Daily Dosage - Jan 14th, 2011

Big night for Taylor Hall with 2+1=3, GWG, plus-3, five shots and a fight (kidding)... the boxscore flatters his performance though as the GWG came when a dman blew a tire and let him walk in alone and his second goal was an empty-netter... I will give the kid credit though as he is shooting the puck more lately with 71 in his last 21 games after 50 in his first 21 games. 

With Hall at center, he's been teaming up with Ales Hemsky lately and Hemsky cashed in with 4A last night and has 2+8=10 over his last eight games.  He's just under a point-a-game (28 in 29) but he's an overrated fantasy option in standard leagues as he won't give you much other than assists (surprisingly, he only has five PPPs this year).

We've been talking up Keith Yandle a bit this year but I think we should be talking about him more... dude is having a whale of a fantasy season as he's riding a little hot streak (2+10=12 in his last 10 games) up to 6th in scoring among dmen and he's on pace to finish with 13+50=63, 74 PIMs & 210 shots.

I've been impressed with the play of Brad Marchand lately as the rookie has taken advantage of some line juggling and has been playing with Bergeron & Recchi lately... he has goals in three straight games and 5+2=7 & plus-11 over his last nine.  He was productive in the Q and the A, so the kid has some talent.

Jonathan Quick's numbers on the year may look impressive (19-12-1, 2.21 & .918) but he's started to lose like he did down the stretch last year... over the last month his numbers are 4-7-0, 2.93 & .887, so beware.

Heading the opposite way on the goalie elevator is Henrik Lundqvist as he's 6-2-2, 1.76 & .944 over the past month and he's typically very strong in the 2nd half, so we're looking for a big finish from him.

Wojtek Wolski with a PPG/GWG last night in his second game with the Rangers and he's been lining up on the top line and #1 PP unit, so Torts is giving him a chance to succeed... I'm ambivalent as to whether he takes advantage of it as who knows what this guy is thinking.

The Panthers have a few players who have been mildly productive lately (great time to sell high)... David Booth is one of them as he has points in four straight and 5+3=8 & 25 shots over his last nine games.

Shea Weber extended his point streak to seven games where he has 2+9=11 & plus-13... I recall there was a lot of angst directed towards him early in the season, hopefully you acted rationally and remained patient.

Decent night for Marek Svatos with an assist, plus-2 & four shots... he isn't playing much but has a few points (1+2=3 in seven games) but I was telling you to avoid this guy so I'm secretly hoping that it doesn't last.

Patrice Bergeron with another two points last night and while he's been good for the past month or so, it's really been loco for the past week as he has 6+3=9 & plus-9 over his last four games.

I'm a fan of Blake Wheeler but have to admit that I've soured on him lately... right on cue he's now gone on a four game point streak (1+4=5 & plus-6).

Another goal for Bruins dman Steven Kampfer and that's 4+1=5 & plus-8 over his last nine games... not bad, although I'm not convinced he's for real as the kid only had seven goals over his entire four year college career at UofMichigan.

Hopefully you all were aware that this was coming... James Reimer gave up four goals on 20 shots in a loss to Phoenix and a guy that was getting way too much chatter, Kevin Poulin, gave up two goals on eight shots and was pulled early in the game but then returned to the net for the 3rd period.

Similarly, Robin Lehner got his first NHL start last night and the 19-year-old was a little shaky (four goals on 24 shots) but he was good enough for the victory so looks for the Sens to go back to him.

The Leafs traded for Fabian Brunnstrom yesterday, totally just a financial deal to save the Stars some cash, not sure what the Leafs get out of it, guess Fabs has been hot in the AHL lately (6+3=9 in his last 10) so perhaps he'll help the Marlies out a little.

Earth-shattering news here: Patrick O`Sullivan and Anssi Salmela are on waivers... at the same time!