Who's hot in the NHL

November 6, 3:35 PMNHL ExaminerChris Morgan

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Owning Perry isn't fun, but he's finally been worth it. (AP Photo)

It's time for this week's look at which players in the NHL are enjoying a good stretch of play right now. The talent pool is more shallow than usual, however, with all the injuries. Hopefully there are plenty of trainers and injury experts and what have you on teams who are at their peak performance right now as well. It's a busy time for those guys. Here's hoping there are more Anze Kopitar's than Alex Tanguay's.

Good news for you who bought into the Anaheim Ducks. They had a really good week. Corey Perry was one of the top players this past week, scoring seven points (5G, 2A). Bobby Ryan also played well (3G, 2A) and while Ryan Getzlaf didn't find the back of the net, he did have six assists. Even Saku Koivu got into the fun with a goal and four assists. The Ducks are loaded with talent, so this could (should?) be the sign of a turnaround.

In non-Ducks related news, a couple of Flyers also had good weeks, and one of them is a particularly interesting prospect. Scott Hartnell has six points (2G, 4A) but James van Riemsdyk's goal and four assists is more intriguing. JVR, as he is mercifully called to save me time and tedious spellchecking, was the second overall pick when the Blackhawks took Patrick Kane. While Kane jumped to the pros, JVR went to college, where he honed his skills and learned important lessons like why you shouldn't punch cab drivers. Could he be in for a big rookie season? He's a guy to watch.

If there is a red herring of the week, I'm going to go with Steve Reinprecht. A hat trick powered him to four goals and two assists on the week, and truth be told he's having a good season thus far. However, one thing remains certain: He's Steve Reinprecht. Steve "I've never scored more than 19 goals in a season and that was all the way back in 2001-2002" Reinprecht. Not the best nickname ever, but it is apt. I wouldn't bother with him.

Now, for the goaltenders. Two guys who got off to rough starts to the season have had a good week: Tomas Vokoun and Chris Osgood. Sure, Vokoun only played two games this week, but both were shutouts. I still worry about him team, however. Meanwhile, Ozzie turned in three wins, a 0.65 GAA, and a .976 SV% with one shutout. He's got his GAA on the year down to 2.54 and his SV% is .910. It's further proof you can't look too closely at goaltending statistics just yet. Also worth noting is Jonas Hiller, who won twice, had a 1.97 GAA, a .942 SV% and a shutout. J.S. Gigure is going to be an afterthought soon. At least, he should be.

Goalies who are still struggling? Steve Mason, Carey Price, and Mike Smith. If you've got Mason, I'd hold on to him. If you've got Price (3.32, .896) I might consider dropping him. If for some reason you've got Smith, give him the boot for Antero Niittymaki. That's probably what the Lightning are going to do anyway. For the record, the closest goalie to being as bad as your hero and mine Vesa Toskala is Alex Auld, who is currently backing up Marty Turco. The Stars wanted to let Turco rest more this season. They may want to rethink that.

Would that I could easily find a list of players still scuffling, but alas I cannot and besides all the injured star players is dour enough in both real life and in fantasy. I will say this, however. If you've got a struggling player that is borderline on your roster anyway, feel free to cut him if somebody good is available. If they were one of your top picks, however, keep holding on. There's a lot of season left.