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Dobber checks in every Thursday to force-feed you the latest fantasy hockey trends. The founder of DobberHockey.com and a columnist for The Hockey News website, he long ago immersed himself into this roller coaster world and is unable to escape.

Well that was fast.

Just four days of regular season hockey left (three if you're not a Boston or Ottawa fan). You know what that means? Playoff pool time!

This weekend, sit back with a bunch of your buddies, draft list in one hand, a beer in the other, and pick your winning team. To help you on your way, I've assembled a little primer for you. We'll tackle the Eastern Conference today, and the West tomorrow.

To get things started, I ran a quick report on Frozen Pool listing the top PP ice time per game among defensemen over the last three weeks. Because everyone knows that playoff scoring revolves around Bryzgalov and Fleury being in the nets the power play.

Boston Bruins

The Obvious - Brad Marchand, Jaromir Jagr, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Tyler Seguin, Milan Lucic, Nathan Horton and Zdeno Chara.

The Sleepers - Carl Soderberg is seeing plenty of ice time and playing with Jagr. He's been a highly-coveted prospect for close to a decade - when he was drafted in the second round, Dougie Hamilton was celebrating his 11th birthday. Soderberg has played just three games, but has two assists and could have a Ville-Leino-type (circa the Flyers, 2010) of impact.

Rookies to Watch - Soderberg is too old for rookie status, making defensemen Dougie Hamilton and Matt Bartkowski the only rookie regulars. Neither are worth drafting, unless your league is deep and you have several Bruins already - then Hamilton is worth grabbing in the final round.

Don't Overrate - Hamilton has been a healthy scratch in three of his last six games. Most rookies are hard to trust in a playoff draft, because the coach tends to keep a tight leash on them. Just nine rookies in the last two postseasons have tallied more than five points…

Also Milan Lucic. Big, bad Bruin has a reputation for playing a 'playoff' type of game. But pools don't give points for reputation, or player types. They give points for goals and assists. And Looch hasn't been getting many of them - just 15 points in his last 32 playoff contests.

Montreal Canadiens

The Obvious - Max Pacioretty, P.K. Subban, Michael Ryder, Tomas Plekanec, David Desharnais, Andrei Markov and Brian Gionta.

The Sleepers - Lars Eller has improved dramatically, in each of his three seasons in the NHL. Although his playoff experience is limited, he has plenty of experience on the world stage…

Raphael Diaz is going to slip through the draft unnoticed due to his point total, which is low because of the games missed with a concussion. If you need a defenseman in the late rounds, he's your guy.

Rookies to Watch - Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher are key reasons why the Habs are even in this position. Adding a pair of young, energetic 50-point (pro-rated) players does wonders for a team. Galchenyuk has 10 points in his last 11 games and is the No.4 player on this team I would draft (after Pacioretty, Subban and Ryder)…

Gallagher is worth drafting, if you like the Habs to go deep, but he's certainly not a high pick. He has slowed down, with just four points in his last 11 games.

Don't Overrate - Rene Bourque has two points in his eight games since returning from a concussion…

Markov has just 18 points in 49 career playoff games. He also has just three points in his last 11 games.

Dobber checks in every Thursday to force-feed you the latest fantasy hockey trends. The founder of DobberHockey.com and a columnist for The Hockey News website, he long ago immersed himself into this rollercoaster world and is unable to escape.

APThe Washington Capitals are 9-0-1 in their last 10 games and are the hottest team in the NHL. There isn't any mystery as to the catalyst - Alexander Ovechkin. His line, be it on the power play or at even strength, has combined for 33 points in the last two weeks. Meanwhile, the Chicago Blackhawks are 8-1-1, but they have such scoring depth that none of their lines crack the Top 20. Everybody's contributing.

Here is a snippet of the top scoring lines since the trade deadline (not including Wednesday night), courtesy of Frozen Pool.

Line combos with four players indicate a power-play unit.

Studs...

These fellas are wielding a hot stick. Take that into consideration when you go after them in trade talks...

Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers (27-10-24-34, even, 10 PIM, 85 SOG) – Giroux and the Flyers took 16 games to get warmed up. Since then, the team has gone 13-11-3, which is a pace that gets them into the dance. So yeah, everything's back to normal now. Giroux's a 90-point player and the Flyers are a playoff team. Too bad it happened too late.

Bryan Little, Winnipeg Jets (4-1-6-7, plus-4, 0 PIM, 7 SOG) – This is why we love poking our eyes with a stick fantasy hockey. When a player can go six games without a point and post a minus-8…and get dropped by most owners, only to turn it around with a four-game run like this one.

