We're here, it's championship week for most leagues. The timing is a little off with COVID/Olympic Breaks, but we're here and it's time to go all in and raise that trophy in your league. For some leagues that trophy is an enormous bulky thing that doesn't necessarily fit anywhere in the house and looks lopsided for some reason, but it's yours and you're proud of it. It looks more like a bowling trophy than a fantasy hockey trophy, and your fiancé isn't much of a fan of it, but it travels from place to place, and it's now displayed proudly in between the PlayStation and workout bike.

For other leagues it could very well be a trophy that can easily fit on any desk or shelf. It has the names of past winners on the sides and is crowned by a Patrick Sharp signed puck in the holder on the top because the lady at the trophy shop asked what puck you wanted to mount on the top and an autographed puck from the Sharpshooter just made sense for some reason back in 2017. Let's dive in!

The Immediate Fix (Grab this guy and use him for the next several days)

James van Riemsdyk, CLW/RW, Philadelphia Flyers (Rostered in 13% of ESPN leagues, 29% Fantrax, 8% Yahoo) – By the time you're reading this we won't have a weekend to work with for an extra couple games. We'll just have the Friday slate, which lucky for us, is loaded. Outside of the players that are higher rostered in leagues just looking for someone that might be able to get on the score sheet I think JvR could make some sense.

On JvR's most recent game sheet, it won't really wow you with no points in the past three games (ringing endorsement me), but I like this spot for Philly tonight. They'll welcome in a Senators team coming in off a back-to-back vs Florida and while neither club between the Sens and Flyers have anything to play for now, or really since February, I do like this second line for the Flyers and JvR's roster numbers show that he is available on most fantasy platforms.

While the numbers on the stat sheet might not be there, what has been very encouraging is the play driving ability and the shooting numbers from the wingers on this line between JvR and Travis Konecny. JvR has 30 shots on goal in the past ten games; Konecny, 33 over that same span. Philadelphia mixed up their lines a bit of late, but I thought this club had great opportunities vs Chicago on Monday and although they were blanked vs Winnipeg in Eric Comrie's first career shutout, they still outshot the Jets 35-27.

Someone once told me something that has always stayed with me in fantasy and that's, "When you have to make a move, you're in trouble". I hope that doesn't apply to the majority of you and that your championship or high-place finish is all but sealed. But if not, I think van Riemsdyk is a good option to try and get some last-minute points on the board.

The Building Block (Buy now, sit back and enjoy the production)

Alex Formenton, LW, Ottawa Senators (Rostered in 1% of ESPN leagues, 26% Fantrax, 2% Yahoo) – Since the regular season is all but over, we're looking at a Building Block player that is available on most fantasy platforms for keeper or dynasty leagues. I don't dabble too much in the stock market and what not, but I have a decent amount of Formenton stock in my brokerage account (AXFM is the stock ticker symbol?), and I think you should too if you have the availability on your roster.

I wrote about Formenton as an Immediate Fix back in early February and have been looking for a reason to write him up as a Building Block since that time. I like his scoring ability and really really like his exceptional speed on both ends of the ice. This is a player that can win any foot race to the puck and his speed allows him to get behind the defenders on a rush easily. I've watched at times too where he can get to his spots on the penalty kill to force an odd-man rush or get to a puck in the corner for an easy clear and change.

In his sophomore season in the NHL, Formenton had 18 goals, 13 assists in 77 games played with 156 shots on goal, and he also brings a physical element to his game with 100 hits and 25 blocked shots. There are some things to like here with this Sens club moving forward, and I think one bright spot could be the duo of Tim Stützle and Formenton on the Ottawa second line. Formenton is in his RFA season with the club off of his entry level contract, but I don't have too many worries about the Sens being able to work something out and keep him on the roster with a probably around nearly $20 million in cap space becoming available to them with only 19 players on the roster at the moment for next season.

In most keeper leagues, you'll have until close to the start of next season to decide who you're going to keep. I think if you have some options or are looking to build a club up, Formenton makes a great piece.

The Odd Man Out (His short-term value is cause for concern)

Artemi Panarin, LW, New York Rangers (Rostered in 97% of ESPN leagues, 99% of Fantrax, 99% Yahoo) – For the Odd Man out this week, we're looking at a player that is highly rostered and most likely will not suit up for the season finale. Going through rosters there's definitely a couple maybes and I'm sure they'll be more we'll know of as the day goes on, but for now I think we can assume that Panarin will not be in action tonight vs Washington.

An upper-body injury kept Panarin out of Wednesday's contest vs Montreal, and along with fellow winger Andrew Copp, with that I think it's doubtful Panarin takes the ice tonight. Options here, you could make a move to try and fill that roster spot, or with the size of tonight's slate might have enough to cover a full roster on the final night of the season.
 
