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Dallas had an interesting idea in the summer. They would agitate the hell out of the other team by having a pest on each of their top three lines. And they also made sure that each of their pests also brought with them a ton of talent. By December, however, Brenden Morrow (more of a power forward than a pest, but bear with me) underwent knee surgery, Sean Avery underwent personality surgery and when the dust settled there was only one elite agitator left standing.

Steve Ott was pegged to be that 50-point player who would notch 180 penalty minutes for the Stars. However, year after year it has been the same story. Injuries. He has missed 107 games over his professional career (six seasons) heading into this campaign, which has been no different, as he has already missed 11 contests. The injuries have stunted his development and heading into the Christmas break it looked as though Ott would never be able to top 30 points.

Things sure have changed in six weeks. Without Avery or Morrow in the lineup, Ott has 17 points in 21 contests. He also has 28 penalty minutes, eight power-play points and is a plus-1 in that span.

Since Morrow is gone until the playoffs and Avery is gone (from Dallas) for good, you can expect Ott to continue at pace of 0.60 points-per-game and 1.5 PIMs per game. That makes him one of the better options in leagues that count the two categories…

Meanwhile…

Detroit’s Valtteri Filppula has nine points in his last 11 games. If the 24-year-old can get to 45 points this year (he is on pace for 39), then expect 60 next. If he falls short of 40, then his development is stalling and we’ll need to see more from him before determining if and when that breakout will occur…but 60 will then be out of the question for 2009-10…

Bobby Ryan’s ice time has dropped dramatically over the last 10 games and obviously Teemu Selanne’s return was a big part of that. Despite seeing about four few minutes per game, Ryan still managed seven points in the first six of that span. However, he has been unable to continue the impressive pace with the current ice he is given and he has just a point in his last four. I would be shopping him quickly in one-year leagues…

San Jose rearguard Christian Ehrhoff has seven points in his last seven games and is now consistently seeing more than 22 minutes of ice time. He took advantage of injuries to Dan Boyle and Rob Blake and now that they are back he has proven himself enough to continue to see the responsibilities…

Remember when Filip Kuba has 11 points in his first eight games as a Senator? He has 14 in 35 since then…