Lee, Lehtera can help down stretch in fantasy

With a little more than four weeks remaining in the regular season and fantasy hockey leagues, it's time to take a look at some players that need to be owned in far more leagues for the stretch run. These players could be the difference in winning or losing your league, so add them now before you regret it during the offseason.

Anders Lee, C/LW, New York Islanders – available in 47 percent of Yahoo leagues

In the past 30 days in Yahoo leagues, only Lee's teammate John Tavares, and Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals have been more valuable fantasy forwards. During that time Lee has seven goals, nine assists, a plus-11 rating, 12 penalty minutes, three power-play points and 53 shots on goal. Lee spent a lot of that productive ice time on a line with Tavares, but was reunited on the "Kid line" with Ryan Strome and Brock Nelson on Tuesday, where he found success earlier in the season. Lee is playing the best hockey of his young career and his 23 goals rank second among NHL rookies (behind Ottawa Senators forward Mike Hoffman, who has 24).

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Jori Lehtera, C, St. Louis Blues – available in 75 percent

Lehtera was a hot commodity earlier in the season when he posted 21 points in his first 23 NHL games. But after that fast start, the 27-year-old Finnish forward went on to score 12 points in the following 32 games. Fortunately, Lehtera looks like he's once again flashing that dominance he showed in October and November. He has a goal and four assists in his last three games and has returned to playing on a line with Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz. Overall, the rookie has 38 points in 60 games to go along with a plus-18 rating and 40 penalty minutes.

Kris Russell, D, Calgary Flames – available in 71 percent

NHL.com's Brian Metzer talked about Russell's value on the blue line on Wednesday. With Mark Giordano out for the remainder of the season, Russell, who had three assists on Wednesday night, has the potential to deliver excellent fantasy numbers in the final weeks.

Mikael Granlund, C, Minnesota Wild – available in 86 percent

Granlund has been a popular fantasy sleeper on draft day for the last two seasons but has never quite delivered on his promising talent. The good thing about his disappointing production is that his ownership has dipped down to 14 percent in Yahoo leagues, meaning he's readily available. And Granlund is playing very good hockey of late. Granlund has 12 points (two goals, 10 assists) and a plus-13 rating in his past 13 games. He also had 11 points in 15 games during March last season so there's reason to believe his best is yet to come this season. Granlund can be a dominant producer in the assists and plus/minus categories down the stretch and should be owned in far more leagues.

Niklas Svedberg, G, Boston Bruins – available in 95 percent

Finding a goalie that's available in a lot of leagues at this point in the season isn't realistic. I could tell you to add Cam Talbot or Andrew Hammond, but odds are, they are already owned in your league based on well they have performed recently. So my solution is to advise you to add a backup goalie. And Svedberg has fine numbers for a backup. In 15 games, he has seven wins, a 2.43 goals-against average, .918 save percentage and two shutouts. But the main reason I'm advocating Svedberg is because the Bruins have four back-to-backs remaining on their schedule. That's a lot over a four-week span. And seven of those eight back-to-back games are on the road. With Boston attempting to lock up a postseason berth, there is a chance they look to Tuukka Rask, their No. 1 goalie, to play both games of one or even two of those back-to-back scenarios. However, Rask has played both games of a back-to-back five out of a possible 11 times this season. That leads me to believe there's a good chance the Bruins will turn to Svedberg for most, if not all, of the front or tail end of those games. Expect Svedberg to give you at least four quality starts over the final month of the season.

Chris Stewart, RW, Minnesota Wild – available in 86 percent

Chris Stewart

Right Wing - MIN

GOALS: 13 | ASST: 16 | PTS: 29
SOG: 123 | PIMs: 68 | +/-: -28

Jason Garrison, D, Tampa Bay Lightning – available in 43 percent

Garrison isn't out there in a ton of leagues, but his ownership should be higher than its current 57 percent. He won't help you in the goals category (he hasn't scored since Dec. 4, a span of 36 games), but he can help in assists, plus/minus and power play points. Garrison has 10 assists in his past 18 games; he is a plus-17 over his past 23 games and has recorded a minus rating twice during that time (both times it was a minus-1); and he has three power play points in his past nine games.

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