Having arrived at the quarter pole of the fantasy season, it’s time to look back over the first 20 or so games and nominate some fantasy winners for various categories and positions. Without further delay, here are the nominees <drumroll>:

1. Alexander Ovechkin, Washington – Prior to his injury, Ovechkin was on pace to accomplish something only five players have ever done in history: score 50 goals in a team’s first 50 games. Richard, Bossy, Gretzky, Lemieux and Brett Hull were the only other players to ever achieve this feat. Despite not being able to reach that accomplishment this year, all indications suggest that Ovechkin will, one day, join this elite group of players. He is simply the most electrifying player in the game, and the number one fantasy player without a doubt. This year, surrounded with the emerging talents of Semin, Backstrom and Green, Ovechkin has become even more lethal, hitting twine 16 times in 18 games, on a career-high 16% of his shots. Barring further injury, Ovechkin seems like a strong candidate to sweep the NHL Awards next summer for the second time in his young career.

2. Dany Heatley, San Jose – After a disappointing 2008-2009 season, Heatley has returned with a vengeance. Paired with one of the league’s best playmakers in Joe Thornton, Heatley is tops in the NHL in goals scored (18) and game-winning goals (4), second in powerplay points (13) and even helps out in the PIM department with 20. He’s also scoring on an incredible 25.7% of his shots and will likely compete with Ovechkin for the Rocket Richard trophy at year’s end.

3. Zach Parise, New Jersey – Parise is officially the real deal. After a 94-point breakout year last year, many skeptics were curious to see if Parise could repeat his performance this year, especially with a much thinner Devils team than in years past. In response, Parise has not only potted 27 points in his first 21 games, but has done so in the absence of playmaker Patrik Elias. In fact, Parise has done most of his damage with a pair of talented, but hardly dominant linemates in Travis Zajac and Jamie Langenbrunner. Furthermore, two-thirds of his points have come at even-strength, accounting for the league’s second best plus/minus rating at +15.

Honorable mention: Anze Kopitar, Corey Perry

1. Dan Boyle, San Jose – Boyle has been nothing short of spectacular this year. Although he doesn’t lead NHL defenseman in any single category, he is posting superb numbers across virtually every major fantasy category: 3rd in points (21), 4th in goals (4), 3rd in assists (17), 2nd in powerplay points (8), 5th in plus/minus (+8), with 18 PIM and has even chipped in a game-winning goal.

2. Chris Pronger, Philadelphia – It’s so rare to find a defenseman who can be defensively responsible, dish out in excess of 100 PIM while yet posting top-calibre offensive numbers. In the entire league, there are only two or three players that can claim that honor, and this year in particular Pronger seems to be doing it better than ever. Pronger is on pace for 115 PIM, 74 points, and a ridiculous +53. Although his point totals are likely to regress somewhat with the loss of Simon Gagne, his plus/minus projections are definitely not beyond his reach: in his 1999-2000 campaign with the Blues, Pronger posted a +52 rating.

3. Mike Green, Washington – Not since Brian Leetch in 1991-1992 has a defenseman posted 100 points. Mike Green may be the player with the greatest likelihood of one day reaching that accomplishment. Playing with the league’s most talented player in Alexander Ovechkin, Green is yet again playing in excess of a point-per-game pace, with respectable plus/minus and PIM numbers to boot. Although his goal totals are down this year, Green is easily the most offensively gifted defenseman in the league and looks poised for another solid season with the Caps.

Honorable mention: Drew Doughty, Duncan Keith

1. Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose – Despite losing out to Martin Brodeur and Tim Thomas the past two seasons, the 34 year-old Soviet native is making a strong case for his first ever Vezina trophy this year. Nabokov has been an anchor for the Sharks in net, accumulating a league-leading 14 wins, 2.19 GAA, .926 SV% and posting two shutouts. He is coming off back-to-back seasons with 40+ wins and is playing on the best team in the league, all of which will go a long way in ensuring that he is once again at the top of the goaltending heap.

2. Ilya Bryzgalov, Phoenix – Bryzgalov is single-handedly the biggest reason why the Phoenix Coyotes possess a 13-9-1 record. His play in net has been outstanding, having posted a league-best three shutouts and a GAA second only to Ryan Miller. Whether or not Bryzgalov, who has a career GAA of 2.59, can sustain his stellar play on a team so obviously thin on talent is the key question. If you’ve got the guts to pony him up in a package for the slow-starting Roberto Luongo, now might be the time to do so.

