Scott McLaughlin was at Boston's practice on Thursday and reported that rookie James Hagens was lined up with a bottom-6 jersey, not a red fifth-line jersey, and was skating next to Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov. This indicates that Hagens will be in the lineup for Game 1 against Buffalo.  

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The Montreal Canadiens will be without Noah Dobson to start the postseason, but Jean-François Chaumont reported that Alex Carrier was at Montreal's practice on Thursday. Carrier himself may not be fantasy-relevant in most formats, but it does provide an impediment to David Reinbacher getting in the lineup. Assuming everyone besides Dobson is healthy, it's down to Reinbacher or Arber Xhekaj for the sixth spot on the blue line.

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According to Jameson Olive, at Florida's exit interviews, General Manager Bill Zito said both Aleksander Barkov and Anton Lundell may play in the World Championships in a few weeks. Fantasy managers with concerns about lingering injury issues should feel a bit better about that.

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A positive update on Colorado's Nazem Kadri:

Bednar says everyone will be ready to go for the postseason, including Manson and Kadri (assuming no bad luck injuries tonight)

— Aarif Deen (@runwriteAarif) April 16, 2026

It seems likely that Kadri goes back to the top power-play unit when he returns, too, so fantasy managers will want to circle his name for their drafts. (Kadri wasn't on the power play at that practice, so it's something to keep an eye on.)

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Robert Thomas scored a hat trick against Utah as the St. Louis Blues topped the Mammoth 5-3. Thomas Finished the season with 12 goals and 27 points over his final 20 games as he recovered very well after a poor start to the season. Defenceman Philip Broberg had an assist, two shots, a block, and two PIMs in the win. He had 18 points in his final 27 games, which works out to a 55-point pace over 82 games.

Joel Hofer gave up three goals on 23 shots but held on for the win. After American Thanksgiving, Hofer posted a .921 save percentage and 22 wins in 33 starts. Among the 30 goalies with at least 30 starts in that span, he led in save percentage and goals against average, finishing tied for sixth in wins.

Lawson Crouse had a goal, two shots, and four hits in the loss. He tied his career-high in goals this season (24) and posted a six-year high in hits (212).

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Anaheim won their final game of the season, defeating Nashville 5-4. That, along with other results last night, locked Anaheim into the third spot in the Pacific division and gives them the Edmonton Oilers in the first round.

Jackson LaCombe had a nice game with a one goal on six shots while Mikael Granlund added a trio of assists.

Steven Stamkos posted two goals, one assist, three shots, and two blocks in the loss. He had a big bounce-back year with 42 goals and 66 points in 82 games.

Filip Forsberg scored twice, giving him 40 goals on the season for th second time in his career. It was his third straight season with at least 30 goals, 70 points, 3.0 shots per game, and 1.5 hits per game.

Juuse Saros gave up five goals on 40 shots in the loss.

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San Jose finished their season on a high note with a 6-1 win in Winnipeg. Macklin Celebrini managed a goal, two assists, and three shots in the victory. According to Hockey Reference, he becomes the second teenager in NHL history to manage 40 goals and 70 assists in a single season. The other was Wayne Gretzky in 1979-80.

William Eklund had a goal and two assists while Will Smith had one of each. Smith finishes with 59 points in 69 games, a 70-point pace over a full season.

Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 25 of 26 shots in the win. He winds up with an .896 save percentage and 2.87 GAA for the year. Not a bad campaign.

The Sharks wind up with 86 points, a 34-point increase from last year. The future is very bright.

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Los Angeles lost 3-1 in Calgary on Thursday night, and that locked them into the second Wild Card seed and a first-round matchup with the Colorado Avalanche.

Zayne Parekh scored in the win, giving him 7 points over his final 14 games.

Quinton Byfield scored in the loss for the Kings. That gives him a career-high 24 goals on the year, and his first season with at least 20 even-strength goals.

