Welcome back to the Wild West. This week we will be looking at two to three players on each Western Conference team who have been settling in with their new teams. The criteria for selection are players who were brought on to the team at some point in the last two seasons that played a majority of last season elsewhere, this includes prospects who have not played more than a combined 40 games for their NHL team. Skater stats are shown as GP-G-A-P and goalie stats are shown as GP-GAA-SV%-SO.

Pacific Division

Anaheim Ducks

Beckett Sennecke – 24-7-11-18 – The rookie sensation has been a huge helping hand on one of the hottest turnarounds in the league. While a cool-off may be on the horizon he is in the 83rd percentile of goals, 76th percentile of assists, 62nd percentile on SOG, and 66th percentile for hits while only being in the 38th percentile for TOI.

Chris Kreider – 20-11-6-17 – Brought over in a trade this summer, Kreider has done the most with his usage this season, despite only being in the 44th percentile of time on ice he is in the 92nd percentile for goals and 91st percentile for powerplay, making him a reliable scoring option.

Mikael Granlund – 9-3-6-9 – Injuries have kept Granlund in and out of the lineup early. He posted three points in his first six games before exploding for five in his seventh. Worth monitoring in deeper formats once he strings together a healthy stretch.

Calgary Flames

Devin Cooley – 9-2.01-0.930-0 – The first goalie on the list, Cooley is backing up Dustin Wolf and while Wolf has struggled so far this season Cooley has been rock solid through his minimal starts. He has been a spark plug for a Flames team that has not had a lot to look forward to.

Morgan Frost – 26-6-8-14 – Acquired from Philadelphia last season, Frost already matched his entire 2024-25 Calgary output in ten fewer games. Frost has been centering the top line alongside Jonathon Huberdeau and Matthew Coronato.

Joel Farabee – 26-7-6-13 – The other piece from the Flyers trade, Farabee has shaken off a slow start last season and looks comfortable on Calgary's second line.

Edmonton Oilers

Jack Roslovic – 23-10-8-18 – While there were questions surrounding Roslovic and whether he would sign with a team to start the season he has been red-hot in Edmonton playing on McDavids wing.

Matthew Savoie – 26-3-4-7 – Matthew Savoie was acquired in a trade from Buffalo and has finally started to make an impact with the Oilers and like Roslovic has mostly been found on McDavids wing.

Jake Walman – 17-3-7-10 – After bouncing around the past couple seasons, Walman seems to have found himself a permanent home in Edmonton. After only a handful of regular season games and a trip to the finals, Walman was offered an eight-year extension to stay.

Los Angeles Kings

Corey Perry – 19-7-6-13 – A move that drew mixed emotions from Kings and Ducks fans has paid off nicely, giving Los Angeles veteran grit and skill in the bottom six. Perry is on pace for his best season since 2019.

Joel Armia – 25-5-6-11 – Another bottom-six piece that the Kings brought in at free agency, Armia has provided some grit along with a scoring touch the Kings needed.

Anton Forsberg – 8-2.69-0.894-1 – Forsberg was brought in to LA to back up Vezina finalist Darcy Kuemper. This has resulted in Forsberg playing roughly every 5 games. Forsberg currently has his worst save percentage in his career aside from his first and third NHL seasons where he played a combined 6 games.

San Jose Sharks

Dmitry Orlov – 26-0-14-14 – After a decade in Washington and a few years in Carolina, Orlov was brought in to San Jose to be a veteran presence on their blue line and has been steady on their top pair, averaging the third highest ice time in his 14-year career.

Yaroslav Askarov – 16-2.90-0.909-0 – The former top goalie prospect is finally here for good. Puck-handling adventures aside, he is starting to show why he was considered the backstop of San Jose's youth movement.

Seattle Kraken

Mason Marchment – 23-2-9-11 – Marchment was traded from the cap-strapped Stars this summer. He was on pace for a career high last season and has made a decent impact on Seattle's top line being in the 76th percentile for assists and 79th percentile for hits.

Ryan Lindgren – 24-0-3-3 – Ryan Lindgren has been an average middle pairing guy for Seattle averaging over 1.6 blocked shots per game but his hits and shots per game totals are at almost half of his career average.

Vancouver Canucks

Evander Kane – 26-5-9-14 – Acquired in the summer Kane has bounced between the Canucks first and second line, despite this he is on pace for his worst season of his career since his rookie season in goals, shots, and hits, surprisingly he is still in the 93rd percentile for shots and 90th percentile for hits.

Lukas Reichel – 19-2-3-5 – After a change of scenery from Chicago, Reichel has struggled to get anything going in Vancouver. His future does not look overly bright at the moment.

Vegas Golden Knights

Mitch Marner – 25-5-20-25 – The inspiration for this theme, Marner has looked much happier with the move to Vegas. Emotions aside Marner is currently on pace for his worst season since his sophomore year, despite this Marner is still in the 96th percentile for assists and has been a valuable asset for Vegas.

Braeden Bowman – 10-4-3-7 -An undrafted free-agent signing, Bowman has surprised everyone since his November 12 call-up. He has seen first-line and first-unit power-play time and has a point in all but one game with more than two shots per contest. Rookie worth watching.

Akira Schmid – 15-2.51-0.897-1 – While Adin Hill has been injured Akira Schmid has stepped up and been given the majority of starts for the Golden Knights. While he is below his career average save percentage he is hovering around the league average as he approaches his career high in NHL games of 19.

