We're at about the halfway mark of the first round of the playoffs, hopefully most of you are having some success early in the matchup. This is going to be a continuation of last week's article, and this is probably going to be a series for the rest of the playoffs just to help aide all the readers out there with their quest in winning a championship!

When it comes to the playoffs, I really do believe that they are won and lost due to free agency. Sure, we all drafted our teams and made trades along the way but when those guys get hurt or they start slumping we must turn to the free agent market and replace them that way. While the players on free agency may not always be the best players available, they are often the secondary players who play with the bigger producers. That will always carry tremendous value to me, being an average player on a line with a big time player just means that they may succeed by proxy of what they are surrounded by.

With that being said, it's time that we get into some more 'streamer' players that can help you conquer your opponents!

* Not done in a particular order, the positions come from the official NHL website and your leagues may have players listed differently, so make sure you pay attention as to what positions are listed on your platforms before making any transactions! *

* For the 'Power play' and 'Short-handed' sections in the stat tables, it is saying how many PP and how many SH points that they have, not goals. Just to clarify! *

#1) Anton Lundell – C – Florida Panthers

Contract: $925K – 3 Years remaining
Roster Percentages: 11.1% ESPN, 19%% Yahoo, 59% Fantrax

While Lundell may not be the best player across a lot of the categories, he is best suited to be picked up if you're looking for a player to help try and boost your offensive metrics. With 40 points in 55 games, that is good enough to have him ranked seventh in points for rookies. Let's also remember that the 6 players above Lundell all have 64+ games played, his points per game (0.73) is good enough to have him at fourth in that category among the top seven rookie scorers. While he missed 11 games of action between March 7^th and April 2^nd, he has two points in his last three games. His overall deployment hasn't seen much change since March, he is on the third line between Mason Marchment and Sam Reinhart. That line was one of the more effective lines throughout parts of the season, I don't think there is a reason to believe they cannot rekindle that chemistry down the stretch. Florida also has a bit of an easier schedule for the last month of the season. To finish off this matchup they play Buffalo and Nashville in a back-to-back on Friday and Saturday. The Panthers only play twice next week, but it's against Anaheim and Winnipeg, both teams are a mixed bag, and you never truly know what version of their goalies you will be facing. Throughout the last two weeks of the season, they have a total of eight games to be played. Five of those games are against teams that won't make the playoffs, those teams being the Red Wings (twice), the Islanders, the Senators, and the Canadiens. Overall, Lundell is a solid option to at least consider rostering with this type of deployment, and favorable schedule. 

#2) Tanner Jeannot – LW – Nashville Predators

Contract: $800K – 2 Years remaining
Roster Percentages: 38.9% ESPN, 53% Yahoo, 59% Fantrax

Tanner Jeannot: the player that sort of came out of nowhere in a lot of people's eyes. So far this season he has been a very reliable middle-six winger for the Predators as their entire roster seems to be rejuvenated this season. While Jeannot's zone percentages lean towards him starting more of his shifts in the defensive zone, he is still on the ice like any other player and can put the puck in the net given his 0.34 goals per game rate. Jeannot is probably not the guy you'll be looking for if you need elite point producers, but he is the kind of guy that you look to if you want a guy who has some potential to end up on the scoresheet, a guy who is averaging over a shot and a half a game, as well as someone who isn't afraid to lay the body (ranks second in the entire league in this category). Something to note is that Jeannot plays an average of 2:35 minutes on the penalty kill each game, and with a number like that there is the odd chance that he may help get a shorthanded point or goal (helps more-so for the category scoring leagues out there). Between the dates of this article releasing (April 7^th) and the end of the season (April 29^th), the Predators play 13 times. While they have some tough opponents ahead, they are also playing for a playoff spot, as they are the first wild card team in the west currently and there isn't much breathing room for them. They will be playing hungry to end the season, so that may be an advantage for a guy like Jeannot.


