It seems like a lot longer ago than October when the puck dropped on the season, and all your players – you hoped – were poised for greatness. Just like every campaign though, quite a few have not lived up to expectations. But can any of these disappointments still find a way to play better from here on out? That's for you to decide in this month's poll.

Below are 20 players for whom 2021-22 has been a season to forget thus far. The question is which five have the best chance of salvaging their seasons – that is, which five are most likely to play closest to, or even above, preseason predictions between now and game 82. Or to put it another way, the five players who get your votes should be those who'll play – between now and the end of the season – at a level closest to, or even above, what was initially expected.

To help put things into context, suppose a player was predicted to score 65 points but thus far has produced at a 46-point pace, and another was supposed to score at an 86-point pace but as of now stands at only a 61-point pace. In both cases, the players are producing at a rate that's roughly 70% of what was expected from them. If you think the first player will score at a 62-point pace over the rest of the season and the second player at a 77-point pace, then of the two the first player should get your vote since he would be closer, percentagewise, to his initial projection, assuming of course there aren't five other players who would be even closer or who you think could actually exceed what was originally expected of them. For goalies, base your decisions on GAA, SV% and Wins, with each weighted roughly equal.

Without further ado, here are the 20 players, listed in alphabetical order. The link to cast your votes is at the end of the column. Note that I didn't include players with injury question marks, so no Robin Lehner, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Jonathan Toews, among others.

Tyson Barrie – Most poolies figured 2019-20 was a hiccup when for 2020-21 Barrie was the top scoring defenseman in all of the NHL. But for 2021-22 Barrie is on pace to produce the worst numbers of his entire career, all while playing for the up tempo Oilers. His contract gives him a long leash; but Edmonton has, at times, bestowed the all-important PP1 gig upon youngster Evan Bouchard, making it more difficult to envision Barrie being able to rebound over the remainder of the season.

Jamie Benn – No one was expecting the Benn of old; but after he finished 2020-21 with 17 points in his final 19 games there was hope he was at least somewhat rejuvenated, especially when he'd get a healthy Tyler Seguin (more on him below) to center him for the season. But Benn has looked like a player well past his prime and isn't even managing to get PP1 minutes.

Cole Caufield – A favorite to take home the Calder trophy after he dazzled at the end of 2020-21 and in the playoffs, Caufield was faring so poorly he earned a ticket back to the AHL. He's with the big club again, likely for good; but he's not shown signs of being a player whom many saw as a 30-40 goal star in the making. Still, Caufield has played well under Martin St. Louis thus far; but is this just a short term burst of scoring, or might we witness the production we expected?

Jakob Chychrun – No rearguard had more goals than his 18 just last season; and then Oliver-Ekman Larsson was shipped out and redemption project Shayne Gostisbehere was brought in, making it so most figured Chychrun would build on his success. Instead he's been entirely unproductive. Still, he's getting ice time and shooting a ton, so there seemingly is hope.

Marc-Andre Fleury – Make no mistake, it would be a challenge for any goalie to be successful playing for the Hawks this season.  But Fleury is averaging more than one Really Bad Start per every four games and at times has looked even older than his 37 years.  A trade might be his best hope of a turn around.

Philipp Grubauer – Most expected Seattle would not have an inaugural season rivaling that of the Golden Knights; however, many felt Grubauer could still shine in net given what he's being paid and what we saw from him in 2020-21. But he's been unable to stand on his head and keep the Kraken in games, and signs point to this being a lost season for him.

Connor Hellebuyck – Just when poolies were convinced Hellebuyck had halted his pattern of a poor season after a great one, he proceeds to have a lackluster 2021-22 despite a team in front of him that, if anything, is improved on the blueline. Still, if anyone can ignite for a long stretch, it's him, making it so a realistic chance to rebound definitely exists.

Bo Horvat – Last season saw Horvat's production decline for the first time……..ever! How does he follow that up? With an even worse scoring pace for 2021-22. His SOG rate is great and his ice time, overall and on the PP, are fine. Perhaps being deployed against the best of the best from other teams is indeed taking a toll?

