Hey everyone, I'm back after a week sabbatical, sorry for the lack of content last Sunday! This week we are back at it and looking for some quality adds to your team that could help you down the stretch for the last few weeks of the season, and potentially playoffs depending on your league. There are a couple players coming back from lengthy injuries that may have gone unnoticed, so let's see what's out there this week!

Anthony Mantha

The Washington winger has been sidelined since early November after a nasty shoulder injury. Mantha came over to Washington at the trade deadline last season and had some moderate success with the Caps. I was high on Mantha going into this season but he had a slow start and then was sidelined almost four months. But finally, he is back and he fits nicely into the second line with Nicklas Backstrom and TJ Oshie. Conversely, this won't be great news for Tom Wilson owners as he sees his role reduced a bit. 

Mantha is normally a pretty high-volume shooter and can rack up a decent number of points for you. He isn't big on the peripherals like hitting and blocking, and currently he resides on the team's second power-play unit, which to me seems like a misstep by Washington. The Caps power play is ranked in the lower third of the league this season and I feel like Mantha could give them some fresh looks on the top unit to help give their special teams a shot in the arm. But for now, Mantha resides on the second unit and that will limit his power-play points.

I still think he could be a solid add down the stretch if you are hurting for scoring. He is a dual-eligible winger and can be had in most formats. On Yahoo he is 29% rostered, while over on Fantrax he is 59% rostered, and finally ESPN he is only owned in 10% of leagues. 

Jakub Vrana

Ironically, the next name this week is the player who came back the other way in the trade with Anthony Mantha last season. Vrana was part of the package that came back for Mantha at the deadline last season. Red Wings fans had high hopes for Vrana. The irony continues, as just like Mantha, Vrana missed significant time thanks to a terrible shoulder injury that required surgery. He made his season debut earlier this week and in three games he has three goals.

Vrana is still just 26 years of age and inked a three-year contract extension with the Red Wings in the offseason. He should be a big part of Detroit's future plans going forward, but for now he has slotted into the second line with Joe Veleno and Sam Gagner. His deployment is much like Mantha's in Washington (this is awfully weird). He is on the second line and second power-play unit. Three games is an awfully small sample size, but he's actually been racking up some solid hits numbers this week with eight hits in three games to date. He isn't known for being a huge contact guy, but keep an eye on this going forward as that would be a great added bonus to his fantasy appeal. 

The Red Wings are still rebuilding, but Vrana should perform decently and compliment Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond nicely. Similar to Mantha, if you need an offensive boost, Vrana could certainly be a good option for you.  On both Yahoo and Fantrax, Vrana is only owned in a third of all leagues at 33% while ESPN has him at 28% rostered. 

Jean-Gabriel Pageau

I have a soft spot for Pageau. Even as a die-hard Leafs fan, I always admired him when he was on the Senators. The guy is an absolute workhorse and while he has never really churned out high-end offensive numbers, he still provides a ton of value. This is a player who could serve as a replacement option for Gabriel Landeskog. In case you missed it, Landeskog will be undergoing knee surgery which will effectively end his tenure in many, if not all of your fantasy leagues for this season. 

While one Gabriel clearly has more value than the other in this situation, Pageau can offer up a lot of value outside of offensive stats. Pageau is one of the league's elite when it comes to taking draws. He has a 57.3 winning percentage on faceoffs and has racked up 520 wins to date this season. He's also reached over 100 hits this season, with 103 in total and an average of just under two per game. And while his offensive is certainly not his biggest selling point, he does have nine points in his last nine contests, so he has been pretty hot as of late.

The Isles have taken a step back this season, but Pageau still does lots of little things that can get you valuable production out of him in fantasy. He is a jack-of-all-trades for peripheral categories and he is widely available in most fantasy leagues. Yahoo has him at 25% rostered, while Fantrax lists him at 26%. Over at ESPN he is a bit harder to get at 66% owned. As a nice added bonus also, the Isles play four games next week, so you should be able to get even more production out of the center. 

That's all for this week! Not much time left in our seasons now! Hopefully all of you are still in meaningful scenarios and find this stuff useful going down the stretch. For those of you in roto leagues, maybe there is a category or two that you can make ground up in before season's end. Or for those of you in head-to-head leagues, maybe a solid week or two down the stretch can be enough to get you into the playoffs or even earn yourself a higher seed. Either way, best of luck to everyone. We will see you again in seven days!