NHL Stock Watch: Nick Foligno rising, Gabriel Landeskog falling

UPGRADE

• Nick Foligno, LW/RW, Blue Jackets: Columbus apparently is never going to lose again (the winning streak stands at 16), so we generally crank out at least one Jacket in our look around the league. Foligno has plenty to promote. The bloodlines are ideal — his dad, Mike, had a long NHL career; his brother, Marcus, is a forward with Buffalo; and Nick was a first round pick in his draft class. The current setting is nifty, too, a spot on the Columbus first line, next to Brandon Saad and Alexander Wennberg. Foligno is the No. 1 skater in Yahoo fantasy over the last two weeks (3-7-10, 20 shots), and he’s also getting run on the league’s No. 1 power play (Columbus stands a ridiculous 4.5 points ahead of Tampa Bay). If you can get your hands on anyone getting regular time here (even if it goes down to Scott Hartnell, on the fourth line), I’m going to nod and approve.

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• Vincent Trocheck, C, Panthers: His shooting percentage has gone down but his willingness to shoot has gone way up — Trocheck leads all centers in shots over the last two weeks, on pace for more than 200. We’ll trust the opportunity and the participation, and note that Trocheck is skating with Jaromir Jagr on his right wing. You can still add Trocheck in about half of Yahoo leagues.

• Wayne Simmonds, RW, Flyers: Perhaps the most underrated power forward in the game, Simmonds leads everyone in penalty minutes over the last month (42) while continuing to put the puck in the net. Some players love to hit and be hit. The possession stats are down a speck, but Simmonds is shooting and scoring at his traditional rates. He’s also on pace for a career best in points.

• Justin Williams, WR, Capitals: You can’t blame anyone who had tepid exceptions for Williams entering his age-35 season, and he was invisible — like a fair amount of his teammates — in the first quarter of the year. Alas, Williams is starting to click on Washington’s second line, racking up eight points over his last five games. Perhaps some additional power-play time will filter Williams’ way, as the main guys in DC have been lukewarm most of the year.

• Anders Nilsson, G, Sabres: Is he making a run at the No. 1 job in Buffalo? Nilsson has better percentages than starter Robin Lehner — although both have been better than expected through half the season — and it’s Nilsson picking up the Thursday start, his second in a row. The Sabres aren’t ready to be a playoff team, but they have a team goals-against average better than the league average. They’re taking care of things in their own end.

DOWNGRADE

• Cory Schneider, G, Devils: It hasn’t been a strong year for name-brand goalies, though at least Ben Bishop and Jonathan Quick can point to injuries. Schneider’s fall from grace is stunning — he received some Vezina consideration last year, for crying out loud. The GAA rise to 2.74 can be blamed on mediocre play in front of him, but when the save-percentage drops 15 points below career norms, Schneider deserves a fair amount of blame. New Jersey’s modest uptick on offense hasn’t been much help.

• Gabriel Landeskog, LW, Avalanche: Oh captain, my captain, where are you? A lower-body injury cost Landeskog a month, but he hasn’t done much otherwise — he’s sitting on an ugly 6-6-12 line and minus-11 rating through 28 games. At some point, we write off a poor start to a poor season. A lot of people were happy to see Patrick Roy walk away from the Avalanche before the season, but things have gotten uglier under first-year coach Jared Bednar.