Who's hot and who's not? Chris Kreider amazes, while Cole Caufield has growing pains

If somebody told you that Alex Ovechkin and Chris Kreider would be tied for the league lead in goals at this point in the season, would you have believed them?

Us, neither. 

And yet, that’s exactly where we find ourselves. As Ovechkin continues his goal-scoring tirade with hopes of chasing down Wayne Gretzky’s goals record, Chris Kreider has quietly caught up to Ovi in goals scored this season. 

Kreider has a ridiculous total of eight goals in his last five games and has added two assists in the process. 

In the Rangers’ Saturday night 7-3 shellacking of the Arizona Coyotes, Kreider recorded a hat trick and added an assist for good measure. 

This put him at 29 goals, which not only ties him for the league lead, but breaks his career-high of 28 goals. 

Kreider scored those 28 goals during the 2016-17 season, and it took him 75 games to do so. 

Now, through just 42 games — at age 30 — Kreider has set a new career-high in goals. 

Is it sustainable? We’re not so sure. But one thing is for certain: What Kreider is doing right now is something nobody — perhaps not even he himself — could have seen coming.

Sidney Crosby

After uncharacteristically going three games without recording a point, Sidney Crosby is showing everyone why he’s still one of the best players in the league. 

Over his past four games, Crosby has five goals and two assists. This includes a four-point performance in which Crosby recorded a hat trick en route to a 5-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. 

Crosby is showing signs of heating up, and with Bryan Rust doing the same as of late, keep an eye on the Penguins, who are 8-2 in their last 10 and currently sit third in the Metropolitan Division. 

Nick Suzuki

Sure, there have been players who have put up more points recently (Joe Pavelski, Tage Thompson to name a few) than Nick Suzuki has, but when you take everything into account, he takes our third spot of the heating up portion of our Sunday musings. 

Suzuki has been on the god-awful Montreal Canadiens and hasn’t been able to get anything going this season, making his recent game log act as a glimmer of hope.

Like most players on the Habs, Suzuki is having a down year. But being a young star player in a Canadian market makes the pressure to perform and improve year after year even greater. Suzuki hasn’t done that this season, but over his last three games, he’s recorded a goal and four assists. This is just the third three-game point streak of his season.

Who’s Not

Joonas Donskoi

You’d be hard-pressed to find a player colder than Joonas Donskoi right now.

Not much has gone right for the Seattle Kraken in their inaugural season, and Donskoi’s performance is no exception.

When they acquired him, the Kraken were clearly hoping that Donskoi could score at a respectable middle-six clip — a rather safe bet when you see he’s done just that every season since 2017-18, but it’s been all kinds of bad for Donskoi this season.

He’s got just 14 assists through 40 games played this season and has gone pointless in his last 12 games.

Cole Caufield

The player who was once considered the favorite for the Calder Trophy before the season commenced is now not appearing on any Calder Trophy power rankings.

After signing an ELC out of the NCAA late last season and scoring four goals and eight assists through 20 playoff games shortly thereafter, expectations were high for Cole Caufield heading into this season.

But, like many players on the Habs this season, Caufield is struggling.

The last time the normally sharpshooting Caufield scored a goal was Nov. 24 against the Washington Capitals. That’s also the only goal he’s scored this season.

It’s certainly been a rookie season to forget for Caufield up to this point.