This week's Capped delves into a few names for you to consider adding in the stretch run.

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This kind of topic can be tough to make relevant for wide ranges of league types, as individual leagues vary greatly with keeper rules, size, and scoring, among other things. As a result, suggesting that one player may have relevance for the end of the season could be extremely useful in one pool, or that player could have been owned in a farm system for three seasons already in another pool. With that in mind, the players below will be varied with the hope of finding something for everyone.

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Brendan Leipsic (LW) – Vancouver Canucks

Cap Hit: $650,000 – RFA as of July 1^st, 2019

This one is for those of you entering the stretch run of the season seeing one of your best bang-for-buck players, Brock Boeser, get shut down for the season. You don’t need to look far, and you don’t need to think too hard about it. Leipsic will be one of the wingers picking up the slack for the injured all-star. Boeser was injured late in the Monday game against the Islanders, so we don’t yet have much to go on in terms of lineup fallout.

There is further reason for optimism. In the three games with Vancouver before the Boeser injury, Leipsic averaged over 17:30 of ice time, four shots per game, and scored five points. That being said, his peripheral stats are limited. In 47 games this season, he has 80 shots, 27 hits, and doesn’t see much power play time. As far as depth scoring goes, Boeser replacements don’t get much better at this point in the season.

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Eeli Tolvanen (LW) – Nashville Predators

Cap Hit: Unsigned

Eeli Tolvanen is a much bigger risk/reward play than Leipsic. While he is set to join the Predators once his KHL team (Jokerit) is eliminated from the playoffs, there is no guarantee that happens before the end of the NHL regular season. If he does make it over for the final two or three weeks of the season though, we could see something similar to what Brock Boeser (yes, him again) did in his nine-game cameo at the end of last season. As a refresher, that was four goals, five points, and 25 shots in nine games. Tolvanen can fire the puck, but he is more than just a sniper. He possesses great vision, and the whole Preds staff is excited to bring him in.

Once Jokerit is eliminated from the KHL playoffs, the slick winger will be signing his entry level deal, so we know his price tag won’t be too high to begin his career. Tolvanen has game breaking talent, and as a result makes a good option for a last-ditch effort this season. He also profiles as a possible dark-horse come playoff time.

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Klim Kostin (RW) – St. Louis Blues

Cap Hit: $925,000 – RFA as of July 1^st, 2020 (with a likely ELC slide to 2021)

Klim Kostin was selected only one pick after the aforementioned Tolvanen, but hasn’t impressed nearly as much this season. He has been playing in the AHL for the farm team of the Chicago Blackhawks, due to St. Louis having cut-ties with their previous affiliate. As a result, Kostin hasn’t been seeing heavy minutes or favourable deployment. That being said, he did perform very well at the World Juniors with Russia, and there is a good chance we may see him for a few games at the end of the season, as indicated in this article translated by The Hockey Writers.

With the Blues entering a bit of a reset mode, they have nothing to lose in giving Kostin a bit more space to develop his game. Kostin profiles as being one of the more NHL-ready prospects of the 2017 draft class that have yet to see NHL time. He will at minimum be a good bet to be in the lineup for the Blues come opening night in the fall

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Vladislav Kamenev (C) – Colorado Avalanche

Cap Hit: $833,333 – RFA as of July 1^st, 2019

After having his season derailed by a broken arm in his first game, Kamenev is slowly getting back into the swing of things. He has been activated off of IR, but hasn’t gotten back into the lineup yet. Kamenev is not likely to produce much to close out the season (barring an injury or two to Colorado’s top-six forwards), however he stands to line up regularly as a top-nine forward next season. His stock has fallen due to the lack of recent games, and he would be a good buy for a team looking to re-load for next year. Even if he doesn’t end up heavily producing as soon as the fall, his stock will be rising, and if you can manage assets, you know that there’s value to be found here.

Past the top line in Colorado, there really isn’t much standing in the way of Kamenev becoming a second-line player. Tyson Jost, Alex Kerfoot, and J.T. Compher all have something going for them, but as we saw with Samuel Girard, the players coming back as the return for Matt Duchene are going to see some solid playing time. There is also the possibility that Kamenev shifts over to the wing, allowing him to slot in with the capable centres already manning the second line, and possibly opening the throttle on his scoring potential as well.

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That caps off another Thursday. If you can’t get your fill on Thursdays, you can find me on twitter any day of the week @alexdmaclean