(Note: Our friends at Dobber Hockey are back for some fantasy fun. All stats are through Wednesday night's games; this feature will be found on Thursdays here on Puck Daddy.)

Finishing strong matters to poolies - it can be the difference between a forgettable middle-of-the-pack finish and taking home championship hardware.

With that in mind, many fantasy hockey GMs have taken notice of the recent scoring by teams like the New York Islanders and the St. Louis Blues (second and sixth respectively in scoring since the All Star break), neither of which had been lighting it up this season.

Are trends like these flukes? Are they only the result of particularly savvy late season trades? Can they last?

Some might argue that a late season scoring inversion can take place as the best teams look ahead to the playoffs, whereas those teams on the bubble fight tooth-and-nail to earn a place in the post-season.

Here's a breakdown of the top 10 teams for post-Olympic scoring last year:

(Note: Our friends at Dobber Hockey are back for some fantasy fun. All stats are through Wednesday night's games; this feature will be found on Thursdays here on Puck Daddy.)

I've had a couple of emails asking my thoughts on whether or not fantasy leagues should start counting penalty minutes for goaltenders. It sounds as though the writers have Brent Johnson in their leagues and obviously are looking for an edge. But let's face reality here:

The recent spate of goalie fights is a blip, not a trend. And to draft goaltenders and take into account whether or not they will pad your PIM is nothing more than throwing darts. After all, Johnson's previous career high is 14 penalty minutes and given his status as a backup goaltender who plays 20 games per season now, nobody expected him to have 24 PIM at this point in the campaign.

As I said -- throwing darts. Although, interestingly enough, Rick DiPietro(notes) has had 24 or more penalty minutes three different seasons.

Goals

Curtis

They say that NHL coaches are "hired to be fired", and each season that old mantra holds true for a handful of unfortunate bench-bosses.

This year's casualty list includes the New York Islanders' Scott Gordon, replaced by Jack Capuano on November 15th, and the New Jersey Devils' John MacLean, replaced by Jacques Lemaire on December 23rd (happy holidays!).

And we may not have seen the last of this year's changes - at this point in the 2008-09 season Dan Bylsma was still coaching in the AHL.

But do coaching changes affect your fantasy squad? Here's a brief breakdown of the two head coaching changes made so far during the current NHL campaign:

So both teams improved in the wake of the coach-swap, and in particular Lemaire has found a way to get the Devils scoring again (especially of late). Although neither replacement has put up Bylsma-esque numbers either (who went an astounding 18-3-4 in the 25 regular season games he coached after taking over the Pittsburgh Penguins' bench in

Being in the fantasy hockey biz, I love how non-fantasy people - professional hockey analysts - try, but fail miserably, to get into the fantasy hockey spirit. Be it major networks running a "fantasy hockey league" for viewers, or doing a Top 100 preseason fantasy draft.

It's not fantasy hockey if you're competing with a hundred thousand other people - and the skill/fun of fantasy hockey drafts are the players who come after the Top 100.

And Justin Bourne tweeted it best, speaking of Friday's ASG Draft: "I'm annoyed by people calling yesterday's draft a ‘fantasy draft.' IT WAS REAL. Players *actually* got drafted to play in an *actual* game."

Network bigwigs will never understand, unless they partake in a fantasy hockey league.

And then there are the dozens of upstart websites encouraging you to pick your fantasy team for one night of games. Fantasy hockey that lasts one night. Gambling, but without the legal ramifications of calling it gambling.

Yes, the term "fantasy sports" is

(Note: Our friends at Dobber Hockey are back for some fantasy fun. All stats are through Wednesday night's games; this feature will be found on Thursdays here on Puck Daddy.)

How important is power-play ice time for production from defensemen?

Among the top 15 defensive point producers, only John-Michael Liles(notes) and Brent Burns(notes) aren't in the top 30 for power play ice time. Liles is just outside the top 30 with 3:25 of man advantage ice time per game, but Burns is all the way back in 61st with only 2:48 per game.

What does this mean for poolies? First of all, Burns is having a tremendous season. He has completely recovered from the injuries (concussion, hip) that dogged him over the past two campaigns. Another - look for defensemen who are producing without power play time and you are bound to find a sleeper or two in the mix (every single one of Matt Carle's(notes) 24 points has come at even strength).

Tune in to the next Minnesota Wild game available in your area (no, not

(Note: Our friends at Dobber Hockey are back for some fantasy fun. All stats are through Wednesday night's games; this feature will be found on Thursdays here on Puck Daddy.)

Last week we ranted on the PIM statistic and the silliness of having it as a positive statistic. This week we'll talk about the dartboard otherwise known as the plus/minus rating.

How difficult is this statistic to predict? Look no further than Jeff Schultz(notes), who was plus-50 last season but is currently sitting at minus-1. It's a team-driven stat, but there is no popular recognized method for adjusting it team-by-team. Unlike with PIM, we're probably stuck with this one. But we don't have to like it.

Just keep throwing the darts.

Goals (with Yahoo! percent owned)

J.P. Dumont(notes), RW, Nashville (3%)

Back from the dead, Dumont has five goals in his last two games and will probably maintain his hot stick for a couple of weeks yet. The thing with Nashville is that they have eight or nine players who take

(Note: Our friends at Dobber Hockey are back for some fantasy fun. All stats are through Wednesday night's games; this feature will be found on Thursdays here on Puck Daddy.)

Fantasy hockey is à la carte. Some fantasy GMs choose to play in points-only leagues, while others fight it out over long lists of categories. And you just know that somewhere there's a group of knuckleheads competing over hits-from-behind, days on suspension, and slew-foots.

Sound stupid? No doubt. But don't most of us compete over penalty minutes?

Some do it simply because it's been done that way since poolies were drafting the Patrick brothers. While some righteously insist that toughness is part of the game, and PIM are the right measure.

But ever since the NHL (finally) introduced The Real-Time Scoring System for the 1997-98 season, with its bundle of new statistics (including hits and blocked shots), poolies have had choices by which to measure their players' toughness.

Maybe the time has come to drop PIM

(Note: Our friends at Dobber Hockey are back for some fantasy fun. All stats are through Wednesday night's games; this feature will be found on Thursdays here on Puck Daddy.)

On the world stage, hockey remains a niche sport. One country adores it while another right next door remains indifferent (settle down Gary, we mean Sweden and Norway).

But we've never seen a more barefaced example of this phenomenon than the 2011 World Junior Championship. Holy Hawerchuk, did you follow what happened in Buffalo?

Ironically, by temporarily absorbing Buffalo into Ontario, the rabid canucks made 2011's tourney a greater financial success than last year's made-in-Canada edition. But that's only because the HSBC Center can hold thousands more howling, red-decked Canadians than the Credit Union Centre in Saskatoon.

So congratulations Buffalo for being close to Canada!

If you'd like to see some diversification in your fantasy squad, consider these folks to prop up your weak spots (very few of whom