THN.com/podcast. From The Hockey News Podcast: What's the Buffalo Sabres' Future in Net? Tyler Toffoli celebrates one of his two goals against the Vegas Golden Knights on March 16. [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MTk3MDkwNTkxOTIwNjI5MDU1/usatsi_20249755.jpg] Tyler Toffoli celebrates one of his two goals against the Vegas Golden Knights on March 16. Each NHL team plays 26 games against their division opponents in a season. Some players take these matchups as the perfect opportunity to pile up the points on their rivals. The other 56 regular-season games in the year are against the rest of the NHL, coming out to just more than two-thirds of the schedule. Some players are pretty consistent whether it’s against their division or not – Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Nikita Kucherov being the top examples. But others don’t play that way. Here are five skaters who play better against their division opponents than any other. TYLER TOFFOLI, RW, CALGARY (PACIFIC DIVISION) Stats against own division: 24 games, 16 goals, 16 assists, 32 points Stats against other divisions: 55 games, 18 goals, 22 assists, 40 points Toffoli is having the best regular season of his career, smashing his last career high of 58 points set in 2015-16 with the Los Angeles Kings. The Calgary Flames are the third team he’s been on in the Pacific Division, playing 17 regular-season and playoff games with the Vancouver Canucks in 2019-20 as well. The 30-year-old from Scarborough, Ont., has had 44 percent of his points coming against his own division, the second-highest percentage of NHLers with at least 70 points (first place is next on this list). Toffoli has one four-point game this year, coming against the Vegas Golden Knights on March 16. He’s also had three of four three-point nights coming against the Pacific’s Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks and Kings. ALEKSANDER BARKOV, C, FLORIDA (ATLANTIC DIVISION) Stats against own division: 22 games, 9 goals, 25 assists, 34 points Stats against other divisions: 43 games, 13 goals, 28 assists, 41 points The Florida Panthers captain had his second three-point night against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, with the other coming on Oct. 29. Barkov has also had two three-point games against the Boston Bruins and a five-point outing against the Montreal Canadiens. Barkov almost has the same number of assists against the Atlantic as he does versus the rest of the league, and he also has a higher goal rate within his division. His occasional linemate, Matthew Tkachuk, is next up on this list. When these two are on the ice together, the Panthers have scored 30 goals in 22 games against the Atlantic Division, good for 1.36 goals per game compared to 1.15 goals per game against other divisions. Barkov and Tkachuk have also allowed fewer goals against per game against the Atlantic (0.27) than versus the rest of the NHL (0.63), according to naturalstattrick.com [http://naturalstattrick.com]. Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MTk3MDk0MTM4MjIxNDM4Mjcx/usatsi_19809575.jpg] Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov MATTHEW TKACHUK, LW, FLORIDA (ATLANTIC DIVISION) Stats against own division: 25 games, 18 goals, 26 assists, 44 points Stats against other divisions: 51 games, 21 goals, 40 assists, 61 points Yes, another Florida Panther, but check out that goal count. While Barkov has three more assists against other divisions than his own, Tkachuk's lit the lamp only three more times against the rest of the league than the Atlantic. The older Tkachuk brother had a five-point night against the Tampa Bay Lightning in February and put up four points against the Montreal Canadiens twice. He's also had three-point nights against the Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres, Canadiens and Ottawa Senators. Florida's Tkachuk could have had 133 points right now had he scored against the other divisions like his 1.76 point-per-game pace in the Atlantic. That's an extraordinary number, and don't let McDavid's 148 points suggest otherwise. JASON ROBERTSON, LW, DALLAS (CENTRAL DIVISION) Stats against own division: 24 games, 17 goals, 24 assists, 41 points Stats against other divisions: 54 games, 28 goals, 34 assists, 62 points Robertson is the first player in Dallas Stars history to crack 100 points in a season, and 41 of his 103 points come against the Central Division. In his last five games, he played four Central Division teams. He racked up 10 points in those matchups – four against the Nashville Predators, two against the Colorado Avalanche, four against the Arizona Coyotes, and against the 30th-place Chicago Blackhawks...zero. He's been great against other divisions, averaging 1.15 points per game. But match him up against his own division and watch his point-per-game average climb up to 1.71, a difference of 0.56. Only three other NHLers with at least 70 points have a higher points-per-game difference between their own division and the rest of the league: Toffoli, Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk. Guess who's fifth? ANDREI KUZMENKO, LW, VANCOUVER (PACIFIC DIVISION) Stats against own division: 23 games, 14 goals, 15 assists, 29 points Stats against other divisions: 54 games, 24 goals, 18 assists, 42 points Kuzmenko averages 0.48 more points per game when he's against the Pacific than when he faces the other divisions. He's more of a goal-scorer than Barkov, but both players only have three fewer assists when they play within their division. While the hockey world continues to debate the value of plus-minus in determining a player's performance, one thing sticks out with Kuzmenko. When he faces Pacific Division teams, he has a plus-16 rating. Put him up against the rest of the NHL, and he's minus-7. The 27-year-old got four points once this season, and it came in an 8-5 win against the Ducks. Kuzmenko also had three points in a game against the Golden Knights and the Kraken. HONORABLE MENTIONS For this list, we filtered out players with fewer than 70 points. But if we included players with at least 50 points, some more intriguing players pop up. So let's give out some bonus names: Like Toffoli, 44 percent of Patrice Bergeron's total points come against his own division. The Boston Bruins captain has 25 points in 25 games against the Atlantic compared to 32 points in 50 games against the rest of the NHL. Seattle Kraken rookie Matty Beniers has had a promising rookie campaign with 54 points in 75 games. But he feasts on the Pacific, putting up 26 points in 23 games against his division rivals compared to his 30 points in 53 games elsewhere. And Arizona Coyotes forward Nick Schmaltz has missed some time this season, so he's only played 14 more matches against other divisions (37) than the Central (23). He does, however, have 27 points in both cases, putting him at a perfect 50 percent of his total points coming against division opponents.
