Each week (or so) we'll dip a toe in the fantasy pool, test the water, and find out which players are hot and which ones are not over the past fortnight (that's two weeks).
(Statistics cover the period from Mar 3rd to Mar 17th)
HOT
| TOP FORWARDS | ||||||
| Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PPG | Comment |
| Staal, Eric C CAR | 6 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 2.17 | Still living off of six pointer on 7th |
| Crosby, Sidney C PIT | 7 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 1.86 | Crosby has wingers who can score! |
| Whitney, Ray LW CAR | 6 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 1.67 | Already having second best month this year |
| Jokinen, Olli C CGY | 6 | 8 | 2 | 10 | 1.67 | Olli likes Calgary cooking |
| Kesler, Ryan C VAN | 6 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 1.50 | After 37 points last year, he should break 60 this year |
| Booth, David LW FLA | 6 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 1.50 | Seven games with 1 point, 9 in last four |
| St. Louis, Martin RW TB | 6 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 1.50 | He might cost Tampa Hedman or Tavares |
| Backes, David C STL | 7 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 1.43 | 10 points is nice, 12 PIMs make him even nicer |
| Alfredsson, Daniel RW OTT | 7 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 1.43 | Points in 6 of last 7 games |
| TOP DEFENDERS | ||||||
| Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PPG | Comment |
| Gonchar, Sergei D PIT | 6 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 1.17 | No Whitney means more PP time for Gonchar |
| Streit, Mark D NYI | 7 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 1.00 | He must be getting a point on every Isle goal? |
| Liles, John-Michael D COL | 7 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 1.00 | Three big games (6 pts) put him on the list |
| Letang, Kris D PIT | 7 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 1.00 | Picking up the scraps left by Whitney |
| Barker, Cam D CHI | 6 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 1.00 | The biggest breakout of the year on the blueline? |
| OTHERS OF NOTE | ||||||
| Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PPG | Comment |
| Cole, Erik LW CAR | 6 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 1.33 | 8 points in five games with 'Canes |
| Eriksson, Loui LW DAL | 7 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 1.29 | Talk about streaky: 5 in four, 0 in three, 6 in four, 0 in four, then 11 in eight |
| Comeau, Blake RW NYI | 7 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 1.29 | In Dec - 6 pts, Jan - 3, Feb - 4. In March already at 10 points |
| Guerin, Bill RW PIT | 7 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 1.29 | Any team is an improvement on the Isles |
| McDonald, Andy C STL | 7 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 1.29 | People forget about him because of injury…don't be one of them |
| Ponikarovsky, Alexei LW TOR | 7 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 1.29 | 4 pts on 14th but might be last time he makes this list |
| Vermette, Antoine LW CLB | 5 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1.20 | After four games with a point finally held off the board on 15th |
| Ott, Steve LW DAL | 7 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 1.14 | Only two PIMs? Not the Ott we grew to love |
| Enstrom, Tobias D ATL | 7 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 0.86 | Enstrom finally looks like the rookie who scored 38 last year |
| Murphy, Cory D TB | 6 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0.83 | Former 'Pick Up of the Week' putting up the numbers in T-Bay |
PICK UP OF THE WEEK: ANDY MCDONALD C STL & RYAN KESLER W VAN
It would be pretty easy for us to suggest you pick up a guy like Guerin, Vermette or another player who has found himself in a good situation thanks to a trade. But you're a smart guy or girl, (who are we kidding) you already knew they were good pick ups.
So today we're recommending you pick up one (or both) of Andy McDonald & Ryan Kesler.
Andy McDonald is probably the safer of the two. He has a proved track record (85 and 78 point seasons in '05-'06 and '06-'07) and is trucking along at a point-a-game (35 in 34) this season. He's only owned in 28% of Yahoo leagues. Just for comparison sake, Nicklas Backstrom has been scoring at a similar rate (74 points in 72 games) but is owned in 94% of leagues.
Ryan Kesler scored only 37 points last year so by picking him up your getting a guy in the middle of his breakout season. He started out of the gates slow (three points in November) but has been on fire lately. Actually, 'on fire' doesn't do Kesler recent streak justice...the numbers speak for themselves: 25 points in 20 games. He's playing with Mats Sundin and Pavol Demitra so there's hope he can keep this impressive streak going. All this for a guy who's owned in 30% of Yahoo leagues.
Honourable Mention: David Booth, David Backes, Erik Cole, Blake Comeau, Bill Guerin, Antoine Vermette, Steve Ott, Chris Kunitz, Kris Letang, Tobias Enstrom, Carlo Colaiacovo and Cory Murphy.
COLD
| WORST FORWARDS | ||||||
| Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PPG | Comment |
| Havlat, Martin LW CHI | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.20 | 9 game point streak (15 pts) followed by 1 point in five |
| Ladd, Andrew LW CHI | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.17 | 3rd line struggling in Chicago |
| Higgins, Christopher C MON | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.14 | Major step backward this season after 52 points last year |
| Lucic, Milan LW BOS | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.14 | Top line duties not paying off this fortnight |
| Penner, Dustin RW EDM | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | Only on pace for 34 points. Ouch. |
| Moore, Dominic C BUF | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | Not all players are doing well on their new team…0 points in 6 games with BUF |
| Fleischmann, Tomas C WAS | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | Set new career highs on Feb 15 and then stopped scoring (2 pts in 15 games) |
| Hensick, T.J. C COL | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | Breakout season will have to wait at least a year |
| Briere, Daniel C PHI | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | Misses almost four months then goes pointless in first 7 games back. |
| Setoguchi, Devin RW SJ | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | We did not see this coming. Only 1 pt in last 10. Let's hope he doesn't have Cheechoo-itis |
| WORST DEFENDERS | ||||||
| Player | GP | G | A | PTS | PPG | Comment |
| Bouwmeester, Jay D FLA | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.17 | Good thing the Panthers held onto him, eh? |
| Rozsival, Michal D NYR | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.14 | Only 1 point in last nine |
| Coburn, Braydon D PHI | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.14 | At least he didn't get suspended |
| Jovanovski, Ed D PHO | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.14 | Only 2 points in last 12 games |
| Carle, Matt D PHI | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | Hard to believe this guy was traded for Dan Boyle |
DROP OF THE WEEK: DANIEL BRIERE C PHI
You still have visions of his 95 points in 2006-07 floating in your head don't you? Get over it, it's not going to happen. You've probably kept Briere for the whole four months he was injured, hoping he would pay dividends down the stretch. It's now been seven games since his comeback from injury and he has no points. ZERO points. With only a few weeks left in your season there's no point holding out hope here. As if you needed anymore reason to drop Briere, he's been playing with Darroll Powe and Arron Asham. Dump this fourth line center and pick up one of the many good c-men out there.
Dishonourable Mention: Chris Higgins, Dominic Moore, Dustin Penner and Michal Rozsival