Hutch's Hockey: Showtime

This is the part of the season you spend the better part of six months building up for. The fantasy playoffs are here in some head-to-head leagues and just a week or two away in others, depending on how many teams make the cut. The trade deadlines, both real and virtual, are in the past and the dust is settling. It's just you, your roster, your opponent and the waiver wire. 

With the trading avenue closed and time running short to make an impact, the waiver wire is the only place you can look to improve your roster. I'm worried less at this time of year with sustainable production -- if a player has been consistently above average all season, the chances of them dropping off now are pretty low. Save those worries for your 2025-26 preparation. Right now, you want anyone who can score on your roster. 

This is also a good time to find a category specialist, specifically in deeper leagues where the scoring depth on defense has largely been exhausted. Ideally, a player will help in more than one area, but you want to have some targets available if you find yourself chasing a close category late in the week. 

I'll start the week with a look at Dylan Cozens, who has quickly adjusted well to the Senators after he was traded from the Sabres. The center has two goals, two assists, 13 shots on net, 23 hits and a plus-5 rating over five contests since the trade. The Senators' top six was largely interchangeable prior to the deadline, but it now feels like a team where each line knows its role. Cozens is alongside Drake Batherson and David Perron on the second line, a trio that can play a physical game while offering enough scoring pop to keep opposing defenses from solely focusing on the top line. 

Mackie Samoskevich has made great progress since the start of the year, when he was just scraping by as the last forward in the Panthers' lineup. Over the last couple of months, he's routinely seen at least middle-six usage, and he exceeded 20 minutes of ice time for the first time in Saturday's 3-1 loss to the Canadiens. Since the 4 Nations break, he has five goals and three assists over 11 contests. Brad Marchand (upper body) could be back in a week or so, while Matthew Tkachuk (groin) is out until the playoffs. Samoskevich has earned his second-line role as well as a hearty share of power-play time. Combine that with a physical edge (31 hits in 11 games), and you've got multi-category reliability down the stretch. Some players hit a rookie wall, but that's not the case with this 22-year-old forward. 

Most of the time in fantasy, a player that's receiving almost nothing for power-play time is not even an option in standard formats. Power plays are the best source of offense, and offense is king in this game. Aliaksei Protas is one of the rare exceptions in that regard, as he's put together a 29-goal, 59-point effort over 67 contests while seeing just eight seconds of power-play time per game. He's been a beast, earning 54 of his points at even strength. The other big area he can help in is plus-minus rating, where he's a league-leading plus-41 on the campaign. Don't fret -- he's not coasting on a strong start, as he has nine points and a plus-12 rating over eight appearances in March. The 24-year-old still has some areas to work on, but he's one of the most reliable forwards on the Capitals' roster. 

Pavel Dorofeyev entered Sunday on a four-game point streak, during which he had three goals and two assists before Vegas got shut out by Detroit. I've mentioned him before, but it's worth repeating where he stands -- he's a second-line winger who joins the Golden Knights' top power-play unit. Since the start of January, he has 14 goals and 23 points, including 10 on the power play, over 30 contests. He's essentially replaced most of Jonathan Marchessault's role from last year -- Dorofeyev has the goals, points, power-play production and shot volume, but he doesn't hit nearly as much. 

I'll continue to hype up Jared Spurgeon as long as he continues to chip in a little offense and a lot of blocked shots. The 35-year-old defenseman is holding up his end of the bargain with six points and 25 blocks over 11 contests since the 4 Nations break. He's firmly in a top-four role and on the second power-play unit, which is where he's earned four of his points in that span. The Wild have also been far from a juggernaut in that span, scoring just 21 goals over those 11 games, so it's not like points are plentiful currently. I like the simplicity in his game -- he'll shore up a lot of areas, and you don't have to worry about his ice time slipping. He's not elite, but the last defenseman on your roster doesn't need to be. 

Tyler Toffoli keeps humming for the Sharks, with four goals and three assists over eight games in March. He's even a plus-1 for the month, though his minus-17 rating for the season paints a clearer picture of what it's like to be a key player on a bad team. Toffoli's offense is dialed in, especially as he continues to bolster Macklin Celebrini's Calder Trophy bid. Toffoli can record power-play production and shots in a high volume, though just one of his points in March has come with the man advantage. 

