Sometimes, you need to treat your fantasy team like a real NHL team. Sure, you need superstars to win championships, but don’t overlook what some of the underrated players can bring to the table. 

For the last few weeks, this column has been focusing on players to try to acquire for next season and beyond, but what about this season? Which players can give you that little extra push this season that wouldn’t cost as much to acquire as some of the big names? 

A perfect example of this type of player from a year ago is Ivan Barbashev. He wasn’t a superstar that won you a championship, but his 60 points and 160 hits went a long way for that push, and wouldn’t have cost you much if you were looking to trade for him.

Depending on the size of your league, some of these players may be available on the waiver wire, meaning it wouldn’t cost you anything to acquire them.

10. Max Domi

Most players on the Blackhawks have little to no fantasy value, but Domi appears to be the rare exception. Domi is having his best season since he put up 72 points with Montreal in 2018-19. This year, he has 42 points in 55 games, a 63-point pace. The 42 points already make his best campaign in three years, and his 0.27 goals per game are the second-best of his career. He’s back over two shots per game and winning seven faceoffs per contest. Domi is also one of those rare players that has triple eligibility in Yahoo as he can slot in as a center, left wing or right wing. 

9. Matias Maccelli

For now, Maccelli is best owned in points-only leagues, as his peripherals are almost non-existent. In 39 games, he is averaging fewer than a shot per game and fewer than a hit every two games. He’s also a minus-one with only 14 PIM. That makes it difficult to advise picking him up in roto or head-to-head leagues unless it’s extremely deep and you’re set everywhere else for other categories. However, if you need points, Maccelli can help. With 28 points, he’s on pace for 59 over an 82-game season and his 10 power-pay points put him on pace for 21 over 82 games. Aside from when he missed almost two months of action due to an injury, he hasn’t gone three straight games without a point this season. 

8. Brayden Schenn

The Blues are a bit of a mess as they’ve already started their sell-off. While they’ve dealt away Vladimir Tarasenko, Noel Acciari and Ryan O’Reilly, Schenn never played with them often, so the loss to the lineup shouldn’t impact Schenn too much. With 43 points in 56 games, Schenn is on pace for 63 points and has 10 points in his last 11 games. However, those players moving on to new teams will mean an increase in ice time for many Blues players, especially on the power play. An early look at Sunday’s game against Ottawa shows Schenn led the Blues with 5:11 of power-play ice time, although the Blues played third- and fourth-line players in the third period of a blowout loss. The Blues could choose to load up the top line with their remaining top players, as was the case in the first and second periods on Sunday, but we will have to wait for a few more games to see if that will be the case from here on out. If so, expect more of a boost to Schenn’s power-play production. 

7. Boone Jenner

A couple of names on this list (such as the aforementioned Maccelli) are much better in points-only leagues rather than those that use other statistical categories, but Jenner is the opposite. While his point pace is more than adequate (his 32 points in 47 games is a 57-point pace), he’s putting up great numbers elsewhere. His 3.2 shots per game are not only the highest of his career, but is half a shot per night than a year ago and a significant jump from 1.9 shots per game two years ago. His 90 hits are already his best mark in four years, and he might finish with 150-plus. He’s winning a career-high 11 faceoffs per game. He’s also chipping in with the man advantage, netting eight power-play points so far, only two away from matching last year’s total.

6. Blake Wheeler

This was a statistic that made me doubt what I was reading. Wheeler is sitting on the waiver wire in 48 per cent of Yahoo leagues. While many of his stats are down (we’ll get to that in a second), he’s still just as efficient as ever when it comes to points-only leagues. With 42 points in 47 games, Wheeler has a points-per-game mark of 0.89. His points-per-game-marks for each of the previous three seasons were 0.92, so he’s pretty consistent there. The rest of his stats are concerning, as he’s averaging fewer than two shots per night for the first time since 2009-10 when he was with the Bruins. His ice time is down two minutes per game from a year ago and he’s also not providing in the hits category as much as he once did. 

5. Brandon Hagel

Hagel may be on pace for the quietest 70-point season in quite some time. While the Lightning forward has roughly the same points-per-game mark as young players such as Trevor Zegras, Andrei Svechnikov and Drake Batherson, you could probably acquire Hagel at a much cheaper price than the others. Hagel is averaging 2.3 shots per game, a career high, and his 46 points already top anything he’s produced before. He’s also averaging almost 19 minutes per night. He was taken off the top line for a while, but is now back alongside Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point at five-on-five and has been on the top power-play unit since mid-November. 

4. Erik Gustafsson

Gustafsson is a smart addition for anyone needing a defenseman getting top minutes. Since John Carlson was knocked out of the lineup on December 23 after getting hit in the face with a slapshot, Gustafsson has been that man. In the 22 games without Carlson, Gustafsson has 16 points with a plus-eight, 50 shots, four power-play points, 23 hits and 17 blocked shots while averaging three minutes of power-play time and 21:27 overall. It sounds like Carlson is still a ways off from returning anytime soon, so Gustafsson could continue to be the top guy for another month or more.

3. Alexander Barabanov

The 27-year-old Sharks forward checks plenty of boxes you would be looking for down the stretch. On pace for a career high? Check, as he’s currently on pace for 58 points, and his 37 points are only two off a career high. Getting plenty of ice time in a top-six role? Check, as he’s averaging almost 18 minutes a night playing with Logan Couture at even strength and is sometimes shifted to playing with Timo Meier. On the top power-play unit? Check, and he already has 11 power-play points this year. Already on a hot streak? Check, with nine points in his last seven games. Available on the waiver wire in your league? Check, as he’s available in 96 per cent of Yahoo leagues and 69 per cent of Fantrax leagues. Can be had for cheap if already owned by someone else? Check in on that with the owner. 

2. Ondrej Palat

While many were hopeful in the preseason that Palat would line up alongside Jack Hughes, injuries to both players have mostly prevented that from happening. However, there are encouraging signs for Palat. He had three points in his first six games before missing almost three months of action with a groin injury. He was eased back into the lineup for his first five games, never playing more than 14:30 in any of those games and registering one assist. Since then, he’s been great. In his last 13 games, he has 10 points, plus six, 22 shots, two power-play points, 25 hits and 17 blocked shots while averaging 16:43 minutes a night. 

1. Filip Chytil

There has been a lot of focus on Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere with the Rangers. However, the forgotten man on that kid line tends to be another first-round pick, Chytil, who is easily the most productive player of the three. Just compare this year’s numbers:

Chytil: 48 games, 19 goals, 35 points, 0.73 points per game, three power-play goals, five power-play points, 108 shots, plus-17, 33 hits. 

Kakko: 56 games, 11 goals, 29 points, 0.52 points-per-game, zero power-play goals, three power-play points, 89 shots, plus-eight, 22 hits

Lafreniere: 55 games, 10 goals, 28 points, 0.51 points-per-game, one power-play goal, two power-play points, 98 shots, plus-eight, 108 hits

Of these three, guess which one gets the most ice time and the most opportunities in a top-six role? Kakko averaging 15:49 a night, while Lafreniere is at 15:14 and Chytil at 14:33. Which one is going to help your fantasy team more this season while not costing as much to acquire? It has to be the forgotten man, Chytil.