The lowdown on – Viktor Stalberg – If I had a nickel for every Toronto Maple Leafs cast-off that started to blossom for another team, well I'd have a lot of nickels. Viktor Stalberg is one of those players now starting to emerge for the Chicago Blackhawks. After finishing with just 24 points last season, Stalberg is on pace to post 48 this season.

One reason for the improved play of the Swedish left winger is his willingness to shoot the puck more. Last season he posted 135 shots, and this year he already has 131 with two months still left to play. A big part of that is Stalberg finally gaining more confidence and belief in his abilities as an NHL regular.

Stalberg has also found a way to be more consistent while putting together several hot streaks this season.  Check out his points and goals charts from this year compared to last year.

You can see this year he has had point streaks of four and five games. While last season he never had more than a two game run. He also had just one multi-point game last season and this year has already accumulated seven. Streakiness is great for weekly head to head showdowns as sometimes one player can win you a week almost single-handedly.

Playing with good players hasn't hurt Stalberg's production either.  So as much as he deserves credit for upping his game, he has had the benefit of getting ice-time with that great core of Blackhawk forwards.  Have a look at who he played with last year compared to this year.

2010-11

2011-12

In his most frequent line combination from 2010-11 it shows he played with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews just over 21% of the time.  This year that number jumps all the way up to over 27%. Then in his other line combinations from this year we see he is getting a chance to play with guys like Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp, as opposed to Jake Dowell and Ryan Johnson from last season.  That's quite an upgrade as far as scoring talent goes.

Stalberg has also been improving with almost no power play time.  He has not recorded a point with the man advantage this season and is only averaging 19 seconds of power play time per game. All of his points have been recorded at even strength which is both good and bad for fantasy. On the one hand he's not going to help your power play categories, but on the other, you know he is capable of producing fairly consistently in five on five situations.

Now check out this chart from Frozen Pool that shows how cost effective a player is.

Stalberg's cost per point ranks at the top of the list among Chicago forwards.  Proving he's no Scott Gomez.