Half of the teams in the Eastern Conference carry a 100% points percentage this week, and a quarter of the conference with a 0% points percentage and a quarter going .500. This makes for a lot of movement in the conference standings – the Rangers fall a few spots, the Flyers rise a few and the Penguins put together a perfect week. Let's break it down:

New Jersey Devils // 17-9-2 // L7 Days: 2-2-0

Jesper Bratt's upwards trajectory continues. He now joins the "100-Point Pace" Club, which includes 18 other skaters with more than ten games played this year, including other first-timers: Tim Stutzle, Brandon Hagel, Dylan Strome and Martin Necas.

Nathan Legare made his NHL debut with the New Jersey Devils on Monday night. Legare posted six hits and two shots in 11:42 of time on ice. 

Washington Capitals // 17-6-1 // L7 Days: 4-0-0

Alex Ovechkin is already skating on his own, just two weeks after suffering a fractured fibula. The same fractured fibula that carried a four-to-six-week recovery timeline. The Russian Machine.

The Washington power play has been regressing to the mean since Ovechkin's injury on November 18th. The Capitals have ranked second in power play efficiency since then, scoring on 40% of their opportunities – only New Jersey ranks higher with 50%. 

Dylan Strome is doing just fine without the Great Eight – scoring a cool point per game since the injury. 

Carolina Hurricanes // 16-7-1 // L7 Days: 2-2-0

Pyotr Kochetkov has just one more test to clear in his concussion protocol before returning. Though not confirmed, a return vs Seattle on Tuesday seems like a very real possibility. 

The Hurricanes have signed 35-year-old journeyman goaltender Dustin Tokarski to a one-year, two-way contract. He has 80 games of NHL experience, and went 4-1-0 with a .933 save percentage with the Chicago Wolves in November.

Florida Panthers // 15-9-1 // L7 Days: 3-1-0

Congratulations to Sergei Bobrovsky and his family, which either grew by one or will grow by one soon! Bobrovsky stayed in Florida to be there for the birth of a child.

Matthew Tkachuk's slow start is becoming harder and harder to ignore. One statistic to note – by December 2nd of last year, Matthew Tkachuk was on a 65-point pace and ended the year with 88 points in 80 games. He is also currently beating his Points/Game total this time last season – currently on pace for 78 points, 13 points higher than last year's pace at the turn of December. 

Toronto Maple Leafs // 14-7-2 // L7 Days: 1-1-0

Fraser Minten has four points in his first five games with the Maple Leafs, and two are goals. The Leafs are getting a lot from their younger players; Bobby McMann, Matthew Knies and now Fraser Minten. 

Auston Matthews scores his first goal since Halloween. Sounds like a long time, but for Auston it was four games ago. He's up to three points in two games back. Though he's got nothing on the power play yet, which has not scored on three opportunities since Matthews' return. 

New York Rangers // 13-10-1 // L7 Days: 1-3-0

Frustrations seem to be very high in New York for the Rangers. Laviolette is scrambling the lines, Jacob Trouba's ice time is deteriorating, Artemi Panarin and Filip Chytil were both benched for the final 5:22 of the first period on Monday, Mika Zibanejad "relegated" to line three with Kreider and Smith in beat writer tweets, Trouba with deteriorating ice time… 

Just look at the line blending:

FHFH Shift Chart – NYR vs NJD // 12/2/2024

On the right, the Devils, you'll notice neat, well defined, blue three by three matrices of forwards who spent extended ice time together, a line combination. There is a gradient of relative opacity that signifies more or less time together – the more vibrant the color, the more time they played together. 

On the left, the Rangers, you'll notice there is little to no definition in any one of the line combinations outside of Zibanejad, Kreider and Smith – who turned out to actually be the second line. 

Largely, the Rangers matrix is a jumbled mess of Laviolette micromanaging combinations as the team is in the midst of a seven-game slide with only one win. Filip Chytil was announced as the top line center with Panarin and Lafreniere, and as for their time on ice? Panarin had 16:43, Lafreniere had 12:34 and Chytil had 11:47. 

The tension is apparent in New York, the camel’s back has to be getting pretty sore.

Philadelphia Flyers // 12-10-3 // L7 Days: 3-0-1

Samuel Ersson is likely for Thursday's game against the Florida Panthers. There's no confirmation, but "all signs are pointing towards him returning" – via Kevin Kurz on X.

Travis Konecny is just outside that "100-Point Pace Club" that Jesper Bratt joined tonight. Konecny holds a 98-point pace currently, which would be the best performance from a Philadelphia Flyer since Claude Giroux broke 100 points in 2017-18. 

Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen were receiving high fives and pats on the back today at practice, all three having made the Four Nations roster for their respective countries: Ristolainen for Team Finland, and Konecny and Sanheim for Team Canada. 

