This upcoming week will be a frustrating one for fantasy hockey general managers in head-to-head matchups.

Covid-19 is shutting down games at an insane rate. All most fantasy GMs can do is hope the few players they have remaining can put up enough points. As games will be rescheduled, this won’t impact those in points-only leagues or roto leagues as much.

Below are 10 players who are on hot streaks according to Dobber’s hot list. Some of them still have games scheduled for this week, so they may be worth picking up. Some other listed players have had their games cancelled and won’t be playing again until after the Christmas break. For those guys, you’re trying to think ahead and hope that these players can continue a hot streak after a week of no NHL action.

10. Alexandre Texier

A couple of years ago, Texier was a popular pick for a dark horse Calder nomination (not sure how much of a dark horse pick a player can be if there are plenty of prognosticators choosing him). Regardless, he was a disappointment in his rookie and sophomore campaigns, but this season has been much better for him with 16 points in 28 games. He has six points in his last six games, but a worrisome trend is his ice time. It’s simply all over the map, and you don’t know if he will play 10 or 18 minutes in his next game.

9. Brandon Hagel

Playing alongside an elite linemate can be tricky. Some players can’t take advantage of the opportunity and fall flat on their face, while some excel for a short time. Others parlay that chance into long-term success. It’s way too early to tell into which group Hagel will fall. Hagel has been lining up with either Patrick Kane or Jonathan Toews for most of the season, and has five points in his last four games. He’s also been promoted to the top power-play unit. Although the Hawks only play one game this week, Hagel is owned in three per cent of Yahoo leagues, so take advantage while you can.

8. Taylor Raddysh

The 23-year-old rookie had a slow start to the season with one point in his first 19 games. He seemed to have flipped a switch and now he has eight points in his last nine games. That’s the third-highest among Tampa over that time frame, trailing only Victor Hedman and Steven Stamkos. To top it off, in the last few games, he’s been on Tampa’s top power-play unit, although his overall ice time is still low (in his last game, he played 4:53 on the power play and 11:26 overall).

7. Noah Dobson

It’s probably no surprise that the Islanders have been playing much better lately. They started the season on a 13-game road trip and then the team was hit with Covid. However, in their last nine games, they are 3-2-4. Dobson, for his part, has six points in his last eight games to go along with 20 shots, eight hits and 14 blocked shots. A fantastic sign for future production is the fact he has been on the ice for 72.6 per cent of all of the Islanders’ power-play minutes during this streak.

6. Devon Toews

While much of the focus in Colorado is on Cale Makar, Toews has been a little under the radar. This is absurd considering he is top-15 in points among defensemen even though he has played almost half the number of games as the players in front of him. In the season, he has 20 points in 16 games. That’s pretty impressive, and he’s unowned in 15 per cent of Yahoo leagues, so you might want to check out your league to see if he’s still available. He started the season with a shoulder injury and is now on the Covid protocol list, but he’s quickly closing in on career highs in goals, assists, points and power-play points.

5. Ondrej Kase

Kase has always had potential, but injuries have slowed him down and forced fantasy general managers to shy away from him. Right now, he has nine points in his last eight games, but I wanted to focus specifically on his last six games. That’s when he got back in the lineup after an upper-body injury caused him to miss a few games. In these last six games, he has seven points, but he’s half of his five-on-five ice time has been alongside Auston Matthews. Kase is averaging 17:31 minutes per night and getting power-play time, often on the top unit. The Leafs won’t play again until after Christmas, so there’s no guarantee that he stays in that spot once everyone is back in the lineup.

4. Colton Sissons

Sissons has certainly been given the opportunity over the last few games. With so many Predators on the Covid-19 list, Sissons’ ice time has skyrocketed. In his first 25 games, he averaged 11 seconds of power-play time per night and 15:05 overall. In the last three games, those numbers have skyrocketed to 3:29 power-play time per night and 23:14 overall. In those three games, he also has three power-play points, seven hits and 40 won faceoffs. He’s another one that might not play in this spot after the Christmas break, but it might be worth the risk.

3. Erik Karlsson

Most fantasy general managers have given up on Karlsson returning to his lofty heights as he’s been either injured or unproductive since arriving in San Jose. However, he’s been rewarding patient poolies this year with 19 points in 24 games. Since November 24, Karlsson has five goals and 11 points in 12 games. In that span, he also has 36 shots and 16 blocked shots. What’s maybe more impressive is that he’s producing without power-play help. In these last 12 games, he has just one point with the man advantage.

2. Ivan Barbashev

It would be safe to say that no one could have seen this level of production coming from Barbashev. The Blues forward has never had an 82-game pace higher than 33, and that came in his rookie season of 2016-17. He’s never received any power-play time, ice time or taken a lot of shots. However, he’s now getting an opportunity to play at five-on-five with Vladimir Tarasenko and Pavel Buchnevich. He has 15 points in his past 12 games, and in that time, he’s averaged 18:55 a night with 2:33 on the power-play.

1. Evan Rodrigues

There’s something about Pittsburgh that even though they need to sign players for cheap and have little in the way of prospects, they always wind up with players who exceed all expectations. With 23 points in 30 games, Rodrigues is the latest example. Eleven games ago, he was given more ice time, and since then, has nine points while playing on the top power-play unit and averaging almost 20 minutes a night while playing with Sidney Crosby. The Penguins have two games this week and no one in Covid protocol, so they may play both games. This is a perfect opportunity to grab Rodrigues if he is available.