Sometimes it's tough in fantasy hockey to know what to do with top players when they struggle.

Players you draft in the 15^th round are easy drops if they are struggling. You should have no worries about dropping the likes of Nikita Gusev, Alexis Lafreniere and Brock Nelson to the waiver wire.

However, what about a superstar or a player you drafted high expecting a huge season? You don't want to trade them as you can't get fair value, and you don't want to drop them to the waiver wire so someone else can claim them. You're stuck debating whether to keep them in the lineup or bench them. It's even worse this season, when postponements due to Covid-19 can do a number on games played.

I'm in a one-year head-to-head Yahoo league where we roster two centres, two left wingers, two right wingers, a forward, three defensemen, two goalies and have only three bench spots. It's almost unmanageable to keep holding onto struggling players, as my bench isn't deep enough to wait out an extended dip in production. I have Taylor Hall, Sam Reinhart and Joel Eriksson Ek on that team. Those three players occupied all three of my three bench spots last week because of Covid-19 cancelling their games.

In roto leagues with a maximum number of games allowed, it's even more difficult. How long do you wait on a struggling player before taking him out of your lineup? How long do you keep him on your bench, debating each night whether this is the game he will break out? Are there even any better options on the waiver wire? With a shortened season, there's even more emphasis on ensuring your games played are the best ones. You can't afford to have many nights when players aren't getting you any stats.

Below are 10 players who are too good to drop but too awful to put in your lineup.

10. Thatcher Demko/Braden Holtby

This ranking is more because there probably aren't many good options left on your waiver wire. It especially hurts for any fantasy general manager who drafted both with the idea they could guarantee all 56 games in the goalie position. Both netminders have a losing record, have a sub-.900 save percentage and have a goals against average around 3.50 or worse. Three of their combined seven wins have come against Ottawa, and that's where you are stuck. You know you can dress the Canucks netminders when they play the Senators. Any other team, you're better off not dressing any goalie.

9. Zach Werenski

Werenski is lower on this list because he is contributing in a few peripheral categories, with nine PIM, 30 shots, 10 hits and 13 blocked shots in 13 games. However, he only has five points (two on the power play) and is a minus-seven. Werenski was, on average, selected as a top-15 defenseman in Yahoo this year. You didn't draft Werenski that high just for those peripherals, you need him to produce points.

8. Teuvo Teravainen

If you didn't draft Teravainen, you may be thinking that he's an easy drop. However, Teravainen was a top-15 left winger, chosen on average high in the fourth round and ahead of Johnny Gaudreau, Taylor Hall, Kyle Connor and Claude Giroux. Teravainen has been one of the biggest disappointments so far with only three points in nine games. His overall ice time is down almost two-and-a-half minutes per game from last year and he's been taken off the top power-play unit at times (on Saturday, for example, he was on the second unit with Jesper Fast, Nino Niederreiter and Martin Necas).

7. Carter Hart

Hart has five wins in nine starts, which isn't awful, but it's still underwhelming. I have Hart in a roto league that counts wins, goals against and saves, and it's difficult to figure out whether to put him in the lineup. Hart has allowed at least three goals in six of his nine games, and at least four goals in five games. It's one of the reasons I rank near the bottom of the league in goals against and middle of the pack with wins and saves. To offset Hart's awfulness, I've been rostering four other goalies to try and to play better matchups instead of having to rely on Hart.

6. Tristan Jarry

Usually, a Penguins starter is a must-own simply because you know they are going to pick up plenty of wins no matter how bad some of their underlying numbers may be. Jarry's numbers have been so bad that he's been losing starts to backup Casey DeSmith, whose numbers have also been bad. However, DeSmith has a 4-1 record. Jarry is 3-4-1 with a 3.82 GAA and a 0.864 SV%. The Penguins have one back-to-back in their next 10 games, so the Pens can easily run with just one top netminder for the majority of the next three weeks. Right now, that's leaning toward DeSmith.

5. Pierre-Luc Dubois

Fantasy GMs have been extremely patient with Dubois this year. There was his lackluster effort as a member of the Blue Jackets to start the season. Then there was the trade, where he had to undergo a two-week quarantine before he could suit up in Winnipeg. Then his first couple of games with the Jets were underwhelming, with little power-play time and zero production. Now he's day-to-day with a lower-body injury. You can stash him on your IR for the time being, but that may only last another game or so. Even when he does get back in the lineup, you can't trust him enough to put him in your lineup.

4. Rasmus Dahlin

There was a lot of ink spilled in the offseason of how Dahlin could potentially push a point-per-game pace one day, but it doesn't look like it's going to be any time soon. Despite the firepower in Buffalo and plenty of opportunity for Dahlin on the power play, he simply hasn't produced. To be fair, Buffalo has only played 10 games due to Covid-19 postponements of games, but in those 10 games, Dahlin has three points (all on the power play) to go along with a minus-nine, 32 shots, 4 PIM, nine hits, and six blocked shots. People like to rag on Dahlin's teammate, Rasmus Ristolainen, but at least the latter will produce in other categories if he's not getting points.

3. Erik Karlsson

I was one of those who believed that Karlsson was due for a huge bounce-back season. He had extra time to ready himself both physically and mentally, but he's been a whole extra level of awful this year. Last year was considered a down year, but he still put up an 82-game pace of 59 points. This year, with zero goals and four assists in 13 games, he's on an 82-game pace of 25 points. Ouch. He's averaging 25:36 per game of ice time and 3:28 per night of power-play time on the top unit, but has only two power-play points, five hits, 23 shots and 19 blocked shots. However, how comfortable would you feel dropping him for someone like Derek Forbort, Michael Del Zotto or Justin Holl?

2. Robin Lehner

Lehner was a top-three goalie chosen in many drafts this past offseason, but things haven't worked out the way anyone believed. Even the biggest pessimist wouldn't have thought that Marc-Andre Fleury would be the better goalie of the two, but that's where we are. Fleury has started about 62 per cent of Vegas' games so far (including back-to-back starts on the weekend), his GAA is almost half of Lehner's, and his one loss in eight starts is magnificent. No one wants to drop Lehner at this stage, but it's difficult to keep a netminder that isn't getting any games.

1. Mika Zibanejad

Many became enamored with Zibanejad after last year's 41 goals and 75 points in 57 games. That's one of the reasons why he was drafted 15^th overall in Yahoo pools. We all knew there would be a dip for Zibanejad, but no one would have expected it to be this extreme. In 13 games, Zibanejad has one goal and three points. That's an 82-game pace of 19 points. He has only one power-play point, so he's not helping there. While he is contributing in shots, hits and faceoff wins, he's not producing at a level indicative of his high draft slot.