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 month of January is always filled with a ton of platitudes and grand proclamations such as, "New Year, New You!" that speak to the notion of getting in shape and living a better life. Well, this is also a great time to get that fantasy blue line in shape so your team can compete better than it has to this point in the season.

There are a number of defensemen that have been heating up over the past couple weeks and could give your fantasy backside the makeover it has needed. The first couple of names will likely be trade targets, since they are rostered in 68 percent or more of Yahoo Standard Leagues but were slow out of the gates because of injury or other circumstances.

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.

So much more was expected of the Columbus Blue Jackets this season. Instead, they have the fewest points in the NHL standings (33), their defense has been a liability, their starting (Sergei Bobrovsky) and backup (Curtis McElhinney) goalies are injured, and franchise center Ryan Johansen has been under the microscope since coach John Tortorella was hired.

But there is at least one bright spot: Brandon Saad, one of my preseason fantasy breakout picks, is in line for the best regular season of his career (82-game pace: 60 points, 10 power-play goals, 238 shots on goal) and has established chemistry with a young center who's flying under the radar.

Alexander Wennberg, a 21-year-old Swede who has been playing alongside Saad at even strength in recent weeks, has shaken off his quiet, injury-plagued start with 12 points (two goals, 10 assists) and 21 SOG in 13 games since Dec. 5. Wennberg has three multi-point outings in that span, thanks to an elevated power-play role (four PPP), averaging 2:15 per game in those situations (second among Blue Jackets forwards in past month).

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

I resolve to be better in 2016.

I definitely led some of you astray with a few of my recommendations in Waiver-Wire Watch in 2015. Mea culpa. To clear my conscience, I'd like to point out my three worst suggestions.

At the top of that list is San Jose Sharks forward Melker Karlsson, who has one goal, no assists and a minus-6 rating in 15 games since he was included in Waiver-Wire Watch on Nov. 23. My bad.

Welcome to 2016, fantasy owners. This is your chance to regroup and rebuild your roster.

With the official midway point of the fantasy hockey season just days away, it's time for you to give your team an honest assessment. Where can you improve? Do you have an abundance of goals? If so, maybe you should deal one of those goal-scorers for someone who helps in another category you're lacking. Is your goalie tandem really strong in save percentage but not getting you the wins you need? Maybe you should consider trading one of them for a goalie on a better team that can get you wins but might not have as strong a save percentage.

There are plenty of options and potential solutions. But now is the time to address the areas you might need via trade or free agency. Don't be afraid to make changes, even if they seem bold.

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.

What is going on with Henrik Lundqvist?

The New York Rangers goalie was a Vezina Trophy favorite and not long ago ranked first in goals-against average and save percentage. After a poor month of December, Lundqvist ranks 24th in GAA (2.49) and 16th in save percentage (.921). New York went 4-7-2 this month and had lost eight straight games on the road prior to a 5-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday. The defense has not been good, but Lundqvist has also allowed his share of goals he doesn't normally allow.

After allowing three goals twice in his first 15 appearances, he's allowed at least three in nine of 16 games, including five goals four times (twice in the past four starts). Lundqvist allowed five or more goals four times all of last season.

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.

With the new year upon us, we leave behind the good and the bad, the ups and downs from 2015. And there is a sense of hope for what 2016 will bring.

The start of a new year is a time to reflect on the past and also gives us the opportunity to make resolutions. We won't tell you how to make yours, but we will spend time reflecting on some of what I have done here in this space.

I've done some good and some bad here and I'm going to make some resolutions that will be applied moving forward. I'll also give you some bold predictions that apply to key fantasy defensemen for 2016.

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.

The New York Islanders are 19-12-5 and currently in Stanley Cup Playoff position with the third-most points in the Metropolitan Division. Their goalies, Jaroslav Halak and Thomas Greiss, are each among the League leaders in goals-against average and save percentage. Their point percentage (0.5972) is tied for eighth in the NHL. Their penalty kill (87.3 percent) ranks second in the League.

But they have a growing problem: Their best player has his hands full and isn't producing anywhere near his capability.

As we approach the midway point of the 2015-16 season, John Tavares has been a huge fantasy disappointment considering what was expected of him. John Tavares, drafted fifth on average in Yahoo leagues, had 86 points in 82 games last season, one behind Jamie Benn of the Dallas Stars (87) for the NHL scoring title. Since 2011-12, he's tied with Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the fifth-most points League-wide.

Tavares has 25 points in 33 games, exactly one half of Patrick Kane's NHL-best total of 50 in 37 games. Forwards like Mikkel Boedker, Lee Stempniak and Kyle Palmieri are currently higher than Tavares on the NHL leaderboard. If it wasn't for Crosby struggling to a similar degree with the Penguins sitting outside of the postseason picture, there would be much more attention paid to Tavares' struggles.

The NHL's Christmas break is upon us, and NHL.com has you covered with a big-picture update on the fantasy hockey landscape. The midway point of the 2015-16 season (Game 615 of 1,230) isn't until Jan. 9, but this three-day hiatus is a perfect time to reflect on the sustainability of hot-starters, remind you of players who could turn their season around, and see where everyone stacks up in the grand scheme of things.

Below are updated Top 200 fantasy player rankings determined by NHL.com insiders Matt Cubeta and Pete Jensen. These rankings are based on production to this point in standard Yahoo leagues and expectations for the rest of the season. Fantasy owners should use these rankings as a basis for team evaluation and potential transactions.

NOTES: Injured players have been ranked based on approximate recovery timetables and potential impact when they return. Other factors taken into account include position eligibility, line combinations, category coverage and past performance. ... Standard leagues count goals, assists, plus/minus, penalty minutes (PIMs), power-play points (PPP) and shots on goal (SOG) for skaters, and wins, goals-against average (GAA), save percentage (SV%) and shutouts (SO) for goalies.

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

It looks like the Chicago Blackhawks have finally found the player to replace Brandon Saad at left wing with Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa.

Teuvo Teravainen.

After playing the first few games of the season on Chicago's top line, Teravainen (LW, 26 percent owned in Yahoo leagues) has four goals and three assists in nine games since being reunited with Toews and Hossa on Dec. 3 at the Ottawa Senators.

How steep are the odds that star forward Sidney Crosby can repeat the 84 points he posted last year? He would need to produce 65 points across the final 52 games of the Pittsburgh Penguins season.

That's 1.25 points per game from now until the end of the regular season. Prior to this season Crosby had averaged 1.36 points-per-game during the course of his career. With that rate of production, it's not unrealistic to believe he can get to or even surpass that 84-point total he had last season.

Or is it?

Last season, Crosby had 84 points in 77 games, or 1.09 points-per-game, the lowest production rate of his 11-year career. While the struggles are clearly more extreme this season, he wasn't exactly the same player we had gotten used to last season either. Yes, his 84 points were good for third most in the NHL, but Crosby was coming off a 104-point season in 2013-14 and expectations were sky-high. He didn't deliver what we hoped for despite finishing as the fifth-best player in Yahoo fantasy leagues.