Crashing the net

By Ray Flowers, Fanball.com, Special to SI.com

Boston's Phil Kessel has already set career highs in goals (21) and points (37) and is currently riding a 18-game point streak. Jerome Davis/Icon SMI

Crashing the Net takes you around the league you almost forgot about and all of the fantasy ins and outs, ups and downs.

Fire

Patrick Elias, New Jersey

Usually we reserve this space for some out-of-the-way players who are hot, but there was just no way we could ignore Elias any longer. A year after recording just 55 points, Elias already has 37 in 31 games, thanks to a massive run of points in 15 of 16 games. During that streak he has posted 28 points, thanks to 12 goals and 16 assists as he has been putting up points like he was in 2000 when he recorded 96 points. Elias is only three goals away from matching his three-year average of 19 markers, so consider yourself extremely fortunate if you took a gamble on Elias this draft season.

Phil Kessel, Boston

Kessel currently has the league's longest point streak at 18 games, and he hasn't just been a guy dishing out an assist here and there to extend the streak. While he has handed out 14 assists during the streak, he has also tallied 14 goals. It's safe to say that the 2006 first round draft pick has arrived, especially considering he has already set a career best in goals (21) and tied his career-high in points (37) in just 33 games.

Sergei Kostitsyn, Montreal

It seems rather unlikely to list a guy as "hot" after a nine-game scoreless drought and just 13 points in 30 games, but the spunky left winger does have three goals and four points in three games, with two of the allies coming with the man-advantage. In 82 career games, Kostitsyn has scored 15 goals along with 25 assists, but he is still nothing more than a depth play at the moment.

David Krejci, Boston

As shocking as it sounds to say, Krejci is one of the best scorers in the league right now (and no, we aren't drinking spiked eggnog). Over his last 22 games, David has registered nine goals and 30 points, and if you can't believe that, you certainly wont believe the recent run he is on in which he has recorded at least a point in 14 of 15 games. And they haven't been merely helpers; He has lit the nine times during that stretch while dishing off the puck for 18 assists. Amazingly, four times in his past eight games he has recorded three points, and that means it will certainly be a white Christmas in the Krejci household.

Matt Niskanen, Dallas

Ten points in 30 games -- big whoopee, right? Wrong. With Sergei Zubov out of the lineup, Niskanen has been asked to pick up the offense from the blue line and has responded like an elf to the commands of Santa with eight points in his last nine games. He doesn't produce on the power-play -- scoring only two points with the man-advantage, and his plus/minus is poor (-7) -- but it is tough to find a defensemen with a "smaller" name who is producing better at the moment.

Ice

Jason Arnott, Nashville

After scoring 13 goals in his first 21 games the Predators captain has gone eight games without a goal and he has recorded only a measly two assists as his holiday season has been decidedly unhappy thus far. Arnott still gets all the ice-time he can handle, and there is no way that will change, so just grit your teeth and hope that his stocking this year is filled with a whole bunch of goals (it should be considering he averaged 29 goals a season the past three years).

Erik Cole, Edmonton

Thirty, twenty-nine and twenty-two, those are the goal scoring totals of this rugged forward the past three years despite an average of just 68 games a season. However, that scoring touch has virtually vanished as Cole has all of four goals in 31 games in his first season in Edmonton which includes a current run of just one goal in 16 games. Everyone expects him to pull out of this, and given his record of success, now is the perfect time to offer something "nice" to his owner who certainly views him as "naughty" for his lack of production this season.

Olli Jokinen, Phoenix

After missing some time with an injured shoulder, Jokinen returned with three goals in two games and everything was right in the world. Then, it all went horribly wrong. Olli has been held without a point in four straight games and the normally aggressive shooter has all of three shots in three games. You know it's just a hiccup you have to ride out, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating.

Dion Phaneuf, Calgary

Four games without a point and an amazing 16 without a goal mark this Alberta native as a pretty big disappointment at the moment. Still, when you look at his three year run of consistency in goal scoring (20, 17 and 17) and points (49, 50 and 60), you know that the points will be there, an in fact he has 23 points in 33 which is actually a pace for nearly 60-points this season -- it just seems worse because of the lack of goal scoring.

Jason Spezza, Ottawa

Demoted to the third line and in danger of being a healthy scratch, Spezza is clearly in the doghouse in Ottawa where things continue to go horribly wrong. Spezza has one point in six games, is an abysmal (-7) in that time, and appears completely lost/disinterested, which makes this a perfect time to pounce on a frustrated owner to make a play for a skater who has averaged 90 points a season the past three years.