#3) Jakub Vrana – LW – Detroit Red Wings

Contract: $5.25M – 3 Years remaining
Roster Percentages: 32.3% ESPN, 24% Yahoo, 60% Fantrax

Vrana was acquired by the Red Wings to help increase their scoring potential in the top-six of their lineup, so far, he has looked great on multiple fronts. While he was injured for most of the season, he is back now, and he is producing. This is a player who shouldn't really see time outside of the top-six in Detroit for the foreseeable future, so he carries 'keeper' value for those of you who can retain pieces of their roster going into future seasons. Like Lundell, this would be a player that you're looking to add if you're having issues putting up offensive stats. With nine points (5 goals, 4 assists) in his last 10 games, he should be able to help bolster a struggling team. While averaging just over two shots a game and having five power play points in this limited number of games, it only speaks volumes to how well Vrana is doing currently. For leagues that score categories, being able to add a player who is currently averaging 0.36 powerplay points a game through free agency is something that should be considered if you have the cap space to do so. The only drawback on Vrana in my eyes for the role that he would fill is that he carries a salary of $5.25M, so that may turn people away but as I said, he is a fixture of that top-six. The Red Wings do have a tougher schedule to close out the season, but they also play three games next week, one against the Senators and another against the Rangers. Both of which have struggled keeping the puck out of their net at times during the last little bit, across the last 10 games they have allowed 2.9 and 2.7 goals against respectively.

#4) Tyler Toffoli – RW – Calgary Flames

Contract: $4.25M – 3 Years remaining (RFA this summer)
Roster Percentages: 39.1% ESPN, 62% Yahoo, 86% Fantrax

When Calgary acquired Toffoli, it wasn't to have him play in a defensive role. The team is deploying Toffoli in the correct way, as they have him slotted in on the second line with Andrew Mangiapane, and Mikael Backlund. Along with being on the top powerplay unit with some of the league's brightest stars in Johnny Gaudreau, and Matthew Tkachuk. While he has a rather high roster percentage on Fantrax, his percentages are a lot lower on the other two platforms, so he may be available in your league if you act fast enough. In his last 10 games he may only have five points, but for a player with Toffoli's deployment (65.1% of his zone starts come from the offensive zone, along with second line/top PP minutes) he is worth rostering on realistically anybody's fantasy team. There aren't a lot of players out there who have that level of salary allocated towards them, mixed with the talent, as well as some of the peripheral stats in shots and hits. For a guy who has made his living with shooting the puck, he averages over a hit a game, and to me that is enough to warrant him as a player who doesn't hinder you in that category. Overall, if Toffoli is available in your leagues, I would highly recommend grabbing him. Calgary has an average schedule to end the season, they play teams like Seattle, Arizona, Chicago, Vancouver, Winnipeg (never know what version of that team you're going to face on any given night).

#5) Evan Bouchard – D – Edmonton Oilers

Contract: $863K – 2 Years remaining (RFA this summer)
Roster Percentages: 45% ESPN, 43% Yahoo, 80% Fantrax

For a player who is used in more of a secondary offensive role when it comes to the blueline, he is still averaging 0.5 points per game this season, not bad for a player with less than 100 games played in his career. A lot of the value that Bouchard can bring that very few others can provide is that he plays on the team that rosters players like Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Evander Kane. While Bouchard isn't on the top power play unit with some of those players, he is still averaging 1:23 of power play time this season and with an overall time on ice average of 19:57 he certainly isn't hurting your overall time on ice category (for those of you that track that in your leagues). While he is playing nearly 20 minutes a night, surely there is the possibility that a guy like McDavid or Draisaitl can help create a point for him. Something that bodes well for Bouchard in my eyes is that for a player who is 22 years old, he sure does shoot and block a lot. Averaging over 2 shots a game and having just under 100 blocks on the season for a guy of his age and his smaller amount of career games played. It shows that he is a confident player, in my eyes that helps a player develop into a good, if not great player. He holds a tremendous amount of keeper value as well given his age, position, and the team that he plays for. Through the last three weeks of the season, Edmonton plays nine games (3 next week, and 6 across the last 2 weeks). He should be able to see some roster time for you down the stretch to finish the season.

*Honorable Mentions*

* Adam Henrique, Lawson Crouse, Jake DeBrusk, Trevor Moore, Luke Schenn, Dmitry Orlov, Artem Zub, Erik Brannstrom, Gustav Forsling *


Best of luck to all of you in the playoffs, and for those of you who aren't in the playoffs right now. Remember that you have extra time to prepare for your league's draft, as well as there is always next season to look forward to.

If you want to have any questions answered or interact with me, please feel free to interact with me on the forums or in the comments of the articles, or on Twitter @JamieMolloy_DH.