This week on Frozen Tool Forensics we are going to turn our attention to some potentially lower rostered players. These players have been decent producers while in the lineup, but their overall numbers have been suppressed because of missed time. As such they may have been flying under the radar in some leagues.

To put this list together we are using the Big Board Report from the Frozen Tools Reports' page. I exported it to gather a few of the columns I was most interested in and then went over to Yahoo to gather the Percent Rostered numbers for the players in question. For the purposes of the table, we are looking at the highest point-per-game players that are under 70 percent rostered and have played 35 or fewer games.

The table below contains the following: basic player information (name, position, team), their current season stats (games played, points per game, percent of the team's power-play, average time on ice), and their roster percentage number in Yahoo. All data is as of Thursday, January 29^th.

There are a few Kraken on this list, but we of course need to start with Jared McCann. McCann had a very inconsistent start to the season, only playing 11 games through December 28. He has been quite impactful since though. Over the past month he has played in all 16 games and put up 18 points in that time span. He is shooting 2.5 times per game, and on the top power play. Overall, he is on a 76-point pace. His shooting percentage is a touch high, but he is a player that should definitely be rostered in more than 40 percent of leagues.

Mats Zuccarello is similarly hot with nine points in his last six games and 16 in his last 16. He may be 38 years old but continues to line up with Kirill Kaprizov at even strength and on the top power play. He is very clearly line dependent and could get hurt at any moment, but while he is in this deployment, and producing he is someone who should be rostered in most formats.

Jason Zucker's 67-point pace is a very solid performance for the 34 year old. He spent some time injured and did not immediately light it up upon his return with only two points in those first five games back, but has been quite effective recently with seven points over his last seven games. He doesn't have the most ideal even strength deployment, but is consistently on the top power play in Buffalo, which has been a productive place for him so far with 11 of his points coming on the man advantage.

Logan Cooley is worth mentioning, though everyone else on this list has actually returned from their injury. Cooley was supposed to be out a minimum of two months as of December 11, so it is possible he could return by the end of the Olympic break. Cooley had been very streaky up to his injury with several 3+-point outings, but also a couple of four-game point droughts. Hopefully he makes a quick recovery and can return to 17+ minutes of ice time, and 60 percent of the team's power play.

Mikael Granlund has certainly taken advantage of the injury situation over in Anaheim. With Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish, and Troy Terry all missing time recently, Granlund has seen an uptick in time and deployment. He has been a bit streaky but has 10 points over his last 10 games while fulfilling top line and top power-play duties. Overall, he has a 63-point pace on the season. His playing situation bears watching as players return, but in the short term he is a good option.

Rickard Rakell should potentially not even be on this list (that rostered percent number should be higher). He had an excellent season in 2024-25 and has followed it up with a 58-point pace. A slight drop to be sure, but last season's shooting percentage was definitely a high-water mark. He is still getting top line and top power-play duties with Sidney Crosby on a surprisingly effective Penguins team. He also contributes well across the board with shots and hits. If your league doesn't value those things, maybe a 60-point player isn't all that, just don't let the dip in totals because of that missed time fool you.

Jaden Schwartz on the other hand is probably fine where he is. He started the season on a great run, but has been pretty quiet since his injury, with three points in those 10 games. That is in stark contrast to the start of the season where he put up 10 points in 11 games. The challenge for Schwartz is that Seattle doesn't score a lot of goals, and he is often a bit buried on the depth chart and not on the top power play.

Kaapo Kakko is sort of the polar opposite, but kind of ends in the same place. He had several injuries to start the season and was ice cold for his first chunk of games back. He then went on a bit of a run with 14 points in 17 games (a 67-point pace). During that stretch he got to spend a bit more time on the top line, though didn't get much of an opportunity on the top power play. Seattle has shifted lines a bit prioritizing McCann on that top unit so Kakko has seen a bit of a drop the last couple of games in time on ice and no points in his last two. His overall ice time is still not that high, so it wasn't clear that he was going to be able to maintain that pace anyway, but being dropped lower in the lineup certainly isn't good news. Like with Schwartz, Seattle doesn't score a ton of goals, and not being on the top line and top power play is going to hurt is potential production.

That is all for this week.

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