Derek Roy, Eric Staal, Patrice Bergeron and Jonathan Toews are tied in the NHL scoring race. That in of itself is not shocking. The fact that they are tied for 132nd is. All buy low candidates.

Suddenly, Brandon Dubinsky is on pace for 56 points. Guess I was right after all. I was doubting myself for a minute there back in October. 

I find it interesting that the Kings are playing Moller and Handzus on the PP more than O'Sullivan. It is a poor use of O'Sullivan's talent. His value is as low as it will be for the next 10 years.

He's seeing minimal ice time, but Peter Harrold has three points in five games and is considered a winger and a d-man in a lot of leagues now. 

Not a lot of preseason magazines had touted JP Dumont as a legitimate 75-point player (except mine), and in speaking with a lot of fellow GMs not one of them felt that he could reach 80 points (except me). I wonder how they feel after 20 points in 17 games. I figure one GM is regretting turning down my Dumont and Radulov straight up for Jokinen offer, for starters – as it seems clear that Radulov will be back in the NHL next year at the latest and Dumont has had more points than Jokinen over the last 95 games or so. I figure another GM is regretting giving me Dumont AND Filatov for Paul Stastny and a pick. It's the underrated, undervalued players like Dumont that turn fantasy teams around.

Andreas Nodl must have a lot of untangibles, because the Flyers keep playing him decent ice time and he continues to not produce and he is a minus-4. I like him and I like his future – obviously the Flyers do, too – but I can't see them playing him one more game this month. He has played nine, so his next game would start his entry-level deal. He may still start it this year, but I think the team would prefer to wait until they are forced into the decision. Just my guess.

A weird trade for the Pens again yesterday. Sydor for Boucher. Obviously Boucher is an upgrade… but their weakness was defensive stability and Boucher brings offense. He is fragile, too. Perhaps the Pens got him so they can trade him, as he would get decent value. Even more confusing is why the Dallas Stars did the deal. Perhaps to shake things up? Both players make the same salary.

Want a great dark horse rearguard to nab right now? Matt Lashoff. He has 12 points in 14 AHL games and with Andrew Ference now out for eight weeks look for Lashoff to get the recall. Don't wait until it is announced, pick him up now. If I'm wrong, you can always drop him again and waste only a transaction.
Francois Beachemin is out for the season with a torn ACL. The Ducks immediately put him on long-term IR and freed up the cap space to call up Bobby Ryan. Ryan would have made this team were it not for cap restraints. He had 19 points in 14 AHL games and is certainly worth a flyer in roto-leagues for immediate results.

Nicklas Backstrom had five points last night and has 10 in three games. I sure hope you took advantage of an owner who was sour on him last week.

Michal Nylander played just 12 minutes last night and was a minus-2. He is firmly in the doghouse.

With Alexander Semin still out with an upper body injury (speculation is neck/back/ shoulder area), Eric Fehr got into the lineup and Viktor Kozlov was back on the top line. Kozlov had three points and will see a bump in production as Semin sits. My feeling is Semin will miss this week.

Still on the Caps – Jose Theodore has found his stride and kudos to all of you who were patient with him.

Ilya Zubov played 15 minutes for the Sens and was a minus-1. He saw second PP duty.