Health in the postseason is a very big deal to the success of most teams, and those on the fringe especially. That is why it has been concerning that New York Islanders defenceman Noah Dobson had missed a couple of games with the team desperate for a postseason appearance. Some good news from Wednesday, though:

Noah Dobson (upper body) skating on his own ahead of #Isles AM skate

— Arthur Staple (@StapeAthletic) April 17, 2024

That isn't a full-contact practice or anything, but skating is better than not, and there are still a few days for him to get to where he needs to be. This is obviously something we'll update when we get more news.

*

Marc-Andre Fleury signed a one-year extension with Minnesota and said it would be his last season:

Fleury says "next year will be last." https://t.co/JkjyByqQwc

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) April 17, 2024

For fantasy purposes, this is important because Filip Gustavsson has two years left on his deal and there is Jesper Wallstedt waiting for his chance. It appears he'll have to wait at least another season before becoming just a regular backup goalie at the NHL level.

*

A little tidbit on Dougie Hamilton:

Dougie Hamilton said that he was hoping to be ready to at least join the team for practice in the next little bit if the team was headed to the playoffs.#NJDevils

— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) April 17, 2024

Injury updates are near-impossible to come by during the offseason, so getting this note from him is important. It seems he should have a normal offseason of training, which is always good to see after such a lengthy injury.

** Be sure to pick up your copy of the 2024 Dobber Hockey Interactive Playoff Draft List!**

*

Nikita Kucherov got his 100^th assist of the season, setting up Brayden Point's 46^th goal of the year. Kucherov is just the fifth player in NHL history to reach that mark, but the second to do it this week after Connor McDavid achieved the same. Kucherov is also the first winger to do it. Just a surreal, historic season from the future Hall of Famer.

Tampa Bay won that game 6-4 with each of Kucherov, Point, Brandon Hagel, and Nick Paul registering a goal and an assist. Hagel finishes the season with 48 points at 5-on-5, more than Filip Forsberg, William Nylander, or Elias Pettersson (Vancouver's final game pending). Hagel really had a shot at a 90-point season if the team used him on the top power play unit, but a 75-point effort is pretty good, too.

Auston Matthews did not get his 70^th goal of the season, but he sure was trying as he landed 12 shots on target.

*

The New York Islanders go into the playoffs with a win as they finished off Pittsburgh's season with a 5-4 victory. Kyle Palmieri (PP) scored his 30^th goal of the season while Brock Nelson scored his 34^th. Palmieri finishes the season with 30 goals, 54 points, 20 power play points, 218 shots, and 89 hits. That is a pretty good multi-cat season.

Nelson's two-point night gave him a total of 69 on the season, one shy of a second straight 70-point effort.

Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist in the loss while Sidney Crosby had a pair of helpers. Those two points pushed Crosby to 94 on the year, surpassing his total of 93 last season, and his highest total since 2018-19. It was his 19^th season in the league.

*

The last game of this iteration of the Arizona Coyotes resulted in a 5-2 Arizona win over Edmonton. Sean Durzi, Lawson Crouse, Matias Maccelli, and Liam O'Brien all scored while Dylan Guenther had a goal (PP) and an assist. Crouse finished one goal shy of a career-high 24 set last year, but had 171 shots, the most of any season. With him being easily over two hits per game, it was another excellent multi-cat effort.

That goal pushed Maccelli into the lead among Arizona forwards for total points (39) at 5-on-5, one more than Clayton Keller. He keeps adding dimensions to his game and if Maccelli can earn regular top PP minutes, he is easily a 20-goal, 50-assist threat. It doesn't seem likely he will, unfortunately.

Connor Ingram allowed just two goals on 30 shots for his 23^rd win of the season. He finishes the year with a .907 save percentage, the same as 2022-23, but a goals against average of 2.91 thanks to a better defensive team in front of him. There were ups and downs, but another solid season for Ingram.

Sam Carrick and Warren Foegele replied for the Oilers. Foegele reached the 20-goal mark for the first time in his career thanks to that goal, a tally assisted by Philip Broberg, his first NHL point of the season.

*

A 2-1 shootout win for Dallas over St. Louis confirms the Stars as both Central Division and Western Conference champs. That guarantees Dallas home-ice advantage throughout the first three rounds though it is still undecided if they will face Vegas or Los Angeles in the first round. Any sort of win from Vegas on Thursday night locks them into third place in the Pacific, and a matchup with Edmonton instead of Dallas.

Robert Thomas scored for St. Louis while Mason Marchment replied for Dallas. After a down season last year, Marchment finished 2023-24 with 22 goals, 53 points, 11 power play points, 150 shots, and 108 hits. A solid multi-cat year.

Despite a so-so season from the Blues as a whole, Thomas had career numbers with 26 goals (previous high of 20), 60 assists (previous high of 57), 27 power play points (previous high of 22), and 170 shots (previous high of 115). He has truly turned not only into a high-end, two-way centre, but a much more well-rounded fantasy option. It reminds me of Mark Scheifele, but with good defensive play.

Jordan Binnington stopped 36 of 37 shots while Jake Oettinger stopped 25 of 26 for the win. Since the Trade Deadline, Oettinger had 11 wins in 14 starts and a .924 save percentage. If this is the guy Dallas gets in the playoffs, they might be the best team in the West.  

