Frozen Fantasy: Frozen Raspberry Awards

Every year, the movie industry gets skewered with something called the Golden Raspberry Awards. They celebrate the worst of the worst. But in fantasy, we spend time looking at guys who are playing at their best. Or at the least, guys who are playing over their heads.

Not today.

Agree or not, I'm tossing frozen berries at some usually reliable fantasy players. It's almost Christmas, so why not? Maybe Santa will bring some new equipment – or inspiration – to some of these guys.

Or not. Here they are.

Disappointing Goalie Award: A.K.A. The Stink

Nominees:Mike Smith, Arizona; Ben Scrivens, Edmonton; Semyon Varlamov, Colorado.

I play beer league hockey with a goalie everyone just calls "Stink." He even calls himself Stink. And for good reason. He embraces an old-school, stand-up style and there are only two real aspects of his game – he's either "on" or he stinks. And he's rarely "on." So while all three of the guys above could win this award, I'm anointing Mike Smith with The Stink. Ten months ago, he was "on," and a part of the gold-medal winning Canadian team at the Olympics. Today, he just stinks. He was 5-14-2 with 3.35 GAA and .889 save percentage before he was shellacked Monday night. He can't stop a beach ball. Cripes, he has won fewer games than his backup, an Oilers reject with about half the minutes. #stickaforkinit

Sophomore Super Slump Award

Nominees: Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado; Tomas Hertl, San Jose; Seth Jones, Nashville.

Jones almost doesn't count here because he could only really go up after a minus-23 rookie season. Honestly, I'm torn between the other two guys. So much more was expected from MacKinnon, but he's still delivering something. So I'm dumping this onto Hertl. He created unrealistic expectations at the start of his career and I touted trading him right then. After all, he really is just another 60- or 65-point winger (even at his peak). But he's no better than a fourth-liner right now. You should have traded him when you had the chance. I wish I had.

Vexing Veterans Award

Nominees: Marian Hossa, Chicago; Jarome Iginla, Colorado; Alexander Semin, Carolina.

Frustrating or worried? Both definitions of vexing actually apply to all three of these guys. But this one is a gimme. Hossa and Iggy have both shown occasional signs of life; Semin has not. Not one little bit. He has talent to burn, but before he got hurt, he was neither physically nor mentally engaged in the game. Sure, he's coming off wrist surgery, but he was supposed to be healthy heading into camp. So, fantasy owners like me drafted him as such. #baddecision. Semin's game has gone down the crapper faster than Cousin Eddie's RV. I'd drop him, but I'm petrified he'll actually figure things out. Quick – toss a butt down a sewer grate and put me out of my misery.

Ugly Ink: The Bad Signing Trophy

Nominees: Jarome Iginla, Colorado; Martin Brodeur, St. Louis; Dany Heatley, Anaheim

I've already waxed poetic about Marty's shortcomings and I'm pretty sure you know my distaste for the Heater (spit). But it's Iggy who's the target of my ire here. And yes, I've ripped him before, too. He's a notoriously slow starter, but that's not why I'm gifting him this award. He's just way too slow to keep up with the young studs in Colorado, and Nathan MacKinnon's game is already suffering with him alongside. Two years of this? I like Iginla, but I sure hope that signing doesn't stunt the young Avs' development.

Now let's take a look at who caught my eye this week.

Mark Borowiecki, D, Ottawa (2 percent Yahoo! owned): Borowiecki is a stay-at-home type, so why the love? Well, he rang up a three-game, three-assist streak last week, that's why. His ceiling is ultimately limited. Seriously limited. But he's solid for those of you in leagues that count specialty categories – his 60 PIM and 110 hits in 29 games make him valuable even without those points. He won't help me, but he might just help you.

Michael Frolik, RW/C, Winnipeg (7 percent Yahoo! owned): I should have added Frolik earlier this month instead of picking up Tomas Fleischmann. To put things bluntly, the Jet has put up some powerful points while the Floridian Kitty has simply been flipping litter aimlessly out of the box. Frolik's consistent, two-way game has delivered seven points, including five assists, in his last six games. And his plus-7 this season leads his squad. He's on pace for more than 40 points and right now, that streak is looking pretty fine. He's in my lineup for Tuesday. And he might just stay there for a while.

Scott Gomez, C, New Jersey (2 percent Yahoo! owned): WTF? Gomez is alive? And back in the NHL? Who knew? He already has more points (seven) in 11 games this season than he's scored in four years. OK, so that's an exaggeration, but doesn't it feel like that? Those seven points have come in the last eight games, so this guy is actually delivering real fantasy value right now. It won't last, just like sunlight in Anchorage (especially during the winter solstice). But I digress. You'll get razzed – no, ridiculed – for picking him up. But ignore the haters. Milk this run. Just be ready to drop him back into the darkness of his Alaskan upbringing at the first sight of a slump.