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Zach Hyman returned to Edmonton's lineup on Thursday, but it was Matt Savoie that stole the headlines with a hat trick on six shots in the Oilers' 6-1 win over Vancouver. He had 9 goals, 10 assists, and 59 shots in 24 games after the Olympic break. Being able to contribute offensively gives this Oilers team another important scoring depth dimension.

Connor McDavid had four assists while Evan Bouchard had three. McDavid winds up the league leader with points (138) and assists (90) while Bouchard led all defencemen in points (95) by a wide margin (Zach Werenski next-closest at 81).

Connor Ingram stopped 11 of 12 shots in the win. Ingram's final 15 starts of the season (post-Trade Deadline) saw him manage a .909 save percentage. He has quietly had a solid season for Edmonton.

Vancouver officially ends the season with a -100 goal differential. They have quite an offseason ahead of them.

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Scott Wedgewood ended his best season of his career with a 22-save shutout of the Seattle Kraken as Colorado won 2-0. His .921 save percentage and 2.02 goals against average led the league among all goalies with at least 40 starts this season.

Cale Makar had an assist in the win. It means he finishes one point shy of 80 on the season, but it does give him his six straight season of at least a point-per-game rate.

On February 1^st, Seattle was 26-19-9. They went 8-18-2 over their next 28 games.

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My Ramblings over the last couple of weeks have been playoff previews of teams as they've qualified for the postseason:

• First Ramblings: Carolina, Colorado, Dallas, and Minnesota
• Second Ramblings: Tampa Bay, Montreal, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh
• Third Ramblings: Ottawa and Boston
• Fourth Ramblings: Vegas, Edmonton, and Anaheim

Today, we'll finish the playoff preview by reviewing Philadelphia, Utah, and Los Angeles. Data is from Natural Stat Trick or Evolving Hockey, and is current as of Thursday, April 16^th. Both Utah and Los Angeles played Thursday night, so some things may have changed.

For much more fantasy playoff goodness, head to the Dobber Shop and grab a copy of Dobber's 2026 Interactive Playoff Draft List!

Philadelphia Flyers

Few teams in the NHL are heading into the postseason with the hot streak the Flyers have. Over the last 25 games of the season, they went 18-6-1, good for a .740 pts%, which was second in the league behind only Buffalo. They did it through team defence as their rate of shots against per minute (5^th) and goals against per minute (2^nd) were among the league's best. What is important there is it's an across-the-board effort because not even one of their regular defencemen was on the ice for at least 25 shots against per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 over their last 25 games. They were 1 of 4 teams to have six defencemen skate at least 200 minutes with under 25 shots against per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 in that 25-game span:

The Achilles' heel remains the penalty kill, as they had the sixth-highest goals against rate at 4-on-5 in that 25-game span, but the team defence was otherwise great.

The Flyers can prevent goals, but scoring goals is another matter. They scored at least four goals just 28 times this season. The only other playoff team with under 30 games scoring at least four goals is Los Angeles (per Hockey Reference). Generally, the Flyers have needed good team defence and goaltending because they haven't been able to rack up the goals.

The question is whether the return of Tyson Foerster, addition of Porter Martone, and late-season hot streak of Matvei Michkov changes that. Since the start of the 2023-24 season, Foerster has scored 0.95 goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5. That is tied for 50^th in the league (minimum of 1500 minutes) and the rate of a mid-level top-line forward. Martone has exploded since arriving in Philadelphia with 4 goals, 6 assists, and 32 shots in 9 games, and Michkov ended the season with 18 points in his final 16 appearances. The Flyers may have struggled to put up a lot of goals this season, but if Foerster can score at a rate of a mid-ter top-line forward, Martone has anywhere close to the impact he's shown so far, and Michkov produces close to his post-Olympic rate, today's Flyers roster is not the same as it was a month ago. They have three lines that can score in a season where they sometimes only had one.

