Well, for starters, Anaheim's Sami Vatanen is temporarily off my fantasy sleeper list as he has been demoted to Norfolk of the AHL. I loved the youngster's offensive upside under the tutelage of Coach Bruce Boudreau, but the emergence of Hampus Lindholm has hurt him on the Duck's depth chart. Having said that, one of my favorite dark-horses from a few years back has begun to hit his stride in his fifth year- Jason Demers of San Jose. With 8 points in 10 January games including 3 power-play assists, the 25-year old has begun to show some offensive promise with more quality ice-time. With Logan Couture out for awhile, Demers has been promoted to the primary power play and has been flourishing ever since. He is flying so low under the fantasy radar that most owners have not noticed his scoring success yet. 24 points in 47 games is not shabby for a d-man available in more than 40% of ESPN fantasy leagues. Roman Josi is a good bet to continue rising up in the fantasy charts for Nashville. Paired off with the great Shea Weber on the first defensive pairing, the talented Swiss defender is currently on a 4-game scoring streak. Upstart Ryan Ellis has gained some offensive momentum with 5 points in his last 8 games, but Josi has held firmly to his prime power-play time. The state of defensive affairs are in flux for the Toronto Maple Leafs, as coach Randy Carlyle is beginning to hand over more responsiblity to Jake Gardiner in recent games. With Dion Phaneuf and Cody Franson not cutting it, the 23-year old has led the scoring charge for his fellow blueliners with four points in the last 7 games. Gardiner's power-play minutes has been rising, so he needs to be noticed by fantasy owners in need of defensive production. Don't get caught up with the recent Andrej Meszaros hype in Philly. He has been scorching with 10 points in his last 10 games, but this is far from the norm for the dependable two-way defender. Relegated to secondary PP duty, his scoring will come to a screeching halt soon but he has some short-term value while he is on his streak. Former Calder Trophy winner Tyler Myers has scored 3 goals in the last four games, but he goes "hot" and "cold' in seconds. The guy to own in Buffalo is the more consistent Christian Ehrhoff who has 12 points in the last 17 games. He has a much more proven scoring pedigree than Myers, considering he has surpassed 40 points 3 times in his career. Parting Shots:Paul Martin returned to the Pittsburgh Penguins lineup last night, registering 20:06 minutes with a -1 rating. Give him a few games to shake off the rust, but he should have modest fantasy value as the Pen's second best scoring option on the blueline. The biggest fantasy loser is Matt Niskanen.. Boston's Dougie Hamilton has missed 4 games due to a concussion, but he might be returning to action soon. For now, fellow teammate Torey Krug continues his surprise rookie season by leading all first-year defensemen with 25 points.. I am holding firm to my beliefs that you should "sell high" on Jay Bouwmeester, even though he has collected an impressive 29 points in 48 games for the Blues. The bottom line- he gets minimal PP time and when the games get very tight and defensive after the Olympic break, his scoring production will suffer greatly.