There have been many impressive performances to start the season and a surprising number of them have been from this year's rookie class. For today we are going to take a look at some of the top scoring rookies.

In a standard redraft league rookies are typically not that helpful. They go hot and cold, and even a good season may only represent a 50-point pace with inconsistent peripherals. There are times though when a rookie puts up a fantasy relevant season, and so the purpose of today is to take a look at some of the data for these top performing rookies and see whether they might be worth your time.

In order to gather this data, we are using a Big Board Report, but there is a fancy dropdown that lets us run the report for just rookies. Once we have the top performing rookies, we are using their player profile pages to take a look at their deployment, line combinations, and underlying stats.

First up, here are the top-10 scoring rookies. Going from the left we start with basic player information (name, position, team, games played), some information about their production (points per game and shots), and then their deployment (percent of the team's power play, and average time on ice). It is sorted by total points, but in an effort to cut down on the number of columns we are looking only at points per game. All data is from October 30th, prior to Thursday's games, so will not take into account the game played on Thursday evening. 

Leading the group is Ivan Demidov with nine points in 11 games. He is entering the season with a huge amount of hype and was the leading candidate for the Calder Trophy. A couple of things stand out pretty immediately. One is that he only has 10 shots. That is less than a shot per game. He also has one of the lowest overall ice time averages of this group. On the plus side, he is getting most of his points by assists (only two goals so far) so while his shooting percentage is high, it isn't alarming, and in his most recent three games he has been playing on the top power-play unit. Even with that though he saw only 12 minutes in two of those three games. At five on five his teammates are shooting at 19.5 percent, which is about double what it should be. That means about twice as many goals are being scored while he is on the ice as we would expect. An average team shooting percentage would put him closer to a 45-point pace, and that aligns much more closely with his time on ice and shot rates. With his top-tier pedigree and now an opportunity on the top power-play I would expect to see a higher pace than that going forward, but upside this season will be severely limited if he is playing 12 minutes a night and getting one shot per game.

Emmitt Finnie on the other hand has been averaging over 16 minutes a night on a top line with Dylan Larkin. He has also been productive to the tune of eight points in 11 games and is shooting just shy of twice per game. For those in multi-cat leagues he is also hitting almost three times per game. Like Demidov, in his most recent three games he has also been getting turns on the top power play, but unlike Demidov, he exceeded 18 minutes of overall ice time in two of those games. He is getting a lot more of his production from goal scoring (four goals), and his team is shooting almost 19 percent while he is on the ice at even strength. Similar to Demidov, this means almost twice as many goals have been scored while he is on the ice as we would have expected. That regressing puts him closer to a 40-point pace. However, he is also getting top power-play deployment recently which, if it sticks, should be able to get him up to a 50-ish point pace. Add to that two shots and 2.5 hits per game, and Finnie can be a reasonably valuable fantasy piece.

Zeev Buium has eight points in his 12 games. He manned the top power play for a stretch of seven games, putting up five power-play points in that span. Starting on October 25th though has gone four games with less than 25 percent of the team's power-play – Jared Spurgeon getting the top deployment instead. Overall, Buium has averaged over 19 minutes a night, though that has dropped to 17:19 over his last three games. When on the top unit he was getting over 20 minutes of time, shooting about twice a game, getting an occasional block, and scoring power-play points. Off that unit he has been getting far less time, producing less, shooting less, and blocking less. The moral of this story is that you definitely want to roster him if he is on the top unit. If he is off that unit for any length of time his value drops significantly.

If Matthew Schaefer is somehow still available in your league, stop reading and go add him. He has eight points in 10 games, is shooting three times per game, averaging nearly 23 minutes a night, and with one or two exceptions has been running the top power play on Long Island. He likely has some favorable percentages, so it is possible he does not end up with a 64-point pace, but all of his numbers look significantly more sustainable than the rest of this rookie group. He has first overall pedigree, and the only real question was about how the Islanders were going to use him. Thus far, he's been used as their number one defensemen, and that means he should be high on your list too.

On the flip side, Oliver Kapanen isn't a great long-term option. He is getting less than 13 minutes a night, essentially no power-play time, and less than a shot and a half per game. He is getting most of his points through goals and has a very high shooting percentage (four goals on 15 shots) and a very high team shooting percentage as with some of our other players. His seven points have been largely unsustainable so if you are looking for longer term rookie production look elsewhere.

A couple of quick notes to round out the group here; Arseny Gritsyuk has decent shot rates and secondary deployment so is worth watching, particularly if he gets a shot higher up the lineup. Jimmy Snuggerud has gotten turns with top line and top power-play deployment so worth a potential stream when that is the case. Ryan Leonard has seen an uptick in the last couple of weeks in time on ice, power-play time, and scoring. Plus, he has a side benefit of throwing some hits. Beckett Sennecke started the season on fire with two goals and four points in three games. Since then, he has cooled significantly with only one point in the six games since. He is getting good overall time on ice though so remains someone to keep an eye on. Alexander Nikishin might not end up with gaudy point totals, and was just added to Carolina's second PP unit on Thursday night, but he is already contributing in other categories. He has averaged 1.7 shots, 2.8 hits, and 1.6 blocks per game. That is very solid multi-cat contributions from any defensemen let alone a rookie.

That is all for this week.

Do your part to support organizations working to make hockey for everyone.

Professional Women's Hockey League

Hockey is For Everyone

Black Girl Hockey Club

Athletes for Hope