Brenden Morrow, Pittsburgh Penguins (4-5-3-8, plus-6, 11 PIM, 9 SOG, 2 PPPts) – Morrow has six points with Sidney Crosby, James Neal and Evgeni Malkin out of the lineup. Without looking it up, I can safely say that those three gobbled up a combined 3000+ minutes of PP time per game. Now that time is available for players such as Morrow.

Getty ImagesDobber checks in every Thursday to force-feed you the latest fantasy hockey trends. The founder of DobberHockey.com and a columnist for The Hockey News website, he long ago immersed himself into this rollercoaster world and is unable to escape.

Depending on league format, you're either fighting it out for a regular season win, rebuilding for next year, or just kicking off a heated playoff battle. Because Option 4 - the one where you mailed it in about six weeks ago - would imply that you're not even reading this.

Very few leagues out there award points for takeaways, but damn if this Frozen Pool report isn't interesting anyway. Here are the league leaders in takeaways...

Anyone else raise an eyebrow at some of the names? Peter Mueller? P.A. Parenteau? Riley Nash in just 25 games?

Studs...

These fellas are wielding a hot stick. Take that into consideration when you go after them in trade talks...

Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Capitals (11-3-15-18, plus-9, 8 PIM, 19 SOG, 6 PPPts) – Backstrom and Mike Ribeiro had a good laugh at our expense throughout January, February and into March. But they've finally ended their little prank and stopped wearing each other's jerseys. In those same 11 games that Backstrom tallied 18 points, the guy with "Ribeiro" on his back managed just six.

Pascal Dupuis, Pittsburgh Penguins (17-12-7-19, plus-17, 8 PIM, 71 SOG) – How close was I to benching Dupuis for the week after Sidney Crosby went down? I'm sure many Dupuis owners thought about it. But apparently he doesn't need Crosby - he has five points in the four games that he's played without him. He's shooting like a man possessed - that's something he'll bring with him if he signs for big money with a new team this summer.

Nail Yakupov, Edmonton Oilers (6-4-3-7, plus-2, 6 PIM, 12 SOG, 2 PPPts) – The 'Fail for Nail' campaign ended over a year ago. Did the Oilers not get the memo? The team has lost four in a row, despite the efforts of their prized rookie.

Brian Elliott (4-0-0, 1.07 GAA, 0.960 SP, 2 SO) – We don't try to understand or explain why Elliott is so horrible for a random length of time and then the best goalie in the world for another random length of time. We just curse, call him a few names, and activate him.

Getty ImagesDobber checks in every Thursday to force-feed you the latest fantasy hockey trends. The founder of DobberHockey.com and a columnist for The Hockey News website, he long ago immersed himself into this rollercoaster world and is unable to escape.

The NHL trade deadline is in six days - as it is in most fantasy leagues, too. Some owners like to target those players who are on the trading block, in hopes that they are moved to a more favorable situation. I'm guilty of that myself. But the reality is, unless he's a winger going to the Penguins a prospect going to a rebuilding team, the move that you're making strictly on the hope of his production surging after a trade has as much downside as it does upside. Stay focused on the current situation - the best way to avoid overpaying.

This week's Frozen Pool takes a look at the top roto players of the last two weeks heading into Wednesday's games.What do these 20 players have in common? None of them are on the trading block.

Studs...

These fellas are wielding a hot stick. Take that into consideration when you go after them in trade talks...

Dustin Byfuglien, Winnipeg Jets (9-2-8-10, minus-1, 6 PIM, 32 SOG, 5 PPPts) – Byfuglien and Tobias Enstrom really complement each other. And not just because cloning them and putting 20 of them together in a line looks like a UPC code. But you have the big, hard-hitting shooter beside the smaller, slick-passing finesse. Enstrom is back from injury now, so watch these two go to work.

Joffrey Lupul, Toronto Maple Leafs (4-6-1-7, plus-5, 8 PIM, 14 SOG) – Injuries and suspensions behind him, Lupul is now back in his familiar spot alongside Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel. Last year he emerged as a point-per-game player and as long as he can pretend Bozak is a first-line center stay healthy, the numbers will continue.

Getty ImagesDobber checks in every Thursday to force-feed you the latest fantasy hockey trends. The founder of DobberHockey.com and a columnist for The Hockey News website, he long ago immersed himself into this roller coaster world and is unable to escape.

I'm not about to suggest that the Calgary Flames and the San Jose Sharks are great teams. But in fantasy hockey, a player's sudden hot streak often goes hand-in-hand with the team's situation.

In the case of Calgary, they are the only team to still have 21 games left. Those extra games will help more than you'd think. Couple that with a Jarome Iginla trade, and things could 'pop' for some of the players.

