Okay, so it didn’t take long for someone to make me eat my own words. Sure enough, Joffrey Lupul has gotten hot. Very hot, very quickly. This success conflicts with the advice offered in my last blog. And with Daniel Briere out of the line-up with a torn abdominal muscle, Lupul should keep producing. Play him as long as his current point surge continues.

I heard a ton of fantasy hockey talk in the first couple weeks of the season regarding New York Rangers’ LW Aaron Voros, after he started the season with 9 points through his first 8 games, playing on a line with Nikolai Zherdev and Brandon Dubinsky . He was picked up by one eager beaver or another in pools everywhere. I held off, reasoning that he’d never shown himself to be exceptionally talented at any previous level of hockey, so why should I be buying it now, when he’s playing in the most competitive hockey league on the planet? Well, fast-forward another week and the truth is revealed: he has the same number of points in his last 4 games as I do, but he’s also a -3. Be skeptical: players who aren’t known to have had a scoring touch at some point over their career, typically won’t emerge all of sudden as a serious scoring threat. Trade or drop him.

The Ottawa Senators thought they were waving their final goodbyes to goaltending controversies when GM Bryan Murray released the always-colourful Ray Emery this past summer. In signing Alex Auld, Murray may have started it right back up. Martin Gerber, who the Sens had had pegged as their undisputed starter, has started the season 1-3-1 with an equally dreadful 3.39 GAA and .891 save percentage. Auld has upped him, at 2-2-0 with 2.52 and .922. Keep an eye on who gets the majority of the starts over the next little while. If you can manage it, or are weak between the pipes, consider storing Auld on your bench while the two netminders battle it out.

Check back soon for a new “Scan-It!” as I dig for players currently sitting on most pool waiver wires, some with serious breakout potential!