If there's one area of the Ottawa lineup that probably needs some stability, it's on the blue line (once they get their centers healthy). The team is trying to give the roster some stability on the back end by re-signing Artem Zub to a four-year extension:

Deal is worth $4.6 million per-season for Zub. #Sens

— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) December 21, 2022

He is not a big producer with 40 points in 142 games but fantasy owners in banger leagues are well aware of his peripheral prowess: 121 blocks and 171 hits every 82 games in his NHL career. In real life, he provides good defence for them, so this seems like a fine deal for both the team and player. Cap league owners may have a decision to make with his price tag getting a big steeper.

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Washington got some more good news in regards to Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson:

Tom Wilson (ACL) has shed his non-contact jersey and is in a regular jersey for today's Capitals practice.

Nick Backstrom (hip) also remains in a regular jersey

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) December 21, 2022

They skated on a line with Alex Ovechkin, though Tom also pointed out that it's likely to just give them some top-end reps in practice to get them up to speed. Washington has a back-to-back today and tomorrow to finish out the pre-holiday schedule so we'll see if they want to get them in the lineup for one of those two games.

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Aleksander Barkov was out of the lineup for Florida again on Wednesday, putting him at nine games missed this season. He suffered a lower-body injury following his return from pneumonia and it doesn't look likely he'll return before the league takes a break. Florida went into last night's game four points back of a playoff spot, so getting Barkov back in a timely manner seems a necessity at this point.

On the good news front, Anton Lundell returned to the lineup after missing three weeks with an illness and an upper-body injury. These illnesses are really making life hard for a lot of teams across the league.

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We have reached the part of the year where it's time to do a bit of reflection. At this time last year, the NHL was on hiatus due to a COVID pause, something we've thankfully not had to deal with in 2022-23. For that reason, I thought I'd take my next couple of Ramblings to look back on the last calendar year in the NHL, dating to when the league went on pause on December 21^st, 2021. Today, we are going to look at how different forwards performed over the last 12 months, saving defencemen and goalies for tomorrow. Data will be either from our Frozen Tools or Natural Stat Trick. We are going right up to December 21^st of this season.

Matthew Tkachuk

The leader in points per minute in all situations over the last year? Not Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl, not Nikita Kucherov, and not Auston Matthews. It is new Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk, who was traded from Calgary in the offseason. His 4.56 points/60 minutes outpaces Kucherov (4.39) and McDavid (4.42) ever so slightly. He is off to a fantastic start to his Panthers career with 39 points in 30 games. He has truly made his mark as one of the top wingers in the entire league and if Florida should make a playoff push in the final 40-some games of their season, Tkachuk should absolutely be in the Hart Trophy conversation.

One thing to note here: Tkachuk's hit totals have taken a dive. He has just 21 in 30 games this year, having averaged 1.63 per game over the prior two seasons. The 25-year-old had a 12-game stretch last year from early December to early January that had 21 hits alone. Tkachuk's fantasy owners probably aren't too concerned about it, but it is something to keep in mind if he does hit a real bad cold streak production-wise.

Steven Stamkos

With so many high-end offensive performers over the last few seasons, it's easy to lose track of just how well Stamkos is still producing. As of December 21^st, he was slightly ahead of Matthews in points per minute, good for sevenths in the league. In terms of raw production, he had 108 points in 83 games, good for ninth in the league. Considering all the injuries he's endured over the last decade, including that gruesome broken leg when he crashed into the post, and the fact he's 33 years old in February, Stamkos is producing as well as he ever has.

What makes this even more special is the fact that Stamkos really hasn't played much with Kucherov. He has spent around two-thirds of his 5-on-5 ice time without Kucherov beside him, yet the team scores nearly as much as when Kucherov is on the ice without Stamkos. The veteran Canadian forward has learned new ways to score as the game has evolved and it has kept him among the league's absolute best point-getters.