Boston Bruins // 12-11-3 / L7 Days: 2-2-0

Have we gotten a better Bruins team?

Pasta breaks 7gm goalless drought

David Pastrnak scored a goal tonight, snapping a seven-game drought – his second seven-game goalless drought of the season. Pasta had just two goals on 55 shots through 14 games in November. Last season he had two four-game droughts and a single five-game drought for the final five games of the season. In the 2022-23 season, he had only three three-game droughts, and in 2021-22 he had a nine-game drought and a five-game drought. In each of these past three seasons Pasta was able to hit or break 40 goals, breaking 60 in 2022-23 – this year he isn't even on pace to break 30. His shooting percentage is largely to blame, almost half of what his five-year average is. 

Tampa Bay Lightning // 12-9-2 // L7 Days: 2-2-0

Nikita Kucherov missed Saturday's game with an apparent day-to-day injury. Conor Sheary was called up on Saturday to fill in, and has since been reassigned to Syracuse. This could suggest someone is nearing a return to the lineup. Mitchell Chaffee and Nick Paul, who have missed six and three games respectively, were participating in Saturday's optional morning skate could be that somebody. Sheary could potentially be keeping his blood moving for Wednesday's game against the Laval Rocket before coming back up to the NHL, or Nikita Kucherov could be ready to come back. 

Columbus Blue Jackets // 11-9-3 // L7 Days: 2-0-1

Kirill Marchenko is the first Blue Jacket to hit ten goals this season. 

Kent Johnson is now tri-eligible in Yahoo!. If not for my 10-game minimum criteria, Kent Johnson would be in the "100-Point Pace Club" – just has to keep the streak going for one more game!

Zach Werenski now holds a franchise record for the longest points streak from a defenseman in Blue Jackets history. 

Buffalo Sabres // 11-11-2 // L7 Days: 0-2-1

Tage Thompson made his long-awaited return to the Buffalo lineup this past week. No points yet, but the 16 shots in three games suggests that it is not for lack of trying. 

JJ Peterka is in the midst of a six-game pointless streak. Three of these six games he's gotten over 20 minutes of time on ice, the confidence is still there from Lindy Ruff. 

New York Islanders // 9-10-6 // L7 Days: 1-2-1

Noah Dobson was benched for the final 6:41 of Saturday's game against Buffalo. If this is kicking someone while they are already down – we can only hope that Roy is kicking him in the pants. Dobson's season has been nothing short of disappointing, now he's also lost the top power play quarterback position to Dennis Cholowski. 

We've seen this "low event" Islanders approach for what feels like more than a decade. The past three coaches at least with Barry Trotz, Lane Lambert and now Patrick Roy all seem to employ identical coaching strategies and systems. Islanders fans seem to be at their wits end as well – fans chanting "Fire Lou" and even cheering on the opponent in protest. 

Pittsburgh Penguins // 10-12-4 // L7 Days: 3-0-0

Since being traded to Pittsburgh, Philip Tomasino leads the Penguins in shots on goal. Tomasino has 12 shots in three games with the Penguins, he had 17 shots in 11 games with Nashville all season. Eager to prove his worth, he's currently seeing top six even strength deployment and top power play deployment. 

Detroit Red Wings // 10-11-3 // L7 Days: 2-1-1

Injuries have struck the Detroit goaltending tandem of Alex Lyon and Cam Talbot. Talbot has not been ruled out for Detroit's two-game road trip to Boston and Ottawa, he was evaluated on Monday and updates will come on Tuesday regarding Talbot. Alex Lyon was placed on Injured Reserve retroactive to November 27th – which would make him eligible to return Tuesday, though nothing has suggested or denied that that is the case. 

Patrick Kane needs more time; he was rotating in during practice on Monday but was not a full participant. He's already been ruled out against Boston on Tuesday, but is hopeful for the Senators matchup on Thursday. Michael Rasmussen is getting top line, top power play treatment currently. Whether Kane's return will disturb that deployment remains to be seen. 

Ottawa Senators // 10-12-2 // L7 Days: 2-1-1

Adam Gaudette is second on the Ottawa Senators in goals. Brady Tkachuk has 13, one more than Gaudette. Gaudette also leads the league in shooting percentage at 36.4%, he's connected on 12 of his 33 shots on goal. 

Montreal Canadiens // 8-13-3 // L7 Days: 1-2-1

Joshua Roy was sent down to the Laval Rocket – a telling sign of a Patrik Laine return against the Islanders on Tuesday. The last practice where Laine took part in line rushes was back on November 25th, but it saw Laine on the top line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield:

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That's our Eastern Edge Eastern Conference update for the week. Thank you for reading, as always feel free to chirp me in the comments below, in the Fantasy Hockey Discord  or you can reach out on X – @FHFHockey. In the meantime, you can catch updates from me on the Five Hole Fantasy Hockey Podcast.