If you want to get on the rookie bandwagon in San Jose, take a look at Will Smith's recent work. A trip to his old stomping grounds in Boston seems to have lit the fuse for his rocket this season. Since that Jan. 20 game, he has seven goals, 13 assists, 43 shots on net and a plus-6 rating over 20 appearances. Smith won't steal Celebrini's thunder this year, but the future looks bright for the Sharks. Smith had his minutes managed early on but has been full-go since returning from an upper-body injury in early December. The offense is there, and he's widely available with a rostered rate at 15 percent in Yahoo as of Sunday afternoon. You'll never get him on your roster this cheap again. 

Quinn Hughes has been back from his undisclosed injury for three games, but Filip Hronek isn't slowing down. Hronek has a goal and seven assists over his last six contests, including two helpers in three games since Hughes returned. The Canucks aren't playing them together all the time, instead having Tyler Myers and Marcus Pettersson interchange a bit to create more of a top-four defense that the team will lean on heavily in the playoff push. Hronek is arguably the most well-rounded of the four -- Hughes' offense is miles better, no doubt. Still, Hronek would be over a 40-point pace had he not lost time to a lower-body injury this season, and he's capable of chipping in a couple of hits and a blocked shot per contest, as well as PIM and power-play production, with offense that Myers and Pettersson just can't match. 

In terms of a specialist on the blue line, there's Martin Fehervary. His big category is blocked shots, where he has a career-high 134 and counting this season, but he's also over 100 hits (118) and has a plus-18 rating. On top of that, he's enjoyed a career year with 19 points through 67 outings, including four points over eight games in March. Fehervary is the kind of player who is on the radar in deep leagues, but bump him up as a streaming option in standard formats if you can benefit from what he does best. 

I'm a little less excited for Darren Raddysh, but his production lately warrants a discussion. He has two goals and six assists over his last six contests, but he was also -- somewhat inexplicably -- a healthy scratch once in that span after a pair of games in which he went a combined minus-5. The Lightning haven't hesitated to dress seven defensemen to keep him active, and he has often seen power-play usage when he's in the lineup. Raddysh has a talent on offense with 31 points over 57 outings, two shy of matching his 33-point breakout from 82 contests in 2023-24. He won't chip in much elsewhere. He's likely to get pigeonholed as a power-play specialist later in his career, but the Lightning have occasionally deployed him a top-four role, so he just needs to limit the defensive mistakes to offer decent value. 

I'll admit, I wasn't sold that Spencer Knight would return good rest-of-season value when he was initially traded to the Blackhawks at the start of the month. My initial concern was the three-goalie situation, but that was resolved by Petr Mrazek getting traded to the Red Wings. Then Arvid Soderblom stopped nine of 15 shots in Saturday's loss to the Canucks -- after Knight had started the previous two games. At this point, Knight is the Blackhawks' best option in goal, and for a team that will want to develop a winning culture with so many young players on the roster, look for them to play spoilers down the stretch. Knight is 2-2-0 with nine goals allowed on 125 shots (.928 save percentage) over his first four games with the team. He's clearly the goalie of their future, and the future is now. A little goal support will go a long way for wins, but Knight has the skills that Mrazek and Soderblom don't have to keep games competitive even if the result goes the wrong way. 

Any time travelers from January will be a bit confused to see Tristan Jarry's name in this column, but I'm willing to explain it. For the record, I'm not sold on adding Jarry to my teams, but he's posted a four-game winning streak since getting his chance in the crease March 9 versus the Wild. Of the four teams he's defeated, the worst was St. Louis, which is on the bubble in the Western Conference. Jarry has allowed nine goals on 129 shots (.930 save percentage) during the streak. I'm not drawing any conclusions, but it looks like he's genuinely worked some things out during his time in the AHL. That's not unheard of for any player, though it tends to be rare with goalies in the middle years of their career. What I'm saying here is fantasy managers could do worse. Stream him Tuesday against the Islanders or even Friday against the Blue Jackets and see if he can keep it up -- though a two-game swing through Florida and Tampa Bay after that gives me plenty of cause for concern. 

Overall, this is showtime for fantasy hockey. The next month will determine how you feel about your season and your efforts to manage your teams. You won't win them all -- no one can predict make-or-break performances from the players on your roster or on your opponent's side. Take the next week or two to really make sure your team is composed of the players you want. Don't be afraid to let go of anyone you've been holding onto for a while in hopes of a surge. Players that are heating up now are better for you than someone who could do it when it's too late to matter. Good luck with whichever stage of the season you're in, and I'll be back next week to help position you for a strong playoff run.