Ryan Malone finished the season prior to the lockout (his rookie campaign) with 43 points, but was a minus-23. Coming out of the lockout, Malone improved only marginally with 44 points and a minus-22. This season, it was looking as if he had taken a step back, starting off the year with just one point in seven games (and a minus-4) before breaking his forearm.

Upon his return, the fourth-round draft pick in 1999 (115th overall) had extended trials on lines with both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, yet he went pointless for another three games.

On Monday the 11th, against Washington, Malone finally showed a spark clicking with Sid the Kid and picking up his second point of the season. He was thrown out there again with Crosby the following game and picked up four points, following that up with a hat trick on Friday against the Islanders.

For the next couple of weeks, anyway, Malone has found a spot on the top line. He was held without a point on Saturday against Montreal, but he played 21 minutes trailing only Crosby and Ryan Whitney in ice time. The 27-year-old has always had 55- to 60-point potential, but you can add about 20 to that number if his pivot is the leading scorer of the NHL... Which it is.

Other Fantasy Musings...

...With Daniel Alfredsson out of the Ottawa lineup, their offense has completely fallen off. During his five-game absence with a hip injury, the Senators tallied just seven goals. They scored five upon his return Saturday. The team needs that extra dimension to their attack. Without it, you can forget about picking up Patrick Eaves, or Peter Schaefer, or Mike Fisher, or Antoine Vermette. Even Dany Heatley seems to slow down. It seems like Jason Spezza is the only Ottawa player that the opposition can't contain when Alfredsson is out of the lineup. Keep in mind that at the beginning of the season when the 34-year-old was not producing for the first 10 games or so, the rest of the team was contained then too.

...The Habs have waited a long time for Andrei Kostitsyn to acclimate himself to the North American game. After a somewhat disappointing offensive performance in 2004-05 in the American League with just 23 points in 66 games for the Hamilton Bulldogs, the 21-year-old did improve with 47 points last season, but was a minus-14. Keeper-league owners were beginning to question his status as an elite prospect when he stumbled out of the gate with just three points in eight games in October, but things have changed. The 10th overall pick in 2003 has 22 points in his last 14 games, culminating in a five-point effort Saturday against Rochester. There is no reason why Kostitsyn will not make the Canadiens next fall.

...Jarome Iginla - the Jarome Iginla that poolies have been waiting to return – has returned. Iggy has 17 points in his last eight games and suddenly finds himself back in the Top 10 in NHL scoring - a position he hasn't been in since he won the Art Ross Trophy back in 2001-02. He's taking his linemates right along with him. Center Daymond Langkow has 13 points in that span, and left winger Alex Tanguay has 10. This will be the year that Iginla revisits the 90-point mark.

...Florida rearguard Ruslan Salei, signed as an unrestricted free agent in the summer, is doing everything that poolies thought Mike Van Ryn and Jay Bouwmeester would do. When the latter two began to falter, Salei seized control of the offense from the defense and has compiled 19 points in his last 22 games. The coach has found his favorite, and it is Van Ryn who is the odd man out. Van Ryn's ice time is now that of a No.3 rearguard, while the veteran Salei is getting 23 minutes per game.

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