The Oilers got back a big reinforcement in the form of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. He had been out of the lineup with a suspected concussion but seems good to go now. That is huge for the Oilers, as this is not a deep team, and at least RNH back in the lineup gives them the semblance of two scoring lines. He had been playing to nearly a 60-point/82 games pace before the injury.

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An update on Mikko Rantanen's COVID status:

Mikko was close contact tracing. He'll stay back at start of trip and if things go well, he can join the team on the trip. No two week quarantine.

— Evan Rawal (@evanrawal) April 21, 2021

He is still technically on the COVID list but it may not be for much longer. He just needs a few more negative tests and then he can return. Not to put a number on it, but I think we see him back early next week.

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Adam Boqvist was skating after his concussion:

Boqvist (concussion) is on the ice for Blackhawks morning skate.

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) April 21, 2021

Boqvist hasn't played in 10 days and has just two points in his last 14 contests, having also lost his top PP role. The fantasy value is basically gone here, but the 'Hawks will need him if they want to make a playoff push.

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The Rangers have signed Karl Henriksson (Dobber Prospect profile here):

OFFICIAL: #NYR have agreed to terms with forward Karl Henriksson on an entry-level contract.

Full details ⬇️

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) April 21, 2021

With Ziba/Strome/Chytil, this team is locked down the middle for at least another year, which may not be a bad thing. That gives Henriksson a year in the AHL to prep, and a fourth-line role if he can show out. If not, they may need him in 2022-23, which seems like a more realistic target for him having fantasy value, if he ever has any.  

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There are only a couple weeks left in the regular season, which is kind of wild. This season has absolutely flown by, and it feels like just yesterday we were watching a Jack Johnson–Tony DeAngelo defence pair in real life. (I suppose we can quibble with 'couple of weeks' considering the NHL has had to extend their season well beyond the original end date because, well, *gestures broadly*. But that is when the season is ending for a lot of people, so that's when I'm considering it finished.)

There isn't much left to play for. The Rangers have an outside shot at cracking playoffs, as do the Flames, but really all that is left to play for is the final playoff spot in the Central and the final playoff spot in the West. Most teams have nothing left to play for, and that could make the final few weeks awkward. What do you do when, say, the East has nothing left to play for, but every team has 10-12 games left? I suppose the playoff teams hope no one gets injured.

I thought it might be worth compiling a watch list. Not of movies or TV shows, but of players to focus on over the final couple weeks. They could be rookies getting a crack, young guys getting a bigger role, an established star with new line mates, whatever. The prep for next fantasy season starts now. Here are some guys I'm keeping an eye on.

Casey Mittelstadt

This was brought into my frame by a guest post from Ryan Sheppard this week. As he pointed out, Mittelstadt had nine points in 10 games (now nine in 11). That represents the output he had in 31 games last year, so he's at least producing.

The caution here is how he's getting those points. His points/60 mark at 5-on-5 in that stretch (1.53) is lower than Steven Fogarty's (1.59). Part of his point production has been on the PP (2) and on the PK (1). But I will note that in that stretch he has no secondary assists at 5-on-5, so maybe he's being a bit unlucky.

Mittelstadt still has a long, long ways to go. He still isn't shooting much and his defensive issues are very apparent. All the same, Mittelstadt is at least showing signs of belonging in the NHL, something he hasn't shown in the four years since he's been drafted. The Sabres are also showing signs of life they weren't showing a month ago. It might be worth checking in on them a couple times to see how Mittelstadt is doing.

Erik Brannstrom

The key return in the Mark Stone trade has been off to a bit of a slow start to his career, with just 12 points in 53 career games. We need to be patient here, though. All those games have been on bad Ottawa teams and it's hard for a defenceman to stand out (shouts to Artem Zub's season, though).

But this year isn't a bad year, in particular. He has eight points in 20 games, working out to about 32-33 points in a full year. Not a monster season, but pretty good considering he's playing 15 minutes a night. At all strengths, he's a top-25 among defenceman league-wide in point production per 60 minutes, ahead of names like Reilly, Sergachev, and Grzelcyk, and just behind names like Yandle, Doughty, and Ekman-Larsson. He has also been very good on the power play:

Still some work to be done, but we can see a player that is starting to drive the play and his natural abilities are showing through at 5v4. With Mike Reilly gone to Boston, Brannstrom should be locked on the second PP unit this year, and he's been playing nearly two minutes more per game over his last few games than earlier in the year. The team needs Brannstrom to become A Thing, and it looks like he's on his way. Might be worth watching a few Ottawa games down the stretch to see for yourself what he could be next season.

Max Comtois

This is a bit weird because he was a guy I had pegged for a 2019-20 breakout. That didn't quite happen, as he was eventually sent back to the AHL. I was a year early on his breakout, as Comtois has 13 goals and 28 points in 36 games, playing 15:10 per night. He also has 78 hits and 31 blocks. He leads the team in both goals and points, by the way, coming in second in assists. He really has been their engine all year, which is a weird thing for a non-elite prospect in his first full season.

Primary points (P1) at 5-on-5 (goals and primary assists) help filter out the noise of secondary assists. On the season, Comtois is one of 26 forwards with at least 350 total minutes and a P1/60 rate above 2.00. Just above him is Alex Ovechkin and just below him is Jakub Vrana. That is pretty good, yeah?

Now, Comtois is shooting 20 percent at 5-on-5. That is very high. We need to see him shooting more. With that said, this is still a very bad team with scant high-end offensive pieces. We will probably need a couple years of the Ducks rounding into form before Comtois really takes off, but we have a good idea now of what he can do. I recommend watching some late-night Ducks games the rest of the way. You might be surprised with what you see.

Erik Karlsson

Six points and 28 shots in his last 12 games is a good sign for Karlsson, which is a sign of how far he's fallen. Five years ago, that would be a cold streak. Now? It is a sign that things could be turning around. How the mighty…

Anyway, Karlsson still has good offensive play-driving numbers this year but his defensive numbers are in the tank. He seems to be getting more favourable roles than Brent Burns, which is what makes him of particular interest here. Is there a chance Karlsson becomes the next Keith Yandle? The elite offensive defenceman who gets reduced to minutes in the teens, rather than in the 20s? It seems plausible, even as he continues to play nearly 24 minutes a night this year.  

Just because he keeps getting PP1 minutes, it might be worth taking in a couple Karlsson games. It seems there's no one who will take that role, so seeing for yourself just how much he has left in the tank can inform your decision for next draft season.

Yegor Sharangovich

Ok Kirill Kaprizov has been great, and Jason Robertson has been on fire over the last month or so, but I don't think any rookie has impressed me more than Sharangovich. I am always impressed by players thriving in suboptimal situations, and Sharangovich isn't playing with a winger with four 50-point seasons, or on a team that went to the Cup Final last year. He is playing on a lottery team, sometimes with Jack Hughes, sometimes not. Despite that, Sharangovich has the same individual expected goals/60 at 5-on-5 as Josh Anderson, and higher than Gabriel Landeskog, Evander Kane, and David Pastrnak. He is also outscoring two of those four names just mentioned. Pretty good!

Sharangovich is an older rookie at 22 years old and doesn't have a pedigree as a fifth-round pick, but we cannot deny the results. He also has decent offensive play-driving numbers, so he's not just an empty shot rate. He still has work to do on his 200-foot game, but the offence is there, and that's a big boost for this team moving forward. I very much recommend taking some time to watch Hughes/Sharangovich work, especially post-deadline with the latter getting so much TOI. They are fun to watch, and I bet Sharangovich is real cheap at the draft table next year.