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The final week of NHL action is almost upon us, and what better way to celebrate than with a contest? The entrant with the most points at the end of the week running from April 5 until April 11 will receive a signed 8x10 photograph of Dallas Star captain and Team Canada gold medalist Brenden Morrow. To reward our loyal DobberHockey members, those with over 1000 posts on the forums will be given a slight advantage in winning. However, if you make a shrewd selection this week, it won’t matter if you don’t even post at all.

Before every NHL regular season comes to an end, I like to reflect on the progression of goaltending from a league wide perspective, as compared to this point last year. It’s a good way to formulate a solid scope of what we might expect in the playoffs, while also taking a snapshot of the goaltending position, one that constantly evolves.

The trade deadline has come and gone in the NHL and the same holds true for most fantasy hockey leagues. For those of you in contention for first place, more time is now spent focusing on which categories you need to improve during the final few weeks, and if there are any players available on the waiver wire that can help you in that regard. For those of you who have no shot at winning this year, now is the time to focus on next season (provided you are in a keeper league, of course). Once trading opens back up in the summer, the build for the future will continue. Trading for unproven prospects and young players is always a risk, but there are ways to mitigate that. (Reading DobberHockey is a great start!) There are several young players who are ready to step in and produce next season in the NHL, and you may be able to get a few of them below value this summer.

The Fantasy Managers’ hunt for talent in Russia goes on. After Viktor Tikhonov’s return people are waiting for Nikita Filatov, but there are other names. There is a big chance that we will finally see Kirill Petrov, and this might be the year for Montreal fans to see Russians actually report, as Maxim Trunev and Alexander Avtsyn may this summer.