Now that the fantasy hockey season is down to the final 11 days with just a handful of games for every team, it becomes important which players get valuable starts for your team. After all, with game limits as they are, some people are already without forwards or defensemen. For one of my teams, the only positions that have been eligible for the past couple of days have been the utility slot and the goalies.

With that said, instead of just filling up your roster with anyone who has a game that night, it's now a contest of picking and choosing who has the best matchup, who's on the best hot streak, and who won't lose you any ground. Related to those last two guidelines, it might be time to rest your Devils as it looks like the team is taking a rest before the playoffs, as they've gone 0-5-1 after a 9-2-0 streak following the return of Martin Brodeur. This might be especially sound advice, given the quicksand metaphor that team captain Jamie Langenbrunner used when describing the team's slide to the Newark Star-Ledger: "I don't think any of us expected this to happen. I don't think any of us is certain why it's happening. For whatever reason, we can't get out of this funk right now. It's almost like we keep pushing to get out of it and [have] dug ourselves in deeper."

During the 11-game era of dominance, the team scored 40 goals, or a 3.64-goals-per-game clip, a rate that is better than the Red Wings' league-leading 3.59 goal-scoring pace for the season. On the other hand, during the six games since, they've scored just seven goals overall, a measly pace of 1.17 goals per game. It's almost like when you move up to All-Star from Pro in "NHL 09"; that's how lost the Devils have looked trying to score the last few games.

The production of the Devils' "ZZ Pops" line of Zach Parise, Travis Zajac and Langenbrunner serves as a microcosm of the team's current scoring malaise, and their collective skid has also been much of the cause for the lack of production. Through the 11 games in which the team went 9-2, the trio combined for 38 total points and each player had a plus-11 rating. Then with the flick of a switch, the line has been short-circuited through the past six games, combining for six points total while each has seen his plus-minus heading in the wrong direction.

In my experience, it's harder to surpass the goalie-starts ceiling in the roto format, and this may be doubly true if you drafted Martin Brodeur and didn't get a solid replacement while he was injured. Nevertheless, a bad start or six during this final stretch can move your ratios down just a bit and, depending on the competition in those categories, could push you down the standings. Furthermore, for you head-to-head players who made it this far in the playoffs, it's hard to counter even one rough start by one of your goalies, let alone multiple flubs.

As a warning, these next stats will shock you. During the 10-game stretch in which Brodeur went 9-1-0, he allowed 17 goals total and recorded three shutouts. However, he surrendered 22 goals during the six games following. Fantasy owners saw their team's name headed up the standings for those 10 games, but now they're probably seeing their name coming back down to Earth.

For the folks who are in the thick of a race for a roto title and are close to the maximum number of games played for skaters, it's a no-brainer: You must start other options than your Devils, especially if you picked up a New Jersey defenseman or two to improve your plus-minus. For the Brodeur owners out there, it comes down to whether you're close to the goalie-starts limit, and, more important, whether you can risk any more disasters in the team's remaining five games.

Ice Chips

As the Devils' slide continued Wednesday, it engendered some good fortune for their opponents that night, the Penguins. The Penguins got goals from newcomers Bill Guerin and Chris Kunitz, as well as Matt Cooke, Jordan Staal, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby. For Crosby, it was just his fourth power-play goal this season, a fact that may surprise everyone but his fantasy owners. Marc-Andre Fleury got the win over his idol Brodeur (who should've been on the bench for this one) and continues to be a remarkably solid option down the stretch. … Frans Nielsen, our lovable underdog No. 15 seed from the March Madness blog entry, continues to produce. With a goal and an assist against the Capitals, the Islanders forward has four points in his past three games, including one on the power play and one short-handed. The Isles have six games remaining, and Nielsen will have some value as they continue to play spoiler. … Thrashers head coach John Anderson spoiled Kari Lehtonen owners' chances for a crucial victory last night by starting Johan Hedberg against the Sabres. Lehtonen had been 2-0 in two starts against the Sabres this season, stopping 62 of 67 total shots. Hedberg picked up where Lehtonen left off, allowing just two goals -- a pair of power-play tallies from Thomas Vanek -- to pick up the W on Wednesday. The Thrashers have five games left, two apiece against the drowning Panthers and streaking Capitals, and one against the Lightning. … Go figure. The Maple Leafs upend the Flyers, yet Alex Ponikarovsky and Mikhail Grabovski are nowhere to be found on the score sheet. For both men, it ends a five-game, 10-point streak. In spite of the setback, they should still be started with reckless abandon. … After two straight four-goal drubbings (one that goes on Cristobal Huet's permanent record), the Blackhawks got a masterful performance from Nikolai Khabibulin, who needed to make just 16 saves to record a one-goal-against victory over the Blues. The Bulin Wall likely will be in net as the team fights through the final six games in an attempt to stave off the Flames for home-ice advantage in the 4-5 matchup in the Western Conference playoffs. Use him whenever he plays. … Long thought to be a shoo-in for the next edition of "Where are they now?", former No. 6 overall draft pick Al Montoya recorded a 23-save shutout of the Avalanche on Wednesday. OK, you can go back to not paying attention to him again.