Hot Flashes

As we enter the cold winter months, here’s a look at some players that are starting to heat up in the month of December:

Nathan Horton, Florida - when Olli Jokinen was traded from Florida to Phoenix in the summer of 2008, the Panthers expected that Nathan Horton would step up and fill the void created by Jokinen’s departure. Horton certainly seemed to possess all the tools to be a solid player moving forward, but ended up being a large disappointment that season, netting only 45 points in 67 games. One year later however, and the former 3rd overall pick seems to have adjusted to the pressure of being Florida’s top dog. Thus far, Horton has 22 points in 26 games, and has points in nine of his past ten games, while adding 28 PIM and a plus-3 rating. Despite the fact that he’s only scored seven goals, we can certainly see much upside in his goal totals as he possesses a career 15.1 shooting percentage, and has never been below 12.7%, which is remarkable considering that many of the elite goal scorers (eg. Heatley, Kovalchuk, Gaborik) are in the 15% range as well. As an added bonus, he has dual eligibility at Center and Right Wing.

Maxim Afinogenov, Atlanta - next to Alex Kovalev, Maxim Afinogenov is, historically, one of the most talented underachievers in the league. Despite being gifted with tremendous speed and stickhandling skills, the lack of consistency has killed his fantasy value in recent years. This year however, he seems to be having a rebirth, playing alongside fellow countrymen Nik Antropov and Ilya Kovalchuk. He’s got 25 points in 24 games thus far and has been the 2nd best fantasy player in the past month: 8 G, 10 A, plus-12, 12 PIM, 5 PPP and 1 GWG. If there is one knock to Afinogenov’s hot start though, it’s the fact that he has a tendency to get hurt – in the past three years he has missed an average of 29 games a year. Keep that in the back of your mind if trade offers come your way, but for the time being, Afinogenov seems poised to deliver a top 25 performance for the remainder of the year.

St. Louis Blues: - despite a terrible start to the season, the St.Louis Blues are starting to show signs of breaking out. Goaltender Chris Mason posted a 1.97 GAA and a .932 SV% in the month of November, and defenseman Erik Johnson has been the fourth best fantasy-defenseman in the league over the past month, with 11 points in his past 13 games. Even Brad Boyes and David Backes are strating to turn things around, just one week after being nominated for our Aki Berg Fantasy Award, for lame duck players: Boyes has four points in the past five games, and Backes has six in his past four, with an impressive 30 PIM to go along. The window for acquiring some of these players is rapidly closing however, so if you plan on making a move, do so quickly.

Ryan Malone, Tampa Bay - despite my earlier posting that Malone was poised to fall back to Earth after his hot start, the fact remains that he is currently the ninth-best left-winger in the league according to Yahoo!’s ratings. He is fourth in the league in goals scored, and second, behind Rich Peverley, for the most game-winning goals, with four. So is he the real deal or not? I still maintain my position that Malone is overachieving, and that you would be better off trading him while his value is high. In fact, you may want to look to Ovechkin and/or Smyth owners for a potential trade, as both of those left wingers are either out (Smyth) or potentially out (Ovechkin: knee injury and likely suspension following his hit on Tim Gleason Monday night) for a period of time. Whether or not this is a foreshadow of things to come, or simply a tough stretch of games, Malone has just two points in his past six games, so take that into consideration.

R.J Umberger, Columbus - Although I don’t expect Umberger to continue posting these numbers, he has been very productive over the past month: 12 points, a plus-3 rating and 2 GWG in his last 14 games. Four of those points did come in his most recent game against St.Louis however, in which he notched a hat trick, inflating his statistics somewhat. Nevertheless, considering that Umberger went undrafted in the vast majority of leagues, he’s delivering a decent performance overall, and would be a third center candidate in 12-14 team leagues.

Sean Avery, New York Rangers - following his trade from the Kings to the Rangers in the 2006-2007 season, Avery posted one of the best fantasy lines in the league for the remainder of that year: 20 points, a plus-11 rating and 58 PIM in just 29 games. Although he hasn’t been the same player this year, he is starting to show signs of regaining some of that value. He has five points (2 on the PP) in the past seven games to go along with 25 PIM, and more importantly, finds himself skating on a line with Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal, presumably as a bodyguard to the fragile Gaborik. If the current trend continues, it’s almost certain that Avery will be a big benefactor and could be very valuable to your team moving forward.