With a hat trick and an assist on Friday, Mats Zuccarello has extended his point streak to nine games. Over that span he has 13 points (5 G, 8 A). I'll admit that I didn't think it was going to work for Zuccarello and the Wild when they signed him to a five-year contract in the summer of 2019. But since lining up with Kirill Kaprizov, his value has skyrocketed.

2019-20 season without Kaprizov: 0.57 PTS/GP

2020-21 season with Kaprizov: 0.83 PTS/GP, 1.13 PTS/GP, 1.10 PTS/GP

Kaprizov had a great game in his own right, scoring a goal and adding two assists with a plus-3. He has 25 points over his last 18 games.

Last week I mentioned Sam Steel as a recent addition to the Zuccarello – Kaprizov line. Steel assisted twice on Friday, giving him four points and a plus-4 in his last four games. The former first-round pick of the Ducks might be worth a look in deeper leagues, especially if he can sustain this recent success.

After a six-game stretch without a quality start, Marc-Andre Fleury is turning things around a bit. Fleury made 29 saves in the 4-1 win over Chicago, giving him back-to-back quality starts with just one goal allowed in each. Filip Gustavsson has been making a push for the starting job recently with five wins and four quality starts in his last five games. When push comes to shove, expect MAF to still start the majority of games. That being said, the now-38-year-old Fleury might benefit from a slightly reduced workload.

Seth Jones and Patrick Kane assisted on the Blackhawks' only goal, a power-play marker from Jonathan Toews. Both Jones and Kane were on Friday's version of the cold list on Frozen Tools. Jones entered the game with just one assist in his last five games and points in two of his last 10 games, while Kane also entered the game with just one assist in his past five games. Kane is on pace for 62 points, which would be the lowest total of his career. Both are also in the running for worst plus-minus in the league, as Kane has a minus-20 and Jones has a minus-17. Jones is nearly impossible to trade because of his contract, while those rostering Kane should welcome the possibility of a trade before the deadline. We predicted that the state of the Blackhawks would have some sort of impact on these players, and so far, that cannot be understated.

Jones looks like he'll disappoint even over the long haul. For more on Jones and the upcoming schedule, check out this week's Looking Ahead.

Kane was an obvious faller in this month's Top 100 Roto Rankings. Find out which other players appear to be losing season-long value.

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Jordan Kyrou led the Blues to a 5-2 win in Calgary on Friday, scoring a pair of goals on six shots. After stumbling out of the gate with just three points in his first nine games, Kyrou has turned it up a notch since then with 24 points in his last 21 games. Kyrou and the Blues really struggled to start the season, as he was a frigid minus-15 over those first nine games. Since then, Kyrou is "just" a minus-2. Kyrou also has six points over his last three games while taking at least four shots in each of those three games.

Pavel Buchnevich recorded one of each (goal and assist) on Friday, giving him at least one point in each of the last six games he has suited up for. He's been sidelined for multiple games on two separate occasions this season, so health has been a concern. Yet after a slow start to the season (2 PTS in first 6 GP), Buchnevich has 21 points over his last 16 games, which works out to 23 points in 22 games. Even though the Blues have been up and down all season, make sure Buchnevich is back in your lineup after returning from injury on Thursday.

You might be thinking about benching Jonathan Huberdeau at this point, and it wouldn't be a bad idea depending on who your other options are. Huberdeau was held off the scoresheet for the second consecutive game, and he has scored just one goal in his last nine games and five goals in 28 games. He's also on pace for 53 points, which is a much lower tier from the elite company he kept up with last season. What's also concerning is that he's taking fewer than two shots per game (1.7 SOG/GP), down a full shot from last season. It might just be a "first year with new team" vibe, but so far it looks like he was traded from a much better situation in Florida. And for those about to ask whether they should trade Huberdeau: no, you don't trade a player with elite upside when their value is at its lowest. Hold and hope that things turn around. That's what I'm doing.  

If you roster one or more struggling Flames, Connor Mackey scoring both Calgary goals isn't quite what you want to see. Yet here we are. Elias Lindholm and Dillon Dube assisted on both of Mackey's goals.

Only three goalies had more wins than Jacob Markstrom last season. This season, 21 goalies have more wins than Markstrom. Some of the names that you wouldn't have expected before the season: Martin Jones, Stuart Skinner, Spencer Martin, Jake Allen, Carter Hart, and Karel Vejmelka.

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Do the Coyotes look better than you thought they'd be? After watching them in the preseason, I thought they'd be historically bad. Yet they appear to be competitive in many of their games, aren't in dead last in the NHL standings, and after a long road trip to start the season have more home games remaining than any other team (34 – no other team has more than 31 – source: Schedule Planner). Even though the Coyotes aren't stacked with fantasy options, that's still something to keep in mind for their players that are. Especially that small but loud Mullett Arena, where the Coyotes are 4-2-1 this season.

Clayton Keller scored a pair of goals to lead the Coyotes to a 5-4 win over the visiting Islanders. Keller has seven points over his last four games. Five of those points are goals, including a hat trick on Sunday against the Flyers. Here’s one of those goals… oof.

Not going to sugar-coat it: Clayton Keller just scored a goal right off Alexander Romanov's jock. #Yotes pic.twitter.com/y5PFIsIN0R

— Mike Gould (@miketgould) December 17, 2022

Keller's linemate Nick Schmaltz assisted on both of Keller's goals and added another assist in the game. Schmaltz has six points over his last four games.

Jakob Chychrun chipped in another two assists, giving him eight points over his last seven games. That will help the Coyotes, or his trade value, or your fantasy team, or whatever.

With a goal, Shayne Gostisbehere has 12 points in his last 11 games. Remember when we thought he might be done in Philly? Ghost's point-per-game average is higher (0.79 PTS/GP) than it was last season (0.62 PTS/GP), when he scored 51 points.

Karel Vejmelka has now won three of his past four games. The fact that he posts a quality start in just over half his games while maintaining a positive GSAA (goals saved above average) is quite remarkable, when you consider the team in front of him. He's not a terrible option, as I found out last week when two of my head-to-head teams were facing him.

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Jakub Vrana has been reinstated from the player assistance program, rejoining the Red Wings for practice on Friday while wearing a no-contact jersey. Vrana has played in just two games this season, and there is no timeline for his return to the lineup. Because he is IR-eligible, he is still 36% rostered in Yahoo leagues and 61% rostered in Fantrax. You can most certainly add him to your roster if he's available, although it may not happen immediately.

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A follow-up to Tage Thompson and some others. For more on Thompson, see yesterday's Ramblings.

Interesting 2022 calendar year NHL scoring stats:

Tage Thompson 50 goals, 94 points in 76 GP

Kevin Fiala 99 points in 85 GP

Matthew Tkachuk 117 points in 81 GP

Brock Nelson 41 goals in 83 GP

Jeff Skinner 77 points in 78 GP

Valeri Nichushkin 22 goals and 51 points in 55 GP

— Harman Dayal (@harmandayal2) December 16, 2022

Staying with the Sabres, point-per-game Jeff Skinner is also a bit of a surprise. Maybe the Sabres won't need to buy out his $9 million per season contract after all.

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Follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding for more fantasy hockey.