Not for Alex Tanguay, who has had Iginla on the ice for 17 of his 21 points. But for the other players who haven't been relying on Iginla, and will see more ice time.

The Sharks have been sputtering for so long that it's at the point where another two or three losses these next four games could spell the end of their coach and/or GM. Whenever something like that happens, the players on the affected team will respond positively. Acquiring a Calgary or San Jose player doesn't get any easier than it does right now.

This week's Frozen Pool snippet shows the hottest players in their last 10 games played, including any current hot or cold streaks:

Studs...

These fellas are wielding a hot stick. Take that into consideration when you go after them in trade talks...

Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks (10-7-7-14, plus-9, 0 PIM, 30 SOG) – Baby steps. Take a look at Toews' year-over-year points-per-game average…

2008-09 - 0.84
2009-10 - 0.89
2010-11 - 0.95
2011-12 - 0.97
2012-13 - 1.00

Not only do you gotta love the direction the numbers are heading, but you also have to appreciate the consistency.

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Dobber checks in every Thursday to force-feed you the latest fantasy hockey trends. The founder of DobberHockey.com and a columnist for The Hockey News website, he long ago immersed himself into this rollercoaster world and is unable to escape.

The March of the Penguins - Only one team has reached the 100-goal mark.

Actually, only one team has reached the 90-goal mark. A team that can help Chris Kunitz tally 37 points in 27 games would obviously have to be the highest scoring team in the league. Otherwise, the very notion is absurd.

This week's Frozen Pool snippet gives you the Top 10 players in rotisserie categories, ranking them in each category and adding the ranks. Note the three Penguins:

So how many of you took my Jake Muzzin advice last week? Cha-ching!

Studs...(A.K.A. The Sidney Crosby Section)

These fellas are wielding a hot stick. Take that into consideration when you go after them in trade talks...

Chris Kunitz, Pittsburgh Penguins (20-17-16-33, plus-21, 10 PIM, 52 SOG) – Imagine if, on a hunch, you went to Kunitz's fantasy owner after seven games to see if they lost patience with him. Then imagine if you successfully acquired him for a low price after he had a mere four points in those seven games. Take a good look at the numbers over the 20 games since.

P.A. Parenteau, Colorado Avalanche (7-2-8-10, plus-1, 6 PIM, 19 SOG) – Doesn't become a full-time NHLer until he's 27 years old, yet he's 20th in scoring. I try not to think about how many P.A. Parenteaus have thrived in the AHL or Europe, never to get a real shot.

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Dobber checks in every Thursday to force-feed you the latest fantasy hockey trends. The founder of DobberHockey.com and a columnist for The Hockey News website, he long ago immersed himself into this rollercoaster world and is unable to escape.

In a League in which some teams have played 23 or even 24 games, the fact that Boston has only played 20 can be used to your advantage. Not only for streaming purposes (28 games left in the Bruins' season), but also in terms of optics. It "looks" like some Boston players aren't doing as well as they actually are, because they "only" have 16 or 18 points, or they "only" have 30 or 35 hits. Some owners are so immersed in the stats that they fail to pay enough attention to the basics, such as "games remaining". Just putting that out there.

For this week's Frozen Pool chart, I thought I'd take a look at something different. Value. In other words, who is picking up decent points but being paid a lower salary? Here are the top "cost effective"

Dobber checks in every Thursday to force-feed you the latest fantasy hockey trends. The founder of DobberHockey.com and a columnist for The Hockey News website, he long ago immersed himself into this rollercoaster world and is unable to escape.

The Flyers have awakened. Those fantasy owners who stuck it out with their Philly players are being rewarded, while those who panicked and bailed are being teased and taunted until my throat is hoarse and dry. In the last six games they have scored 4.33 per game, up from the 2.4 per game they had before that. Needless to say, poolies who own Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn and Jakub Voracek have probably made the biggest gains of the past two weeks.

Here is the Frozen Pool Roto Rater report for the last 14 days, based on basic Yahoo! scoring categories:

Studs...

These fellas are wielding a hot stick. Take that into consideration when you go after them in trade talks...

Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins (5-1-0, 2.00 GAA, 0.929 SV%) – Fleury's miserable start is behind him, like so many 2012 postseason beach balls.

Max Pacioretty, Montreal Canadiens (7-6-4-10, plus-8, 4 PIM, 27 SOG) – Replacing Erik Cole with Brendan Gallagher on their line seems to have sparked the Pacioretty-David Desharnais duo, while at the same time tweaking the average height of that line down to 4-11.