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Lubomir Visnovsky is the leading scorer amongst defensemen this so far season, and he is 15th in the NHL, overall. 

The 29-year-old was also in the top-15 in pre-season scoring, but despite that, he went undrafted in many hockey pools. 

While the likes of Sergei Gonchar, Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermeyer, Nik Lidstrom and Marek Zidlicky were picked up in the middle rounds, Visnovsky went virtually unnoticed in anything but the deepest of pools. So where did he come from, and why the sudden explosion of offense?

Nathan Dempsey and Jaroslav Modry were the defensemen ahead of him in scoring on the Kings "last" season. Modry joined the Thrashers, and Dempsey had a terrible camp that has resulted in multiple healthy scratches. However, that has not resulted in any more ice time for Visnovsky – in fact, his ice time is nearly a full minute per-game down from 2003-04. 

His powerplay ice time has increased, but with the new NHL so has everybody else's. So what is it? 

Two reasons. 

The first one being the solid offensive forward lines that are on the Kings' team this year – there are about eight or nine really capable goal scorers on the Kings up front. 

Reason number two is the fact that Visnovsky is shooting more. He is on pace to more than double his shot totals from the last NHL season, and this has given him six goals already (after finishing with eight in 2003-04). 

In any event, there is absolutely ZERO options available for the Kings back there other than Visnovsky and Dempsey, and with Dempsey underachieving so badly, Visnovsky will continue to put up career numbers. 

Health is the only question mark – he has missed 10-25 games each of the last three seasons – but he can play for most of the season, he should be solid threat to clear the 65-point mark.

Meanwhile...

...After a breakthrough season in San Jose, and a decent start with four points in six games, Nils Ekman has fallen by the wayside. He is pointless in eight games and is a minus-5. He was also a healthy scratch recently, and when he plays his ice time is dwindling. His last game had him at under 12-minutes of ice time playing with Wayne Primeau and Mark Smith. Not the type of linemates that would promote offense.

...Antti Miettinen has seen some time in Dallas playing on the top line with Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen. This has resulted in four points in the last two games.

...Tomas Holmstrom has quietly put up 14-points in Detroit. He is getting two more minutes per game of ice time than he did last season, so he is clearly benefiting from the exodus of some higher priced players in the summer. 

Oct. 31, 2005 - October's Best and Worst Fantasy Players
Oct. 24, 2005 - Wild About Scoring
Oct. 17, 2005 - Striking Gold – Thanks to Linemates
Oct. 10, 2005 - A Surprise Fantasy Asset
Oct. 03, 2005 - Last of the Late Picks to Put You Over the Top
Sept. 26, 2005 - More Late Picks to Put You Over the Top
Sept. 19, 2005 - Late Picks to Make or Break Your Pool Team

Dobber's Fantasy Tips exclusively appear Monday's at TheFourthPeriod.com.
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