The second half of the NHL season is upon us, and it seems time has flown by. But we have to keep our eye on the prize: top spot in our respective fantasy leagues. Below are a few players to help down the stretch. For more even information, pick up our Dobber Midseason Guide!

TAYLOR HALL

Let us get this one out of the way, but there is almost no scenario in which Taylor Hall doesn't get traded at the deadline. Hall must be kicking himself thinking that signing a one-year deal in Buffalo was a good idea and while he was criticized at the time of the signing, it looks significantly worse now. After scoring in his first game of the season, Hall proceeded to go on a 19-game (!!!) goalless streak which finally came to an end on March 4th. He then followed that up with another eight-game — and-counting — goalless drought. All of this brings me back to Hall having a big second half of the season. As previously mentioned, Hall is going to get traded and it will almost certainly be to a playoff team. Who knows what team that is, but it cannot be a worse situation and Hall should definitely benefit from moving on from this disastrous half-season in Buffalo.

Hall is having a bit of bad luck as he is sporting an abysmal 2.8 percent shooting percentage compared to a 10.1 for his career. However, outside of Hall's Hart Trophy season in which he put up an incredible 14 percent shooting percentage, he hasn't been able to put up higher than a 9.7 percent since 2013-2014. While Hall may never return to being more than a 20-25 goal scorer again, he is significantly better than he has been this season and he will be in a much better spot to succeed whenever and wherever he gets traded.

MARTIN NECAS

The 12th overall pick in the 2017 draft is showing why he only needed one season in the AHL once coming to North America. In 2018-2019 Martin Necas put up 16 goals and 52 points in 64 games in the AHL. The following season he made the Carolina Hurricanes roster and had a respectable 16-goal, 36-point rookie campaign.

Necas has taken his game to another level this year with 22 points in 28 games and now playing alongside Sebastian Aho has put up 11 points in his last 11 games. His shot volume is down slightly in the month of March as he's averaging 2.09 shots per game compared to 2.24 per game in the first two months. This is not too concerning, as Necas is likely to top out as a 20-25 goal scorer, so you wouldn't expect any sort of high shot volume. He has certainly bounced around between the two power play units, but currently sits on the top unit — at least while Vincent Trocheck and Teuvo Teravainen are out — so hopefully he can take advantage.

Those two injuries are a big reason as to why Necas has been playing on the top line with Aho and Nino Neiderreiter. Luckily, he has looked great there, so there would be little reason to separate him from Aho once the Hurricanes get healthy. If he's moved off that top line, he could see a dip in his production as the Hurricanes do like to balance their top three lines.

ILYA SOROKIN

Ilya Sorokin had been completely dominating the KHL for the last six years as the NY Islanders prized goaltending prospect. His start to his NHL career was forgettable allowing 11 goals in his first 3 games, but Sorokin quickly brushed that off. He has since gone 8-0-0 with a 1.35 goals against average and a .944 save percentage along with two shutouts. There is a full-blown goalie controversy right now in Long Island, especially when you factor in that Semyon Varlamov has two more years at $5,000,000 each season left on his contract. It would make sense to roll with Sorokin as long as he's playing this well as he is obviously the future of this franchise in net.

The Islanders sit atop their division so while Varlamov is older, paid a nice price and signed for two more years, they are more than likely going to simply roll with the goaltender that gives them the best chance to win that night. Right now, they are still working in tandem as Sorokin has seven starts in March while Varlamov has six, but as the season moves on if Sorokin is the obvious better goalie, I cannot see the Islanders moving away from him. As the playoffs inch closer, they are going to want to ride one goalie and it makes sense for this to be Sorokin as long as he has been playing as good, or better, than Varlamov, despite his lack of NHL experience.