Tippett who were all just under 5.00 combined blocks, shots, and hits.

Since forwards are not necessarily known for blocking, managers don't always take that into account when considering multi-cat players. Shots, hits, and points though? A valuable combination. Everyone on the list below shoots more than three times per game, hits more than 1.5 times per game, and put up more than a 60-point pace in 24-25.

This list is really not new information to anyone. These players are consistently elite multi-cat producers. The only notes are really for Matthew Tkachuk who will miss the start of the season because of off-season surgery, and Alex Ovechkin who is returning for another season, but without the goal record to shoot for it is unclear how he, and really the entire Capitals team will perform. Those two are something of a question mark but will likely still be effective while in the lineup. Filip Forsberg and Brady Tkachuk don't have much to prove at this point either as they have been effective multi-cat producers for years.

Honorable mention for this list goes to Sam Bennett who managed only a 55-point pace on the season.

That is all for this week.

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