Fantasy playoffs are in full swing, and I know because I'm still trying to regulate my breathing after managing through two tight matches on Sunday. One league I lost by a couple of blocks and a power play point, the other league I won because I added David Rittich three weeks ago with eyes on that Sunday evening start against San Jose. You win some, you lose some, though without proper planning, I likely would have lost both. 

This week, with only one active team left to focus on, I'm heavy into sorting out how hard I may need to work on a comeback. My opponent's Monday barrage from Dallas skaters and a Casey DeSmith start left me behind the eight ball, but my group of Columbus skaters tied up the match (more on them later), and I do have a handful more man games than him the rest of the way. I'm hopeful that I don't have to go the route of the Sunday evening backup start to save me again, but I do have Jakub Dobes in my minors at the moment and could call him up for the Sunday game against Nashville if necessary. You could do worse than a game with a team fighting for a playoff spot up against a bottom-five team in the league when you're looking for a Sunday win. Something to keep in your back pocket. Good luck to all with the matchups this week. 

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Now's the time of year where we may see some of the stars from the NCAA signing their entry level deals to turn pro. With Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perreault signed already, keep an eye out for others moving on from the NCAA. The players jumping straight to a couple NHL games are usually the cream of the crop, and will have both upside, adrenaline, and some opportunity to showcase their talent in NHL lineups over the last few games of the seasons. There could be some decent depth scoring available in these players over the last two weeks of the season. These players usually become available in Yahoo within a day or two of signing their contracts. 

Ryan Leonard started last night on a line with Dylan Strome and Aliaksei Protas. He didn’t end up recording a point, but the third goal only happened because of him keeping a puck alive. He’s already looking the part of a top-nine NHL forward. The bigger performance in that game was Alex Ovechkin potting yet another goal, to bring him to four back of Wayne Gretzky’s goal record. Coincidentally he is also four games shy of the amount it took Gretzky to hit it.

Jimmy Snuggerud made his debut as well, lining up on a slightly less inspiring line with Oscar Sundqvist and Zac Bolduc. A couple of shots in 10 minutes of ice time isn't terrible. Add in the secondary power play time and there's some hope here. It will be tough to bump him any father up the lineup card while the team now rides a 10-game win streak.

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The Golden Knights have been rolling of late despite missing Alex Pietrangelo, and with Ilya Samsonov out of action at the moment as well. For some reason they aren't perceived as one of the biggest threats in the West, with possibly all four of Winnipeg, Colorado, Edmonton, and Dallas ranked above them, but in reality I think they're a top-3 threat for the Cup out of the West, and they aren't third. 

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Jonathan Marchessault (day-to-day) and Colton Sissons (week-to-week) are both out with injuries. With the Predators eliminated and the only the left to play for being a better draft position, I wouldn't be surprised if these two are just shut down so they can start their offseason early. Be ready for that with the teams out of the running. 

It's always a fine line in these last two weeks, owning players that don't get scratched for rest on the playoff bound teams, or shut down for the year on the teams heading for the bottom. If you're looking to stream some safer options who you can feel comfortable will play, grab the guys from Montreal, Minnesota, Detroit, and Columbus, all of whom have great remaining schedules in addition to those teams fighting for their playoff lives. 

On that note, with two weeks remaining, if you need games then look no further than Carolina and Columbus who have nine games each. The Devils, Flyers, and Blues each only have six games left, so look hard at those guys and whether you can replace them for a similar player with two or three more games. 

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Brady Tkachuk has been missing from practice for most of the last week or so, though he hasn't missed any games recently. He sat out last night, and fantasy owners should be ready for him to be rested most of the rest of the way as Ottawa has nearly clinched playoff spot with a few games left. It's not like he's producing much in the meantime to keep your team going from a scoring perspective anyways, with zero points in his last three games. Fabian Zetterlund jumped to the top line alongside Claude Giroux and Tim Stutzle in Tkachuk's absence, but it was another game without any points for Stutzle and Zetterlund.

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Rasmus Ristolainen is done for the year as well. That isn't great news for the Flyers goalies. 

It also made me take a quick look at which Flyers Dmen were producing since John Tortorella was let go, and the answer is not really any of them. Jamie Drysdale is the one soaking up the power play time, and does have a goal from Monday night as a result of a broken play that popped right onto his stick at the side of the slot. I don't have a ton of faith in anything related to the Flyers right now (other than Matvei Michkov), but Drysdale is the one to look at on defense if you need one. 

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Dante Fabbro returned to the lineup for the Blue Jackets in a revenge game for him against the Predators. Nashville jerked him around at the beginning of the year, eventually losing him on waivers, and now that he's blossomed in a top-pair role with Columbus, the Predators are likely looking on thinking they could use a player just like that. 

It certainly seems as though Fabbro had some money on the board against a Preds team that played last night too. The blue Jackets rolled them over by a score of 8-4. Fabbro notched a goal and an assist (on the final two insurance markers for the Blue Jackets) while Kirill Marchenko and Sean Monahan did the brunt of the damage with four points each – including a hat-trick from Marchenko. 

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Small but positive note on Gabe Landeskog: 

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The Habs look like they’re going to be trouble in the postseason, skating away with a come-from-behind OT win over the Panthers last night to go a perfect 7-0 this season against last year’s Cup finalists.

Nick Suzuki scored both the tying and winning goals, as he continues his ascension to star production. Rick has some more on him in his article later today. 

Lane Hutson is now up to six assists in his last two games, and 59 in 73 overall. He's still 16 points back of the single-season points record for a rookie defenseman (Larry Murphy), but only six assists shy of tying Murphy’s defenseman rookie record of 60 assists in a season. 

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Rogers and the NHL have agreed to a 12-year, $7.7 billion deal for exclusive Canadian TV rights. There are many issues with Rogers, blackouts, and other impracticalities of this, but on the fantasy side of things all that matters is the influx of money into the system, which in turn will continue to balloon the cap upwards. If you're not planning in your cap leagues by acquiring players who are locked into long-term deals, then you'll be falling behind fast. 

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See you next Wednesday, and if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments you can find me on BlueSky here, as that's now my primary platform.