Welcome inside the latest edition of Eastern Edge, a weekly fantasy hockey column here at Dobber Hockey analyzing all of the top trending fantasy news impacting your fantasy hockey squad on a week-to-week basis.

First of all, shoutout to all you lovebirds out there looking for some on- and off-ice passion with Valentine's Day upon us. For the purposes of this week's piece and avoiding the standard Valentine's trap/pitfalls, we're focused on some fantasy hotspots that are sure to make any fantasy hockey GM's heart swell with anticipation.

The fantasy hockey postseason is creeping, so make sure you don't miss a single chance to optimize your lineup – it could mean the difference between cashing in or missing out.

What To Do With Ovechkin's Sudden Surge

Don't look now, but The Great Eight is cooking once again. After extending his current goal streak to five games Sunday night against the Vancouver Canucks, fantasy GMs across the hockey world are once again forced to pay attention to the NHL's greatest all-time goal scorer while analyzing his fantasy future and value.

What do you do with a player like Ovechkin at this point in his career? Before the current stretch of goals, his longest streak in nearly three years, you were likely hovering your digits over the "drop" button, as Ovechkin was mired in his worst season as a Washington Capital since entering the league 19 years ago. With that said, how can you drop him now?

The answer is you don't, clearly. You can, perhaps, use his rising value to better position yourself for a fantasy hockey playoff push or, if you're a keeper/dynasty GM, set yourself up for success in the coming seasons by shipping out Ovi in return for a boatload of young pieces. Aside from his obvious rejuvenation over the past 15 games in which the future Hall-of-Hamer registered seven goals and nine assists for 16 points, Ovechkin's name itself carries fantasy sway. Combine that with his offensive production creeping back to what we expect, and you can likely capitalize on another GM in your league willing to overpay to acquire someone with Ovechkin's star power.

Depending on the format of your league and where you currently sit in the standings, moving Ovi could be much more beneficial to your team than keeping him – even with his offensive juices flowing once again. Remember, this Capitals group around Ovechkin doesn't have the weapons it once did and it shows, as Washington is only outscoring the San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks in total goals at this point of the season. Meaning, maintaining the pace Ovechkin is on right now could prove difficult.

Proceed with caution here, but either way you break it down, Ovechkin surging once again is good for the game of hockey and for any fantasy GM out there still banking on there being a little magic left in that stick.

Rielly's Impending Absence, Woll's Upcoming Return For Maple Leafs

With the NHL's Department of Player Safety offering Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly an in-person hearing Tuesday for his cross-check on Ottawa Senators forward Ridly Greig, the Leafs not only have to deal with the sting of yet another poor performance against their provincial rival but now with missing their far-and-away best blue liner for a minimum of five games. The plays from Greig and Rielly completely aside, this has obvious immediate impacts on fantasy GMs owning Rielly and also on the Leafs' ability to hold it down in their own end. A Toronto team that already has a spotty blue line core, one that already allows the 10th-most shots-against per game.

If you are a GM that owns Rielly, hit the waiver wire for some options as names like Thomas Harley of the Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild rookie Brock Faber, and a streaking Sam Girard of the Colorado Avalanche are all solid options for a fill-in.

Rielly's hole in the lineup will also obviously affect the numbers of whatever goalie mans the blue paint for the Buds over next few games, as both Martin Jones and Ilya Samsonov have been decent streaming options in the cage of late. Luckily for the Leafs and any fantasy hockey GMs hoping for some success from their Toronto pieces, Sheldon Keefe's crew play a favourable stretch of their schedule over the next handful of games. Matchups against the St. Louis Blues (x2), Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, and even Philadelphia Flyers (to a lesser extent) are all very winnable games for this Toronto group if they can get all four of the big guns rolling.

The book is still out on Rielly's length of suspension, but the Leafs are in a precarious position without their top rearguard as a number of teams in the East are breathing down their neck with the postseason push going from a simmer to a full boil. Monitor this situation closely if you're invested in Toronto's top guys or goalies, Rielly's absence is sure to hurt their value and the team overall.

Raanta Out Again, Can Kochetkov Conquer Crease In Carolina?

Another few weeks elapse, we have yet another injury to a Carolina Hurricanes goaltender to assess for fantasy value.

Despite being without all three of Frederik Andersen, Antti Raanta, and Pyotr Kochetkov for varying lengths of time this season with a range of severity, the Hurricanes still find themselves within striking distance of the number one spot in the Metro Division and top slot in the NHL overall. This is a team getting it done by committee, one that hangs its hat on defensive play and being a group that is one of the most difficult to play against in its own end. Case in point: no team in the NHL allows fewer shots-against per game than Carolina, as Rod Brind'Amour's men hold opponents to a stingy 25.1 per contest.

In terms of the fantasy angle, Raanta is out for a minimum of two weeks with a lower-body injury after getting hurt last Thursday in a game against the Avalanche, meaning Kochetkov is going to get the run out here for a really good defensive club with a great shot at continuing to earn wins with regularity down the stretch.

Kochetkov has been a bit of an enigma over the course of his 53 regular season games, one night looking Vezina worthy, the other, like he's only played 53 career regular season games. However, his numbers (a career .906 save percentage, 2.46 goals-against average, six shutouts) and underlying stats point to a promising goaltender on the rise, one that immediately has his value go way up while the veteran Raanta nurses yet another injury.

If you need a little bump in the blue paint, Kochetkov is your man over the next couple weeks.