Central Division

Chicago Blackhawks

Andre Burakovsky – 19-7-9-16 – Currently playing alongside Connor Bedard, Burakovsky is on pace to hit career highs and return back to his Colorado stat line. This being said he is currently shooting about 11% higher than his career average so the rate at which he is currently scoring likely is not sustainable.

Artyom Levshunov – 23-1-11-12 – The 2024 second overall pick is finally making his mark on the NHL and being in the 86th percentile in assists as a second pairing defenseman is just a glimpse at what he does, he also averages one shot, one block, and one hit a game.

Sam Rinzel – 23-1-7-8 – Sam Rinzel started the season on the first line and first powerplay units but as of late has been Chicago's 7th defenseman and got bumped down to the second powerplay by Levshunov, he still remains a solid option and will likely have a future as a top-four guy that is consistently on the second powerplay.

Colorado Avalanche

Martin Necas – 25-13-20-33 – When Colorado traded out Mikko Rantenen last year and got back Martin Necas it was seen as a lateral move but Necas is currently on pace for over 100 points, the most in his career. He is in the 97th percentile for goals and 94th percentile for assists.

Victor Olofsson – 25-6-10-16 – Olofsson signed with Colorado this summer and has been pretty much as expected for their third line, Olofsson is in the 78th percentile for goals, 76th for assists, and 83rd percentile for shots on goal, these follow his career averages nicely with a slight uptick in assists per game.

Brent Burns – 25-3-9-12 – The oldest player in the NHL has not missed a beat, signing a one year deal Burns still averages over two shots and one blocked shot a game while being in the 76th percentile for assists.

Dallas Stars

Mikko Rantanen – 24-10-20-30 – After bouncing around 3 different teams last year, Rantanen has found himself a home in Dallas as he remains one of the top offensive weapons in the league being on pace for yet another 100-point season. Rantanen, fresh off of a suspension after receiving two game misconducts in back-to-back games, put up two assists against Utah and shows no signs of slowing down.

Justin Hryckowian – 24-3-5-8 – Justin Hryckowian is our second undrafted player on this list today and he has helped Dallas' bottom six in just his second full pro season. While his numbers are not anything special, he likes to throw the body around being in the 76th percentile for hits and making appearances on Dallas' second powerplay unit.

Minnesota Wild

Zeev Buium – 26-3-9-12 – Coming into the season Buium was seen as someone that would be in the running for the Calder Trophy. While there is still time, he is still yet to show much more than his offensive upside. While he has returned to being the quarterback for the first powerplay unit, he has been downgraded to the third defensive pair.

Danila Yurov – 21-3-4-7 – After hovering around ten minutes of ice time through the first 14 games this season, Yurov has started to see more ice time and most recently has been upgraded to the team's No.1 center with the injury to Marco Rossi. We will see how long it lasts but it is a testament to the coach's confidence in Yurov.

Jesper Wallstedt – 9-1.93-0.938-3 – Wallstedt is finally here and although he is behind Filip Gustavsson in the teams depth charts, he is making an argument that he should be number 1. He is currently in the 96th percentile for GAA and in the 98th percentile for save percentage and currently leads the NHL in shutouts.

Nashville Predators

Matthew Wood – 18-7-4-11 – Matthew Wood has been on fire as a rookie so far, averaging roughly two shots per game and well over half a point a game while only averaging 13 minutes on the second line, he has a very intriguing future.

Erik Haula – 25-4-11-15 – Currently being used as the second line center, Haula has bounced around between lines mostly playing beside Steven Stamkos or Jonathan Marchessault. The two snipers seem to have cut into his shot rate resulting in his lowest shots per 60 rate of his career at 1.8. Despite the drop in his shooting, he has his best point-per-game pace in years while contributing 1.5 hits per game.

St. Louis Blues

Pius Suter – 25-6-6-12 – Pius Suter signed one of the larger free agent deals this summer and is now playing for his fourth team in six years. Suter is currently in the 78th percentile for goals, 64th for shots, and 55th percentile for hits showing his scoring touch along with grit.

Jimmy Snuggerud – 26-5-6-11 – Snuggerud is another rookie on this list that is making an impact, but over his last 6 games he has been held off of the scoresheet. It is generally expected that rookies with big ups, also have big downs. Snuggerud is still in the 70th percentile for goals and 73rd in shots on goal.

Utah Mammoth

JJ Peterka – 26-9-7-16 – Utah made a big trade for JJ Peterka this summer and while he has had some consistency issues to start going from really hot to really cold, Peterka is in the 90th percentile for goals and 75th percentile for shots. He plays a majority of his time with Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley which helps his production.

Nate Schmidt – 26-1-9-10 – Nate Schmidt has been the type of player that you can usually count on getting at least one shot, one hit, and one blocked shot a game. So far this season he has had a drop off in his shots blocked but looks to be having one of his best offensive seasons being in the 76th percentile for assists and 70th percentile in hits.

Winnipeg Jets

Jonathon Toews – 24-3-6-9 – Jonathan Toews has his triumphant return to the NHL after three seasons and has been below average in almost every category on primarily the Jets second line. Toews has added quite a bit of experience to the 2024-2025 Presidents Trophy winners.

Gustav Nyquist – 19-0-6-6 – Another player who has added quite a bit of experience to this Jets squad, Nyquist is not far removed from a 75 point season but so far has not shown any of those offensive flashes at this point of the season.

All stats are up to date as of Sunday, November 30th, 11 a.m. PST. Thanks for reading this edition of Wild West. If you have any comments or concerns, please let me know in the comments.