Every Thursday during the season, NHL.com fantasy hockey staff writer David Satriano provides in-depth goalie analysis. From updated weekly top-30 rankings to trending players and more, Satriano is your go-to guy for fantasy goalie advice all season long.

The Colorado Avalanche were hoping last season, when they finished last in the Central Division, wouldn't repeat itself. But they're 2-3-1 following their 1-0 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes and are allowing 2.83 goals per game. Some of that falls on goaltender Semyon Varlamov.

Varlamov was 41-14-6 with a 2.41 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage and was a Vezina Trophy finalist in 2013-14. Though he regressed last season, the numbers still were good: 28-20-8 with five shutouts, 2.56 GAA, .921 save percentage.

Every Wednesday during the season, NHL.com fantasy hockey contributor Brian Metzer provides in-depth defenseman analysis. From updated weekly top 60 rankings to trending players and more, Metzer is your go-to guy for fantasy D-men advice all season long.

The Chicago Blackhawks haven't exactly roared out of the gate this season and find themselves sitting at 3-3-0 and in sixth place in the Central Division. If that wasn't bad enough, news broke Tuesday they would be without the services of two-time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Duncan Keith for the next 4-6 weeks after the 2015 Conn Smythe Trophy winner had surgery to repair a right meniscal tear.

If there is anyone who can feel the Blackhawks' pain, it's the countless fantasy hockey owners who used the 47th overall pick on average in Yahoo Standard Leagues to draft Keith, whose ownership sits at 100 percent.

Keith is not easy to replace, and until now it hasn't really been necessary.

Every Tuesday during the season, NHL.com fantasy hockey insider Pete Jensen provides in-depth forward analysis. From updated weekly top 100 rankings to trending players and more, Jensen is your go-to guy for fantasy forward advice all season long.

In a fast-paced, physical sport like hockey where most superstars are in their mid-20s, you have to marvel at any player over 40 years old who can hold his ground on the same playing field.

Jaromir Jagr isn't just holding his ground though. The 43-year-old is performing at an elite level, and it's far from an early-season fluke. He's anchoring the Florida Panthers' top line and first power-play unit with seven points (four goals, three assists), two power-play points, a plus-2 and 12 shots on goal in his first five games of 2015-16. That rate of point production (1.4 per game) is greater than his career average (1.2). Jagr has 1,809 points in 1,555 NHL games, tops among active players and fourth in League history.

Per Elias Sports Bureau, no player in League history has produced 70-plus points in a season at age 43 or older. At this point, no one can put that potential achievement past Jagr, who will turn 44 on Feb. 15 and is the oldest player in the NHL by more than four years.

Every Monday, NHL.com staff writer Sean McCullen identifies potential waiver-wire pickups, and points out lineup moves and schedule impacts for fantasy hockey.

A disappointing start to the 2015-16 season for some of the top players in the NHL has fantasy owners contemplating moves that can get their team back on track in Week 2.

Sidney Crosby, a top-five draft pick in just about every league, was held without a point through the Pittsburgh Penguins' first five games, matching the longest such streak of his NHL career.

Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, the 2013 Vezina Trophy winner, is 0-5-0 with a 5.07 goals-against average and .835 save percentage after being drafted in the fifth round on average in Yahoo leagues.

Every Thursday during the season, NHL.com fantasy hockey staff writer David Satriano provides in-depth goalie analysis. From updated weekly top 30 rankings to trending players and more, Satriano is your go-to guy for fantasy goalie advice all season long.

A week into the season, we've already seen some surprises. The Pittsburgh Penguins, Columbus Blue Jackets, Boston Bruins and Los Angeles Kings are among the winless teams; the Vancouver Canucks, Arizona Coyotes and San Jose Sharks have yet to lose in regulation.

There's been good, bad and just plain ugly. But one player who has been better than good is Coyotes goalie Mike Smith.

Three games may be a small sample size, but Smith allowed one goal in each of his first two starts, making 40 saves against the Los Angeles Kings and 27 against the Pittsburgh Penguins on back-to-back nights last week. He followed that up with a 37-save shutout against the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday. It was his first shutout since March 2014.

Every Wednesday during the season, NHL.com fantasy hockey contributor Brian Metzer provides in-depth defenseman analysis. From updated weekly top 60 rankings to trending players and more, Metzer is your go-to guy for fantasy D-men advice all season long.

