After spending yesterday afternoon finalizing a car deal and driving it off the lot, I am reminded how similar car shopping is to fantasy sports. Between the research, the bargaining, and making sure that all the rules/guidelines have been read and understood, I think my fantasy experience served me well.

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The lottery luck was on my side this year and I got first pick in the Dobber Forums playoff pool. After thinking it over for a while I realized that Connor McDavid has to be the pick, regardless of who I think is actually going to win – I do believe Edmonton has a real shot, but they wouldn't be my first bet if I was just putting money on a team. The fact that McDavid could score as many points as someone in the finals, even if he only plays two rounds is the deciding factor though.

Nikita Kucherov, Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon, Matthew Tkachuk, Sebastian Aho, Artemi Panarin, Jack Eichel, and David Pastrnak were the other considerations. I do see Vegas as one of the best value teams in the West, because even though they are a Wildcard team, they won last year, and their team is just as good this year (a return from Mark Stone would help in that regard too). For that reason, I'm loading up on Edmonton and Vegas in the West.

In the East, unfortunately I missed the boat on the top two+ players from each of the six real contenders (the downside to picking first), so I will likely push most of my chips in on the West (adding a few Predators for fun too) and then throwing down a few long-odd bets on the bottom-two in the East.

In this draft there are no position limits. However, if there were, then Cale Makar would enter the chat as well in the first round or two, with Quinn Hughes, Miro Heiskanen, Victor Hedman, and Evan Bouchard close behind. I am also very happy that I got Roman Josi a little later in the draft (along with Ryan O'Reilly and Gustav Nyquist), since I think Vancouver is ripe for an upset due to their slower second half, the lack of cohesion since Elias Lindholm was brought in, and the health of Thatcher Demko.

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In addition to Frank Nazar scoring on his first shot (on Sunday) just days after signing his ELC, now is the time that we do get to be excited about the next wave now that a lot of other top NCAA prospects are signing too.

Bradley Nadeau, Jackson Blake, Cutter Gauthier, Lane Hutson, Gavin Brindley and others are all going to be available in Yahoo leagues over the next few days, and keep an eye on their debuts as it could be a big momentum builder for some value moving into the offseason.

Hutson played over 20 minutes in his debut on Monday, notching an assist and going minus-one. Last night, he recorded another assist while again recording a minus-one rating. At this point with where the Habs are, those kinds of stat lines from Hutson could become something of a norm. He has played almost exclusively alongside David Savard, who might end up being a regular partner for him next season too (or at least until the trade deadline when Savard is likely moved). That would bode well for Savard maintaining his slightly elevated production into next year.

Jackets/Hurricanes game provided a lot of debut nights, with NHL debuts for Brindley and Luca Del Bel Belluz for the Jackets, and NHL debuts for Nadeau and Blake, along with first games of the season for Max Comtois and Dylan Coghlan for the Canes. Luca DBB scored his first career goal to open the scoring despite seeing the lowest ice time of any player in the game from either team. Comtois was the only other name mentioned above to record a point in the game.

Both Blake and Nadeau went minus-two for the Hurricanes, but Nadeau (three shots) was given second-line minutes to Blake's fourth-line deployment, while both saw second-unit power play time. If anything, it shows the pecking order at this point in time, with Nadeau maybe more likely to play a full-time role next year. Interestingly, Scott Morrow isn't getting any power play time, but he is at least getting eased in by starting 80% of his shifts in the offensive zone. 

Zack Werenski stole the show with his two-goal and two-assist performance. When healthy he's a top-10 fantasy defenceman.

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The Leafs did not look good last night against the Panthers, forcing plays to Auston Matthews, and generally putting up very little effort overall. The upside from losing last night to the Panthers is that it sets them up instead with a much easier matchup against a soft team in the… Bruins? Not great Bob. But it should be fun to watch!

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The Chaos in the East also extended to the Wildcard race, with Detroit scoring in the dying seconds of the game (again) to fend off a young Montreal attack, but the shootout win didn't end up mattering as they were eventually eliminated anyways. It was however also a big game on the Montreal end:

#FunFact: #Habs Juraj Slafkovský became the 3rd player in #GoHabsGo history to record 30 assists in a season at age 20 or younger joining Guy Lafleur (35 in 1971-72) and Henri Richard (32 in 1956-57)

— Priyanta Emrith (@HabsInHighHeels) April 17, 2024

In case you were wondering, Juraj Slafkovsky is not, and never should have been labelled a bust. He scored his 20^th goal of the season last night, setting him up very well to use this year as a stepping stone to much loftier scoring heights in future seasons. His growth from quarter to quarter was especially noteworthy, with the scoring and shot rtes both trending rather smoothly upwards.

