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

Buckle up, hockey heads, with the 2023-24 fantasy season at an end the NHL's Stanley Cup chase is about to pop off. This is the time of the year that hockey fans live and breathe for. Even if your fantasy squad fell flat, the anticipation of six weeks of springtime hockey and intense nightly NHL action is enough to get any defeated fantasy GM off the couch and cheering once again.

*The 2024 Dobber Hockey Playoff Draft List is for sale in the Dobber shop!*
 
In terms of the Eastern Conference and the news you need to know, obviously the wild-card race between the Washington Capitals, Detroit Red Wings, and Pittsburgh Penguins is dominating airwaves (sorry, Philadelphia) with only one game remaining and one spot up for grabs. However, we also have you covered with the rest of the top trending Eastern Conference-related buzz that's happening out east.

Rangers Reign With Presidents' Trophy

The New York Rangers set a franchise record in wins Monday night with a neat-and-tidy shutout victory over the dumpster fire-like Ottawa Senators, and in the process secured the fourth Presidents' Trophy of their storied franchise history. The Blue Shirts flaunt the third best power-play (26.4 percent) and penalty-killing unit (84.5 percent) in the NHL and are an extremely tough team to matchup against – whomever they take on in the first round will be massive underdogs. If Igor Shesterkin can continue his torrid second-half pace that's seen him register a sensational 20-7-2 record to go along with a .922 save percentage and four shutouts, this Rangers club will be one of the last ones standing come the end of May.

Capitals Control Own Destiny

After the New York Islanders claimed the third and final position in Metropolitan Division on Monday night, four teams and one Eastern Conference wild-card spot remain up for grabs. The Flyers basically need a miracle and the other scenarios for Pittsburgh and Detroit can be found with a quick Google search, but the only angle you really need to have covered in terms of what team punches their playoff ticket is this: The Capitals win and they are in. Washington rolls into Philly on Tuesday night with their destiny in their own hands going up against a Flyers club that has just two wins in their last 10 games.

In terms of the recent head-to-head track record between these two Metro Division foes, it's a pretty even split, with the Capitals owning a 5-4-1 record that includes a convincing 5-2 win at the end of March. There are a lot of questions about Ovi and the Caps and how they got here this season, especially with a lackluster offense and poor goal differential, but the fact remains, Washington is knocking on the doorstep and deserves a lot of credit for even getting to this point.

With no shortage of intriguing storylines to follow, both in terms of personal performances and postseason positioning, Tuesday night's NHL action is sure to be intense.

Sabres Say Goodbye To Granato

Perhaps foolishly, a lot of NHL pundits pegged the Buffalo Sabres as a team with a winning roster and legit playoff quality – both of those predictions were wrong, and it cost head coach Don Granato his job Tuesday morning. The Sabres appointed Granato as bench boss halfway through the 2021-22 season and he went 122-125-27 since, missing out on the NHL's postseason party in all four campaigns. Can this season's failures all be blamed on Granato?

They shouldn't be, as a massive dip in offensive production across the board from the likes of Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, Dylan Cozens, and others, clearly was far too much for this young and inexperienced group to overcome – especially on the man advantage where Buffalo is only clicking at 16.6%, good for 28th best in the NHL. Factor in the struggles in the cage, especially for top prospect and supposed number one goalie Devon Levi, and it's really no surprise the Sabres struggled to string wins together for most of the year.

In terms of next season, intriguing fantasy options, and the Sabres future, all are exceedingly bright in Buffalo, as the Sabres tout, arguably, the best young prospect pipeline in the NHL with a number of intriguing players on the rise. Two of those names that a lot of fantasy GMs would benefit from double-circling are JJ Peterka and Zach Benson, two names that will not only get a legit shot at being key forwards in the top-nine next season, but two that also bring flair with the puck and huge offensive upside.