Marek Zidlicky had options for this season, but the 12-year-veteran didn't take the first or even the second offer that came along during unrestricted free agency.

That patience could have been detrimental, but it finally paid off when Garth Snow and the New York Islanders offered a one-year contract and another chance to chase a Stanley Cup.

"I'm happy I can play one more year and we'll see after that what happens," Zidlicky told NorthJersey.com upon signing his contract late in September. "I said right away after the season it could be possible I will retire or we will see. You never know. It's tough for everybody. It doesn't matter if you are 38 or 28. That's the business right now."

Every Tuesday during the season, NHL.com fantasy hockey insider Pete Jensen provides in-depth forward analysis. From updated weekly top 100 rankings to trending players and more, Jensen is your go-to guy for fantasy forward advice all season long.

Line combinations are the most important factor when determining the value of a fantasy forward at any point during a particular season. Many teams shuffle lines and power-play units all season long before finding the perfect recipe, while others find trios that click early and often.

There have been plenty of large-scale line developments for teams two or three games into their respective seasons. The St. Louis Blues (Vladimir Tarasenko and Alexander Steen with Paul Stastny), San Jose Sharks (Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski with Joonas Donskoi), Vancouver Canucks (Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin with Brandon Sutter) and Dallas Stars (Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin with Cody Eakin or Patrick Eaves) are some of the many teams pairing dynamic fantasy duos with sparsely-owned forwards -- sparking the latter's fantasy upside. Though these third wheels are rounding out explosive lines in the short term, their teams have second or third-line options (i.e. Jori Lehtera, Tomas Hertl, Radim Vrbata, Patrick Sharp) more than capable of playing elevated roles if and when slumps occur.

Fantasy owners should study up on each team's line situation in the season's infant stages, but always need to prioritize attainable first or second-line trios with staying power. Last season, underrated trios for the Tampa Bay Lightning (Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov) and Calgary Flames (Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, Jiri Hudler) came out of nowhere to sustain elite-level production. Here are three newly formed trios who are flying under the radar and could follow in their footsteps:

Every Monday, NHL.com staff writer Sean McCullen identifies potential waiver-wire pickups, and points out lineup moves and schedule impacts for fantasy hockey.

The 2015-16 NHL season is 31 games old. There are 1,199 to go. Don't make any rash decisions if your fantasy team didn't light it up through the first five days; there's plenty of time for it to become the juggernaut you envisioned as you were leaving your draft.

Just as you shouldn't drop Tuukka Rask because he gave up eight goals in the Boston Bruins' two season-opening losses, you shouldn't add Mike Smith because he made saves on 67 of 69 shots to help the Arizona Coyotes to a 2-0-0 start.

Two days are in the books for the NHL and fantasy hockey owners. Despite the small sample size, we've seen plenty of exciting action so far.

Here are the most notable takeaways from a fantasy standpoint.

TOP STARS

Joe Pavelski, Zach Parise and Daniel Sedin are the top fantasy skaters to this point. Pavelski and Sedin each had one goal, two assists, a plus-3 rating and seven shots on goal in their first games on Wednesday. Parise had the seasons first hat trick, scoring three goals on six shots in the Minnesota Wild's opener against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday. There's no doubting Pavelski's abilities after what he did last season (37 goals, 70 points), but it's good to see Sedin get off to a good start. As for Parise, he was the 22nd best fantasy player in Yahoo leagues last season and could be primed for another big season.

Last season was a prime example of why monitoring preseason roster activity can pay huge dividends in fantasy hockey.

I identified five under-the-radar preseason standouts last October based on factors including line combinations, elevated roles and production. Three of them proved to be top-100 fantasy players.

Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning latched on with Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat and went on to post 65 points, a plus-38 (T-1st in NHL) and 191 shots on goal. He finished 21st among all fantasy assets. Not far behind was Filip Forsberg, 35th in Yahoo leagues, with only the third rookie season of 60-plus points, a plus-15 or better and 230-plus shots on goal (SOG) in the expansion era. Tyler Toffoli of the Los Angeles Kings finished 93rd, catapulted by a hot start alongside Jeff Carter and Tanner Pearson.