Ortio looking good, buy Eric Staal, Boedker hurt and more…

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I opened up a mailbag yesterday in the forum to answer your fantasy hockey questions. You can check it out here. I'll keep the thread open and will keep taking questions throughout today if you have any pressing needs.

One of the more intriguing questions was about the importance of acquiring players who will be most active during the head-to-head playoffs. I think it's definitely important but as important is identifying players who should be heating up in the second half. Ideally, you can find both but I'd much rather find the guy due for some scoring, especially when looking at depth players. With stars, you can focus more on the schedule since they should produce no matter what.

We've got a breakdown of the top teams to look at in the Mid-Season Guide. If you want something more interactive, give former DobberHockey writer, Bob Fisher's, Same Night Tool a try.

By the way, the Mid-Season Guide has been out for a week now. If you haven't picked it up yet, quit doddling. It's packed with everything you need for your post-All-Star push.

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God bless the Islanders. They are second in scoring and 21^st in goals allowed so you know you are getting some fantasy productivity out of their games. What's great is that they've managed to be so high event while remaining gloriously competitive. They are now tops in the league in wins, third in points and tops in the Eastern Conference.

We'll see how well this all goes for them come playoff time. The advanced stats don't necessarily love the Islanders as they rank outside the top-10 in both Corsi-for and Fenwick-for percentage but they are in the top-10 in shots-for percentage. Also, they pass the eye test if that's meaningful to you. And if you recall how well they pushed the Penguins a couple of years ago in Round One despite being absent many contributors to this year's team you know they have a core that can play "playoff hockey."

I won't be putting any money on them to win anything beyond a round or two come playoff time. I just like other teams a lot more. Playoffs hardly matter right now anyhow. I like how productive these guys are for fantasy purposes and that's good enough for me.

Nikolai Kulemin led the way for the Islanders in the matinee game scoring two goals and adding an assist. He did it in just 10:35 of ice time. He has already matched last season's output of 20, in 34 fewer games. What's crazy is that not one of Kulemin's points has come on the power play, not that he's ever scored a ton of points that way. He may not be relevant in most pools but Kulemin has enjoyed quite the bounce back season. Sure feels like 29 teams whiffed passing on him in free agency.

Kulemin has quietly put up five goals and six points in the last five games but this is not a hot streak I think will continue.

John Tavares, on the other hand, is definitely on a hot streak that can continue. Another two-point effort gives him 13 points in nine games in 2015. All of those points have come in six multi-point efforts, making him a tremendous boom/bust option, not that you'd ever dare sit him.

Another thing to love about the Islanders is how they play the body. For a positive possession team they don't hold back from the physical game. They rank third in hits and have some of the biggest hitters in all of fantasy hockey on the roster.

Take yesterday for example where they got 10 hits from Cal Clutterbuck, nine from Matt Martin, eight from Travis Hamonic and seven from Brian Strait. Just a bunch of hard-asses.

Josh Bailey scored a goal as he continues to enjoy his dalliance on the top line. We'll see how long this lasts.

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