That final goal earned Slaf a $250K bonus too. What an excellent end to the season for him.

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Back to the Wildcard race, the static Penguins and the Flyers were also eliminated as the Capitals beat the Flyers in regulation, meaning they are back in the playoffs, and have a date set with the Rangers. Alex Ovechkin scored his 853^rd career goal and T.J. Oshie added two points in the win. With the teams and matchups set we should get a schedule released relatively shortly.

So to summarize Detroit scores with 3 seconds left to stay alive….until Philly pulls its goalie in a 1-1 tie needing a regulation win, and the Caps score, eliminating the Flyers, Wings, and Penguins.

📢 advertisement:

— James Duthie (@tsnjamesduthie) April 17, 2024

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Now that we can look ahead to the playoffs:

The Playoff Draft List is finally ready! You can now find the Excel file in your Downloads folder at the @DobberHockey website. Thanks for your patience and understanding if you've been waiting.

If you haven't obtained yours, go to https://t.co/J90tnf6c5F

— Ian Gooding (@Ian_Gooding) April 15, 2024

However, for those of you still fighting for your Championship, the Oilers are the only team with two games left, so any of their players are double worth streaming now. Best of luck!

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Rick Roos' monthly mailbag column runs next week and he is fielding a few more questions. To get yours to him, you can either private message “rizzeedizzee” via the DobberHockey Forums or send an email to [email protected] with “Roos Mailbag” as the subject line. No one does a deeper dive for you than Rick.

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One other site note, Blake Creamer is otherwise occupied and there won't be an Injury Ward article this week, so I'm going to touch on a few injury notes as well.

UPDATE: The #RedWings recalled goaltender Ville Husso from the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins. pic.twitter.com/PERY1fxOd0

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) April 15, 2024

If the Red Wings had made the playoffs, they would have had some interesting goaltending decisions. At this point Alex Lyon would likely have been the game one starter, but if they lost, who do you go with for game two? Back to Lyon who got you here, the playoff "tested" veteran in James Reimer, or the guy who was your top goalie to start the year but has been injured for the last few months in Ville Husso. The Husso vs Lyon vs other newcomer also extends to next fall as well.

Husso was supposed to be a steadying presence in net this year, but across 17 starts he allowed at least two goals in every single one. His GAA was worse this season, but his save percentage was very close to last year's number, while the Quality Start percentage also took a dip. As much as I love to look at goalies with a contract that are due for a bounce-back with teams on the rise, somehow Husso just isn't exciting enough for me to make him a target for next year, especially after missing what amounted to almost the entire second half of the season.

Matt Murray, Mark Stone, Mikhail Sergachev, Filip Chytil, and Thatcher Demko who recently returned, are all coming off LTIR right around the perfect time for round one of the playoffs. For Murray it would be great to see him back in game action for the first time all year, while Chytil, Stone and Sergachev are coming off of very uncomfortable injuries that ended their seasons. It sounds like Sergachev isn't quite ready, but he is really pushing to try and make it happen sooner rather than later. It's seems like convenient timing overall, but that's the way things happen sometimes.

A lot of players are being rested in the regular season finales, so we won't have great updates on many of them like Andrei Svechnikov, Noah Dobson, Alex Pietrangelo and others, for at least a few days, if not weeks or months. Keep your eyes out for Blake's return next week and he can tackle a lot of those specifics.

In the meantime, we did get some kind of an update on Tage Thompson, with GM Kevin Adams says it’s significant enough that he won’t be able to go to Worlds but won’t affect his offseason training.

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Marc-Andre Fleury has already been confirmed as the starter for Minnesota's finale on Thursday. This could be his last ever NHL game, though it does feel like there is still some gas in the tank if he wasn't quite ready to hang up the skates yet.

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See you on Friday, as I'm covering for Ian. In the meantime, you can find me on Twitter/X here, or BlueSky here if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments.