Chris Nichols

­Chris Nichols is Sportsnet.ca's fantasy hockey writer.

@Nichols_NHLPool on Twitter for timely NHL & poolie info, along with occasionally snarky comments.

Live blogging nightly: line combos, defensive pairings, analysis, statistical trends and more from every game on the NHL docket. Refresh the 'Live NHL Recap' page while the games are on to get new info as it is added.

Send in a brief fantasy hockey question, including all relevant league info, and it may be included in a future Hockey Hearsay blog during the week. One per person, please. Send it via Twitter for a possible response in the blog, or send via email (include your first name and hometown to represent!) if you'd prefer. chris.nichols@sportsnet.rogers.com

The NHL is taking a brief five-day hiatus to showcase its stars, generate a little revenue and give everyone a chance to recharge for the stretch drive. The playoffs, which every team hopes will be a long and arduous process, are only a few months away.

With a much-needed, well-deserved and duly-appreciated break in the live nightly blogging action, this is also the perfect time of the season to reflect on some of what’s gone on so far.

It’s a funny thing. Each and every summer, aside from plenty of relaxing after a frenetic season, I studiously prepare the fall fantasy draft content. You don’t even want to know how many hours, days and weeks go into a single rankings list.

I’m no Nostradamus, but on the whole I try to give you a solid base from which to build a championship roster.

Every winter though, without fail, there are surprises. Some good, some bad. Such is the nature of anything involving human beings, which is part of the allure of fantasy sports in the first place.

Today we'll cover five surprises of interest to me, but I'd also like to hear what you considered to be a revelation on any level in the world of hockey - it doesn't necessarily have to be fantasy-related. Email me or tweet it and I'll include it in Friday's blog. Contact info above.

This should have been another strong year for the New Jersey Devils. I don’t care how many Monday morning quarterbacks have said otherwise in the past few months, but this should have been another season where the Devils were one of the stronger teams in the East.

And while the second half is beginning much better than the disaster that was the first three months of the season, the damage for poolies has already been done.

Ilya Kovalchuk’s normally excellent offensive production has endured a pretty significant blip on the radar and it has come with a +/- weighted like an anvil around his owners’ necks. Sure, let’s take the guy we’ve given a 35-year, one billion dollar contract to based on his snipertastic ability to score from the left side and let’s move him to the right side. Oh, and instead of having him out on PP1 and PP2 like he’s done successfully for years – fully taking advantage of the opposition being one man short – let’s only give him as much power play time as the other guys on the team. Or even less. That should work out, right?

You’re fired.

Between Zach Parise’s basically season-ending injury and Anton Volchenkov’s ailment early on and Kovalchuk’s early struggles and Martin Brodeur stuck behind a team that was playing a shoddy brand of defence in front of him and players getting used to a new coach... yikes. Murphy’s Law defined. Thankfully, Jacques Lemaire has this team believing in itself again and even guys like the waived Brian Rolston – much to his credit - are coming on strong.

Who Lou Lamoriello gets to coach this team next year when Lemaire steps aside this summer will be the key though.

Although he’s currently mired in a 10-game pointless streak, Dustin Byfuglien has been one of the biggest triumphs of this campaign. 16G, 25A, 47 PIM and 217 SOG after 52 GP. I’ve already written it, but he could go the rest of the season without registering another point and his year would still have to be classified overall as a smashing success.

He has taken the opportunity to move back to defence with significantly more playing time than he received in a rotating role up front with the Chicago Blackhawks (16:25 average ice time last season and 23:01 this year) and he has really run with it. Paired at even strength and on the power play with emerging star Tobias Enstrom, who’s finally run into the first IR stint of his career, Byfuglien has been a dominant force for poolies with a host of points and PIM, along with a SOG pace that could see him reach 340+ shots!

And this doesn’t even take into account the paragraphs that could be written on Andrew Ladd (only 10 points shy of his career high of 49 already) thriving with a leading role that has earned him the captaincy, while Ondrej Pavelec (17-12-7 with 2.44/ .927 splits and three shutouts) has stepped up immensely with Kari Lehtonen moving to Dallas (and doing extremely well there). Pavelec, of course, did so after that unreal health scare at the start of the season where he collapsed to the ice in front of our very eyes. Crazy.

Where the $#$&* did the offence go for the Caps?

No, the whole “Bruce Boudreau swears a lot” thing is never going to get old.

It’s one thing that the Washington Capitals have learned to play really good team D. But where are the goals? Alex Ovechkin is averaging a point-per-game, but only has 19 goals. Nicklas Backstrom only has 46 points in 51 games and while that’s ok, it’s well below what poolies have been expecting. Alexander Semin, who just signed a one-year contract extension instead of testing free agent waters this summer, is under the point-per-game mark. Mike Green only has 22 points in his 44 starts. Mike Knuble has 20. Go down the list and they’re all below expectations.

"When you can't score, you can't score," Boudreau, whose team has scored more than four goals only twice in the last 22 games, told The Washington Post after last night’s 1-0 loss to Atlanta. "The one thing I can say tonight, it wasn't for a lack of effort, puck control or shots on goal or anything. Even our power play I thought was really good. [We] just can't score goals right now. It's very frustrating for the coaches. I'm sure it is for every player in there when you're trying so hard and you can't score goals."

The good news, naturally, is that any offensive slump by stars or superstars creates a potential bargain opportunity for fantasy owners. In the case of keeper leagues, it might also open up the chance to actually trade for a player that was once considered untouchable – like an Ovechkin or Backstrom. His owner may not be giving him away at a severe discount, but just the ability to acquire a player can be a victory in itself.

Honestly, how many people had Tim Thomas winning the Vezina this season? I sure didn’t. Not many poolies did and not many NHL GMs did either, since he could have been had via trade over the summer. But while I didn’t think Thomas would play this many games, this is one surprise I at least had somewhat of a leg up on in the fall.

Naturally, Thomas won the Vezina two years ago. He was finally healthy heading into this season after not being right much of last year. Boston had finished first and second defensively in the two years leading into this season. The team in general was also due a big rebound. So as much as I liked Rask to continue to build on last season’s impressive showing, in every single draft piece written I urged Rask owners to begin the season with Thomas because discounting him is not smart.

Just shy of February, this guy is rocking a 1.81 GAA (2.11 is next-nearest), a .945 SV% (second is .929) and he’s only one win shy of Jonas Hiller (who has started eight more games) for the league lead in that category too. As of today, there is no contest for the Vezina. There are still a few months to go, but right now you’d look ridiculous even trying to argue anyone but Thomas deserves the hardware. There have been a number of goalies who have turned in excellent seasons to date, but as of this moment nobody can touch the results of Thomas.

The Philadelphia Flyers reached the Stanley Cup Finals last season after an up and down regular season that only saw them make the post-season thanks to the shootout win against the Rangers in game No. 82, but Philly began this year with generally high expectations. The real question mark, as usual for this team, surrounded the goaltending.

Here’s part of what I wrote in my goalie rankings back on September 21st. “With the uncertainty over who will emerge as the starter here and the general unstableness of (Michael Leighton and Brian Boucher’s) NHL career to date, anything from a mild disaster to a potential goldmine could happen in fantasy circles for last year's Cup finalists.”

And, “...Sergei Bobrovsky is already turning heads and after some AHL seasoning it's entirely possible he could work his way into the rotation at the NHL level. Come on - this is Philly. Would you expect anything other than a potential circus in net? Load up the clown car and let's see how many will emerge.”

The funny thing is, with Michael Leighton’s early injury the team ended up turning to Bobrovsky much earlier than even they anticipated and he seized the chance and ran with it. There have been a few blips on the proverbial radar, during which Boucher did quite well, but Bobrovsky has Philly’s faithful wondering if they finally have a longer-term answer between the pipes. He’s currently sporting a 21-6-3 record with a 2.42 GAA and .920 SV%. Boucher has nearly identical peripherals (2.41/ .916) and a strong 11-6-2 mark. Neither Philly goalie has recorded a shutout yet, but they’ve certainly generally exceeded expectations by a mile.

And not for nothing, but former Flyers goalie Ray Emery is quietly working on his comeback after pretty serious hip surgery. He could be an interesting wildcard for an NHL team at some point and that means you should keep his name in the back of your mind for poolie potential again.