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Playoff hockey begins Wednesday and this years Playoff Payoff once again has the numbers and information to help you win your playoff pool. Click here for TSN.cas 2014 NHL Playoff Payoff, a full team-by-team stats breakdown for your playoff pool prep. When it comes to playoff pools, the basic strategy is simple: pick players from the four teams you think will reach the Conference Finals; that will give the players selected ample opportunity to score enough points for your squad. Its very difficult, if not altogether impossible, to win without having a solid presence among the final four teams because no matter how many points get accumulated in early rounds, if your team runs out of active bodies before the Conference Finals, its going to be extremely challenging to hold the lead. Naturally, the focus will be on top seeds and there is nothing wrong with loading up on players from Boston and Chicago if you can get quality players. At the same time, it needs to be recognized that there is not a huge difference in quality between the rest of the playoff teams, so theres likely going to be plenty of value to be found on lower-seeded teams. That doesnt mean ignoring the blue chip players -- top players on the favourite teams are the most valuable -- but it does suggest that once you have laid the groundwork with players from higher-seeded teams, then there ought to be an opportunity to secure value on lower seeds. There will come a time, at some point in your draft, that you have to decide whether you would rather have the best player on a low seed or a lesser player on a top seed and the answer will probably come by looking at the players youve already selected. BEST PLAYER vs. PLAYER ON BEST TEAM If you can take the best player off a lower seed, and it wont contradict any of your early picks, then its likely a good move. If you dont have representation on a highly-seeded team already, its generally not worth it to start investing in lower-tier players. So, Reilly Smith and Carl Soderberg might offer value when youre picking Bruins, but if they are the best available Bruins by the time you pick, youre likely fighting an uphill battle to beat out teams that have David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron, Jarome Iginla etc. As an aside, it makes lots of sense to target Bruins because they have a more definitive edge over their Eastern Conference competition, compared to the West where, for example, legitimate Cup contenders Los Angeles and San Jose meet in Round One, and one of them has to lose. It could make more sense, instead, to go for Zach Parise or Mikko Koivu, top players on a lower seed that offer bigger marginal returns if they pull off at least one series upset. INJURIES Just as with the real teams involved, injuries are always a factor in fantasy sports, so its imperative to stay on top of the playing status of top players heading into the postseason, both for the potential line combinations and having some idea who might be filling in if a significant player remains sidelined. NHL teams are notorious for being vague or even dishonest regarding injuries at the best of times, let alone at this point in the season, but you may want to avoid, or at least decrease the value of, guys who are already going into the playoffs with injuries. As the playoffs start, there are a number of high profile players that arent expected to be ready. That list includes: Matt Duchene, Nathan Horton, Henrik Zetterberg, Mikael Granlund, Alex Galchenyuk, Chris Kreider, Evgeni Malkin, and Vladimir Tarasenko. Add into that mix, stars that at least have questionable health status after late-season injuries. Jonathan Toews, Drew Doughty, Ryan McDonagh, Martin Hanzal, T.J. Oshie, David Backes and Ben Bishop have all missed time late in the year and at least some could miss at least some first-round games. PICKING PAIRS Consider doubling-up on line combinations, when the value is right. If you set your sights on Joe Thornton early, youll get all the more enjoyment out of Brent Burns a round or two later. Over the short season of an NHL playoff tournament, a hot line can go a long way and if you happen to pick the right one, that can tilt the results of your pool. TAKE A CHANCE Dont be afraid to make a sleeper pick late in the draft. The small sample size of playoffs lends itself to unexpected results, like Bryan Bickell scoring 17 points last year, Bryce Salvador scoring 14 points in 24 games in 2012 (he had nine points in 82 regular season games), Joel Ward scoring 13 points in 12 games in 2011, Ville Leino tallying 21 points in 19 games in 2010 or many others, from Ruslan Fedotenko to R.J. Umberger to Fernando Pisani, generally unheralded players who have all had double-digit goal totals in a single playoff year. Late in your draft, roll the dice on an unheralded player that might have a decent opportunity. THE NUMBERS Given these basic plans, the following team lists will provide information to help organize your drafting priorities. Each player listed has their points per game listed and thats a general value to start with. Then, look at what the player has done in the later portion of this season. Usually, I break down splits after the All-Star break but, for this year, a look at the pre and post-Olympic splits can reveal some changing roles. If the point totals are higher, maybe its a young player who is taking on more responsibility, or a veteran whose playing situation changed due to trade. Gustav Nyquist, for example, could be held in higher esteem than the standard player that hasnt even scored 50 points. Nyquist was the leagues most dangerous scorer from about mid-January through to the end of the season. The third rate included for each player is their NHL career playoff scoring average. In the vast majority of situations, that number will be lower than players career averages because the playoffs are tighter checking games that involve the best teams. Even some great players have lower career scoring averages in the playoffs because they didnt contribute much early in