Fantasy Hockey Turkeys: Donuts For Goals

November is about the time where we get asked gee, who has not scored a goal yet in the NHL that probably should have? At first, it seems easy enough. The list gets shorter and shorter as the month goes onward.

As of press time, 429 players have scored at least one goal this 2021-22 NHL season. Alex Ovechkin leads the way, for now, with 11 goals. Some of the names that are on this list will surprise you. Thanks to the turkeys and those who pay a lot of attention to the donuts err bagels, here are some players that still have not found the goal sanctuary yet this NHL season.

NHL Players With Zero Goals: Donuts and Bagels Edition

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins — Edmonton Oilers

The winger is busy doing other things. Nugent-Hopkins has 14 assists in 11 games this NHL season. He is averaging two shots a game so it is not like the forward is not trying. The crazier part is that ten of Nugent-Hopkins’ 14 assists have come on special teams. He is a big part of the reason why the Edmonton Oilers’ power-play is so good. Unfortunately for fantasy players, he still has zero goals.

Jakub Voracek — Columbus Blue Jackets

Jakub Voracek is another surprising name on this list in many ways. One of them is the fact that he has ten assists already. He has just 18 shots on goal or 1.8 per game. That is down from a few seasons ago but does continue a trend that has taken shape since the 2019-20 campaign. Voracek has scored 20 or more goals six times in his career so that adds a little to the noteworthy nature here.

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Darnell Nurse — Edmonton Oilers

Now, several defensemen would expect to be on a list like this because defensemen are shooting from a distance typically. What makes Nurse more striking is two things. For one, he has nine assists. The second part is he has 42 shots on goal. He plays nearly 26 minutes a night. He averages almost four scoring chances a game for Edmonton. The puck has to eventually go in, right? Keep in mind, he did have 16 goals last year in just 56 games.

Jonathan Toews — Chicago Blackhawks

This is maybe less of a shock but Toews did start slow. After all, he did miss all of last season. The Chicago Blackhawks center has eight assists as his on-ice vision has improved greatly from the start of the year. He does have zero goals on 25 shots though. For Chicago fans, his 60.5% faceoff winning percentage is quite impressive. However again, there is still that pesky donut.

Kyle Palmieri — New York Islanders

This one probably will get jinxed sort of. Palmieri has five assists in ten contests so far for the Islanders. However, he was paid to score goals and so far none have found their way to the back of the net. The right-winger is averaging 2.4 shots per game so it may be a matter of time. Here is our full disclosure moment. He is playing his former team, the New Jersey Devils tonight. That probably means an end to this streak.

Tomas Tatar — New Jersey Devils

Last but not least, Tomas Tatar is more of a playmaker but he can score 20 goals. He has done so six times in his NHL career. So far this season, the winger has not found the goal sanctuary either. One concern is that Tatar is averaging just 1.28 shots per game. That is off from his career average which is 2.14. There have been several close chances in the past couple of weeks but again, Tatar has not gotten that elusive first one.

These are just a half-dozen of the many who have not put one in front of that goal column. How many will do so tonight? Stay tuned.