Well, we've finally hit April and both the NHL regular season, and most fantasy hockey seasons are winding down to the end here shortly. There's still plenty of intrigue left to watch in terms of playoff implications. Out west, both the divisional playoff spots, as well as the wild cards are largely undecided and we will undoubtedly be going down to the wire to determine the playoff spots. This is great for fantasy implications because teams will need to be going full right down until the end of the season. In Eastern Conference, the playoff teams are all but locked in, barring any crazy or unlikely comebacks from one of the middling teams in the standings. That being said though, there's still a lot to be decided in terms of seeding and home ice advantage, so that adds some appeal. 

This week I am going to recommend a couple players who you might be able to drop for the sake of diversifying your lineup to get yourself a little extra value in your final weeks of competition. Whether that be finding a guy who has four starts next week, or hunting down specialty players who can get you a surplus of one or two stats, I find that streamer option to be super valuable especially down the final stretch of the season. 

Drops

Erik Karlsson

It's been another injury-plagued season for Swedish defenseman Karlsson. It's unfortunate too, because we've seen flashes of a return to form for Karlsson this season. Ever since donning a Sharks jersey, Karlsson has just not lived up to his previous standards set back in Ottawa. There was a five-year stretch where Karlsson was one of the premiere blueliners in the NHL, but since coming to the west coast, he's been marred with injuries and inconsistency. Also, somewhat predictably, Brent Burns and him have cannibalized each other’s performances a decent amount as well. 

Despite missing a large chunk of time this season, in 44 games the Swede has posted ten goals and 21 assists for 31 total points. While that's not too shabby, he's cooled off as of late, only posting points in two of his last ten contests.  The floundering Sharks don't have much to play for down the stretch, and I would much rather find a d-man who can provide me with more of a variety of production. Karlsson has never been a big hit producer, so for me, now is the time to cut bait and try and optimize your lineup for either the end of the season or the playoffs.

Brock Boeser

Boeser and the Vancouver Canucks are all but done for as far as this season is concerned. While they aren't mathematically eliminated, it's extremely unlikely the Canucks will sneak into a wild card spot at this point. The Canucks were a team I was pretty high on going into this season, and needless to say things didn't quite pan out how I thought they would. They never really took that next step and as a result, Travis Green got fired as coach earlier in the season. While Bruce Boudreau provided a nice boost in the early going, the Canucks have sputtered out down the stretch a bit. To me, Boeser serves as a microcosm of the Canucks season as a whole.

Through 63 games, Boeser has 19 goals and 19 assists for 38 points in total. These numbers are underwhelming to me, but despite that he is still owned in 67% of Yahoo leagues. To me that's a real head scratcher. His offense has regressed, and he doesn't really provide much in the peripheral stats outside of a pretty healthy shot rate of 2.8 per game. On top of that, he doesn't have dual-wing eligibility so that makes it even harder to justify getting him into the lineup. 

You could drop Boeser at this point and find a number of short-term solutions, whether that be riding a hot hand or finding someone with some extra games in the coming weeks. 

Adds

Alexander Kerfoot

Kerfoot of the Toronto Maple Leafs has quietly been one of the team's best two-way forwards this season.  Despite getting no time on the team's man advantage, Kerfoot has still scored 11 goals and added 35 assists for 46 points in 67 games to date. The numbers don't exactly jump off the page at you, but they are respectable, and rostering Kerfoot comes with a couple of extra perks to boot.

First off, on Yahoo he has triple eligibility at forward so you can literally slot him in at any of the three forward positions which makes him super flexible and easier to get in your lineup on busier nights. On top of his respectable offensive numbers, he should be good to get you about a hit per game as well. He's been playing alongside John Tavares as of late too, which bodes well for his offensive numbers.

He is widely available in most fantasy formats. Yahoo has him at just 14% rostered, while on Fantrax he is owned by 36%, and ESPN has him at 7%. The Leafs play four games next week, so there should be ample opportunity for Kerfoot to make an impact for your team if you have room for him.

Evgenii Dadonov

It's been a curious couple of weeks for Russian winger Dadonov. After the whole trade debacle that saw him get traded to the Anaheim Ducks on deadline day, only for the trade to be voided days later, Dadonov has returned to Vegas and has been one of the hottest forwards in the past week or so. Vegas is also fighting for their playoff lives right now, so that's some extra incentive for the players there to do well.

If you look at his entire body of work this season, Dadonov has had a bit of an underwhelming season with just 17 goals and 17 assists for 34 points in 66 games. He was one of my picks before the season started to have a strong year, so that was a miss on my end for sure. Though if you zoom in and just look at what he's done as of late, it's a great time to add him and ride the hot hand. He has ten points in his last six games and is riding shotgun with Jack Eichel on the team's top line. If you need offense, this may be a great short-term solution. On top of being on the first line, he is also on the top power play unit, so there's a ton of opportunity here.

Dadonov can be had in most leagues, but you may want to be diligent on this one. He is still just 24% rostered on Yahoo, but that number is climbing quickly right now. On Fantrax he is 35% rostered, but ESPN he just surpassed 50 percent owned, so people are starting to snatch him up.  He will be strictly leaned on for offense, but he can also add some hits here and there also.

Well, that wraps up another week. Hopefully everyone has their lineups running optimally as we head into the last few weeks here. For those of you who are into multiple sports for fantasy, best of luck to those in fantasy baseball leagues this weekend! I'd write up a column for baseball draft sleepers, but that might be best served for another time! Until next week, cheers!