Mike Hoffman, LW/C, Ottawa (5 percent Yahoo! owned): I'll admit I've ignored Hoffman this season. But not anymore. I recently tuned into a Sens game, just to watch Curtis Lazar. After all, I was hoping the Sens would release him to my beloved Canadian World Junior squad (which they did). Lazar is impressive, but his linemate Hoffman was equally brilliant, at least that night. Hoffman is one of the NHL's fastest skaters, and those two goals he potted against Ducks on Friday night were impressive to say the least. The Ottawa Sun is pumping Hoffman's tires for a Calder nomination, and they might have a case. He leads the Sens in goal scoring (10) and he has a solid plus-13 rating in 31 games. I'm getting on board. Finally. You should, too.

Anders Lee, LW/C, NY Islanders (1 percent Yahoo! owned): I rolled the dice on this guy in the preseason – I thought he had a real shot at riding shotgun beside John Tavares. That didn't exactly pan out, but he and Brock Nelson have started to show a real spark together. He's a streaky scorer with a big frame and top-six upside. And he's riding into Tuesday's game with three points, including two goals, in his last two games. Those two goals just happened to be game-winners. I've inserted him into my lineup against the Habs on Tuesday night. A streak is a streak.

Rasmus Ristolainen, D, Buffalo (1 percent Yahoo! owned): I'd take Double-R's teammate, Nikita Zadorov, in any and all keeper formats. But standard Yahoo! leagues don't care about keepers. What they do care about is pure production and Ristolainen is doing that right now. He has three points (two goals, one assist) in his last four games, and all of those points have come with the man advantage. Dee-lish…just as long as you can absorb the minus-five rating in those four games. And his minus-17 overall. Still, there are few defenders delivering that kind of scoring.

Mark Scheifele, C, Winnipeg (14 percent Yahoo! owned): This guy is a beast. He has more offensive gifts than arguably any other Jets player and he has the size to dominate on the top line. For a long, long time. He's still growing into his Bauers, but this week, he's showing off that top-line skill…to the tune of eight points, including three goals, in his last five games. He's owned in around one-in-every-seven Yahoo! leagues, and he should be snapped up in a whole lot more. I'm targeting him. This could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Scottie Upshall, RW, Florida (2 percent Yahoo! owned): This once-promising prospect burst into fame a few years ago…not because of his skills, but because of the woman he was dating. But then super-hot NBA sideline reporter Melanie Collins dumped his butt for fellow NHLer, James Neal, and Upshall slid back into obscurity. He had the best year of his career last season – he managed 37 points and actually played in 76 games. Go figure – the latter is a feat for the injury-riddled winger. Fast forward to this year, and when yet another injury surfaced, he slid right off the fantasy radar. He'll never trend as high as he did with Collins on his arm, but he did deliver a goal and assist in his first two games back from the IR. He may help in really deep formats.

Andrei Vasilevskiy, G, Tampa Bay (7 percent Yahoo! owned): Ben Bishop is great. But so is Mr. Vasilevskiy. And he's showing that right now, what with Bishop's lower-body injury. This talented twinetender is one of the best goaltending prospects in the game. He has jumped right over Evgeni Nabokov and straight into the blue paint. And he's 1-1 with just three goals allowed in his first two NHL starts. This is a short-term wire grab. And fingers crossed he doesn't follow the skate grooves of Jacob Markstrom, the last great goaltending stud-in-the-making. Remember – Markstrom allowed just three goals in his first two starts, too. Then the wheels fell off (and he's still searching for them, LOL). Still, I'm buying.

Back to the berries.

I happen to love raspberries. I always have, especially when they're in a pie. Mmmmm…pie.

Christmas is a time for two things in my world – a great celebration with family and food (including pie) AND the World Junior Hockey Championships.

Bad segue. But I don't really care.

Next week, I hope to be able to give you some first-hand insights into some of the best young hockey prospects in the world. I just happen to have scraped together enough pennies to attend the World Junior tourney in Toronto. As a fan.

#bucketlist.

Go Canada, go! But I can't wait to see William Nylander, Kasperi Kapanen, Alex Tuch, Mirco Mueller, Jakub Vrana, Ivan Barbashev and others, including draft-eligible uber prospects, Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel.

I can't wait.

Until next week.