NHL.com’s fantasy staff continues to cover the latest trends and storylines in the League through the lens of NHL EDGE puck and player tracker stats.
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Edmonton Oilers forward Mattias Janmark reached the NHL’s top skating speed of this season at 24.36 miles per hour in their 4-1 win at the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.
Per NHL EDGE stats, it was the second-fastest max skating speed of any skater in the puck and player tracking era (since 2021-22), trailing only the 24.60 mph mark of Dallas Stars forward Denis Gurianov from their game at the Boston Bruins on Oct. 16, 2021.
Retreating behind his own net with possession of the puck in the second period of a 1-1 game, Janmark reached that top speed on an end-to-end rush through the neutral zone with the Avalanche looking to touch the puck on a delayed penalty. The puck was eventually poke-checked away by Colorado defenseman Calvin de Haan as Janmark attempted a move to the net, causing the whistle to blow.
In terms of 20-plus mph speed bursts, the Avalanche lead the NHL (804), while the Oilers are second (656). Those two teams were also first and second in that category last regular season. In terms of individual players’ speed bursts of at least 22 mph, Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon (30) and Edmonton’s Connor McDavid (27) rank first and second in the League, respectively.
Prior to Saturday, the last time Janmark reached a skating speed of at least 23.00 mph was Dec. 31, 2021 as a member of the Vegas Golden Knights against the Anaheim Ducks. Janmark’s 36 speed bursts of at least 20 mph is more than one third of the way to his total from all of last season (99 in 71 games).
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