Panarin had a good season in New York playing 75 games with 22 goals and 74 assists for a total of 96 points, a career high for the 30-year-old winger. Coming just shy of a 100-point season is great, and that's along with a points per game of 1.28 and points per 60 minutes of 4. Like most seasons, Panarin is going to be high on everyone's board come draft day playing a club that I think can be in the President's Trophy conversation next season. The even-strength scoring numbers can only get better, right?

The Anchors (They’ll do nothing but disappoint even over the long haul)

So because this is the last week of the regular season, and we only have one more night of fantasy hockey, I'm just going to highlight three players who were anchors throughout the season and might be players I'd caution drafting next season. For this I'm looking at players that are at least rostered around 50% on one or more fantasy platform.

Dominik Kubalik, LW/RW, (Rostered in 52% of ESPN leagues, 48% of Fantrax, 25% Yahoo) – Is snakebit the right word here? I really thought that Kubalik was a player you could pencil in for an easy 20 goals a season. 14 goals and 16 assists, both career lows in his very young three-year career, but also lowest points per 60 minutes at 1.6. I watch a lot of Blackhawks hockey (deep sigh), and this is a player that constantly had wide open nets all season long that he'd ring shots off the post or cross bar or would have an open look but the puck would more often than not be on edge. He did move across all Blackhawk lines a fair bit this season, which probably didn't help but it just seemed like he could never get things going offensively this season. A positive is his offensive playmaking ability has improved as of late, so this might be a player to look forward to as a possible bounce back player next season.

T.J. Oshie, C/RW, (Rostered in 79% of ESPN leagues, 70% of Fantrax, 58% Yahoo) – Admittedly I have not rostered Oshie in any of my primary leagues since his days as a Blue, but earlier today I was on the call talking puck with another league member who just so happened to have rostered Oshie all season. I asked what the downfalls are/were, the response – "You never know with him. He's healthy and then he's not too often." He's right, he's exactly right. I think that in fantasy the best ability is availability and week in and week out this season it seemed like we were all too often waiting to hear either news of a possible Oshie return to the lineup or that he would was scratched right before or shortly after lock. Don't get me wrong, when he suits up this is a player that can generate offense at a high level and is a solid two-way player, but this will mark the fourth season in a row that he will play less than 70 games. I'd caution looking into drafting him next season.

Ryan Pulock, D, (Rostered in 72% of ESPN leagues, 56% of Fantrax, 28% Yahoo) – I wrote up Pulock as an Anchor early in the season and it held true throughout the entirety of the year. He has been better as of late with three goals in his past five games but that may have something to do with him skating on the Isles top pair. I would have had Pulock coming into the season in the neighborhood of around 28-30 points but that fell short of that this season right at the 20-point mark. Don't get me wrong, I think he's a good player, just not might be the best fantasy player. He does throw his weight around on the ice and blocks more than his fair share of pucks so there's value there but there might be better options going into next season.

Love ‘Em (These squads are sure to pay dividends in the coming days)

This period runs on April 29

Tampa Bay – Because there's only one game here, we're just going to highlight some great spots and I think Tampa is one of them. They'll face the Isles who will be on the second night of a back-to-back. Bolts are 2-0 against the Isles this season and have had success against this club each of the past two seasons, both in the regular season and playoffs.

St. Louis – The Blues will play Vegas tonight and just looking at the body language for the Knights, this is a club that might have a hard time getting up for this game. The Blues have the highest scoring line in hockey in the past ten games with Pavel Buchnevich – Robert Thomas – Vladimir Tarasenko at 15 goals for as well as the most goals for as a club this month with 49. I think this is a club that wants to go into Playoffs on the roll that they're currently on, they're a Love Em for tomorrow.

Florida – The Panthers play Montreal at home. Not sure what else to say here, they're a Love Em.

Leave ‘Em (These squads will leave fantasy owners sorely disappointed in the short term)

New York Rangers – The Rangers will most likely be sitting most, if not all, of their second line and there's always the chance that they chose to sit Igor Shesterkin. They'll see a Caps club that may also be resting players or have minutes restrictions, but in this matchup, I think the Rangers are a Leave Em.

Chicago – The Hawks will see Buffalo on the road and the last time these two clubs met the Hawks squandered away a 4-0 lead. This is a Hawks club that has the second lowest goals for percentage in the month of April and I think Buffalo will look to finish out this season a high note here making the Hawks a Leave Em.

Montreal – On the other side of this Florida matchup, there's Montreal. They are 1-9-0 in their last ten games played and could be in for one last not great night to end out this season. Florida may look to sit players which I think will even things out, but this is a stay away spot for me.