Fantasy: Brandon Saad thriving at even strength

The Columbus Blue Jackets are fourth in the NHL this season with 3.17 goals per game, and they have the most effective power play (24.6 percent). Not many people saw this coming.
Three of the top 13 power-play point producers in the League, Nick Foligno, Alexander Wennberg and Cam Atkinson (each has 11 PPP), play on Columbus' first unit. Their quarterback with the man-advantage, defenseman Zach Werenski (eight), is not far behind. The Blue Jackets are tied for sixth in the NHL standings (15-5-4, 34 points) as a direct result.

But perhaps the most surprising offensive statistic out of Columbus involves forward Brandon Saad, who skates on the top line with Wennberg and Foligno. Saad ranks fourth in even-strength points (21), trailing Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers (26), Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins (22) and Mark Scheifele of the Winnipeg Jets (22).

The fact that all 21 of Saad's points (seven goals, 14 assists) have come at even strength is the most surprising part; he has no points on the power play despite averaging 1:40 per game in man-advantage situations. He has never been a power-play specialist, but he did have a respectable 27 PPP during the past three seasons (2013-14 and 2014-15 with Chicago Blackhawks; 2015-16 with Blue Jackets).
Saad, 24, has points in seven of his past nine games (three goals, six assists). He is plus-6 during the span with 29 shots on goal, and he is one of 40 players with at least 500 SOG since 2014-15.
Saad has skated most frequently with the second power-play group, with forward Sam Gagner unexpectedly holding down a spot on the first unit with Wennberg, Atkinson, Foligno and Werenski. Gagner (C/RW, 22 percent owned) has seven of his 17 points in 23 games on the power play. If Gagner continues to earn such usage the rest of the season, he could challenge his career highs in points (49 in 2007-08) and PPP (17 in 2009-10) from his early years with the Edmonton Oilers.

FANTASY OBSERVATIONS

-- Alexander Radulov of the Montreal Canadiens ranks third in the NHL in assists per 60 minutes (2.32) behind McDavid (2.57) and Ryan Getzlaf of the Anaheim Ducks (2.46). His frequent linemate, center Alex Galchenyuk, will miss 6-8 weeks because of a knee injury, so Tomas Plekanec (C, 11 percent owned) centered Radulov and Max Pacioretty on Thursday against the New Jersey Devils. Plekanec has two points, is plus-2 and has four SOG in two games since Galchenyuk went down, and could feed off Radulov's distributing dominance in the coming weeks.

-- Rasmus Ristolainen and Kyle Okposo of the Buffalo Sabres each have a point on seven of their team's power-play goals this season, tying them for the fourth-best man-advantage point pair. The Claude Giroux-Wayne Simmonds (Philadelphia Flyers), Giroux-Jakub Voracek and Vladimir Tarasenko-Kevin Shattenkirk (St. Louis Blues) pairs are tied for first with eight. Buffalo's power play ranks third in the NHL (23.0 percent), and the scary part is that the Sabres have only had top center Jack Eichel back for five games.
-- The NHL leader in most games with at least one point is not who you'd think it might be; Giroux leads all players with at least a point in 21 of his 29 games. McDavid, the NHL's leading scorer, is second with points in 20 of 29 games.
-- Patrik Laine, who has 17 goals in his first 30 NHL games, is on pace for 46 goals in 82 games. The only rookies in NHL history to eclipse that total are Teemu Selanne (76 in 1992-93), Mike Bossy (53 in 1977-78), Alex Ovechkin (52 in 2015-16) and Joe Nieuwendyk (51 in 1987-88). This is pretty amazing stuff from an 18-year-old.

-- Mike Green of the Detroit Red Wings has two multigoal efforts in 27 games to lead all defensemen. Brent Burns of the San Jose Sharks was tops last season, scoring multiple goals in three games. In 2014-15, no defenseman had more than two. Three seasons ago, Shea Weber, Dustin Byfuglien and Marek Zidlicky tied for the lead with three each.
-- Mike Smith of the Arizona Coyotes leads the NHL with four games in which he's made at least 40 saves; he is 2-0-2 in those games. The Coyotes average nearly three shots against per game more (35.1) than the second-worst team in that department (Pittsburgh Penguins, 32.5).