Another year is officially in the books as today is the first day of 2023! Hopefully you all had a good New Year's Eve and aren't in too rough shape today! Our focus is onwards and upwards though, as the fantasy hockey grind continues. This week I will be highlighting a few players who are riding decent hot streaks heading into 2023. Hopefully they can keep it going!

Jordan Staal

At the age of 34, Staal continues to contribute to his club at an effective rate. This is his 16th season in the NHL, and his 11th as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes. While he is generally considered a solid player, in the fantasy realm he doesn't get a ton of attention for a few different reasons.  He's a pure center, and the center position is a deep one most years. This means the guys you have slotted in at that spot really need to be providing a good amount of value since there is such a vast number of options.

Staal traditionally has provided good value in the peripheral stats, which we will take a look at in a moment. He recently had a five-game point streak snapped where he had netted three goals and added five assists. When you combine that with the aforementioned peripheral stats he can rack up, you're getting a decent amount of bang for your buck.

Staal can rack up the faceoff wins with the best of them. He's not quite in the top elite tier (i.e. Patrice Bergeron, Bo Horvat) but he's definitely one of the best centers in the league on the dot. In his 36 games this season, he's averaging just under 10 faceoffs per game. Another category you can rely on him to produce is hits. Last year he had a career high 212 hits.  He's only at 79 so far this season, but that's still an average of over two per game which is excellent. 

For now, I would recommend to give Staal a whirl if you have some injuries or have any under-performers on your team that need to be replaced. He averages over 16 minutes a night which is fine, but one setback is that he doesn't see any power-play time, so that's something you need to keep in mind. If you already struggle getting special teams points, Staal may not be the play for you. For now though, you can try riding the hot hand. He is owned in just over one-fifth of all Yahoo leagues, meanwhile on Fantrax, he has an ownership of 24%.

Michael Amadio

While Jack Eichel has been sidelined with an injury for the past three weeks or so, Amadio has stepped up and seized his opportunity. He was supplanted onto the top line and has been playing with Chandler Stephenson and Mark Stone. He is riding a six-game point streak that has consisted of four goals and four assists. 

Amadio is 26 and has been somewhat of a journeyman throughout his career up to this point. He was a third-round selection of the LA Kings back in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. For the first three years of his NHL career, he bounced between the Kings and their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign. Following that, he had brief stints in Ottawa and Toronto. After the Leafs placed him on waivers late last October, the Vegas Golden Knights swooped in and claimed him. His recent strong play was awarded just earlier this week when the Golden Knights extended him for two more seasons. Up until his promotion to the top line, Amadio has not been an asset in fantasy hockey, so this suggestion is solely a streaming option. 

With that being said though, I think it's a solid option in deeper leagues where you don't have a lot to pick from. Not only is Amadio on a top line with two solid linemates, but he's also on the team's top power-play unit as well. It's fairly rare to have a forward available in January with that kind of deployment and also plays on a highly skilled team like Vegas. Obviously when Eichel comes back, Amadio will see his opportunities be reigned back, but for now he is a solid option. He is under 10 percent owned in both Yahoo and Fantrax leagues, so you should have no problem picking him up.

Jason Zucker

To round things out for this week, I chose another veteran who provides a little bit of everything. Zucker is in his 12th NHL season, and his fourth in the Steel City. He turns 31 in a couple of weeks, and unfortunately has battled some injuries over the past couple years of his career. For now though, he has been relatively healthy and is having himself a pretty solid season. Through 32 games played he has accumulated eight goals and 15 assists for 23 points. That's just shy of a 60-point pace through a full 82-game schedule.

While that's pretty solid in its own right, what I love about Zucker is he plays the physical game too. He has always played a pretty gritty game, but this year has seen his hit number explode. He already has amassed 92 hits which already is a career-high for one season. He's averaging just under three hits per game. For a guy who is going to sniff 50 to 60 points, that's a huge number. Even better is that he shoots a pretty high volume too. His 78 shots gives him an average of 2.4 shots per game.

When you combine all these things together, you're getting a pretty solid player who will give you a little bit of everything. Of course, there are a few drawbacks though. As I mentioned before, he is a little injury prone, so that's always something to consider. He also doesn't see a ton of power-play time either, only getting just over 20% of time on the team's man advantage. The left winger is owned in 25% of Yahoo leagues, while Fantrax has him listed at 45% owned. 

That wraps up the first column of the new year! For now, it's back to enjoying the Connor Bedard show at the World Juniors for the next week (hopefully). I gotta say, it's nice having the World Juniors back in its normal spot over the holidays. It just feels right. We will be back again next Sunday, until then all the best in your fantasy endeavors!