Eight games into the 2007 NHL postseason and Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson each have a point per game or more.

This column, and all of Dobber's columns, can be found on The Hockey News, ESPN.com and MSN.ca. Originally published on May 2. 

No surprises there – poolies were counting on that. In fact, poolies don’t like surprises because they generally aren’t good ones in the fantasy hockey world. Reliability is kind of nice.

Heatley is playing in his second NHL playoff and he had 12 points in 10 games the first time around. He has 10 in eight this spring.

Spezza, at 23 is three years Heatley’s junior. However this is his fourth postseason appearance. He had 16 points in 16 playoff games prior to this year. He has nine in eight this go-around.

Alfredsson, the team captain, is a veteran of 10 playoff campaigns. His track record is a little more spotty than the other two, having one postseason in which he tallied just eight points in 18 games (2002-03) and another in which he went three in seven (2003-04). Other than those two blips, Alfredsson had 47 points in 55 games before garnering eight in eight so far this spring.

Poolies need this kind of stability. Any of Ottawa’s ‘Big Three’ going on an eight-in-18 run like Alfredsson did in 02-03 would constitute a big shocker and as I said earlier – poolies don’t like that…

Markus Naslund and Daniel and Henrik Sedin do not appear among Vancouver’s top three scorers. Furthermore, the Sedin twins are a combined minus-10. This would be another example of a surprise that poolies do not want to see…

Jay Pandolfo, Sergei Brylin and John Madden are the NHL’s worst in the plus/minus category. Who would have seen that coming? Pandolfo and Brylin are minus-7, while Madden is a minus-6…

Farm Report: Edmonton prospect Robert Nilsson has shot up the American League playoff scoring charts with nine points in six contests for Wilkes-Barre Scranton. He will have a good shot a roster spot with the Oilers next fall.