CHRIS DRURY
New York Rangers, C
Comment: Has Drury finally decided to come out and play? It's too early to judge but this is the first time he's strung more than a two-game point streak together all season, so it's something to watch for. He's also scored four goals and recorded six points in his last three games.
PAVOL DEMITRA
Minnesota Wild, LW
Comment: He's healthy and finding a groove in the second half. The Wild are winning some high scoring games, and a lot of it is thanks to this guy who has been piling on the assists recently. He has 11 points in his last nine games and has been putting together some steady streaks.
J.P. DUMONT
Nashville Predators, RW
Comment: Dumont's production is soaring, and the Preds have rewarded him with a juicy contract extension. Does he have anything left to play for now? How about a 16-game point streak? He's been absolutely lights out!
ED JOVANOVSKI
Phoenix Coyotes, D
Comment: One of the hottest defensemen in the NHL right now, JovoCop has had a great Jan. His plus / minus has been improving greatly. He has two goals and three points in his last five games and continues to rack up the PIMs with 12 in that time.
CAM WARD
Carolina Hurricanes, G
Comment: Ward has been tough to predict these past few months. After a brutal start to Jan., he's now picked up four wins in his last five games and has only allowed more than two goals in the Hurricanes one loss during that stretch.
NIK ANTROPOV
Toronto Maple Leafs, C
Comment: The old invisible Antro has been creeping around recently. He's only notched two points in his last five games and, more importantly, he'll be sitting out the next two Leaf games this week (leaving only a bad matchup against Detroit).
MARTIN STRAKA
New York Rangers, LW
Comment: : I expected good things from him last week but he has just not found his form. It doesn't look like Jaromir Jagr is the only one who is missing Michael Nylander in New York. Straka's playing poorly right now with three points in 13 games.
TODD BERTUZZI
Anaheim Ducks, RW
Comment: One point in his last five games! With Selanne getting back in the lineup there's a chance Big Bert will be teamed with him. This could cause a jump in his production and allow him to keep up the pace he was setting just before Christmas. He stinks on the road and Selanne might not even make it to the lineup this week though. So sit him for a little while longer.
SCOTT NEIDERMEYER
Anaheim Ducks, D
Comment: Things have really started to cool down here. Hopefully Teemu coming back reinvigorates Niedermeyer, who has gone eight games without registering a point and has been a surprisingly brutal minus-6 in that time.
MARTIN BRODEUR
New Jersey Devils, G
Comment: He's on a three game losing streak, but more importantly he has just two wins in his last seven games. He has let in two or more goals in each of those outings.
ROD BRIND'AMOUR
Carolina Hurricanes, C
Comment: The NHL's fine wine — Rod Brind'Amour — gets better every year. He's always playing well and he's going into a solid week for your fantasy squad. He's around a point-per-game against all of his opponents and gets to pounce on Marty Brodeur (his only major obstacle) while he's on a chilly streak.
EVGENI MALKIN
Pittsburgh Penguins, C
Comment: Some might say the best thing that happened to Malkin this season was Sidney Crosby's injury. Malkin has been playing even better now that he's back at center and has a full week to do some damage, especially against the Los Angeles King and Philadelphia Flyers. He likes to score in the Igloo!
HENRIK ZETTERBERG
Detroit Red Wings, LW
Comment: Zetty's moving right along at the same clip as when he started the season, tearing through the opposition with a point per game over his last 25. He's on a nice four-game goal streak as well and has plenty of chances to pad his stats with a busy, busy week against teams he loves to play against.
RICK NASH
Columbus Blue Jackets, LW
Comment: He's been slumming it up a bit with four-game pointless streak (and a minus-4 rating) but I sense a turn around this week. His career numbers against Phoenix (22 points in 17 games) might be enough to tempt you but he also gets a stab at the lowly Kings and Capitals. Evgeni Nabokov and the Sharks will be a strong obstacle but there's enough to work with this week.
MARIAN GABORIK
Minnesota Wild, RW
Comment: How do you keep a hot streak going? How about letting the NHL's third leading home scorer play in his comfort zone for three straight and give him a struggling Manny Legace for dessert at the end of the week?
JAROME IGINLA
Calgary Flames, RW
Comment: You can't ignore Iggy. He's one point shy of Gaborik's 33 home points and the matchups here are even more juicy (Phoenix, Chicago and two against Edmonton).
