Fantasy Hockey Gauntlet - Week Eight: Jiri Hudler, Craig Smith, and Jhonas Enroth

If you missed out on the early entries into my weekly series, you can find it all right here: Fake Teams Fantasy Hockey.

There isn't anything to recap from last week as I didn't make any recommendations for you to add. In the snake draft league - This was Made in Kariya - we had four blowout victories, once again having a large impact on the standings. I won a tight matchup 5-4 and have moved up to sixth now. I'm back in a playoff spot, but I need to improve my standing here. The auction draft league - Don't Toews me bro! - also had a pretty wide open week. I was of the few tight matchups last week and the resulting draw has dropped me to fourth in the standings. Overall last week I went 4-1-1 and I'm now 24-12-5 in head to head matchups on the year and in a playoff spot in all six leagues I'm in.

Week Eight (December 1-7):

4 Game Week: Anaheim, Arizona, Boston, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, San Jose, Tampa Bay, Vancouver
2 Game Week: Minnesota, New York Rangers
All other teams at 3 games

You should go and get NHL Center Ice (if you haven't already done so) to properly enjoy the season's slate of games; trust me - it's worth the money and maybe you can get a discount now since the season has already started.

Waiver Pickups:

Matt Beleskey - LW - ANH (22% owned): Beleskey has been the recipient of a lot of ice time with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry over the last three games (although in the Ducks 6-4 loss to the Sharks in their last game, the lines were shuffled up a bit). It seems to be working out for Matt as he is one of the top goal scorers in the league over the last two weeks with four goals. I might wait and see if he starts on the top line again before making the add, but he's worth a shot as long as he's playing with a couple of superstars. At worst, he's not afraid to mix it up and get you some sin bin production.

Contributes in goals, penalty minutes, and shots
Can hurt you in assists and powerplay points

Alex Killorn - C/LW - TB (13%): I have a little bit more faith in Killorn to be a sustainable force than I do in Beleskey and that's simply because I think he'll stick on the top line of the Lightning with Steven Stamkos. He has five goals and seven points in the last two weeks and that warrants interest. His two game upcoming week might scare me away from making the add immediately, but don't wait too long.

Contributes in goals, assists, plus/minus, and shots
Can hurt you in penalty minutes and powerplay points

Jiri Hudler - LW/RW - CGY (49%): This may seem like an easy play for me, but really I want to highlight that a 23 point player is still available in more than half of Yahoo! leagues right now. That's unacceptable. I've already said it, he's not a sexy option, but he has sneaky value. Six goals and nine points in the last two weeks is pretty darn good and the Flames are better than anyone would have guessed at the beginning of the year.

Contributes in goals, assists, powerplay points, and shots
Can hurt you in penalty minutes

Blake Comeau - LW - PIT (16%): Comeau has been getting consistent time with Evgeny Malkin and Chris Kunitz. He's not a guy that I want to bank on, but in a pinch he's not a bad option right now. Four goals and 19 shots in the last two weeks means that he's producing as he's been asked to (full disclosure - this includes a hat trick, but I expect he can be useful as long as he's on this line).

Contributes in goals and shots
Can hurt you in assists and powerplay points

Kris Versteeg - LW/RW - CHI (36%): I'm going to continue to ask you to add this guy until his ownership dictates that I can't or he is removed from the top six group of the Blackhawks. This is a no-brainer and he's not available in any of my leagues anymore thankfully.

Contributes in assists, plus/minus, powerplay points
Can hurt you in nothing right now

Victor Rask - C - CAR (0%): Only for the most needy of managers right now, Rask is getting consistent powerplay time with the Hurricanes. All four of his points in the last two weeks have come on the man advantage and we can hope he heats up a bit and clicks with Skinner on the second line. I'd probably just watch and wait, but if you need a powerplay point in the worst way, they can be pretty hard to find...

Contributes in powerplay points
Can hurt you in plus minus and isn't great in everything else

Craig Smith - C/RW - NSH (21%) and Colin Wilson - C/LW - NSH (2%): These guys are gelling on the second line in Smashville lately. Smith has five points and Wilson has six in the last two weeks and more impressively they have equally high plus/minus' to go with it. Both are shooting a ton as well as Smith has 26 shots and Wilson has 18 over that time span. I might suggest Smith as the preferred pickup as he's had more success previously and is shooting more (a clear indicator of future success for me), but they are both making a strong case for higher ownership.

Contributes in goals, assists, plus/minus, and shots
Can hurt you in penalty minutes and powerplay points

John Klingberg - D - DAL (29%): Klingberg has replaced Trevor Daley on the top pairing with Alex Goligoski, both at even strength and on the man advantage. His response? Three goals, four assists, and a plus five rating in the last two weeks. I'm sure the powerplay points will follow suit soon, but I wouldn't expect the goals to continue as he only took nine shots. Moral of the story is that defense can be tough to find and it looks like he might be able to help out.

Contributes in assists and plus/minus
Can hurt you in penalty minutes and shots

Jhonas Enroth - G - BUF (26%): I know that it's the Sabres and they are the worst team in hockey. But Enroth has been winning lately and piling up good peripheral numbers to go with it. He even beat Montreal twice last week - the best team in the Eastern conference. I have little trust in him long term, but if you need games this week he's available, he's starting, and he's playing tolerable.

Hopefully there is enough here to help you through the week, but if not, here is a preview towards next week.

Week Nine (December 8-14) Preview:

4 Game Week: Calgary, Chicago, Edmonton, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Toronto
2 Game Week: Arizona, Boston, Dallas, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver
All other teams at 3 games

My NHL Schedule:

The NHL Schedule has not been revised for anything since last week but can be found here: 2014-15 NHL Schedule . Don't forget to change the time zone to your appropriate time zone. The one thing I ask of you is that you do not take my schedule and use it for your own personal gains. Please do not sell it, you can direct people here to find it, but do not sell it.

I'm new to the twitterverse, but I'd love to hear your feedback and questions. Follow me on Twitter @HockeyGauntlet for more of my thoughts and all of your fantasy hockey needs.