Every Sunday, we share 21 Fantasy Rambles from our writers at DobberHockey. These thoughts are curated from the past week’s 'Daily Ramblings'.

Writers/Editors: Ian Gooding, Michael Clifford, Alexander MacLean, and Dobber

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1. If you play in a head-to-head league, your fantasy playoffs are probably well underway. So which players are decent options for that end-of-week push? The answer is just about anyone. It depends on what you need. Maybe it’s the obvious goals and assists, or something more unique such as faceoffs or blocked shots.

You can find articles that will help you plan ahead to next week with Thursday’s Ramblings by Mike Clifford and Friday's Looking Ahead by Andrew Santillo. If you have daily transactions, the key is to maximize games played, so if you can find an option that is similarly ranked to someone else on your roster, don’t hesitate to make the move. And don’t forget to check Goalie Post for the latest starting goalies. (apr9)

2. Bo Horvat is the first Canuck to reach 30 goals this season, which is also a career high for him.

If you’re in a faceoffs league, Horvat most notably came through in a huge way with 17 of 17 faceoffs won last Thursday. That was tied for the second-most faceoff wins with a 100% success rate since the stat was first tracked in 2000. Entering Friday, only Patrice Bergeron had won more faceoffs than Horvat (812 FOW) this season, and only Leon Draisaitl had taken more faceoffs than Horvat (1417 FO) this season. (apr9)

3. Hopefully you didn’t sell low on Elias Pettersson. He’s coming through during the fantasy playoffs with seven points over his last three games – maybe motivated by new GM Patrik Allvin’s recent comment that the Canucks don’t have any superstars. Since mid-January, Petey has 39 points over his last 34 games. With at least three shots in each of his last five games, his wrist is fine. (apr9)

4. Would you like to find a first-line center on your league’s waiver wire? Travis Boyd is probably available. Boyd has been on the Coyotes top line with Nick Schmaltz. Boyd has three points in his last six games. Again, a very deep league option, but I know a few of you reading this play in some incredibly massive formats. (apr9)

5. Mike Smith is finding his game at the right time. Prior to Saturday's 2-1 shootout loss to the Avs, the Oilers had won six games in a row, and Smith had won four of them himself. His last three wins have also been quality starts in which he has allowed a combined four goals. That’s an impressive late-season run considering all his injuries and subpar play throughout this season. Smith has appeared to be on his last legs for several seasons, but he’s managed to hang around thanks to coaching and management that seem to have undying trust in him.

Assuming Smith can avoid an injury this month, could he be Edmonton’s starting goalie in Game 1 of the playoffs? That’s not out of the question. On The Jeff Marek Show on Friday morning, Elliotte Friedman hypothesized that the Oilers would use some sort of tandem with Smith and Mikko Koskinen in the playoffs in order to maximize the value of both. In the near term, starting Smith in fantasy leagues right now isn’t as laughable as it once seemed, even with a potential start against an injury-depleted Colorado team playing its second game of back-to-backs on Saturday. (apr9)

6. This might be a lost season for the Habs, but don’t tell Chris Wideman. Since March 5, Wideman has 14 points in his last 15 games. Seven of those points have been on the power play, while he has received just over half of his team’s possible power-play minutes. The catch? Wideman was a healthy scratch for two games this past week. The possibility of another press box visit means he might not be the most reliable rest-of-season option, but the scoring part isn’t the issue. (apr9)

7. Since Florida has already clinched a playoff spot and currently hold the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference, they appear ready to use some kind of load management strategy to get their key players rested for the playoffs. As someone who has both Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov on a team challenging for a championship and will be playing until at least the second-to-last week of the season, this is not something I’m looking forward to. But I know it’s something I must also prepare for. Roster depth is key at this time of the season. (apr9)

8. Jeff Skinner has reached 30 goals, which is something that didn’t seem possible before the season. I know the Sabres were a mess last season, but how did former coach Ralph Krueger not figure out how to get through to Skinner? Healthy scratching him… sheesh, especially with the kind of money the Sabres have invested in him.