their career and theyve since emerged as elite postseason perfomers. Pavel Datsyuk, Marian Hossa, Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau are among the high-profile players that didnt produce early in the playoffs, but have had many productive postseasons since then. By no means should previous playoff production eliminate a player from consideration -- because sometimes a player is labeled as unproven in the postseason, until suddenly he is -- but if a player has made a career of under-performing in the playoffs, the safe play could be to let someone else take that risk or wait an extra round or two before wading into those waters. Power plays rule the postseason so make sure your roster is loaded with players who get time with the man advantage. No one in the Top 20 of last years playoff scoring had zero power play points. Bostons Milan Lucic along with Chicagos Patrick Kane and Bryan Bickell each had one power play point. Power play defencemen, in particular, have more value in the playoffs so dont let these players slip by you in the middle-to-later rounds of the draft. Kris Letang, Zdeno Chara, Slava Voynov, Duncan Keith and Paul Martin all hit double figures in scoring in last years playoffs, all with at least four points on the power play. Power play point totals are included as a general guide for which players are most likely to get those man advantage opportunities. Finally, as the postseason approaches and match-ups are set, check out the Fantasy Hockey Update playoff editions, and my blog which will have my playoff picks for more information as you prepare to win your playoff pool. Click here for TSN.cas 2014 NHL Playoff Payoff, a full team-by-team stats breakdown for your playoff pool prep. Maury Wills Jersey . 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Justin Turner Dodgers Jersey .com) - Al Horford collected 19 points and 16 rebounds and the Atlanta Hawks held off a furious rally to beat the Detroit Pistons 106-103 on Friday night in a game between two of the NBAs hottest teams.VANCOUVER, BC -- You can’t spell production without the O or the D, but the Vancouver Canucks are bending the rules of the English language these days. They’re getting plenty of production and they’re finding ways to do it without any O from any D. The Canucks are the sixth in the National Hockey League in both actual goals scored (65) and goals per game (2.96), so offence is not an issue. The Canucks have been an up-tempo hockey club playing an entertaining style based on spread scoring and a four-line attack. The surprise in all of this is that the Canucks are achieving such offensive success with one of the lowest-scoring defences in the NHL. As a group, Canucks blueliners have contributed just 32 points in 22 games. Compare that to the Calgary Flames, who’ve amassed 68 points from their defensive corps already this season. In fact, the Flames have four blueliners with more points than Alex Edler, the Canucks highest-scoring blueliner, who’s sitting with a modest eight points on the season. As of Thursday morning, 46 defencemen around the league have been more productive than Edler and 70 D-men in the NHL rank higher than the next highest-scoring defencemen on the hockey club. The New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres are the only teams in the league with a top-scoring defenceman with fewer points than Edler. The lack of offence from the blue line clearly isn’t hurting the Canucks, who are 11-3-1 in their past 15 games, but even head coach Willie Desjardins is startled by the fact there hasn’t been more contributions from the back end. “To me, I’m a little bit surprised they don’t have more points -- it’s not that they don’t join the rush, it’s just that they don’t get rewarded,” the coach explained. ”We want our defence to be involved and we want to make things happen. You look at Yannick Weber’s rush. We want that. You see quite a bit on the tape. You’ll see Kevin Bieksa going through the middle and you’ll see Alex Edler up.” So, the coach is seeing many of the things he wants to see from his defencemen - he’s just not seeing their name on the scoresheet very often.dddddddddddd But, perhaps, things are changing. In their past four games, the Canucks have seven points from defencemen. Still, as a group, this defence will have to pick up the pace just to match last year’s – and remember that the 2013-14 Canucks were one of the lowest-scoring teams in franchise history. A year ago, led by Jason Garrison’s 33 points, the Canucks blueline contributed 147 points or an average of 1.79 points per game. Right now, this year’s defence is sputtering at 1.45 points per game with just seven goals and 25 assists. If Edler, Bieksa, Chris Tanev and Dan Hamhuis are considered the top four defenders on the hockey club, that group has accounted for just one even strength goal so far this season (Bieksa, against Ottawa on November 11). All three of Edler’s goals have come on the power play. Neither Tanev nor Hamhuis, who’s now injured, has found the back of the net yet this season. Luca Sbisa is second among Canuck defencemen with two goals, but hasn’t scored since November 1 in Edmonton. But it’s not all about goal-scoring. It’s about the transition game. It’s about holding pucks in at the blue line. It’s about finding ways to get involved in the offence and, in the eyes of the coach, it’s about getting shots on goal, which, even if they don’t go in, may still produce rebounds and create scoring chances for others. “One thing we need from our back end, is we have to get more pucks through,” Desjardins said. “I don’t think [the issue is] the joining the rush. We’ve got good D that can skate and we have to use that. That has to be a part of our attack. We just have to get more pucks through.” No one in the Canucks organization is worried about the lack of offence from the blue line, but certainly the coaches are aware that it’s one area the hockey club can improve. And if that defence ever hits its stride offensively and points start to flow, there’s no telling just how dangerous the Vancouver Canucks can be. ' ' '