*

In Tuesday's Ramblings, I went over some forwards to target for points-only playoff fantasy leagues. We didn't touch on the top options like Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, or Artemi Panarin, so we'll keep that same energy for today's Ramblings. We will look at which defencemen to target outside of the top options like Cale Makar, Adam Fox, or Quinn Hughes.

Before we get to all that, let's look at how defencemen have performed over the last two postseasons:

• There were 228 defencemen to appear in the last two postseasons, and that double counts those who appeared twice like rearguards from Florida, Colorado, Carolina, Toronto, and so on.
• Those 228 defencemen played a total of 2165 games and produced 741 points. That is a points-per-game rate of 0.34.
• From that sample of 228 defenders, 128 out of them played seven games or fewer in either postseason. Those 128 blue liners skated 659 total games and managed 214 points. That is a points-per-game rate of 0.33.
• The 100 defencemen that played at least eight games made 1506 total appearances and managed 527 points, or 0.35 points per game. It really wasn't that much different from those who played seven-or-fewer games.
• The 128 defencemen who topped out at seven games played had just 11 of them produce at least five points, none crack the 10-point mark, and the average was 1.7 points per playoff run. Those 11 defencemen averaged 24:30 per game played, so they were largely from the top pair of their respective team.
• The 100 defencemen who played more than seven games saw 46 reach at least five points, and 13 reach at least 10. Those 46 defencemen who managed at least five points averaged 21:52 per game in ice time, so we're including second-pair options now.
• The 13 blue liners to reach at least 10 points averaged over 24 minutes per game, so we're mostly looking at top-pair guys again. However, four of those 13 defencemen played 14 games or fewer.
• There were nine defencemen to reach at least 12 points and six of them averaged at least 24 minutes a game. Only one averaged under 23 minutes a night: Shea Theodore in 2023, and he was still over 20 minutes per game.
• Regardless of games played, the defencemen who produced two-or-fewer points for their entire playoff run (and there were 122 of them) averaged 17:16 per game. Of those who played eight-or-more games and produced two-or-fewer points, the average ice time was 16:08 per game. 

Again, this is a lot of numbers to throw out at once so let's try to simplify it in one paragraph:

The absolute elite point producers are the top blue liners from teams that go deep. After the elite tier, high-end producers will largely be top-pair options from teams that go deep. However, there is usually one or two defencemen that fail to reach the Conference Final but still manage double-digit point production. Blue liners that manage at least five points are almost always top-4 options from their teams, and top blue liners from teams that get knocked out in the first round still have a reasonable chance of out-producing depth defencemen from a team that goes at least three rounds.

Hope that can clarify things a bit. With all that out of the way, let's look at some of the non-elite options from around the league.

** For a much more in-depth analysis of the postseason, fantasy hockey fans should grab a copy of the 2024 Dobber Hockey Interactive Playoff Draft List!**

Brady Skjei and Erik Gustafsson

We will lump these two in together because both are from teams heavily favoured to win their first-round matchup and both are the options on their respective second power play unit. Carolina and New York are on a collision course for the second round, but it's very possible either is productive even with just two rounds, and one is likely to advance at least to the Conference Final.

Mattias Ekholm

There is reason to think Edmonton is the top team in the league, as that's what they've been since firing coach Jay Woodcroft. Evan Bouchard is the clear top option, but Ekholm (38) trailed Bouchard (41) by just three even strength points since getting a new coach. If Edmonton's power play fizzles for any reason, there may not be much separating the two. Though if Edmonton's power play fizzles, they may not go very far anyway.

Shea Theodore

Right now, Noah Hanifin is running the top power play unit. However, he's the third defenceman to be a mainstay on the top unit, and it had been Theodore's spot (when healthy) since last year's postseason. A couple games without a PP goal could very well see Theodore get that role back. Vegas has a tough postseason road ahead of them, but Theodore could easily be their top point producer from the back end.

Gustav Forsling

Brandon Montour returned to the Florida lineup on November 17^th. Since that point, Forsling has managed 33 points at even strength, more than double Montour's production total (16). Forsling isn't on the team's high-end power play, which puts Montour ahead, but Forsling is in a similar situation to Ekholm where if the Florda power play is power-less, he could end up with very similar (or higher) production than Montour.

Devon Toews

Colorado has a very tough path to the Conference Final from an offensive standpoint, facing very good defensive teams in Winnipeg and then (likely) Dallas. However, Colorado is second in goal rate since Edmonton hired their new coach, so if they go deep, Toews has a very good chance at being productive.

Drew Doughty

If Los Angeles makes any kind of run, it will be mostly because of their team defence and goaltending. The other part of it would likely be the power play, though, as their team produced a higher goals-for rate on the man advantage than Vancouver, Boston, Nashville, and Vegas. That is good news for Doughty, but he may not see more than a half-dozen games if the defence/goaltending doesn't hold up.

Thomas Harley

There was a three-week stretch in January where Miro Heiskanen was injured, and Harley saw his role improve. Since Heiskanen's return on January 25^th, and Harley's demotion to the second power play unit, Harley has 22 points in 34 games, or a 53-point pace over a full season. If Dallas makes a run to the Conference Final, 10 points are on the table for the young defenceman.

Kevin Shattenkirk

This falls in the 'Hail Mary' category, but Shattenkirk has been running Boston's top power play very recently. They need that power play to find success if they want to get past Toronto and then (likely) Florida. It wouldn't be all that shocking if Shattenkirk had a similar postseason to what Justin Schultz had for Seattle last year, where Schultz had 10 points in 14 games before the Kraken got bounced.