In this week's Eastern Edge, we'll highlight a couple of players you may be able to acquire at a discounted rate, as well as a few players you may want to trade away.

Buy Low

Sam Reinhart

With eight points in 19 games, Reinhart is on pace for just 35 points this season – a far cry from the 82 he tallied last year. It's interesting that his scoring pace is so much lower than last season, considering he's averaging two more minutes of ice time. Although he may be playing more difficult minutes than he played last year, he's also seeing more time beside elite talent (i.e., Aleksander Barkov), so you'd expect more offense than we've seen from him so far. Reinhart's 5v5 on-ice shooting percentage – the percentage of shots that Florida has scored on while he's on the ice at even strength – sits at a shockingly low 3.3% (via NaturalStatTrick). Based on what we've seen from him previously, I'd expect that number to be around 8-10%. I think it's fair to project some positive regression as the season progresses. 

Alex Ovechkin

The 37-year-old winger is off to a modest start by his standards, pacing for 70 points. That's a significant step below last year's 96-point-pace. I think most have given up the belief that Ovi will ever fall victim to age-related decline, and I don't think that's what we're seeing here. In fact, the underlying numbers seem to suggest that Ovi's production could improve going forward. His on-ice shooting percentage at 5v5 currently sits at 5.4%, which is about half of what it's been in recent years. In addition, the Capitals have 14 expected goals at 5v5 while Ovechkin's on the ice, but they've only actually scored eight goals. That indicates the process has been good, even though the results haven't been as favourable. More often than not, when the process is good over a large sample, production follows. As a result, I think these last three quarters of the season could feature more offense from Ovi than we've seen in the first quarter.  

Sell High

Nick Suzuki

The Canadiens' captain has had an excellent start to the season, tallying 23 points in 18 games – which translates to 105 points over a full season. Only 12 players in the league have more points than Suzuki, and only six have more goals than he does (11). Suzuki's offensive intelligence and elite game sense have been evident since he entered the league, but those talents are flourishing under coach Martin St. Louis, who emphasizes the cerebral aspects of hockey. Suzuki benefits from seeing a high volume of opportunity, averaging nearly 21 minutes of ice time per game, while seeing 65% of Montreal's total time with the man advantage. He spends most of his minutes beside elite sniper Cole Caufield. The two youngsters have great chemistry together, which has allowed them to combine for a number of impressive goals – the latest of which was an exhilarating buzzer beater on Saturday night against the Flyers.

So, if I've spent an entire paragraph gushing about how good Suzuki is, why did I label him as a player you should sell high on in fantasy leagues? Well, although Suzuki is an incredibly talented player who has a bright future in the NHL, the underlying numbers suggest that his current scoring pace is unlikely to hold for a full season. He's scored on 27.5% of his shots so far – a success rate that's more than double what we've seen from him in any of his first three seasons. His 5v5 on-ice shooting percentage sits at 16.7% (via NaturalStatTrick), which is again more than double what we've seen from him before. One might argue that the team possesses more talent than it has in recent years, that they're led by a strong coach, that Suzuki is better now than he's ever been before. All of that may be true, but even good players on good teams tend to have on-ice shooting percentages in that 10-12% range over the course of a full season – so expect some regression going forward. I'm not suggesting that Suzuki's production will fall off a cliff, but I think it's likely that his output over the next 60 or so games won't be as good as what he's done in this first quarter. Based on that belief, it makes sense to capitalize on his value while it's at an all-time high. I still like him in keeper leagues, but if you can get a good return in a single-season format, then you'd be wise to pull the trigger.  

Linus Ullmark

The 29-year-old netminder has been the league's best goalie so far this season, sporting a sparkling 13-1-1 record, 1.96 GAA and .935 save percentage. He's benefitted from playing behind the league-leading Bruins – a group that's been excellent defensively, sporting an expected goals against per 60 of just 2.25, which ranks 4^th in the NHL (via NaturalStatTrick). Although Ullmark has been excellent so far, I'm concerned that his fantasy value may drop to some extent as the season progresses – mainly due to a decreased workload. Ullmark has seen a high volume of starts up until this point because his counterpart Jeremy Swayman had been sidelined with a leg injury. Swayman recently returned to the lineup and is expected to see more action going forward. If Ullmark isn't playing as often, he won't have the same impact on your roster that he had during the first quarter.

Of course, whether you sell high on Ullmark will depend on your specific situation. If you're in a league that has more skater categories than goalie categories, and you can swap Ullmark for an elite skater, then you'd be wise to do so. However, if goalie stats hold a lot of weight in your league, and trading Ullmark away leaves you without any decent replacement options, then maybe you hold onto him. Ultimately, because I believe his current value is higher than his value will be at the end of the season, I'd lean towards trading him away.