The trade of Artturi Lehkonen to Colorado serves a few purposes for them. In the short-term, it gives them someone to slot on the second line in the absence of Gabriel Landeskog. Not that they're in a fight for a playoff spot or anything, but it gives a bit of security in case Calgary makes a push for tops in the Western Conference.

Secondly, it helps lengthen the lineup when Landeskog is back. Lehkonen looks slated to skate on the second line until then but should move to the third line when the captain is healthy. It is a big boost to a third line that Colorado hasn't really had all season long.

As for Lehkonen's fantasy value, I'm not sure how much of a hit it takes, even if he's on the third line. The Avalanche tend to play their top-3 lines heavily and their fourth sparingly. That means he should keep getting around 15 minutes a night, about what he was getting in Montreal, when Landeskog is back. Hopefully, it's status quo as a depth option for fantasy leagues.

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An update on the Evgenii Dadonov trade saga:

The Dadonov VGK/ANA trade has been reverted on our website.

It has come to our attention that the NHL is still considering Dadonov a member of the #VGK for salary cap calculations.

Dadonov has also been on VGK game sheets the past 2 nights.https://t.co/O05EBzJN8E

— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) March 23, 2022

Not that Cap Friendly is official, but it goes to show how badly this could impact Vegas. This is a problem for them.

UPDATE: The league did invalidate the trade, Dadonov is going back to Vegas. Or staying. Whatever.

It is also a problem for Dadonov. His fantasy value is basically nil in Vegas when (if?) the team is healthy. Had he gone to Anaheim, he might be skating on a line with Trevor Zegras and Troy Terry right now. That probably meant like 17-18 minutes a night with top PP minutes. That could have been a big boost to his fantasy profile. For now, limbo.

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Patrice Bergeron was back at practice for the Bruins:

Prax lines:

Marchand-Bergeron-DeBrusk
Hall-Haula-Pastrnak
Frederic-Coyle-Smith
Foligno-Nosek-Lazar
Blidh-Studnicka-McLaughlin

Lindholm-McAvoy
Grzelcyk-Carlo
Forbort-Reilly/Clifton

Swayman
Ullmark

— Fluto Shinzawa (@FlutoShinzawa) March 23, 2022

He had undergone a minor procedure to deal with a potential infection and he said after practice he still needed to be cleared. With that said, the team is approaching full strength, and getting set for the playoff run. They'll be very good defensively, at any rate.

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The Dobber Prospects team, namely Peter Harling, have put together their 2022 NHL Draft dynasty rankings. For those in dynasty leagues – present company included – it is important to be up to speed on the incoming players. It is also important to delineate real-world value from fantasy value, and Peter and the team get a head start on that. I have it bookmarked to read over the weekend, and I suggest anyone with even a passing interest in rookies give it a read.

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For those that play head-to-head leagues, there's a good chance that playoffs have started or they're about to; there are only five weeks left in the season after this week. It got me thinking about some guys that have really helped my teams over the last six weeks or so, down this stretch run of the fantasy regular season. Aaron Ekblad comes to mind, at least before the injury, posting 16 points in 14 games leading to that injury, with over three shots per game and 5 PPPs. There is also James Reimer, who has had a very up-and-down season. He was probably waiver fodder after a 10-game stretch after Christmas where he posted an .884 save percentage and a 4.29 goals against average. Since the All-Star Game, he's posted a .916 save percentage in 12 games with a 2.80 GAA. He also hasn't had a single game with a save percentage under .900 in a month, which feels like a miracle given the team he's playing on.

Which other players have had big performances since the mid-season classic? There are a handful that stick out.

Kyle Connor

This is partly a function of Winnipeg having a lot of postponed games to make up, but Connor has been otherworldly production-wise for a while now. He has 34 points in his last 22 games going back six weeks, averaging just under four shots per game. He has 10 PPPs in that span, too. Just an unbelievable tear he's been on as the Jets thrash around to keep their playoff hopes alive.

What's more is just how consistent he's been. He has just three games in that span without a point, never went a game without a shot, never went more than two consecutive games without a goal (that happened once), and had multi-point efforts in nearly half those games (10/22). Just a superb run from one of the league's most underrated players.

