No matter how much you plan, who you draft, or who you trade for, at some point in the season, your players will go through cold streaks. 

If it’s a streaming player that you only picked up during a hot streak, you drop them as soon as they have two or three pointless games. For everyone else, all you can do is patiently wait for it to subside. 

However, in some leagues, keeping an eye on cold players could mean an opportunity to potentially trade for a player at a cheaper cost. Maybe a fellow GM is getting frustrated, especially if that GM has a couple of cold players. 

One of the easiest ways to determine if a player is hot or cold is to look at Dobber’s Frozen Tools list of Cold Players. One excellent aspect of this list will tell you the Yahoo and Fantrax rostered percentage. This can be useful if you’re willing to pick up a cold player and wait until he starts to heat up again. 

Below are 10 players who are cold right now. Some are streamers and are no longer worth rostering, but some are struggling superstars that may be worth trying to acquire. 

10. Erik Gustafsson

We all knew this cold streak was coming, but somehow it seems to have caught many by surprise as he’s still rostered in 26 percent of Yahoo leagues and 61 percent of Fantrax leagues. He was a great replacement when Adam Fox missed 10 games with a lower-body injury, but with Fox back in the lineup, Gustafsson’s opportunity just isn’t there. He’s no longer on the top power-play unit, and he’s gone from 20-plus minutes a night to 17 or less. He’s pointless in six games, and he’s droppable at this stage.

9. Alex Iafallo

Iafallo had a hot start to the season, notching 13 points in his first 15 games as he was used in a top-six role and was getting power-play time with the top unit. He’s now gone pointless in his last 11 contests. For a significant chunk of this cold streak, his usage was still great, but that recently changed. Now he’s been replaced on the top power-play unit by Gabriel Vilardi, and he’s also been bumped off the top line. I don’t want to go as far as saying it’s a bottom-six role, as lines two, three and four tend to be close in even-strength time, but it’s still a downgrade from playing with Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor. 

8. Jesperi Kotkaniemi

I’m not sure what’s going on with the Hurricanes, but this is a team that is struggling mightily. Not a single player is at a point-per-game pace, and their goaltenders had the second-worst save percentage in the league heading into Sunday’s action. Kotkaniemi came into this season as a bit of a sleeper pick, as it looked like he would be centering the second line alongside Andrei Svechnikov. A hot start (13 points in his first 14 games) looked promising, but then it all fell apart. He now has only two points in his last 13 games and is pointless in his last six. 

7. Ryan Johansen

Johansen’s recent cold streak just goes to show why you need a quick trigger finger for dropping or picking up players that you stream for a few games. The Avs forward was a fixture on the top power-play unit to start the season, but was slowly pushed out of that role as the campaign went on. It didn’t help that he wasn’t producing with the man advantage, and has spent the last 10 games or so either on the second unit, or not getting any power-play time at all (he’s been below a minute of power-play time in four of his last 10 games). As he’s mostly in a bottom-six role at even strength, he’s just not getting enough usage to make it worth holding on. If that’s not enough to convince you, maybe the fact that he has just one point in his past six games will. 

6. Pierre-Luc Dubois

Now on the third line and off the top power-play unit, my heart weeps for anyone who has Dubois in a cap-league keeper (of which I am one). Dubois is on pace for one of the worst seasons of his career, and has to bump up his production just to be on pace for 40 points. He is pointless in his last six games, and has only three in his last 12 contests. With the demotion, he’s also not producing in any capacity (his number of faceoffs won is down, and he has only seven hits in his last 15 games). 

5. Shayne Gostisbehere

Gostisbehere has been very hit-and-miss this season. After nine points in his first seven games, he has only 10 in his last 18. Four of those came in one game, and three more came in another contest. He now has only one point in his last six games. More concerningly, his power-play time is starting to drop. With Patrick Kane now in the lineup, the Red Wings are opting to go with a four-forward, one-defenseman power-play unit. That defenseman on the top unit is Mortiz Seider. Considering 10 of Gostisbehere’s 19 points have been with the man advantage, any loss of five-on-four minutes is bound to crush hopes of sustained production. 

4. Erik Karlsson

Is any Karlsson owner happy with his production this season? Even though no one expected him to replicate his 100-point campaign from last year, there was still plenty of hope for him going into this season. He has struggled mightily and is on pace for only 60 points (which goes to show how high his value was considering 60 points is 'struggling'). Karlsson is pointless in three games and has only one point in his last six, with two in his last 10. He also hasn’t had a power-play point since November 11, a span of 13 games. 

3. Alex Ovechkin

The last Washington player to lead the Capitals in goals was before Ovechkin was even drafted by the team (Robert Lang in 2003-04). Much has been made of Ovechkin’s goal decline this season (his five in 25 games is a far drop from his 42 in 73 a year ago). However, his overall point total is down as well, with only 16 points in 25 games. Scarily enough, those 16 points lead the team. Ovechkin hasn’t scored in his past 10 games, and has only four points in that time. 

2. Brayden Point

When Point picked up an assist on Saturday against Seattle, that was his first point in December, and his first in six games. That’s a little shocking considering how good his linemates have been in those six games. Nikita Kucherov has 10 points, whereas Victor Hedman has four. The top Lightning power-play unit also has three power-play goals in those six contests. This is probably a case of bad puck luck for Point right now, who, despite the cold streak, is still on pace for 88 points. 

1. Matthew Tkachuk               

A popular first-round draft pick in one-year leagues, Tkachuk has been awful fantasy-wise during the last 12 games, where he has just two goals and one assist. On the bright side, he is helping in some other categories, such as shots and PIM. However, he has only one power-play point in those 12 games, and doesn’t have a power-play goal yet on the campaign. He is also hitless in his last four games. His ice time has also been dropping recently, with him being under 17 minutes of ice time in five of his last eight contests, including just 14:24 in a game against the Stars last week.