NHL Weekly Wrapup - Who's Hot and Who's Not

It's all about the hot line combo's. The San Jose Sharks Joe Thornton, Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek are redhot and all 3 appear in the top 5 lists for their positions. In Minnesota it is the combo of Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra have combined for 66 points in the Wild's last 24 games. These two are centered alternately by Mikko Koivu or Pierre-Marc Bouchard, if you look at the center rankings Demitra, Koivu and Bouchard are all in the top 5 for the week. If any of these players are on your waiver wire, now is the time to pick them up.

Centers: Joe Thornton led all centers with 1 goal and 7 assists in the past week and is currently on a 10 game point streak to challenge Sidney Crosby for the NHL points race.

Joe Thornton: 1 goal, 7 assists
Pavol Demitra: 2 goals, 3 assists
Mikko Koivu: 2 goals, 3 assists
Pierre-Marc Bouchard: 1 goal, 4 assists
Tyler Arnason: 5 assists

Who's Not: Rod Brind'Amour was blanked in the Hurricanes two games last week and has been on a steady decline since leading all scorers earlier in the season. He has still produced a solid 75 points on the season but there are definitely better choices out there. I know I just dropped him from my roster for the home stretch.

Wingers: Jonathan Cheechoo seems to have found his way back to prominence as he put up 6 goals and 2 assists in the past week and 13 points in his last 7 games.

Jonathan Cheechoo: 6 goals, 2 assists
Marian Gaborik: 3 goals, 3 assists, 1 GWG
Milan Michalek: 3 goals, 2 assists, 2 GWG
Daniel Sedin: 2 goals, 3 assists, 1 GWG
Pavol Demitra: 2 goals, 3 assists

Who's Not: Martin Havlat managed only 1 point in 4 games last week and has not scored a goal in 12 straight games. Coincidentally the Black Hawks have lost 8 of 12 in that span.

Defensemen: Christoph Schubert put up a goal and 3 assists last week, but before you rush out to add him to your lineup note that 3 of those points came in 1 game. In fact, 7 of his 22 points this year have come in only 3 games.

Christoph Schubert: 1 goal, 3 assists
Dion Phaneuf: 4 assists
Joe Corvo: 1 goal, 3 assists
Dan Boyle: 2 goals, 3 assists
Bryan McCabe: 1 goal, 2 assists

Who's Not: Kevin Bieksa may have 38 points on the year for the Canucks but he has none in his last 7 games.

Goaltenders: Henrik Lundqvist? Yep, the Rangers are perhaps the hottest team in the NHL right now and Lundqvist snatched 4 wins and 1 shutout last week.

Henrik Lundqvist: 4 wins, 1 shutout
Jaroslav Halak: 3 wins, 1 shutout
Frederik Norrena: 3 wins
Miikka Kiprusoff: 3 wins
Roberto Luongo: 2 wins, 1 shutout

Who's Not: Martin Biron and the Flyers are sinking fast. Biron has lost three straight and last week managed a paltry GAA of 4.04 and a save percentage of only .882

Who to watch this week: Mikko Koivu has 10 points in his last 8 games with 3 multi-point games in that stretch. The Wild play 3 times this week, twice against free falling Calgary and once against the surging Avalanche. I'm heading to the waiver wire right now to exchange him for Rod Brind'Amour.