Yahoo Fantasy Hockey: Prepping for your league's playoffs

Dobber launched his fantasy hockey website DobberHockey back in 2005 and has been Puck Daddy's resident fantasy hockey 'expert' since 2009.

Two weeks left in the season and head-to-head leagues are knee deep in playoff matchups. Now is the time to make some hard decisions. To make decisions that feel wrong, but are actually right. Like the decision the Leafs made in late December to start losing every game.

Some pretty big stars are sidelined with injury right now and fantasy owners are handcuffed because these guys are undroppable. But are they really? If they're hogging a roster spot and you're only keeping them because "maybe" they'll be back in a couple of games, reconsider your stance. Let's take a look at a few.

Dougie Hamilton, Boston Bruins - Hamilton will be "re-evaluated in a few days". No thanks. If a few days is only bringing us an evaluation, then you have to factor in a couple of practices after that and then a return. The Bruins have nine games left and he's missing three of them before he's even evaluated. So let's call it four games, and he's back for the last five. Is there another defenseman on the wire playing  nine or even 10 games? Then cut Hamilton loose. It will feel awkward clicking that 'release' button. And then the dreaded 'okay' prompt on the "are you sure?" pop up. But it's not a keeper league, so hit the kill switch.

Brandon Dubinsky, Columbus Blue Jackets - Dubinsky is "day to day" right now, but he's been day to day for a couple of weeks. So we're in that fun position of trying to guess how long the wait will last - could be zero more games, or he could be "day to day" until the season ends. For this decision, it depends on your league categories and the quality of players available on the waiver wire.  While my gut tells me he'll be back next game (Friday and Saturday, back-to-back), I wouldn't hesitate to drop him if a player reasonably close to him in fantasy production is on the wire. Just to be safe.

Niklas Kronwall, Detroit Red Wings - The dreaded day-to-day tag is back and it's attached to the veteran Swede. In this case we can be fairly comfortable that Kronwall is returning, given that he missed the last game as a precaution. Hang onto him.

James Neal, Nashville Predators - Neal has already missed five games and he's missing the next two for sure. The other six? That's up in the air but if I were to guess, it would be to get into two or three games before the playoffs. Either way, you have to drop him as there are too many similar forwards out there who can produce in nine games what he'd do in three to six.

Patric Hornqvist, Pittsburgh Penguins - Hornqvist has missed four games and will miss Thursday's contest as well. Prior to the injury, he was producing very well. His status for the weekend is unclear so if you can wait on your decision until you hear about Saturday than do so. If he misses Saturday, then he'll probably miss Sunday and then he's looking at six games. At that point, let him go if there's a reasonable replacement.

Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins - Never let him go, ever. Worth keeping active even if he's looking at one game in the coming week. Because we all know what he can do. But Malkin is expected back this weekend.

Dustin Byfuglien, Winnipeg Jets - I get the sense that Thursday's game will be a last-minute decision on his return. And the Jets, of course, are in a dogfight for the playoffs which would obviously push an earlier return. But then they don't play until Sunday, so I feel pretty comfortable with the idea that he'll be back for that one.

Anyway, since some of you will be dropping some big names, I'll expand my usual Waiver Wire section and skip right to them…

The Wire...

Mostly short-term grabs here, but as always some potential steals... and besides - "short-term" is all we have left now.

Brett Connolly, Boston Bruins - Connolly hopes to get into a few regular season games and I think he'll surprise. I was a big fan of Boston's deadline acquisition of him and pretty disappointed when he suffered a broken finger right away. This is a better pickup a week from now, so stick him in the back of your mind.

Mathieu Perreault, Winnipeg Jets - Perreault was enjoying a breakout season when in mid-February he suffered a serious lower-body injury that was to keep him out for six or seven weeks. It's been a shade over five weeks now and he's been practicing this week.

Patrick Eaves, Dallas Stars (3-2-2-4, plus-4, 3 Hits, 9 SOG) - Eaves enjoyed success on the top line before getting injured. He's back there now, though not for the playoffs. But that should still mean a decent groin injury output over the final eight games.

Kevin Hayes, New York Rangers (8-2-5-7, plus-5, 4 PIM, 15 SOG) - Hayes has given the Rangers some excellent scoring depth from the third line and his production has slowly improved as the season progresses.

Ryan Ellis, Nashville Predators (9-2-4-6, plus-1, 10 Hits, 9 BLKS, 19 SOG) - There's a small risk of a healthy scratch risk here thanks to the unnecessary acquisition of Cody Franson. But in a way, that threat looming over his head is pushing Ellis to do more.

Drew Stafford, Winnipeg Jets (9-5-6-11, plus-6, 4 PIM, 19 SOG) - It's hard to believe that he's still available in 84% of leagues out there given this lengthy hot streak. He's flying right now, playing with the big line, and seeing a ton of power-play time.

Benoit Pouliot, Edmonton Oilers (7-3-5-8, plus-3, 2 PIM, 17 SOG, 3 PPPts) - If Pouliot can stay healthy next year I think he can be a 50-point player. Maybe more if he can stick on this red-hot line with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle. The chemistry he has with those two frees up Taylor Hall to work some magic with Connor McDavid other skilled forwards on the team.

Brian Gionta, Buffalo Sabres (5-2-3-5, minus-2, 20 SOG, 4 PPPts) - Gionta hasn't posted a points-per-game average below 0.49 since the first lockout. This latest streak is pushing him back up towards that threshold (currently 0.40). A must-own in these final days in leagues that count shots on goal.

Charlie Coyle, Minnesota Wild (6-3-3-6, plus-5, 17 Hits, 7 SOG) - The line of Coyle, Thomas Vanek and Justin Fontaine is flying right now, though this fact may have been lost in all the wonderful Dubie goodness.

Cam Atkinson, Columbus Blue Jackets (8-3-4-7, plus-1, 10 PIM, 15 SOG, 4 PPPts) - Atkinson may have been disappointing offensively this year, but he's taking a ton of shots and lately he's been more aggressive. He's posted nearly half of his season-to-date PIM total in just these eight games.

For more fantasy hockey tips, take a gander at DobberHockey. And while you’re at it, follow Dobber’s fantasy hockey musings on Twitter.

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