Today on Frozen Tool Forensics we are going to look at some big names with slow starts. Basically, our job today is to check in on these players and see if there is anything to their lack of production and whether folks should be worried at this stage in the game.

In order to research this article, we will be using the player profile pages in Frozen Tools. On these pages we can get a good idea of their recent career history, as well as a game log, and the underlying numbers to give some context for each players current performance.

First up is Matt Boldy. Boldly has started the year off with a bang, and zero points over his first four games. Boldy has averaged almost 21 minutes a night over those three games playing primarily with Joel Eriksson Ek and Blake Coleman at even strength and on a top power play that has seen 80 percent of the team's power-play time. He has also put up 19 shots over four appearances. Basically, all the indicators are of a player who is getting prime opportunity, appears to be taking advantage of it, but is getting some bad puck luck. This should be an anomaly and a return to form is likely any day now.

Moritz Seider has only one point through his first three games. Like with Boldy though there is very little reason to be concerned otherwise. Seider's point production has been the cherry on top of his strong peripheral floor and everything there looks just fine. His shot, hit, and block rates have been basically as advertised, he is seeing the same amount of time on ice, same power-play deployment, and just hasn't gotten on the score sheet. The drama around Dylan Larkin has probably not been beneficial to the team's performance and his return on October 6th certainly benefits the team on the ice. Again, nothing out of the ordinary here.

Brady Tkachuk certainly had a lot swirling around him during the offseason and with zero points through four games he certainly bears some scrutiny. Unfortunately, there is now the absence of Aleksander Barkov to take into consideration as well. Tkachuk started the season with Barkov and Sam Reinhart, with Brad Marchand slotting onto their line in Barkov's absence. Looking at the numbers, there are a few inconsistencies. Tkachuk has averaged more time on ice than in 2025-26 in Ottawa, including having a role on the top power play. His hit numbers are fine, but his shots have decreased. He has lost a full shot per game on average, from almost four per game, to just under three. Tkachuk has never pointed much higher than a point per game and a lot of his value came from his peripherals, particularly his shots, so those decreasing is a little bit of a red flag. Still, almost three shots per game should result in at least one goal and going four games without a point while on a top line and top power play doesn't seem sustainable. It is something that never happened last year in Ottawa. Minus the Barkov injury, Tkachuk is getting the ideal deployment managers could have hoped for over the summer and it seems like just some growing pains on a new team. The shot count is something to watch though as if that stays at its current rate it could result in fewer goals, and a drop in value overall.

We are going to translate right into Sam Reinhart here who also has zero points through four games. Outside of his line mates, nothing looks different on the surface for Reinhart. He has not played with Tkachuk before and even last year with all of the injuries did not spend much time at even strength with Marchand. Still, he has averaged almost 21 minutes a night, is on the top power play, and shooting at a consistent rate. There are clearly a couple of kinks that are working themselves out, but like with Boldy above, we should anticipate a rebound soon.

Sidney Crosby has not often been featured on any kind of 'cold' list, but here we are. He does have two points in four games, both assists, but given how many goals the Penguins scored it is surprising to see him with only two points. There are currently 10 Penguins with more points than Crosby and this is probably the first time in his career we have ever been able to say that. Like with a lot of the above players though, the score sheet is really the only place where we can see a difference from past seasons. He makes any line the top line and is on the top power play. He is still averaging over 19 minutes of ice time and shooting three times per game. He has had a bit of a shakeup in his wingers so that could be some of it, with Nick Robertson taking the place of Bryan Rust for a few games, before being swapped out for Hendrix Lapierre. Ultimately though he doesn't yet have a power-play point, and his point participation number is half of his usual rate. Rickard Rakell, his only consistent line mate, is also off to a slow start, and it just seems like a matter of time before something clicks again for them.

The dam may have already burst for Mark Scheifele. After going the first three games without a point he got two assists on October 7th. Still, that only puts him at two points in four games. Like with most of the players on this list though there is not a deployment issue, and yet somehow he has managed only two points while his linemate at even strength and on the power play, Kyle Connor has five goals. Scheifele isn't in danger of losing deployment or anything like that, but he has been shooting less, down to 1.5 shots per game so again, something to keep an eye on. He saw a spike in favorable underlying numbers to get him to that 106-point pace in 25-26, so a repeat always seemed a little unlikely. Given that and his slow start we might be looking at a 90-point pace ceiling.

Jesper Bratt makes the list on a technicality, but there is really nothing to see here. He has two assists over three games, which means he is only on a 56-point pace, but the sample size is really the problem here. He is playing almost 19 minutes a night, on a line with Jack Hughes, on the top power play, and shooting more than three times per game. The real question is whether his ceiling is the 73 points from 25-26 or the 85-90 points from the prior to seasons. Given some bad luck in 25-26, at least a point per game still seems reasonable. 

That is all for this week.

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