Sure, the Stanley Cup playoffs are still several weeks away, but in Fantasy Hockey, crunch time is now. This is my second year participating in James Mirtle's Hockey Blogger Invitational, and it looks like I won't repeat my Presidents Trophy performance of last year, as Kent of Matchsticks and Gasoline is running away with the title this time around. The Fab Forecheckers are on pace for a solid 2nd place finish, however, assuming we don't flame out this week against Spector.
Our playoffs begin March 16, with the top six teams participating, and the top two seeds getting a bye in the first round. It'll be a tight race down to the end, as you can see spots 5-7 are within a whisker, and one team will get left out. Last season, a late injury to Rick DiPietro ruined my playoff fortunes; can my boys hold on this year? My current squad is listed below.
| Rank | Team | W-L-T | Pct | Pts | Last Week | Waiver | Moves |
| 1 | Tha Gnomes | 172-85-29 | .652 | 373 | 8-4-1 | 12 | 29 |
| 2 | The Fab Forecheckers | 152-97-37 | .596 | 341 | 9-3-1 | 15 | 9 |
| 3 | The Alcoholic Army | 153-105-28 | .584 | 334 | 10-2-1 | 8 | 20 |
| 4 | Mirtle's Merry Men | 147-105-34 | .573 | 328 | 12-1-0 | 14 | 38 |
| 5 | Sharkspage | 143-113-30 | .552 | 316 | 10-3-0 | 6 | 60 |
| 6 | Matt of the Battle | 141-112-33 | .551 | 315 | 10-2-1 | 18 | 8 |
| 7 | The Petes | 139-110-37 | .551 | 315 | 10-3-0 | 2 | 9 |
| 8 | Sleek's Battlebots | 135-118-33 | .530 | 303 | 3-9-1 | 11 | 25 |
| 9 | Islanders Army | 137-121-28 | .528 | 302 | 2-10-1 | 3 | 2 |
| 10 | Spector's Spudheads | 123-124-39 | .498 | 285 | 3-10-0 | 16 | 32 |
| 11 | Covered in Chris | 120-132-34 | .479 | 274 | 5-5-3 | 5 | 18 |
| 12 | JapersRink All-Bums | 122-139-25 | .470 | 269 | 2-10-1 | 7 | 34 |
| 13 | Denomme's Danglers | 113-136-37 | .460 | 263 | 4-8-1 | 17 | 36 |
| 14 | Sasquatch Watchers | 106-148-32 | .427 | 244 | 6-4-3 | 13 | 23 |
| 15 | Kings of Men | 100-154-32 | .406 | 232 | 4-6-3 | 4 | 29 |
| 16 | Pension Plan Puppets | 97-158-31 | .393 | 225 | 3-10-0 | 1 | 1 |
| 17 | Mighty Mallards | 96-159-31 | .390 | 223 | 5-5-3 | 10 | 4 |
| 18 | Puck Daddy | 89-169-28 | .360 | 206 | 1-12-0 | 9 | 9 |
The Fab Forecheckers
Center: Mychal Nylander, Eric Belanger, Tomas Plekanec, Doug Weight (IR).
Left Wing: Alex Ovechkin, Andrew Brunette, Richard Zednik
Right Wing: J.P. Dumont, Alexei Kovalev, Jamie Langenbrunner, Brian Gionta, Owen Nolan, Jordin Tootoo
Defense: Bryan McCabe, Rob Blake, Sami Salo, Dennis Seidenberg, Jaroslav Spacek.
Goal: Tomas Vokoun, Craig Anderson, Dan Ellis
Keep in mind this is an 18 team league that drafted 20 rounds, so everybody's got some holes in their lineup!