Alright everyone, its fantasy playoffs time starting next week, or even this week for some. If your league was like mine this season, there were a couple teams at the top, a log jam in the middle, then three at the bottom that were eliminated sometime around American Thanksgiving.

For this upcoming week we have healthy slates on most days, so let's look at how we can potentially use that in order to advance on. For those out there in leagues with byes, it's a holding pattern for now, but stacking the deck is always in play if you think your roster is flexible enough to do so.

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

Casey DeSmith, G, Vancouver Canucks (Rostered in 10% of ESPN leagues, 36% Fantrax, 39% Yahoo) – With Thatcher Demko out of the lineup with a knee injury, the Canucks are going to run out Casey DeSmith throughout the next 2-4 weeks. It's tough for those rostering Demko, but this may be an opportunity to roster DeSmith as a replacement or addition with lower roster numbers.

For now, DeSmith will be the Canucks temporary number one starter, and although it is a far downgrade from Demko, DeSmith is a formidable backup. He is 8-4-6 so far on the season with a 2.91 GAA over 20 appearances and is going to get the starts in net moving forward. Good news too, as the Canucks are home throughout the rest of the March, so travel won't be an issue here. Hey, we like homestands here at DobberHockey!

If you need a spot start here or there, the good news is with Demko it likely won't be a wait-and-see if he would be a go on a given night or not. That takes the guess work out of starting goaltending, which is a headache. Maybe even migraine. If you're in leagues that take substantial points away for goals allowed this might be a tough add, but if you're worried about the wins/losses, this is still Vancouver here and the schedule moving forward is lighter with the next four matchups against non-playoff clubs (WSH, BUF, MTL, CGY).

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

Teuvo Teravainen, RW, Carolina Hurricanes (Rostered in 39% of ESPN leagues, 65% Fantrax, 53% Yahoo) – Okay, so the roster numbers are higher over on Fantrax, but usually those are where your larger leagues are. For ESPN and Yahoo though I'll take my chances that Teuvo Teravainen is available and can be exactly what your fantasy squad needs to close out this week and move on into next.

Teravainen and the Hurricanes fit what we want for playoffs, and that's games played. Carolina is in action both on both Saturday and Sunday, along with four games next week. Also, it's worth mentioning Teuvo has 11 points in his last eight games played on a Carolina club that seems to have a four-goal game at least once a week.

Carolina does mix up their lines a fair bit. However, Teuvo is on the first line across from Andrei Svechnikov, but that line might stick here as we approach NHL playoffs. That line with Sebastian Aho has 221 minutes played together. I like this addition here if you can make it happen. Adds and drops are more precious than ever at this time of year, but adding Teravainen might help your scoring down the stretch.

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

Rasmus Andersson, D, Calgary Flames (Rostered in 95% of ESPN leagues, 93% Fantrax, 71% Yahoo) – I looked up and down each waiver in my leagues trying to find an Odd-Man Out and kept coming back to Andersson and Mackenzie Weegar. Maybe Odd-Men Out?

If you're rostering one of these two players, or both, first off, I envy you as I had Weegar higher on my draft board and Andersson is one of those players who I think has been on my fantasy queue since 2019, yet I've never had a chance to roster him. For now, the odd-man designation goes to these two as the Flames have deployed newly acquired Daniil Miromanov as their top power-play quarterback. There's value here for each of these players and do think that there's still plenty of ice time available on the penalty kill, but for offense the two might see a bit of a decline going forward into next week.

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

Thomas Chabot, D, Ottawa Senators (Rostered in 72% of ESPN leagues, 84%, Fantrax, 53% Yahoo) – This is 100% fantasy hockey related here, but when you write about hockey as much as I do, your iPhone and MacBook start to correct English words to hockey player names. At the start of the season, my wife looked at me puzzled in the grocery store as to why I put down that we need a Chabot and just what that was (shallot).

So anyways, Thomas Chabot. I feel like I wrote him up as an Anchor early this season, but it's a long year and everything sort of blends into a point, but the Anchor designation now is very real to potentially bring your club down. Chabot has missed the last four games with a lower-body injury, yet he is not on IR. Sure, you can throw him onto your fantasy IR once he is listed as "out", but the problem is that he will go right back to "DTD" making it difficult to make adds for your club.

Fantasy playoffs is cutthroat, honestly. I've dropped players that are stars in the league in order to win a championship. Thomas Chabot might be that player for this season as the will he or won't he play song and dance is just one more thing to pile onto fantasy managers trying to put the best roster together to win a round. Unless he comes back at any point this weekend, it might be time to move on.

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

This period runs through March 15– March 27

Carolina – Carolina is a Love 'Em x 10 moving forward with the number of games they play as they will soon hit a stretch where they'll be in action five times in seven days.

Vegas – Four games all at home are coming up for the Knights. This could be the stretch where they dig in as the top wild card club in the west, or make a play for a division spot in the Pacific.

New Jersey – With fairly even slates next week, I'm going to go with New Jersey as a Love 'Em again for the second straight week. They'll be on home ice to welcome a Pittsburgh team that has had their struggles recently and an Ottawa team that has had their struggles since October.

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

St. Louis – Depending on what stretch of seven games you look at with St. Louis, they'll have lighter slates with the end of next week only appearing once in seven days. They are a Leave 'Em for now.  

Montreal – West coast road trips never grade out great here, as the Habs will start a swing out west against Edmonton, Vancouver, and Seattle.

Calgary – I put Calgary here just with how their week looks next week. They'll play Monday which is great, but will then be off until next Saturday which is an 11-game slate and Sunday which is a 10-gamer.

*For continued fantasy news and notes, follow me on Twitter @ndySanz.