All fantasy owners need help in the short term AND the long term. The Looking Ahead feature identifies one player to plug into lineups in the short term, a second to invest in for the long term, a third to bench for the coming week, and a fourth who will struggle to meet expectations for some time. All players discussed are selected based on their upcoming schedule.

The Immediate Fix (Grab this guy and use him for the next several days)

Patrick Eaves, LW, Anaheim Ducks (Available in 76 percent of Yahoo! Leagues) – Patrick Eaves has always been known as a passenger, or a good secondary scorer (especially in Dallas), but this season he’s already hit career highs in goals (21 currently), average TOI (16:38, almost four full minutes more than his career average), and SOG (159). After getting moved to the Ducks just before the deadline, Eaves made his Anaheim debut on a line with Rickard Rakell and Corey Perry – not much of a downgrade from Tyler Seguin and/or Jamie Benn. In his debut he saw just over 16 minutes, attempted seven shots at the net, and got power play time on the 2^nd unit along with Rakell. Although his next stretch of games is a tough one, Eaves is a perfect late-season injury fill-in or depth grab, and his value will grow as he gets used to playing alongside Rakell and Perry.

The Building Block (Buy now, sit back and enjoy the production)

Kyle Turris, C, Ottawa (Available in 58 percent of Yahoo! Leagues) – For whatever reason, Kyle Turris is consistently under-owned in NHL fantasy leagues; although his Hit and Blk peripherals are lacking, all Turris has done this year is put up 22G-22A with 12 PPP and 136 shots on net – making him the 69^th most valuable player in Yahoo! leagues. As the number one centre on a power play that features Mike Hoffman and Erik Karlsson, and that has scored five goals in the last seven games, Turris is in a great spot the rest of the season to continue quietly putting up points. He’s averaging just under 20 minutes a game, didn’t see his role get affected at the deadline, and is probably available in your leagues. Go get him!

The Odd Man Out (His short term value is cause for concern)

Matt Niskanen, D, Washington (Owned in 74 percent of Yahoo! Leagues) – With the acquisition of Kevin Shattenkirk, the Capitals locked up their first unit power-play quarterback, and locked out Matt Niskanen from his previous cushy role. Over his last 10 games, Niskanen had picked up 48% of the power play ice time as the sole d-man on a potent group; somehow, his role this year has only translated to nine PPP, but he was having a very nice year production-wise and is still on pace to crack 40 points. Unless Shattenkirk falters however, Niskanen is now the odd man out and will be relegated to splitting the point on the PP with John Carlson.

The Anchors (They’ll do nothing but disappoint even over the long haul)

Robin Lehner, G, Buffalo (Owned in 66 percent of Yahoo! Leagues) – Lehner has always had trouble with injuries, dating back to his time as an Ottawa Senator. Since getting to Buffalo at the start of last season, ostensibly as the starting goalie, Lehner has only played 65 games (and counting). Although he’s a fine goalie in leagues that track Save Percentage – 0.924 last season, currently 0.922 this season – Buffalo is still getting through their rebuilding phase, which really hurts Lehner’s Win or Shutout upside. In yet another lost season for Buffalo, the Sabres could give another look to see what they have in either Anders Nilsson (0.921 this year) or Linus Ullmark (0.913 last year). That would be a crushing blow to Lehner’s already poor games played number, so it’s time to ditch the Swedish anchor.

Love ‘Em (These squads are sure to pay dividends in the coming days)

Ottawa – With a three-game road trip sandwiched in the middle of their next six games, the Senators could match their season total of Goals For, given their opponents – Ottawa gets the luxury of meeting Dallas, Arizona, and Colorado during this stretch. All three teams were already poor defensively, and by being sellers at the deadline, all three are even easier pickings.

Columbus – For the entire month of February (12 games played), the Blue Jackets took less than 30 shots just three times – and one of those came in a 5-2 win over the Rangers. Columbus can seemingly score at will these days, recently putting up 12 goals over two games against the New York teams. The Jackets get two sets of home & home series, against the Devils and Sabres – not teams known for their scoring chance suppression.

Pittsburgh – The defending Cup champs get their Western Canada road swing out of the way, late in the season, but it comes post-trade deadline and as part of a seven-game stretch. Don’t expect the 6+ goal games that came in January, as the Penguins’ d corps is decimated by injury, but the top end forwards will continue their point production against soft competition, as expected.

Leave ‘Em (These squads will leave fantasy owners sorely disappointed in the short term)

Los Angeles – The Kings have one of the weaker schedules to start the month off, only playing five games between the 3^rd and 15^th. In their favour is the fact that it comes smack dab in the middle of a seven-game home-stand, but beyond a pair of games against weaker defensive teams (Arizona and Vancouver), they’re in tough against some of the best in the league: the Capitals, Predators and Blues will all be coming to the Staples Centre.

Detroit – Another Western Conference team that has only five games, but the difference between the Stars and the Kings is that Dallas just sold off their spare parts – at least, the spare parts that weren’t placed on injured reserve. With a large portion of their roster missing, Dallas will be in tough as an already porous defensive team; their matchups won’t help, as they face the Sharks and Capitals, let alone Connor McDavid and the Oilers.

Buffalo – After standing fairly pat in mediocrity at the deadline, the Sabres do get the benefit of playing six games during this period, but that includes games against the two teams that fought for the Cup last season (SJ and Pittsburgh), and a road/home B2B against the Blue Jackets.

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