Welcome fantasy managers to another edition of the Eastern Edge. This week we'll be looking at some fantasy assets that could have an increased role heading into the 2026-2027 NHL campaign while enjoying a solid end to the current campaign.

Let's get to it!

Alexis Lafreniere is currently playing some of the best hockey of his young career, which just happens to coincide with dealing star winger Artemi Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings on February 4th just before the Olympic break.

Since the trade, Lafreniere has been on quite a solid run of play with 19 points in his last 18 games while seeing almost 19 minutes of time on ice a night, including just over three minutes of power play time on the club's top unit. In total, Lafreniere is seeing 71.0% of the team’s time with the man advantage, the highest percentage of his six-year career.

The 24-year-old has had his share of ups and downs along with some rather lofty expectations as a former first overall selection. However, as we all know every player develops at his own pace and Lafreniere is no different. That being said, the native of St-Eustache, Québec is taking full advantage of this opportunity as he continues to push his game to new heights.

The hope is that he can finish out the season strong regardless of the New York Rangers elimination from playoff contention and continue to solidify his current spot on the Rangers top line as well as its top power play unit heading into the 2026-2027 campaign.

Montreal Canadiens rookie goaltender Jakub Dobes is making his case to not only lead the Habs into this year’s postseason as its number one goaltender but into the future as well. Many see fellow rookie netminder Jacob Fowler as the team’s future in goal, however, with Dobes' level of play this year the club can take a somewhat measured approach with Fowler rather than rushing him to the number one spot.

Dobes is enjoying a fantastic year to date having just hit the 25-win mark, but it is his play of late that is garnering a fair bit of attention with a 4-1 record accompanied by a miniscule 1.59 goals against and phenomenal .950 save percentage. He also has a 100% quality start rate and 11.14 goals saved above expected in that stretch. He is a major reason for the Habs' current 5-game winning streak, the team's longest such streak of the campaign.

Montreal's goaltending will be a sought-after commodity heading into the 2026-2027 NHL campaign with both Dobes and Fowler sure to rocket up many draft lists come September.

Washington Capitals prospect defenseman Cole Hutson is making one hell of an impression on team brass and more importantly his teammates since signing his entry level deal a couple of weeks ago.

The Capitals decided to burn the first year of his three-year contract and with good reason as the 19-year-old is starting his NHL career on fire with 5 points in his first five games (all on the power play) while logging just over 17 minutes a night with over two minutes coming on the man advantage. This really should come as no surprise as Hutson produced over a point per game for Boston University over the last two seasons (80PTS in 74GP).

Expectation will need to be tempered with the presence of one Jakob Chychrun manning the team first power play unit which should relegate Hutson to the second unit for the time being. Regardless, the future is very bright for the Caps rookie and he remains a must-have in keeper/dynasty leagues moving forward.

The Philadelphia Flyers refuse to go quietly into the night as the team has been on a serious heater to get themselves right back into the playoff race with only a handful of games remaining. The Flyers are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games played outscoring their opponent by a 33-19 margin. The biggest reason for Philadelphia’s recent surge would be the play of the team's goaltenders who happen to be playing their best hockey at the most opportune time.

Dan Vladar has had a rather impressive campaign in his first year with the Flyers, but he's hit another level recently with a 4-1-1 record accompanied by a tidy 1.96 goals against and .928 save percentage including an 83.0% quality start rate and 3.82 goals saved above expected. Meanwhile, Samuel Ersson has struggled to find his game this year but as they say, better late than never with the big Swede sporting a 5-0 record over his last 5 games played with a sizzling 1.55 goals against and .943 save percentage including a 100% quality start rate and 5.22 goals saved above expected.

It has been an up and down season in the City of Brotherly Love, however, both netminders could find themselves as the perfect Zero G candidates heading into the 2026-2027 campaign with Vladar holding some solid value later in drafts.

Another defenseman I wanted to touch on is Carolina Hurricanes blueliner Alexander Nikishin who is enjoying a fine rookie season in his own right. The burly Russian is stuffing the stat sheet for the Canes and fantasy managers alike with 29PTS in 72GP including 10 points via the man advantage. However, it's his peripheral numbers that are driving his value at the moment with 114 shots on goal, 117 hits and 81 blocked shots over the course of the campaign.

The good news for Nikishin owners is that the only roadblock to more playing time (especially on the power play) is band-aid boy Shayne Gostisbehere who has missed significant time (26 games) due to injury again this year. Nikishin already holds immense value as it relates to peripheral stats (SOG/HITS/BLKS) in banger leagues, once he takes hold of that PP1 spot he'll be fully entrenched as a multi cat beast.

That's it for this week folks. Be sure to keep an eye out for the Weekend Waiver Wire over at the Goalie Post each and every Friday morning for potential streaming options heading into the weekend.

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

(All stats courtesy of: Dobber's Frozen Tools)

See you all again next Tuesday!