Frozen Fantasy: NHL Odditorium

The quarter mark of the 2016-17 NHL season is upon us. And rather than hand out best-of awards, I'll look at the weird, wild and woolly so far.

Eat your heart out, Ripley.

The NHL odditorium is filled with some outlandish, almost Ripley-like peculiarities at this point of this season.

Rookie Zach Werenski is matching the great Erik Karlsson stride for stride and point for point.

Marian Hossa is pulling a Jaromir Jagr.

And Antoine Roussel is more valuable to Yahoo owners than Corey Perry.

Yes, you read that right.

Wait – I can't forget that John Klingberg, Tyson Barrie and Oliver Ekman-Larsson – three potential top-five scorers from the blue line – flat out suck.

Speaking of sucking – Calgary is 30th in the league on the power play and 28th in goals against. How is that possible with a blue line of with Mark Giordano, T.J. Brodie, Dougie Hamilton and Dennis Wideman?

I won't even get into Brian Elliott.

On the other end of bizarre is Carolina. It's not swirling the bowl like usual and might just have the smoothest defense corps in the NHL.

And the Metropolitan might just be on the verge of becoming the best division in the league.

I'll let that set in.

The Pens, Caps and Rangers are all impressive teams. Well, the Rangers were impressive until the Pens handed them their jockstraps Wednesday night.

But I digress.

Maybe the Metro's Pens, Caps and Rangers aren't quite on par with the Hawks, Blues, Wild and Preds.

But they will be soon. And that will change the way fantasy owners rank or target some of these guys. We'll dig into THAT another time

Let's look at who caught my eye this week.

Viktor Arvidsson, LW, Nashville (8 percent Yahoo owned) - I almost threw Arvidsson on this list last week. He's been on fire lately and really shouldn't be languishing on the wire. Arvidsson was "fine" with the Preds in 2015-16 – 16 points in 56 games – so he didn't leap off the page at me come draft day. #mistake. Arvidsson has already run up 13 points in 20 games this season, but more important, he's skating with offensive studs Ryan Johansen and Filip Forsberg. 'Nuf said.

Sven Baertschi, LW, Vancouver (1 percent) - This talented, driven winger missed Friday's game after taking a puck off the toe the game before. Here's hoping he only misses one game. Baertschi drove the play Wednesday night against the Coyotes. He delivered his first career three-point game and he now has seven points in his last seven games heading into Saturday. Baertschi, Bo Horvat and Alexandre Burrows had the desert dawgs on the their heels the entire game Wednesday night. I think he's on the way up … despite playing for the Canucks.

Jonas Brodin, D, Minnesota (3 percent) - Brodin hasn't been known for offense, but he has rung up six points, including five assists, in his last five games. Brodin has never scored more than 19 points in a season, but he's demonstrated top-pairing effectiveness since the moment he set blade on ice as a rookie. He won't continue to score at his current pace, but he could chug along at a 30-point rate. That works for deep leagues.

Alex Burrows, LW/RW, Vancouver (1 percent) - Burrows is a shadow of the 67-point guy he was in 2009-10. But that doesn't mean he can't help you (at times, that is). Now is one of those times. Burrows has seven points, including three goals, in his last eight games on a horrific Vancouver squad. He's useless for power-play points, but he can fill in a crack. Especially if Sven Baertschi and Bo Horvat continue to carry his butt.

Taylor Fedun, D, Buffalo (1 percent) - Rewind your memory to that night in 2011 when Fedun's promise was quite literally snapped on an icing play. He's now 28 and is toiling for the Sabres as a depth defender who can play the power play. Fedun's vision and smarts are off the charts, and he immediately snagged four assists in his first three games. And three of them came on the power play. Fedun is no savior, but he's worth a flyer if you're desperate for help on the blue line.

Elias Lindholm, RW/C, Carolina (5 percent) - Lindholm's seven points in 19 games are less than impressive. But his talent is real – he has long been compared to Peter Forsberg – and he's shown a bit of that during a modest, four-game, four-point streak heading into the weekend. Lindholm is exceptional in transition, reads the play well and has great hands. He was just rushed to the NHL far too early. This year is his opportunity to prove he's more than a third-line checking pivot. He's motivated. And Lindholm is starting to bring his game to a different level.

Mikko Rantanen, RW, Colorado (5 percent) - Rantanen is every bit a stud. He's 6-foot-4, 211, and at just 20, he seems to be developing some delicious chemistry with Nathan MacKinnon. Rants has five points, including four assists, on a three-game streak heading into Saturday's play. And since his late October call up, Rantanen has two goals and six assists in 14 games. I won't be surprised if Rants ends up in the final list of three for the Calder. Until then, take full advantage – you won't get your paws on Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Patrik Laine or many others, so grab him if you're seeking talented youth.

Mike Ribeiro, C, Nashville (3 percent) - Ribeiro has been a punching bag for a very long time. But for all the criticism the guy has faced, including from me, Ribeiro has logged more than 1,000 NHL games. And he is closing in on 800 points. His four-game, five-point streak was snapped Friday night, but he's still on pace for almost 50 points, including a bunch on the power play. Center is deep, so Ribeiro isn't a play every day guy any more. But I'm looking harder at him in leagues where forward is used instead of center. You can do worse.

Back to the odditorium.

The next 20 games will help tell the tale. But like I said last week, playoff positions are often carved out by U.S. Thanksgiving.

Weird or not, New Jersey and Columbus would be in the postseason based on that hypothesis. Anaheim, Boston and Winnipeg would not.

Some of that will change.

But will the Islanders continue to compete with the Coyotes for last place?

Wow.

Until next week.