Happy Christmas eve to those who celebrate, and to those who don't, we wish you a happy "three days off from NHL nonsense as the World Juniors begin" season.

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Jamie Benn's peripherals have dropped off a bit as the mid-season doldrums have kicked in now – he was really stuffing the stats initially upon his return from injury. After playing less than 10 minutes total in the Dec 21 game against Toronto, I dropped him in one league to fill a need an extra defenceman, despite Benn's two points in that game. My thinking was that with Benn playing middle-six minutes, and not bringing the same level of peripherals, he's a waiver-wire-level player now. However, with a goal last night last night, that also puts him up to five points in his last four games, ice time be damned.

On the other side of the ice, Dylan Larkin scored the game tying and game winning goal for the Red Wings over the Stars, to bring them to 8-2 in their last 10. Lucas Raymond posted three assists for the third time now this season, and brining him up to 41 points in 36 games.

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William Nylander busted his slump just in time to get some time off and maybe lose his mojo, but at least by scoring two goals last night he made sure that he didn't go a full month between goals, with his last one coming all the way back on November 26th.

Here was the least-involved of Nylander's four points, with Max Domi showing the skill that makes him so interesting and yet also so frustrating.

Stuart Skinner allowed four goals in the loss, and is now up to 12 goals against in three games in the Penguins. What a surprise that behind a lesser skater group Skinner's results are dropping further. Tough break for his fantasy owners, but there's not much saving grace left for him this year.

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In two games over a four-day span, Jacob Fowler has allowed only two goals, making 57 shots on 59 saves. He has been the best of the three goalies in Montreal of late. Sam Montembeault lost both of his games on his conditioning loan, while Jakub Dobes has been inconsistent. Noah Dobson and Lane Hutson both picked up three assists, leading the offence past a suddenly slumping Bruins team.

The Sabres have caught the Bruins in the Eastern Standings, with their seventh win in a row. Surprisingly it has been Alex Lyon leading the charge there among the three-headed goalie tandem there. On offence, surprisingly it has been Bowen Byram leading the charge, with two goals last night and four points in the last two games. His scoring rate in Buffalo has never hit a 40-point pace, but with the team and the player seemingly both taking a step forward, it's something we may see in the very near future.

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Heading into last night's matchup against the defending Stanley Cup Champs, Frederik Andersen had just two games all season (out of 14) where he had allowed less than three goals, and neither of those games had occurred in the nearly-eight weeks since Nov 1st. The 36-year-old has really fallen off as a fantasy asset, though it was looking good for him last night until the third period when the wheels just fell off with five goals against in a twelve-minute span. Even for a typically stingy Carolina team, Andersen can't be trusted right now.

Unfortunately for the Canes who are already banged up, Alexander Nikishin left with an ankle injury and could miss some time.

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When a goalie's three-digit numbers that make up his save percentage and GAA in a game start to approach being equal, you know it's been a bad game. Logan Thompson gave the team Canada brass something to think about through the Winter Break with his 6.18 GAA and .700 save percentage last night against the Rangers. He has had some big ups and downs recently, either allowing 4+ goals or posting a shutout across his last four games. That makes him a lot tougher to trust, especially after how consistent he was earlier in the year.

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Karel Vejmelka was scheduled to start for Utah, but was pulled a couple of hours before game start due to an upper-body-injury. Vitek Vanecek started in his place, and could be worth the speculative add at the moment, as we don't know how long Vejmelka could be out for. If it's a longer timeline, Vanecek's value gets a significant boost.

John Marino is having a little breakout right on cue at his 400-game breakout threshold, though a small part of that is both of his goals on the season being of the empty net variety. You have to be lucky to be good, and good to be lucky, but to be a good fantasy GM you don't want to rely on luck, and now seems like the right moment to sell "high" on Marino if your league is deep enough that he has value.

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With Zach Werenski sidelined for maybe another handful of games, Denton Mateychuk is one to watch. In the Dec 22nd game without Werenski in the lineup, Mateychuk picked up an assist, while playing 28 minutes. Incredibly, 11 of those minutes were on special-teams, showing just how trusted the 21 year old was.

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The only remaining games in this week's matchup period are being played on Saturday and Sunday, as the entire league gets three days off around Christmas. The Blackhawks, Red Wings, Islanders, Leafs, and Lightning each play a back-to-back this weekend, so if you're looking for a few extra man-games, or an extra goalie start, those squads offer you your best bet. Meanwhile Utah doesn't play again until Monday against the Predators, and then their next game after that is on Thursday the 1st of January. They have one game left this calendar year, while some teams have four games between now and the 1st.

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With it being the World Juniors season, there is the annual World Juniors contest over on the forums that anyone is free to make a forum account and take part in.

The basis of the contest is picking 12 forwards, six defencemen, and two goalies who will tally the most points through the tournament. The added wrinkle is that the top 4-5 forwards and the top 3-4 defencemen are in a box from which you can only select one to "captain" your team, and then to fill out the rest of the roster you only have a max of five players per team.

It’s a fun balance of needing to try to project the winning teams, stacking the projected top players from those teams, and figuring out how best to balance it all together into one cohesive roster.

I'm not a perfect prospect guru, nor have I had a lot of luck in this contest in previous seasons, but it is still a lot of fun. This year, Canada does seem to have the strongest team, while the usual suspects should bring the main competition. Interestingly, the Czechs have a great record over the last few years, and should provide some of the best competition outside of the usual U.S./Canada/Sweden trio. I have a feeling that being able to project which Czechs are going to finish at the top of the team will have a big impact on the standings in the tournament.

With the top three teams, there is so much fire power to choose from, that it almost hurts you to go too heavy there, as it uses up your forwards slots and forces the goalies and the defencemen to be selected from much weaker groups. It's a similar theory that you get when drafting in normal leagues, or when acquiring players in cap leagues. The acquisition cost and value-above-replacement are important considerations too.

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This year I have five players from Canada, Sweden and the Czechs, along with four Americans, two Finns, and one Swiss player to round out the set. My goalies are from the Czechs and Sweden, and I wanted to load up on Canadian skaters, figuring they were maybe a bit more projectable at the top end than some of the European groups.

For the Americans, I had Trevor Connelly in my lineup, as one of the more talented scorers on their team… that is until he was cut on the 23rd. The Americans were already

bringing a team that on paper looks a bit less skilled than previous iterations, and without Connelly I wonder about them looking flat and unable to score like we have seen from the Canadian teams the last few years when their brass overthought roster decisions.

Bottom line: don't overthink the roster decisions, and bring the best players, figuring the rest out later. Teams are much less likely to lose because they can't score, rather than something else. A key for fantasy teams too.

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See you next Wednesday, and if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments you can find me on BlueSky @alexdmaclean.