This week on Frozen Tool Forensics we are looking at player trends, specifically adds and drops. I have compiled a list of five highly added players over the last seven days, and five highly dropped players over that time span. With those players we will dive into their deployment, their production, and what we might be able to expect in the future. In order to complete this analysis, we will be digging into their Frozen Tools player profile pages to determine data points like their time on ice, scoring rates, and underlying stats. We will also take a quick peak over on Yahoo to get an idea of percent of teams that currently roster the player.

First up our highly added players.

Jonathan Lekkerimaki had 12 points through 15 games so only 10 percent rostered in Yahoo is a little bit surprising. Less so though when you look at his game log. Five points over his first nine games isn't much to get excited about, but seven over the next six games certainly is. Basically, everything is pointing up for Lekkerimäki. Over his first few games he was skating 11 and a half minutes a night with maybe a 20 percent share of the team's power-play time. The result was only a single shot per game, and not much scoring. Recently though he is up over 16 minutes a night on average, over 60 percent of the team's power-play time, and shooting twice per game on average. He has been playing on a line with Filip Chytil rather than Elias Pettersson, but on the top power play unit. Overall, he has been doing well, and has a strong pedigree so is certainly worth a shot.

Devin Cooley went on quite the run for the Flames after a very rough start for the team. He started five games in a row and for four of them put up a save percentage higher than .926, plus got four straight wins. Of course, he was added anywhere that people were looking for goalies. The party was short-lived though as he left the game on October 28th with a lower-body injury. This is now certainly an opportunity for Dustin Wolf to try and find his footing again after a rough start, but Cooley is going to remain an interesting option once he returns.

Speaking of Calgary, we have a couple of more Flames to discuss. Matvei Gridin and Adam Klapka also make the list of high adds. To be fair Matt Coronato, Morgan Frost, and Joel Farabee do also but since their numbers were slightly higher to begin with, they are a little lower on the list. This change has two sources. The first is that Calgary all of a sudden started scoring. The latter three are all approaching a point per game because of this burst. The other reason is schedule. In weekly leagues especially this past week and the upcoming week are great for Calgary so there have been a lot of adds across the board.

But back to Gridin. After a very slow start – one point in six games – Gridin put up seven points over his next six games. Calgary is doing something of a top-9, so he is in the mix at even strength, but on the top power play. He has pedigree, increasing production, shot rates, and time on ice recently so is certainly an intriguing add until Calgary falls apart again. Klapka is only really rostered because of the schedule situation and because he hits a lot. It seems likely that weekly leagues where hits are reasonably valuable entirely account for his rise in rostership.

And finally, Tristan Jarry. Jarry is certainly a wild ride, and his rise is completely related to injuries. Frederik Anderson still is not available, and while he got the first game of the season, Jarry has been pretty clearly been playing second fiddle to Devon Levi in Edmonton. With Levi also now injured, Jarry is the de facto starter for a very high-powered Edmonton team, and that is appealing regardless of how inconsistent Jarry has been. Jarry played three consecutive games on the 24th, 26th, and 28th and put up save percentages of .800, .897, and 1.00. That is Jarry more or less in a nutshell. Save percentage will be all over the map, but has a good shot to win as long as these injuries mean he is the primary starter.

On the flip side we have our players who have been consistently dropped.

First up we have a trio of Canadiens: Josh Anderson, Oliver Kapanen, and Zachary Bolduc. Josh Anderson went on a nice little run to start the season, with six points in seven games, but with nothing to show for his next six games it isn't surprising that people cut bait. The theme with the Canadiens is injury replacements. Anderson is getting some better deployment at even strength because of Ivan Demidov's injury, and he is shooting a bit, but there just isn't really enough here to justify a roster spot. Essentially the same story with Zachary Bolduc. He got a quick turn on the top power play, and put up seven points over his first 12 games, but even with some players out just isn't putting up enough to be worth a spot right now. That leaves Oliver Kapanen who was elevated to the top line when Nick Suzuki went down with an injury. Kapanen was relevant at times last season and top line and top power-play opportunities with Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky is certainly appealing. Unfortunately, he had little to show for it and was replaced with Alex Newhook. Ultimately this is a situation to watch given his deployment, but not someone to jump on yet.

Jaden Schwartz just put up three points over three games and had 9 over his first 13 overall, so it feels a little bit of a funny time to drop him. There was however a six-game stretch with nothing, so that helps explain the situation a bit better. Schwartz overall though generally seems to be enjoying his time in Colorado. His deployment has certainly fluctuated around the lineup, including stints on the top power play. Overall, it isn't clear that he is consistent enough to dictate a consistent roster spot, but he could make a good stop gap, especially if he gets to take another turn on that power play.

Managers likely were hoping to give Anton Lundell a try when Aleksander Barkov was injured yet again, perhaps envisioning a more prominent role, but three points in his first 13 games though isn't really what folks are looking for. His time on ice has been trending down since the start of the season and he seems to have settled for the moment in a third line, second power-play spot. Ultimately, there doesn't seem to be much here, and he should be in free agency. 

That is all for this week.

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