Looking at the best schedules in fantasy hockey for Week 24.

It can be difficult for fantasy owners to resist picking up players with proven track records of success in the NHL, even if those guys have been disappointments in the short term. All it may take is a little bit of luck, a return to good health or a more advantageous role on the team to transform their fantasy fortunes for the better, right? Yes, but not always. For one reason or another, some prominent players should be avoided (no matter what) down the stretch this year. Here are four that come to mind:

Joffrey Lupul, LW/RW, Toronto – What a mess of a season it's been for the veteran winger. Lupul's production has been trending in the wrong direction for a while now (more or less since his banner 2011-12 campaign, one in which he scored a career-high 67 points).While it can be tempting to grab a proven player off the waiver wire after he's been dropped by an impatient owner frustrated over lack of production, but it's a bit of a stretch to think Lupul can suddenly turn things around and produce like a top-six winger in the season's final weeks. After all, we're talking about a 31-year-old on the downside of his career who hasn't scored a goal since the last week of December. His ice time is down compared to a year ago, as are his shots per game. To make matters worse, Lupul was recently benched for a lack of effort. There is no upside to taking a flier on him. Just don't do it.

Nazem Kadri, C, Toronto – Speaking of underwhelming Toronto Maple Leafs…At age 24, Kadri should be in the prime of his career as an NHL player. Instead, he's (significantly) worse than he was two years ago.

Furthermore, March has been a tough month for Kadri. He was suspended for three games for being late to practice, only to return for two games before earning another suspension for a hit to Edmonton winger's Matt Fraser's head.  Simply stated, Kadri needs this this season to come to an end. The talent is there, but this forward has not been a useful fantasy asset for quite some time. Better days may be ahead for Kadri, but right now he is nothing more than a 45-point player on a bad team.

Brian Campbell, D, Florida – How is this guy owned in 50 percent of Yahoo leagues? He has 23 points on the year. Here are some defensemen who have scored more points than Campbell this year: Detroit's Danny DeKeyser, Toronto's Morgan Rielly and Philadelphia's Michael "The Human Healthy Scratch" Del Zotto. This isn't the 2008-09 season, Campbell isn't playing for the Chicago Blackhawks, and he's not the top fantasy defenseman to own on his team. That honor goes to Aaron Ekblad. Campbell's no longer someone to trust (or own) in the vast majority of formats.  

Ondrej Pavelec, G, Winnipeg – Opponents have taken almost 10,000 shots against the this Thrasher-turned-Jet goaltender in his career… and he has a career save percentage of .906. It doesn't matter that Pavelec has the upper hand over Michael Hutchinson in a battle for playing time between the pipes for Winnipeg. He is, was and always will be a drag on fantasy categories. Yes, Pavelec has been playing well as of late. Astute fantasy owners know that it won't last, though.

Now let's take a look ahead at some teams to lean on or avoid in the coming week or so:

Love 'Em (These squads are sure to pay dividends in the coming week)