This week on Frozen Tool Forensics we are wrapping up the last few games of the regular season. If your league happens to go through the rest of the season, here are some players who might be able to help you close out the season.

For the player list below, I ran a custom schedule report to find the teams that play the most as of Friday, April 10th. There are nine teams who play four times between April 10th and April 16th. We are looking at Calgary, Colorado, Los Angeles, San Jose, Seattle, St. Louis, Utah, Vancouver, and Winnipeg. Based on those teams I reviewed the hot list from the Frozen Tools homepage. Some of those players were obvious stars, so this group was a trimmed list based on guys who we haven't spent much time talking about to this point.

Data is as of the morning of April 9^th.

First up is Joel Farabee. In six games from March 26th to April 7th, Farabee has six points, is averaging two shots per game, and is averaging almost 17 minutes a night. The downside is no current power-play time. That will certainly limit his upside over his final four games. He has been lining up with Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman, which is a fine depth role, but probably doesn't do much for his ceiling. This is by far the most productive stretch of Farabee's season, and while he has had flashes of relevance in prior seasons the underlying numbers don't seem to suggest this is something new and interesting. On the other hand, it just has to last four more games.

Olli Maatta has been great since he arrived in Calgary. A big part of that is a big bump in time on ice. He has 22 minutes on average, and 12 points over 16 games. His shot rates still aren't great with 20 shots over that time period. Compare that to his 19 games in Utah where he had one point and averaged about 12 minutes a night. I do not think this point pace will continue, but with over 22 minutes a night in Calgary he looks like a much better shot to take to close out the season than in Utah.

Sam Malinski put up eight points in eight games from March 24th to April 7^th, largely because his deployment took a major bump with Cale Makar getting injured. Malinski did spend some time on the top power play, but overall has mostly seen less than a twenty percent share of time. He did put an excellent two goal and one assist game immediately validating those who took a chance on him with Makar's injury. It hasn't been all gangbusters, but as long as he is getting the extra deployment, being on Colorado should be enough to get a few points. 

This is most definitely the first time Jared Wright has been mentioned in this column. He is a rookie with only 18 games to his name, but he has gone three straight games with a point. He is in the bottom six and only getting 12 or 13 minutes a night so definitely won't be a consistent scoring threat, but as a guy who isn't really rostered, but happens to be putting up points we had to share.

Alex Wennberg is on a great run. Since March 10th, Wennberg has 14 points in 14 games. He is still not shooting (only 18 shots over that span) but is getting over 19 minutes a night and lining up on the top power play. He has not been with Macklin Celebrini at even strength, but is on the power play and has five power-play points over that same span. That should definitely be enough to make Wennberg worth a roster spot to close out the season with San Jose pushing for a playoff spot down the stretch.

Similarly, Kaapo Kakko hasn't been shooting much, but has been producing quite consistently. In fact, in his 11 games between March 17th and April 7th he has no games with more than one shot, and seven of those games he has no shots at all. It might be surprising to learn then that he has 14 points in 12 games. There was a stretch where he put up eight assists and four shots. It certainly isn't common to see a player double up their shots with assists. There are four goals in that stretch which seems very unsustainable, but he has been spending a lot of time with Chandler Stephenson and Bobby McMann and so getting in on a lot of McMann goals. The lines have been juggled recently in Seattle so there is no guarantee what you will get out of Kakko, but it seems like an assist or two is possible in his remaining games.

Dylan Holloway has been on a bit of a heater for a while – really since the Olympic break as part of the top line in St. Louis with Robert Thomas and Jimmy Snuggerud. To put some numbers to it, since February 26th, Holloway has 26 points over the course of 20 games. Add three and a half shots and over a hit per game to that and Holloway has been a goldmine of fantasy value. He is likely taken in any serious league, but his production all looks strong, and this bodes very well for next year (pending any big shake up in St. Louis over the off season).

Filip Hronek was a bit of a dagger against me in my fantasy finals matchup, putting up five points in the beginning of April, and eight points in eight games from March 19th to April 4th. Point per game Hronek is not likely to sustain, but he is consistently getting over 26 minutes a night, putting up a decent peripheral floor, and has been very involved in what offense Vancouver has been able to generate.

That is all for this week.

Do your part to support organizations working to make hockey for everyone.

Professional Women's Hockey League

Hockey is For Everyone

Black Girl Hockey Club

Athletes for Hope