9. Still in Buffalo. 2021 first overall pick Owen Power has signed his three-year entry-level contract with the Sabres. The 19-year-old 6-6 defenseman could make his NHL debut as early as Tuesday. For more, see Power’s Dobber Prospects profile.

Power’s Michigan teammate Kent Johnson (Dobber Prospects profile) also signed his three-year entry-level contract with the Blue Jackets, so we could also see him before the end of the season. Maybe another Michigan goal before the end of the season? This kid from my neck of the woods will be a blast to watch. (apr9)

10. Looking for a defenseman to stream? Try Nick Leddy, whose value has been on the rise since being traded to St. Louis. Leddy has seven points in his last nine games (all with the Blues). Leddy has also averaged over half of his new team’s power-play minutes, also an increase over what he received in Detroit. A Torey Krug return would cut into Leddy’s value, but Krug is still listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury. (apr9)

11. Mark Scheifele has been getting it done down the stretch, scoring 16 points over his last 10 games. After a slow start, he’s bumped his scoring up past the point-per-game mark (69 PTS in 66 GP). As someone who drafted Scheifele in one league, I feel like he’s kind of underperformed. Yet I should be satisfied with a point-per-game, as well as the fact that his scoring isn’t drying up during my first fantasy playoff week. There’s just so many more point-per-game players now than there used to be, so Scheifele doesn’t stand out like he used to. (apr9)

12. It has been a very turbulent season on the ice for Carolina forward Martin Necas. It looked like as if he was busting out in a big way recently with a six-points-in-four-games stretch, but that was over a week ago, and that’s a lifetime at this stage of the NHL season. This isn’t an indictment of his future or anything, but it does speak to how he’s struggled this year. Let’s hope for a big turnaround next season. (apr8)

13. I want to take this time and look back on some of the top fantasy performers this year. Because fantasy sports are namely about value, I want to first take a look at the All-Value Team. These are guys that were not taken near the top of any normal fantasy league but helped carry many to the playoffs and/or a regular season title. We’re going to look at one from each forward position (according to Yahoo!), two on the blue line, and one in goal.

Goalie: Jacob Markstrom (Calgary)

With due respect to Ville Husso, it’s unlikely he was drafted in most leagues, whereas Markstrom was surely drafted in all but the shallowest leagues that include goalies. On the year, he is inside the top-5 in both save percentage and goals against average while also leading the league in shutouts (9). What’s more is that unlike Husso or Ilya Sorokin, Markstrom has played to this level basically all year. Yes, most of his shutouts came early in the season, but he still has better than a 0.920 save percentage since March 1^st. The shutouts haven’t been as consistent, but his play has been, for as much as it can be for a goalie. He is likely going to finish the year as the top fantasy net-minder, if not near the top, and he was drafted nowhere near that level. It has been a wonderful season for Markstrom in Calgary. [For Mike's remaining members of his All-Value Team, please follow the link] (apr7)

14. Ryan Getzlaf is planning to retire at the end of the season. He had an excellent start to the year, propped up by some high percentages, but as the campaign has progressed it does appear that he is nearly running on empty. He had an incredibly impressive career, winning all of the important titles including Olympic Gold and the Stanley Cup. On top of that he spent his entire 18-year career with one team, and at this point he has to be the most famous Anaheim (Mighty) Duck of all time. Congrats on an incredible career and a well-deserved retirement. (apr6)

15. New Jersey’s superstar Jack Hughes is done for the season after sustaining an MCL strain. The team is playing it cautious, and rightfully so with nothing left to play for this year. He finished the season on pace for 94 points. The kid is just getting started. (apr6)

16. The last few weeks of the season are going to be a rollercoaster. The East is basically set while the West only has a few teams in genuine striking distance for the two Wild Card playoff spots. We could see a lot of younger players getting bigger roles across the league, and that has wide-ranging implications from different players having meaningful fantasy value, to established guys having their profiles hurt by a reciprocal loss in TOI. [Mike Clifford reviewed some interesting trends regarding ice time in March, which you can read by following the link]. (apr5)