3. Ryan Miller, Buffalo – Miller is leading the league both in GAA (1.97) and SV% (.931), and is also near the top in wins (12) and shutouts (2), despite the fact that the Sabres have played the fewest games in the league (20). As with Bryzgalov however, Miller has a career GAA of 2.62 and in fact has never posted a GAA beter than 2.53. Is his current pace sustainable? The Sabres are at the top of their division, and certainly have a much deeper team than the Coyotes, but the jury is still out on the sustainability of Miller’s performance.

Honorable mention: Martin Brodeur, Ray Emery

This award goes to the player who walks that fine line between toughness (at least in terms of PIM) and offensive punch. Dale Hunter set the standard for this mark in the 91-92 season, posting 78 points in 80 games while accumulating a whopping 205 PIM.

1. Kevin Bieksa, Vancouver - Bieksa is nothing short of a warrior. With 61 PIM in only 23 games, he has been the grit that the Canucks need on their blue line, and can almost single handedly win the PIM category for H2H fantasy owners. His -1 rating is not much of a liability defensively, and has a surprising amount of offensive upside, scoring 11 points thus far in the year, 3 of those coming on the man advantage. It’s no surprise therefore, that Bieksa is the 7th highest ranked fantasy defenseman according to Yahoo!.

2. Zdeno Chara, Boston – Few will ever forget Chara’s ragdoll handling of Bryan McCabe in a 2004 fight. 458,000 You Tube hits later, and the 6-foot-9 Chara is still one of the most feared defensemen in the league. Thus far, Chara has delivered 40 PIM, while contributing 13 points overall (6 on the PPP), and a respectable plus-2 rating. This despite losing the Bruins’ best player in Marc Savard. Look for Chara to finish with 125 PIM, 45 points and a +15 rating by year’s end.

Honorable mention: Ryan Getzlaf, Rene Bourque, Sidney Crosby

This award goes to the player who has been the biggest fantasy stiff. Aki Berg was a Leafs defenseman that was notorious for giveaways and boneheaded decisions, drawing the relentless ire of Leafs Nation and eventually leading to his dismissal from the team.

1. Martin Havlat, Chicago – Nobody has been more invisible this year, and more frustrating for fantasy owners than Martin Havlat. A perennial point-per-game player when healthy, Havlat has disappointed everyone with only 8 points in 19 games, and an excruciating -14 rating, second only to Rod Brind’Amour for worst in the league. Worse yet, Havlat showed very little chemistry on the top line with Mikko Koivu and was removed, making any possibility for a comeback that much more remote. Havlat’s name still carries a lot of weight in fantasy circles, so if you can get something decent in return from an optimistic owner, you’d be better off pulling the trigger.

2. David Backes, St.Louis – Last year, Backes scored 31 goals while amassing 165 PIM, leaving many to believe he was developing into the second coming of Cam Neely – a rugged, goal-sniping winger who could dominate the game both physically and offensively. This year, Backes has instead regressed to the tune of one goal and three assists in  20 games. He does have 34 PIM, but his lack of offensive output renders him nearly useless. Not surprisingly, Backes is ranked 579th overall, despite entering the season ranked 58th.

3. Brad Boyes, St.Louis – If it wasn’t for a 5 point stint in the span of two games earlier this month, Brad Boyes would be approaching Backes-land in terms of overall production. The former 40-goal scorer is on pace for just 16 goals this year, which would make it the worst year of his career. The issue doesn’t seem to be effort per se, as Boyes is still shooting the puck at a similar pace as the past two years; rather, the quality scoring chances just haven’t been there, and as a result, Boyes is scoring on a career-low 7% of his shots. In fact, the poor performance isn’t limited to just Backes and Boyes – the whole Blues team is struggling to get in their groove, despite coming off a great second half run last year. If you can afford to stash Boyes away while waiting for the team to get its act together, then you may be rewarded with time. Nonetheless, if you’re desperate, I would diligently shop him around, as Boyes is a respected name and may be able to net you something half-decent in return.

Honorable mention: Steve Mason, Vesa Toskala