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

When it comes to the main points of discussion and hot topics percolating the NHL, trade chatter and potential moves for contending teams are what usually dominate the headlines at this time of year. Such is the case currently in the Eastern Conference with many teams in a holding pattern until the first major chip gets pushed.

In comparison, the Western Conference news and highlight reel is absolutely buzzing; big trades, crooked-number scoring, streaking teams … it's popping out west. However, that doesn't mean there aren't a number of intriguing storylines in the Eastern Conference to monitor closely for fantasy hockey value and potential impact on your squad. We have you covered on all the latest. Let's tap in.

Guentzel's Injury Impact + Pens Precarious Position

The Pittsburgh Penguins are at a tipping point.

While everyone and their grandmother knows about the Pens window for winning rapidly closing as their aging core of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang (among others) take another run at destiny for what could be a final time, what is much less apparent for this group's present and future is what general manager Kyle Dubas will do ahead of the March 8^th NHL Trade Deadline.

Clearly, the main talking point and biggest trade target related to the Penguins is shifty sniper Jake Guentzel. Aside from his recent injury throwing a wrench in the ability of Dubas to immediately pull the trigger on a transaction, should a favourable one come his way, Guentzel on the shelf for a month means fantasy hockey GMs once again have to juggle rosters and deal with another disappointment from the Penguins this season. As for Guentzel himself, 22 goals, 30 assists, 13 power-play points, and 185 shots on net in 50 games this campaign has multiple contending teams extremely interested in acquiring his services.

Sprinkle in the fact Guentzel's injury is upper-body in nature and that he should be able to maintain conditioning and return to the ice sooner-than-later, we can't help but feel his fantasy value is set to skyrocket – especially considering the teams with the most reported interest in the American winger. Franchises such as the Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, and even Colorado Avalanche – if Guentzel is moved to any of those offensive juggernauts expect a major uptick in his fantasy production. Period.

If the Penguins even lose a few more games (3-6-1 over their last 10), expect Dubas to be very aggressive in getting the most return possible on his biggest trade chip. That means taking a shot at getting Guentzel on your team now could be a tremendously worthwhile endeavour, but it won't be cheap. 

Florida Flexing Cup-Caliber Muscle

Remember when we thought the Florida Panthers improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final was a joke? Well, let's all say it together, "We were wrong". Seriously, how good is this Panthers club? The only proper answer is they are as good as any in either conference, bottom line.

Sensational special teams play has Florida flaunting the sixth-best power play unit and fourth-best penalty kill group that anchors Paul Maurice's men, making them one of the hardest to play against on a nightly basis. In terms of fantasy, of course the top guns in the likes of Matthew Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Reinhart, and Sergei Bobrovsky (27-10-2, 2.41 GAA, .914 SV.%, three shutouts) are going to be owned in your league and will be hard assets to obtain at this point in the fantasy campaign. However, given how good the Panthers are top-to-bottom, there are plenty of other solid fantasy pieces holding it down right now for Florida.

Winger Evan Rodrigues (four points in last four games), top-pairing d-man Gustav Forsling (one goal, five assists in last five games), and in really deep formats, backup netminder Anthony Stolarz are all names that are really good streaming options over the coming days and weeks to fill any lineup holes.

Entering Tuesday night's action Florida sits only a single point back of the Boston Bruins for top spot in the Eastern Conference and only four adrift of the Vancouver Canucks for first in the league. Consider them a serious Cup contender.

Maple Leafs Rolling, Peripheral Pieces Performing 

Only a week ago we were sitting in this exact position talking about how the Toronto Maple Leafs are in serious trouble without Morgan Rielly in the lineup as the Buds battle for their postseason lives. Well, the second part of that statement still holds a lot of water, but the Leafs have arguably played their most complete hockey of the entire season without their top rearguard on the ice.

Of course, the surging Auston Matthews and his historically good goal-scoring pace (seven goals, three assists in last three games) have a lot to do with the confidence currently permeating the Leafs lineup, but Rielly's absence and other injuries/illnesses have allowed for a number of intriguing peripheral fantasy pieces to earn relevancy. First and foremost, Rielly's pending return this week is still excellent news for Sheldon Keefe and fantasy hockey GMs alike, so make sure he's back in your lineup as soon as he's activated.

The other point to be noted here while Toronto plays its best hockey of the season is the enticing week-to-week streaming options that have been big parts of the Leafs resurgence. Depending on the format and setup of your league, those targets include the likes of bottom-sixer Bobby McMann (six goals, one assist, 14 hits, six blocked shots in four games), blue liner Simon Benoit (assist, five PIMS, 22 hits, nine blocked shots in four games), and even netminder Ilya Samsonov (4-0-0, .900 SV.% in the last four), all of which have also seen an uptick in deployment during the four-game streak as well.

We can debate how much Toronto's recent ease of schedule has played into their run, but there really is no denying that their upcoming stretch is going to really put this club to the test, as the Leafs have games against the Golden Knights (twice), Colorado Avalanche, and New York Rangers over the next two weeks. Factor that in when taking a look at some of Toronto's recently-relevant fantasy options.