.938
That's Anders Nilsson's even-strength save percentage, sixth best in the league. He was supposed to back up Craig Anderson but instead has become one of the league's best goalies. He is also sixth in both raw save percentage (.930) and GSAA (4.78), according to Natural Stat Trick, proving that he's been very good in all situations.
Before we get all excited, however, know that we've been down this path with Nilsson before — there will be a time when his 6-foot-6 frame will betray him and his five-hole becomes as big as the Pacific again. There's no denying he's never been better — his .919 Sv%, 2.84 GAA with the Sens are the best he's had since the 2016-17 with Buffalo, but remember he had the most extreme home-road splits that season, going 7-1-1 with a .938 Sv% at home vs. 3-93 and .911 Sv% on the road. His splits this season are the opposite: .954 Sv% on the road vs. .910 Sv% at home. You may as well flip a coin with this guy.
400
That's the number of points 22-year-old Connor McDavid has scored in his career after scoring a goal following a patented rush up the ice past three Ducks from a sharp-angle shot. He did it in 306 games, the 13th fastest player to reach that milestone, narrowly missing Dale Hawerchuk (305) and Teemu Selanne (304), and also behind Sidney Crosby (292), which again makes you appreciate how good Crosby really is.
17
That's
.938
That's Anders Nilsson's even-strength save percentage, sixth best in the league. He was supposed to back up Craig Anderson but instead has become one of the league's best goalies. He is also sixth in both raw save percentage (.930) and GSAA (4.78), according to Natural Stat Trick, proving that he's been very good in all situations.
Before we get all excited, however, know that we've been down this path with Nilsson before — there will be a time when his 6-foot-6 frame will betray him and his five-hole becomes as big as the Pacific again. There's no denying he's never been better — his .919 Sv%, 2.84 GAA with the Sens are the best he's had since the 2016-17 with Buffalo, but remember he had the most extreme home-road splits that season, going 7-1-1 with a .938 Sv% at home vs. 3-93 and .911 Sv% on the road. His splits this season are the opposite: .954 Sv% on the road vs. .910 Sv% at home. You may as well flip a coin with this guy.
400
That's the number of points 22-year-old Connor McDavid has scored in his career after scoring a goal following a patented rush up the ice past three Ducks from a sharp-angle shot. He did it in 306 games, the 13th fastest player to reach that milestone, narrowly missing Dale Hawerchuk (305) and Teemu Selanne (304), and also behind Sidney Crosby (292), which again makes you appreciate how good Crosby really is.
17
That's the number of points Calder front-runner Cale Makar has in 17 games this season. A point-per-game season by a defenseman is rare enough, but Makar's also been historically efficient. He's averaging 19:07 per game, leading the team with 3:52 on the power play but fifth at even strength at 15:04. Since the NHL kept track of ice time ('97-'98), a defenseman has finished the season at a point-per-game pace or better just five times, and none averaged less than 25 minutes.
In fact, only four defensemen have ever scored at least 50 points while averaging less than 20 minutes per game, most recently done by Dougie Hamilton and Kevin Shattenkirk, both during the 2016-17 season. Those two seasons are still arguably their best to date, which means that Makar's rookie-year production is, roughly speaking, essentially equivalent to Hamilton and Shattenkirk at their peak. To those who drafted Makar: great move, you got someone who might finish top-5 in scoring among defensemen this season and be the best fantasy defenseman since peak Erik Karlsson.
8
That's the number of minutes it took for the Avs to score six goals and chase Pekka Rinne in a 9-3 win against a divisional opponent despite missing two-thirds of their top line and Nathan MacKinnon exiting the game early … after scoring four points, of course. Joonas Donskoi added a hat trick and despite a ton of early-season challenges the Avs are simply not going away, remaining one of the top teams in the West. Philipp Grubauer has shown enough to be considered a legit starter, and rookie Pavel Francouz has shown enough to ease any worries about calling up their third-string goalie. Francouz has consecutive wins with six goals allowed, posting season numbers comparable to Henrik Lundqvist, making him a viable option for a spot start.
6
That's the number of power play opportunities the Islanders received in three games this week. In what has now become the biggest running joke in the NHL, Barry Trotz's squad just doesn't seem to get any calls, and through 16 games have received a grand total of 28 PP opportunities, which has resulted in just five power-play goals this season, the second-lowest total despite being ranked 20th in efficiency.
That has unfortunately put a cap on players such as Mathew Barzal, who is having a pretty phenomenal season but just one power-play point. It's just downright bizarre how few opportunities the Isles are getting; at this rate they'll end up the season with just 143, shattering the previous low of 210 over an 82-game season in the cap era set by the 2017-18 Oilers. We're still keeping an eye on this trend, with the idea that if the Isles' PP opportunities start to pick up and catch up to historic norms, we start buying their players.
5
That's the number of goals former league MVP's Connor McDavid and Patrick Kane scored last week — the same number as Senators legend Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Despite a minus-6 goal differential and averaging just 2.81 GF/PG (21st), the Senators have somehow produced the league's leader in plus-minus. We don't put much stock in plus-minus, but it's at least managed to gloss over the fact that he plays on the Sens, and his ownership in Yahoo leagues has already tripled. It's a soft schedule until Nov. 27 when the Bruins visit, so Pageau's still worth grabbing until then, at which point we'll have a better idea of his long-term value. The Sens are bad, but not as bad as we expected them to be, and that's a reason to be optimistic.
4
That's the number power-play points Anthony DeAngelo scored this last week, leading the league. We knew Jacob Trouba would get first crack at everything, but with so much of his playing time tied up in even strength and penalty killing situations, it was a matter of time before David Quinn gave some of those minutes to DeAngelo and Adam Fox. They've averaged 2:33 and 2:35 on the power play, respectively, over four games last week. Based on name recognition DeAngelo is owned in more leagues, but don't sleep on Fox, who had four points and now ranks third in scoring among rookie defensemen.
1
That's the number of wins Pekka Rinne is away from number 350. He would be the 22nd goalie in history to reach that milestone, and he's already the winningest goalie in both Predators and Finnish history. Tuukka Rask is second among active Finnish goalies with 272 wins.
