Happy Tuesday y'all! If you're still in the playoffs, your teams probably did squat after the snooze fest that was the Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers last night. Unless you are in deep leagues, you probably don't own many players who hit the scoresheet (I picked up Nick Cousins instead of Warren Foegele, booo), but you should have full line ups for Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday this week. We will have two games on Wednesday and Friday and we will end the week with six contests on Sunday. Where you could potentially win your matchup is with the light slate on Wednesday and Friday; the Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers play on both of those nights so finding the right fit could be the difference between getting eliminated and moving on to the next round.

I don't need to say much about the Sabres. As a team, they are firing on all cylinders right now and are receiving production from their entire lineup. Peyton Krebs is seeing minutes five-on-five with Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch and has recorded three assists in his last four games. He is also a little wrecking ball out there, registering 165 hits with a modest 37 blocks on the year. If your league keeps track of those peripheral stats, it is hard to come by someone who contributes like that and plays with some offensive studs this late in the season. Only 4% owned in Yahoo leagues, that number should rise for this week.

Another player on Buffalo that I like for this week is Sam Carrick. Acquired from the Rangers at the trade deadline, Carrick has five goals and one assist in nine games for the Sabres thus far to go along with 13 hits and five blocks. The management team brought in the center for some grit and tenacity in the faceoff dot. If you have a league that keeps track of those banger categories along with faceoffs, he has been over 50% in eight out of the nine contests. Carrick is basically free as he is available in 99% of Yahoo leagues, but if you need some extra meat and potatoes for this week, he is one guy I would look at.

A final Sabre I'll mention here is Zach Benson. The former first round pick has six points in his last five games along with nine shots. He is only 20 years old so the legs should have some extra juice this late in the season and he moved around the lineup on Sunday when the Sabres were trailing the Anaheim Ducks in the third period. With the amount of talent the kid has and options being very limited on Wednesday and Friday, he sticks out as a boom candidate as he is only 6% owned in Yahoo formats. 

On the Rangers side, one player we have talked up a ton lately is Gabe Perreault. Even with JT Miller back in the lineup, it is nice to see he is still receiving that opportunity to play on the top line with Alexis Lafreniere and Mika Zibanejad. He has cooled down since his stretch earlier in the month of 10 points in seven games, but he is still being rewarded with plenty of five-on-five time and some minutes on the powerplay. 

The second Ranger I like, for deeper formats, is Tye Kartye. He specializes in hitting anything that moves and sticking up for his teammates, but is starting to develop some offensive flow with Miller and Conor Sheary. The former Seattle Kraken had an assist last night and is up to nine points in 13 games for the Blueshirts to go along with 44 hits and becoming a key contributor to the team's penalty kill. 

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We are at that time of year where leagues are ending, and many college and European seasons are coming to a close, so we will start to see organizations recalling their prospects who were out on loan or signing their draftees to an entry level contract if management feels the player is ready. For teams that are out of the playoff picture, this is a good time to evaluate talent at the highest stage without repercussions in the standings.

For the Chicago Blackhawks, they have recalled Anton Frondell from loan and signed former first round selection Sacha Boisvert. Head Coach Jeff Blashill has already stated he is going to give these youngsters the opportunity to showcase their abilities, making them some of the most skilled free agents on your wire this late into the year. If you are able to add a youngster of this caliber late in the season who could potentially line up with Connor Bedard, you have to take the chance to stash him. Frondell scored 20 goals in the top Swedish league as a 20-year-old so that is like finding a free $20 bill on the ground!

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Good luck to everyone in the rest of their matchup for this week! If you are looking to plan ahead, the Pittsburgh Penguins play FIVE (!!!) games next week. The line of Geno Malkin, Tommy Novak, and Egor Chinakhov is still together and still humming. We have been banging Chinakhov's drum ever since he was traded to Pittsburgh and he is still widely available on Yahoo. The Russian winger has 11 points in his last nine games and 25 points in 32 total games for the Penguins. 

Hit me up on Twitter/X @LAM1926 if you have any start/sit questions or just want to talk hockey! Have a great week!