17. Nazem Kadri is on pace to end the season with 105 points – except he may not play another regular season game this year. This is very significant in terms of his future value in dynasty/keeper leagues. He is an unrestricted free agent certain to cash in come summer. But how much will he cash in as an 83-point player versus the dollar value of being a 105-point player? At 100 points, or even 90 points, his ticket is punched. $9M or more? $10M? NHL general managers would step over their own mother to have a proven 100-point player in their lineup. But now, in terms of optics, Kadri is an 83-point player with his second-best season at 61 points. Does that mean $7.5M or $8M now? The value of the contract is significant because it will dictate how his coach uses him. Whichever of the above numbers he ends up signing for, it will likely have him as a top three paid player on his next team. And that will mean first dibs on linemates, and the go-to guy on the power play. No matter where he ends up, he’s a safe bet to reach a point-per-game next season, with the only risk being if he lands with the Islanders or a defense-first team like that. (apr4)

18. It’s interesting to see third-liner Mathieu Joseph (in Tampa Bay) become first-liner Joseph in Ottawa. Joseph is thriving alongside Norris and Brady Tkachuk – and that’s an understatement.  Ten (10!) points in five games for Joseph. If he works out, then that frees up Drake Batherson to play with Alex Formenton (or Shane Pinto) and Tim Stutzle, which offers up a solid second line. Connor Brown on the third line offers solid scoring depth. The situation with Joseph is one to keep an eye on for keeper leagues – his upside is limited, especially compared to the other two guys on his line, but if he stays on it he will definitely reach that upside. (apr4)

19. Chicago’s Dylan Strome has 22 points in his last 17 games. Kudos to you if you were able to get in on that early and buy low, because he was having a horrible season on the heels of an equally horrible 2020-21. Continued production like this might price himself out of Chicago in the summer, as Strome’s contract is up and he’ll be an RFA. (apr4)

20. Sean Monahan will have hip surgery, which ends his season. His production has plummeted over the last few seasons from over a point-per-game (82 PTS in 78 GP in 2018-19) to on the fourth line and even being healthy scratched this season. Monahan underwent surgery on his other hip after last season, which might be the main reason that he is not scoring the way he used to. Even though Monahan might be in better shape next season, the Flames have to be at least considering a buyout on his $6,375,000 contract (one year remaining after this one). (apr3)

21. It’s official: Keith Yandle‘s ironman streak has finished at 989 games. The Flyers opted to scratch Yandle last week against the Leafs and Flyers coach Mike Yeo cited the need to build for the future by giving younger defensemen more minutes. Given the Flyers’ position in the standings, this is no doubt an unpopular decision, given how close Yandle is to 1000 consecutive games.

As a child, I can remember reading a Peter Puck book that included a chapter on one-time leading ironman Garry Unger. The story described how Unger played game after game after game until one day, the Atlanta Flames coach decided to bench him. Not healthy scratch him, but keep him on the bench the entire game. All he needed was one shift to keep the streak alive, but the coach didn’t allow it. Can you imagine the squawking from Twitter if that happened today? Not just for how the ironman streak ended, but for the inefficiency of having a player stapled to the bench for the entire game. The coach probably had his reasons for not playing Unger, but what a way for the streak to end.

If not for the ironman streak, Yandle probably would have been healthy scratched a long time ago. His usefulness in fantasy leagues isn’t even close to what it used to be (15 PTS in 68 GP this season). In addition, he’s a league-worst minus-41 (come at me, plus-minus haters, for mentioning plus-minus again). (apr3)

With Yandle in the press box, we’re seeing Cam York become ‘the man’ on the blue line running the power play. He has five points in 10 games, though yet to post a PP point. The organization is pushing him to see if he is ready for the job next year, or if they need to look to free agency for the short term. Only getting secondary PP time? Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim. (apr4)

Have a good week, folks – stay safe!!

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