Michalek and Stone hot for Ottawa, Chara is toast, Yak-City reaches six and more…

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Some serious rumours floating around out there. It is that time of year. Pierre LeBrun warns not to put too much stock in the Blackhawk rumours you read in his latest rumblings blog.

I tend to agree. They've got a window to win this year. They aren't moving a core piece unless they get a godfather offer. For instance Patrick Sharp, who has been toiling on the third line recently, well he'll be just as tradable at the draft as he will be at the deadline so there's no reason to rush it if you're Chicago. For Sharp owners, this may actually be a bad thing.

He had another scoreless game last night, his fifth in a row and seventh in the last eight. The Chicago Sun Times is optimistic that Sharp will be the latest Blackhawk to break out of a funk after Marian Hossa did so recently but I'm not so sure. Hossa's breakout came at least in part due to Sharp getting pushed down in the lineup. In a perfect world they'd both be rolling at once. This ain't that perfect world.

No points for Patrick Kane last night either. That's only back-to-back games for him so not officially a streak yet. Two tough opponents in Pittsburgh and Detroit as well. They've got a visit from the road weary Avalanche coming tomorrow night, which should get him back on the board.

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That Darren Helm is wielding a hot stick for Detroit. Five goals and eight points in the last eight games for him. I'd be curious to know whether this is the result of a minutes bump or if the bump is the result of his hot streak. He's up to over 17 minutes per game here in the third quarter of the season on the rise from 15:42 per game in the second quarter and just 12:57 in the first.

No real spike in power play time for Helm either. He's at just 1:02 per game in the third quarter, on par with his season average. Some of his minutes are up due to increased usage on the penalty kill but that's not going to help a player's offense much, even a lethal penalty-killer like Helm.

It simply comes down to Helm skating more minutes at even strength with Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Tatar and making the most of it. Can't begrudge him for that. He's on pace for his best season yet and if he hits 40 points he might even be able to boast relevance outside of the deepest leagues.

I do wonder how Johan Franzen's absence impacts all this. The Mule is still out with a bad concussion and doesn't appear close to a return. He'd muddy things for quite a few Red Wings if he returned but right now I can definitely see him being a nonfactor for the remainder of the year.

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Nice start by Andrew Hammond, making 42 saves against the Canadiens for his first career NHL win. I don't want to deride the guy after his special night but I really just do not believe in him. Is he capable of putting together a short run of relevance? Sure. Why not? An extended run is just unlikely though, even with neither Robyn Lehner nor Craig Anderson ready to come back as of yet. I look at his AHL stats (dreadful) and I just cannot support him.

I have totally been asleep on this, Milan Michalek has sprung to life the past month or so. Since January 10 he has eight goals and 13 points in 15 games. No surprise how this happened. Michalek's power play usage has basically doubled from where it was in December up to over two minutes per game. He has four power play goals in this stretch. Michalek is also seeing an extra minute of ice time at even strength the past month or so. Clarke MacArthur's injury only helps to solidify this renaissance for Michalek.

Mark Stone has 19 points in the last 20 games, all since New Year's. Only 8% owned in Yahoo! pools. Three points last night probably spikes that up a little but if you are a fan of playing the trends in leagues with a large number of moves, this is one to jump on.

By the way, Michalek is only 5% owned. Some bargains out there for the taking, especially if you're an idiot like me clinging to Jeff Skinner in a one-year pool.

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