J.T. Miller

Staying in Canada, we would be remiss not to discuss J.T. Miller. He was one of the very few Canucks having a good season under Travis Green, with 25 points in 26 games, averaging 2.4 shots per game and totaling 12 PPPs before their old bench boss was fired. That would just be a precursor to what he would do later under Bruce Boudreau: 31 points in 18 games since the All-Star break, with his shot rate up to 2.7 per contest, and 11 PPPs in that span. He also put up over 50 hits in those 18 games, throwing in 11 blocks for good measure. Just a monster performance over the last 20% of the season.

Of course, that point pace is far too high to maintain. That doesn't mean he can't be a point-per-game player the rest of the way though, and with his peripherals, that will play just fine.

Nick Schmaltz

Here is a guy who, because of injury, was likely on the waiver wire as we rounded into February. Even after a slow start – injuries, bad team, whatever – this guy has been on an absolute bender since the ASG. Those 18 games have seen 14 goals and 27 points for Schmaltz, or 1.5 points per game for over 20% of the season. The problem, of course, is that he shot 35% in that time, and his line was shooting over 20% collectively at 5-on-5 for weeks. That doesn't matter for the fantasy owners that rode this hot streak to weeks of success.

What the future holds for Schmaltz, who knows. It is worth noting he just turned 26 years old and he's averaged nearly 60 points/82 games over the last three years on an abysmal team. He is a player to keep an eye on, as his profile for playmaking and high conversion rates lend itself to fantasy success if the team around him improves.

Roman Josi

Now, we're getting to the main event. With his play of late, Josi has not only launched himself to the top of the Norris conversation, but he absolutely should be in the mix for the Hart as well (not at the top, but in conversation). In his last 18 games, he has an incredible 34 points and 64 shots on goal. That is Connor McDavid-on-a-tear-level production from a defenseman. I don't ever remember seeing something like this. Mike Green had 24 points in 14 games back in 2008-09, but that's all that came to mind. On top of that production, the 3.6 shots and 1.8 blocks per game helped a lot on the peripheral side. Nine of those points came with the man advantage, and he even threw in 12 PIMs for good measure. Just a patently absurd stretch of hockey for him.

Oddly enough, the team is 9-9 in that stretch. What would the team have done in those games if he had 14 points in 18 games instead of 34? It's fun to think about.

Noah Dobson

The Noah Dobson Breakout Season rolls along. It wasn't as if he was struggling earlier in the year, but he was doing much better in peripherals than in flat-out point production. Up until Christmas, a span of 24 games, he had just 10 points, but had 49 shots, 32 hits, and 50 blocks. Over two blocks and over two shots per game, with a healthy amount of hits, can paper over the production issues.

As the rest of the Islanders team came alive in the second half, so did the blue liner. He has 19 points in his last 22 games, with nine of those points coming with the man advantage. For peripherals, he had 61 shots (2.8/game), 12 hits, and 37 blocks. The drop in hits/blocks makes sense when we consider that the team has been playing much better, which means fewer opportunities for blocks and hits. We will exchange that for a guy pacing 70 points every 82 games.

This has been a true breakout season for Dobson, and the fact the team was so bad until the holidays might depress his ADP next year. Might.

Ilya Sorokin

Staying with the Islanders, remember draft season? It feels like forever ago, but both Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov were drafted highly. If the team plays well out of the gate, maybe it works out for both of them. But they didn't, and it didn't, and that left owners in the lurch for months.

Well, as with the Dobson and the rest of the team, Sorokin has been a revelation of late. He started 11 of 12 games coming out of the All-Star break before the team went back to a rotation of the two. He has 8 wins, a .930 save percentage, and a sterling 2.26 GAA in 15 games since the midseason classic. Now that the team is rotating their two goalies, his peak fantasy value has likely passed, but he came through huge for five weeks, and that might have been enough to push some fantasy owners to the playoffs.

Who helped you out over the last five or six weeks, heading into playoffs? Let us know in the comments.