Welcome fantasy managers to another edition of the Eastern Edge. This week we are going to take a closer look at the Ottawa Senators' ongoing battle for postseason positioning, the Columbus Blue Jackets continued mediocrity, and the Washington Capitals success in staving off Father Time. Let's get to it!

It has been a rather interesting first half for the Ottawa Senators, from an injury to heart-and-soul captain Brady Tkachuk in the team’s home opener to Linus Ullmark's recent leave of absence. This group has had its challenges to be sure, yet they seem to come out of them all the better for it.

In an Eastern Conference that currently has a four-point difference between the second wild card spot and the conference basement, the Ottawa Senators are right in the thick of it with a 18-15-5 record including a +1 goal differential all while posting a 5-4-1 record in their last 10 games played. The recent news of the club's number one goaltender Linus Ullmark taking a leave of absence will certainly put this team / organization to the test, however, it will also give team brass an extended look at what they might have in backup Leevi Merilainen.

The offense is clicking at a fairly solid rate with the Senators ranking ninth overall at 3.21 GF/GP with contributions throughout the lineup. Star forwards Tim Stutzle (17PTS his last 10GP), Drake Batherson (13PTS his last 10GP), Dylan Cozens (5PTS his last 4GP), Brady Tkachuk (9PTS his last 8GP) and wily vet Claude Giroux (8PTS his last 6GP) have been leading the charge for this resilient bunch. On the backend, all-world defenseman Jake Sanderson has been the group’s pillar with the 23-year-old sporting a (8G, 19A, 27PTS, 0.71PPG) stat line on the year.

The Senators goaltending has been a bit up-and-down with the aforementioned Ullmark battling to a 14-8-5 record accompanied by a 2.95 goals against and .880 save percentage as well as one shutout in addition to a 57.1% quality start rate and -13.70GSAx. Meanwhile backup netminder Merilainen has put together a 4-7-0 record with a bloated 3.51 goals against and .869 save percentage in addition to a 27.3% quality start rate and -8.45GSAx.

Leevi Merilainen is going to get some runway here with the injury to Ullmark and could be a sneaky play off the waiver wire if he can settle his game down a little (11% rostered on Yahoo / 31% rostered on Fantrax). Depending on the length of Ullmark's absence, Merilainen's play could be vital to the Senators' playoff hopes. A situation to monitor closely.

The Columbus Blue Jackets find themselves in the Eastern Conference basement at the moment, however, they are a mere four points out of the second wild card spot. The simple fact that each team in the east owns a record of .500 or above would suggest that no one is out of the running for the postseason. That being said, the Blue Jackets are going to need more from just about everyone not named Zach Werenski (10PTS his last 5GP) or Kirill Marchenko (30PTS in 34GP – 72PT pace) if this club is going to make a serious run at the postseason.

A lack of secondary scoring as well as inconsistent goaltending has stunted the Blue Jackets' climb up the league standings with several players underperforming up to this point. All of Dmitri Voronkov (5PTS his last 10GP), Adam Fantilli (3PTS his last 3GP), Charlie Coyle (5PTS his last 10GP) and Kent Johnson (11PTS in 37GP – 25PT pace) will need to raise their level of play to support the team's stars.

One player who will no longer be of service to Columbus' efforts is 25-year-old winger Yegor Chinakhov, being traded yesterday to the Pittsburgh Penguins in return for Danton Heinen, a 2026 second round pick (STL) and a 2027 third round pick (WSH). A calculated gamble by Pittsburgh to be sure, however, Chinakhov still does hold some potential moving forward.

As it relates to the club’s goaltending, it is certainly a work in progress.

Incumbent Jet Greaves has wrestled the starting job from Elvis Merzlikins and with the disparity in numbers you can understand why.

Greaves: 11-9-5 record / 2.60GAA / .909SV% / 60.0% Quality Starts / 8.85GSAx

Merzlikins: 6-6-1 record / 4.04GAA / .877SV% / 42.9% Quality Starts / -6.10GSAx

The Blue Jackets will continue to lean on the 24-year-old Greaves throughout the year, however, Merzlikins will need to work out some of those kinks (in particular his peripheral numbers) seeing as the younger Greaves has never played more than the 24 games he has played already in any season. Fantasy managers would be wise to keep a watchful eye on this situation moving forward.

The Washington Capitals continue to be a reliable source of fantasy production with several players adding immense value to any given roster regardless of format. Tom Wilson is having a monster year as the rugged winger leads the Capitals in scoring (37PTS in 38GP) while providing incredible coverage across the board in multi-cat / banger leagues (90SOG / 101HITS / 23BLKS). Team captain Alex Ovechkin continues to defy father time in posting (33PTS in 39GP) at the ripe old age of 40!  

On the team’s blue line, seasoned vet John Carlson is having a solid first half to his year with totals of (29PTS in 35GP – 0.83PPG), while Jacob Chychrun leads all defensemen with 15 goals on the year including (30PTS in 39GP). Secondary scoring in the form of Aliaksei Protas (0.72PPG), Ryan Leonard (0.63PPG), and Connor McMichael (0.49PPG) go a long way in rounding out Washington’s forward group.

Team Canada hopeful Logan Thompson is proving why he is this team’s backbone with the Calgary native enjoying his finest year to date. All Thompson has done is fashion a superb 15-10-3 record accompanied by a tidy 2.33 goals against and .915 save percentage with two shutouts in addition to a 75.0% quality start rate and 24.32GSAx. Numbers that can help any fantasy manager win their weekly matchups.

That's it for this week folks. Keep an eye out for my Weekend Waiver Wire column every Friday morning over at the Goalie Post for streaming options as it relates to upcoming games this weekend.

Thanks for reading and feel free to follow me on X @mikeouellet9 or BlueSky @mikeouellet9.bsky.social

See you all again next Tuesday!