BRIAN RAFALSKI
Detroit Red Wings, D
Comment: The easy thing for me to do would be to tell you to start Nik Lidstrom, but you already know that. So I'll say the NEXT easiest thing: start Rafalski! He slowed down a bit after Christmas but his pace is picking up and he's got some terrific matchups to showcase his talent.
MARK STREIT
Montreal Canadiens, D
Comment: Streit has been the surprise story on the Montreal blueline all year. He's been somewhat streaky but when he gets on a run he can really get into production mode. Streit has notched eight points in his last five games.
EVGENI NABOKOV
San Jose Sharks, G
Comment: The wins don't come as often (but are starting to become more regular) at home but it's not because of Nabokov's playing. The fiery Ruskie plays his best hockey at home and will simply shutdown Colorado while making both the Predator's and Jacket's offenses work their hardest.
MARTIN BIRON
Philadelphia Flyers, G
Comment: "And Biron knocks Antero down with a strong right! He's down! Biron is the winner!" That's basically what happened from Jan. 19 onward. Biron wrestled the starting job back from Nittymaki and has run with it. He hasn't posted a loss since Jan. 4 and has gone scoreless in two outings. He's finding his groove again so roll with it.
OLLI JOKINEN
Florida Panthers, C
Comment: Usually I'd say jump at the chance to put Olli in with a four-game week but I'm having a hard time with it this week. He's practically nonexistent when visiting the North East division and you can expect that trend to continue.
VINCENT LECAVALIER
Tampa Bay Lightning, C
Comment: Yup, you're reading this correctly. What you have to ask yourself is this: is a potentially big game against Atlanta worth the spot on my roster? If you've got another Center with good matchups this week you might want to look at it. Vinnie is average on the road (just under a point per game) and he is below average against his Western Conference opponents in St. Louis and Nashville.
SEAN AVERY
New York Rangers, LW
Comment: If you have Avery it's obvious you want PIMs. Now, while he does have 87 PIMs on the year, they tend to come in giant batches. He'll go 10 games without sitting in the box and then give you a 12 or 24 or 19 minute night. If he had some point production I'd say it's worth the wait but it's not worth going two weeks without any production on your fantasy squad. Ignore Avery even with the busy schedule.
ANDREW BRUNETTE
Colorado Avalanche, LW
Comment: No Stastny, no Sakic and no Smyth equals one sorry looking Avs squad. You can't expect Brunette and Hejduk to carry this team (and they aren't!) so why would you put him in your lineup when he's up against Ilya Bryzgalov, Evgeni Nabokov and Roberto Luongo? No thank you, sir!
JASON POMINVILLE
Buffalo Sabres, RW
Comment: Ignore the good week and the jets being turned on. He'll hit a brick wall with Boston twice along with New Jersey, teams he traditionally plays very poorly against (four scoreless games and one point in three, respectively).
DUSTIN BROWN
Los Angeles Kings, RW
Comment: Another case of the road blues. Not only that but Brown's facing off against the streaking Rangers, the always great Red Wings. He might get a point or two over the four game week but you'll likely be missing out on better opportunities.
NIKLAS KRONWALL
Detroit Red Wings, D
Comment: He's day-to-day with a shoulder injury right now — nothing too serious but he might sit out a few games. Couple that in with the fact that he only has one point in his last five games and you might want to wait it out another week or two before he earns a spot on your lineup again.
ROB BLAKE
Los Angeles Kings, D
Comment: This will be a terrible week for the Kings. They are heading out east for the entire week and will be coming up against some on-fire offenses. Expect Blake's plus / minus to be appalling and I wouldn't think his offensive production will skyrocket with the teams he's facing.
NIKLAS BACKSTROM
Minnesota Wild, G
Comment: Detroit has this kid's number. In three career games against D-town he's let in 11 goals and hasn't won. He's not much better against Dallas and you'll have to hope he'll even get a start against St. Louis or the Islanders after the shellacking he'll surely take against one of the big boys.
Martin Gerber
Ottawa Senators, G
Comment: You might as well include Ray Emery here as well. The two Daniels are injured and the Spezza / Fisher 1-2 punch isn't doing much without the wingers. That doesn't bode well for two goaltenders who have been playing poorly, hoping their offenses would bail them out. Don't count on this tandem at all this week as the two matchups against Montreal will not end pleasantly for Ottawa. Montreal smells blood and are in striking distance of 1st place in the Eastern Conference. Not to mention there's a flu bug that could be spreading across the dressing room so I wouldn't be surprised if either of these two wind up sick by the end of the week.
J.P. Del Monte is UPDATE! National Hockey League Editor.