Kirill Kaprizov

Tied for fifth in points across the league in the last year is Kirill Kaprizov with 114 (Mitch Marner has the same number in one fewer game played). That is one less than Leon Draisaitl, for comparison's sake (in two fewer games played). I remember the consternation around his expensive contract extension following his rookie season and I would say that he's made a lot of those doubts disappear.

One of the more impressive feats Kaprizov is giving us is the constant improvement: his goals, points, and shots per game have increased every season he's been in the league. He has done this with guys like Ryan Hartman, Sam Steel, and Frédérick Gaudreau as his centers. I am a fan of Hartman, but Kaprizov turned him into a 34-goal scorer a year ago. That speaks to just how much offensive talent the winger has.

Minnesota's 5-on-5 production has struggled this year, but Hartman may be back soon for the Wild (maybe even Wednesday night?). If he can regain his form on the top line, Kaprizov could be in for a big second half. That is a scary thought for a player already on pace for 111 points.

Ross Colton

Going back to Tampa Bay for a second, we should talk about goal scoring. Over the last year, the leader in goals/60 minutes at 5-on-5 is Matthews. Also in the top-5 is the Buffalo pair of Jeff Skinner and Tage Thompson. In fifth place, we have David Pastrnak. The guy sandwiched by those four players? He wouldn't be the headliner if it weren't for a reason:

This is one of the guys I was hoping would be moved up the lineup for the Bolts. It ended up being Brandon Hagel and he's performed admirably, but I really thought Colton could be an impact player in their top-6. Regardless, he has as many 5-on-5 goals in this stretch (23) as Andrei Svechnikov and Kyle Connor. That is in over 300-400 fewer minutes played than the two of them, respectively. It is quite the run he's on.

Colton is on pace to push for another 20-goal season (over 82 games) despite averaging under 12 minutes a night. He is an RFA at the end of the year, a year away from UFA, and the team may not have the space to re-sign him. I wonder what he could do with a real shot in a good top-6 somewhere.

Jordan Kyrou

The first 10 names on the leaderboard for points per 60 minutes at 5-on-4 over the last calendar year make a lot of sense: McDavid, Artemi Panarin, Kucherov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Kaprizov, Draisaitl, J.T. Miller, Pastrnak, Jonathan Marchessault, and Jason Robertson. It is the 11^th name that is of interest, and the title gave it away. Jordan Kyrou is sitting at 7.47 points/60 with the man advantage, out-pacing names like Thompson, Zibanejad, Connor, and Barkov.

If we were to expand this to points per 60 minutes in all situations, Kyrou is just outside the top-20 forwards, sitting 22^nd at 3.66, just behind Draisaitl (3.7) and Zuccarello (3.68) and just ahead of Skinner (3.64) and Barkov (3.52). At time of writing, he had 13 goals and 28 points in his prior 20 games as he rebounded from an early-season slump.

Kyrou has really cemented himself among the top playmaking scorers on the wing in the league. He isn't quite to the Pastrnak-Kucherov-Kaprizov level yet but give him a couple more (healthy) years and let's see where he is. My bet is not very far off.

Arthur Kaliyev

The last player I want to mention is a guy I'm very high on offensively, and it's Arthur Kaliyev. Over the last calendar year, he is 13^th in the league in shots per minute at all strengths. The 10 of the 12 guys ahead of him are all superstars; aside from the obvious names like Matthews, MacKinnon, and Pastrnak, we find names like Bergeron, Tkachuk, and Skinner. Then comes Kaliyev at 13^th, with Jonathan Kaprizov and Robertson just behind him. Kaliyev has been shooting the puck at an elite rate, he just hasn't received elite minutes.

I do watch a lot of Kings games and it's obvious that Kaliyev has some more rounding to do to his offensive game. He needs to get better at finding his teammates in space as well as his hands in tight areas. But he is showing a lot of offensive promise as he knows how to find open space for himself and clearly can fire the puck like a future 40-goal scorer. He is still just 21 years old with just 115 games of regular season experience. Like Kyrou, give it two more years and then we'll see where he is. My bet is among the top goal scorers in hockey.