Fantasy risers, fallers: Valeri Nichushkin, league winner?

Valeri Nichushkin, LW/RW, Colorado Avalanche

It’s a stressful time to be an Avs fan, surely. Two-thirds of the team’s top line is out, as left winger Gabriel Landeskog is working his way back from a knee injury and center Nathan MacKinnon flew home to have his upper-body injury (likely to his hand) examined. It’s painful in fantasy hockey, too, if you’ve lost one or both when you need them most.

The best thing to do when a star gets hurt is ask, “Who benefits?” Enter Nichushkin. He’s established himself as a crucial defensive forward over the past few seasons, but dating back to his time in Dallas, he was once a promising first-round pick with offensive upside. He has enough raw skill to make a difference now that he’s been thrust into top-line duty. His ice-time totals are eye-popping – he’s regularly playing 20-24 minutes a night right now – and he’s starting to find the scoresheet more, with five goals and eight points in his past seven games. He can be a difference maker as long as he’s holding down a top-line role.

Update: Reports Thursday indicate MacKinnon’s return is imminent. Nichushkin’s fantasy stock remains elevated, however.

Nick Ritchie, LW, Coyotes

When Ritchie signed a two-year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs last summer, he offered potential for "Low-Rent Tom Wilson" status in fantasy. Ritchie had a chance to win a plum top-line assignment and offered 20-goal, 200-hit upside. He flopped in his opportunities with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, lost the No. 1 left wing job to Michael Bunting, and wound up traded to Arizona in the February deal for defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin.

Ritchie since escaping the Toronto spotlight and arriving in warm desert: 16 games, eight goals, 10 points, 30 shots, 48 hits. The extrapolated 82-game pace: 41 goals, 51 points, 154 shots, 246 hits. That’s what we wanted from Ritchie entering the season. The goal production is unsustainable given he’s shot a laughable 26.7 percent as a Coyote, but he should remain useful even when the regression comes. He’s been effective on the third line and second power-play unit, but Clayton Keller’s season-ending injury means a bottom-sixer will elevate to the top six and top power-play unit. Maybe it’ll be Ritchie. Even if it isn’t, he’s shown enough to be helpful in deeper leagues.

Evgenii Dadonov, LW/RW, Golden Knights

Don’t try to understand it. Just appreciate it. Dadonov’s name will now forever be associated with the botched trade-deadline deal in which Vegas missed the fine print on his no-trade list. Since he “returned” to the Golden Knights, however? He’s discovered some magic. He has two goals and five points in three games post-trade debacle. More importantly: He’s topped 17 minutes in each of those games after averaging 15:46 pre-trade. With the Golden Knights still waiting on top wingers Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone to return, Dadonov should continue getting top-line minutes alongside Jack Eichel.

Winning in the fantasy playoffs is often about riding that hot hand. Dadonov has good emotional momentum right now and, from a more pragmatic standpoint, is a strong short-term add because of his elevated role.

FALLERS

William Nylander, LW/RW, Maple Leafs

"William Nylander, Third-Liner" isn’t the worst idea for Toronto. Most championship-caliber teams these days have extremely productive third lines, but the drop down the depth chart was less strategic than it was punitive. Coach Sheldon Keefe publicly called Nylander out for his play last week. He’s still a fixture on the No. 1 power play, so he’s hardly someone you want to drop in all but the shallowest of formats, but he’s not going to help much at even strength while he’s toiling with David Kampf and Pierre Engvall.

Ville Husso, G, Blues

Is it a bump in the road, or is Husso’s hot run simply over? It’s always hard to tell when we’re judging a player with such a small career sample size. From October through the end February, Husso was one of the game’s best goaltenders, full stop. Among 61 goalies who played at least 500 minutes at 5-on-5, Husso trailed only Igor Shesterkin in save percentage (.939) and goals saved above average per 60 (0.68). In the past month, though? The 5-on-5 SV% sits at .913, and the GSAA/60 grades him out below average at -0.10. He’s won three of his past four starts, but his SV% has dropped below .900 in four of his past seven appearances. Part of his recent struggles can be attributed to the Blues’ sagging overall team play, but whose fault it is doesn’t matter for us in fantasy. The bottom line: Husso might be fatiguing with the biggest NHL workload of his career and could cede more starts to Jordan Binnington during the stretch run.

Max Domi, C/LW/RW, Hurricanes

Domi had a bit of fantasy juice in the weeks leading up to being traded from the Columbus Blue Jackets. He picked up eight assists and three power-play points in his final 10 games with the team. Joining a powerhouse Canes squad, however, he’s merely a depth piece. He’s now parked on the fourth line and playing just 10:57 per contest since arriving in Carolina. A team that good simply doesn’t need to use Domi much. He’s a non-factor now, even in deep leagues.