Philadelphia could very well get past Pittsburgh in the first round, but it's fair to wonder how deep they can go because the winner of Carolina/Ottawa waits for them in the second round. Fantasy managers believing in a Flyers run to at least the Conference Final will have their pick of skaters like Martone, Travis Konecny, Trevor Zegras, and Owen Tippett. Ease of stacking could make them appealing, but getting at least three rounds out of them will be a tall order. Then again, it was a tall order to get to the playoffs given their standing at the Olympic break, and here they are.

Utah Mammoth

Utah is locked into the Pacific Division bracket of the playoffs, and that's important because they avoid the likes of Colorado, Minnesota, and Dallas until the Conference Final. On the Pacific side, the only team they really struggled against this season was Edmonton:

Edmonton has injury concerns around Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman (even if Hyman returned for Game 82), so Utah could catch a break against the one team that has given them a lot of trouble in their potential playoff bracket.

At time of writing, the Mammoth have a +30 goal differential, tied for 8^th in the league, and by far the highest of any playoff team in the Pacific bracket (Vegas is next at +15). It doesn't make them an overwhelming favourite to win any matchup, but as the Ottawa Senators are a Wild Card team that is likely much better than their playoff seeding shows, the same goes for Utah.

Stars may be aligning for Utah to go on a Conference Final run, and what is a big part of their strength is scoring balance. This season, they are 1 of 3 teams to have at least six forwards with 20+ goals and three defencemen with 5+ goals (excluding traded players):

Depending on what the Utah lineup looks like, they could go into Game 1 with J.J. Peterka – who has three straight seasons with at least 25 goals – on the third line. That kind of depth can be the difference in a series against a team like Edmonton.

Perhaps the Mammoth becomes a popular dark horse in fantasy drafts, but that is for good reason. They have a 40-goal scorer, two 30-goal scorers, and six 20-goal scorers. They also have a power play that is light years more productive with Logan Cooley than without him. Once top teams like Colorado, Tampa Bay, Dallas, Minnesota, and Carolina are rostered, Utah should be at-or-near the top of the list for secondary stacks. Despite their seeding, they might be the best team on their side of the playoff bracket and have lots of depth options to comb through.

Los Angeles Kings

Whatever happened Thursday night will have a big impact on how we view Los Angeles' viability as a team to target in the second half of fantasy playoff drafts. If they're in the Central bracket, their road to a potential Conference Final appearance runs through Colorado and one of Dallas/Minnesota. If they're in the Pacific bracket, their prospects improve.

Los Angeles fired Head Coach Jim Hiller on March 1^st. From that point forward, they had a +4 goal differential in 22 games as opposed to a -20 goal differential across their first 59 games of the season. That is a drastic turnaround, but there are two catches here.

The first catch is Los Angeles' schedule. Per Frozen Tools, the Kings had the easiest schedule in the league from March 1^st onward with an opponent points percentage of .532. In those 22 games, only eight came against playoff teams. When looking at the 22 games, and how the Kings fared against the playoff teams and non-playoff teams, the results could not be more drastic:

They beat the teams they're supposed to beat, and that's great. They also got annihilated against teams of the calibre they'll face in the postseason, and that is a big concern.

The second catch is the goaltending. Darcy Kuemper had a strong start to the season but fell apart after returning from injury in early January. The opposite has been true of Anton Forsberg, who has vastly out-performed Kuemper in calendar 2026:

As with the rest of the team, Forsberg struggled against playoff teams, even during this positive stretch, but if he can play like this in the first round, it gives the Kings a huge boost in net.

Los Angeles is a top-heavy scoring team. They largely consist of two scoring lines and Brandt Clarke. It makes them easy to target in fantasy drafts. The good news for fantasy managers believing in this team is they'll be wide open to stack in the latter half of fantasy playoff drafts. The bad news is that this is a team with a poor track record against the upper-half of the league, and it gives them a big uphill climb that only gets steeper if they wound up in the Central Division bracket.