Kappo Kakko – In his first two seasons Kakko's low production was justified by poor deployment. But for 2021-22 he's seeing quite a bit of top six time and yet he's still not producing. Perhaps Kakko will find a way to connect the dots somehow, or this might just be another season where he falls well short of lofty expectations.

Dominik Kubalik – After two solid seasons, to see Kubalik falter this significantly is a surprise. Yes, he's not being deployed as well; but if we compare his metrics for 2021-22 to his rookie campaign, he should be doing much better. Maybe he wasn't all he was cracked up to be?

Alexis Lafreniere – The same age as Kakko, but only in his second season, it's still too early to press the panic button with Lafreniere. No question bigger things were expected as he too is being deployed much more favorably. It took Jack Hughes until year three to figure things out, so maybe that will be what's in store for Lafreniere?

Martin Necas – Everything seemed to be going according to plan for Necas, whom many pegged as a star in the making. That is until he's taken a step back this season. Maybe this is still some growing pains? What he does between now and game 82 will tell us a lot.

David Perron – After being reborn in Vegas, Perron had played like a star. This season though, he's seen his numbers drop significantly. While almost all Blues forwards have thrived playing for a system with three scoring lines, Perron has not, and it might be that his lost ice time and him being less of a focal point have made it so he won't improve over the rest of the season.

Jeff Petry – From being the only defenseman to score 11+ goals in each of the past four seasons to a rearguard who might not even reach 11 points, it's been that bad of a campaign for Petry. But the Habs don't have many other viable options to run their PP, and logic would suggest that Petry can't have become so bad so fast. We'll see if he can somehow turn things around.

Elias Pettersson – If we thought last season was concerning for Pettersson, 2021-22 has his owners pressing their panic buttons big time. Yes, he's still unquestionably talented and young enough to become reinvigorated; however, maybe he's going to be the second coming of Paul Stastny, who arrived with a big bang then quickly faded from fantasy prominence.

Ivan Provorov – It seems with every passing year Provorov is getting more and more victimized by his real-life value, which has led the Flyers to use him in situations that aren't conductive to him succeeding in fantasy. With his talent there's always hope for a turn around, although it seems unlikely for this season at least.

Alexander Radulov – In limited action last season Radulov impressed and made poolies think his 2019-20 subpar production was an aberration. But like the other veteran Star forwards not named Joe Pavelski, Radulov has looked over the hill. Still, given what we saw from him last season, he could explode at any moment.

James van Riemsdyk – How does JVR follow-up his best scoring rate since 2013-14? With what is on pace to be his worst season ever. While it might've been a stretch to predict that he'd duplicate his success from 2020-21, no one likely could've foreseen how disastrous things have been for him this year. Maybe though he can still dig himself at least somewhat out from the whole over the next couple of months?

Ilya Samsonov – With Igor Shesterkin on his way to being a top tier NHL netminder and Ilya Sorokin looking better by the season, the question becomes when will Samsonov produce the kind of numbers he did in the KHL. The answer is maybe never, as he's struggled since he set foot on US soil, and now there's concern he might not be able to successfully transition to NHL hockey, even prompting whispers he might head back to Russia rather than re-up with the Caps.

Tyler Seguin – Although he's looked better of late, Seguin – like Benn and Radulov – has fallen well short of expectations. Still, with him being the youngest of the three and perhaps finally losing his post-injury rust, Seguin might be the best bet to return to form.

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Those of you – like me – who have several of these players on your fantasy teams, you have my sympathies. But let's still try to be optimistic and determine which five of the 20 will perform closest to, or even above, their preseason expectations from now until the end of the 2021-22 campaign. Remember – it's a relative question. You're not just picking the five who you think will do best; it's the five who'll do best compared to what had been expected from them going into the season. Click here to cast your votes.

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Questions for Mailbag Column

My monthly mailbag column runs next week and I'm still looking for a couple more questions. To get yours to me, you can either private message “rizzeedizzee” via the DobberHockey Forums or, instead, send an email to [email protected] with “Roos Mailbag” as the subject line.