It's still early enough in the season that big changes are almost certain to come to your fantasy hockey league - though there's, no doubt, at least a character or two already claiming the Cup as their own.
Say nothing and allow these loudmouths to dig their own graves - regression is coming for many of the hot commodities in the NHL right now. Here's a list of five players from Matt Larkin of The Hockey News that are helping your first-place GM now, but will fall off their current pace of production in no time flat.
5. Nick Foligno, Columbus Blue Jackets: Foligno, at age 27, is what he is - a tough, gritty, 40-points-a-year-guy. At the moment, he's on pace for more than 90 points - in other words, he would double his average career output. Not gonna happen. Unless your league counts hits and/or penalty minutes, sell high on this guy.
4. Ondrej Pavelec, Winnipeg Jets: Goalies are head cases, prone to wild swings in performance both within their careers and within a season. Right now, Pavelec is sporting a .928 SP - .014 points better than at any other point in his career. He faces a crazy amount of shots and appears in a crazy amount of games. His numbers look good now, but they'll dip as he regresses to the mean.
3. Tyler Johnson, Tampa Bay Lightning: Is Johnson a superstar in the making? Possibly - but probably not. He played very well last season, putting up 50 points as a rookie. He's got 18 in just 13 games so far this season. The question is, can he continue putting up points at his current pace, especially now that he's not playing on the top line with Steven Stamkos?
2. Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames: Giordano has had a hell of a start to the season, with 18 points in 16 games thus far. But again, can he maintain the pace at which he is currently operating, especially as a defenseman? Probably not. If he did, he'd be Norris Trophy worthy. And while he's one of the best two-way defenders in the league, he's not quite that good.
1. Jakub Voracek, Philadelphia Flyers: "Baby Jagr" as he became affectionately known to teammates, has had a tremendous start to the season - he's on pace for 129 points. He's probably the only guy on this list, playing alongside Claude Giroux, who may continue to post high point totals - he has 130 points in his past 144 games. The problem is, it won't be at anywhere near the clip he's currently managing. If somebody offers you an established superstar in exchange, you've almost got to take them up on it.
