The NHL’s regular season is winding down, with some fan bases now squarely focused on playoff matchups ahead of the postseason kicking off April 20 and others on positioning for the June 28 and 29 draft.
But with teams having between five and seven games remaining, there’s plenty of reason to keep an eye on what’s happening on the ice as well as in the standings.
Whether it’s a prospect getting an NHL look or increased minutes to see where he’s at heading into the offseason or a veteran trying to shore up a spot in a playoff rotation, here is the player for each team who should be getting a good look over the final two weeks.
Anaheim Ducks
Olen Zellweger: Lukáš Dostál is already getting a long look, having received the bulk of starts in goal over the past few weeks. And we’d say Cutter Gauthier except he’s still trying to win an NCAA title with Boston College and isn’t signed yet. So the answer here is Zellweger, who was focused on his defensive game when he was brought up from AHL San Diego for good and is now diving into the offensive side that made him so dynamic at lower levels. The 20-year-old followed up scoring his first NHL goal by having a three-assist night this week against Calgary in a return to his hometown. Let’s see if Greg Cronin will give him (and the other youngsters) some first-unit duty on the power play. Zellweger and Pavel Mintyukov are showing that they are the future of the Anaheim defense. — Eric Stephens
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Arizona Coyotes
Josh Doan: After he scored 46 points in 62 games for AHL Tucson, the Coyotes promoted Doan near the end of March. He made a splashy NHL debut: two goals, including the winner, in a 6-2 victory over the Blue Jackets. He followed that up with a two-assist performance against the Predators, had an assist in Game 3 against the Rangers and then finally came up dry in Game 4 against the Canucks. The Coyotes are managing Doan’s NHL transition carefully — he played 14 AHL games last season after completing his sophomore year at Arizona State — but he’s 22, physically maturing, and looks capable of playing more than the third-line minutes he’s getting now (13:31 per game through Thursday) as the Coyotes play out the string. — Eric Duhatschek
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Boston Bruins
James van Riemsdyk: There’s no questioning van Riemsdyk’s touch around the net, especially on the power play. Coaches like to have veterans like the 34-year-old in the lineup during the playoffs. But van Riemsdyk has struggled to keep up with the pace of play. There’s no sense in keeping him in the lineup if he can’t get to where he needs to be. The stretch run will determine whether he can get his timing right for Game 1. — Fluto Shinzawa
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Buffalo Sabres
Zach Benson: The Sabres have already promoted JJ Peterka to the top line, so they’re getting a look at what he could be as their top left wing. Another look worth experimenting with more is Benson on the power play. He’s been a consistent middle-six presence all season and has the instincts to impact the game away from the puck. Benson has gotten more power play time and that should continue so he can keep building his scoring confidence. — Matthew Fairburn
Calgary Flames
Matthew Coronato: If the young forward is going to be with the Flames until the AHL playoffs, it makes sense to give him top-six opportunities. Coronato’s shot is his strongest asset, but he’s still working at being better on the puck and playing an all-around game. He got top-line billing on Thursday against Winnipeg, so that’s already a step in the right direction. — Julian McKenzie
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Carolina Hurricanes
Scott Morrow: The Hurricanes plan to give the newly signed Morrow, a second-round pick who just finished his third year at UMass, a look down the stretch. As a team without an AHL affiliate, Carolina will need to know if it can rely on Morrow in a pinch during the postseason if injuries begin to mount. The offensive-minded defenseman refined his 200-foot game in college and is seen as a future important piece on the Hurricanes’ blue line, and his upcoming early graduation gave him leverage in contract negotiations to join the team this season rather than play in the minors. — Cory Lavalette
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Chicago Blackhawks
Lukas Reichel: Reichel’s sophomore season has been a disaster. Expected to entrench himself as a top-six forward for years to come, Reichel instead has taken a significant step back and spent more than a month with AHL Rockford as a result. He did score his first NHL goal since Dec. 19 last Saturday, and it would be a huge benefit for both Reichel and the Blackhawks if he closed the season strong. That won’t happen if he’s playing 11 minutes a night in a bottom-six role. With little else to play for, the Blackhawks would be wise to increase his role these last two weeks. — Mark Lazerus
Colorado Avalanche
Sean Walker: This one is tough. Walker has been good — three goals and a pair of assists in 12 games through Thursday playing on Colorado’s bottom pair — since coming over from the Flyers at the trade deadline, earning more minutes. But there’s not a lot of room for upward movement on the Avalanche blue line. For now, he’s deservedly behind Cale Makar, Devon Toews and Samuel Girard in the pecking order, but featuring Walker down the stretch of the regular season wouldn’t be a bad idea, in case he’s asked to play a bigger role at any point in the postseason. — Jesse Granger
Columbus Blue Jackets
David Jiricek: The Blue Jackets are plenty beat up as another losing season winds down, and it’s forced coach Pascal Vincent to throw big minutes at young forwards Cole Sillinger and Dmitri Voronkov, among others. Now it’s time to turn the page on the back end. Jiricek, the No. 6 pick in 2022, has spent most of his first two pro seasons in the AHL. He has plenty of work to do before he’s a bona fide NHLer, but let’s put these final games to use by giving him a solid look. — Aaron Portzline
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Dallas Stars
Mavrik Bourque: Bourque, currently the AHL’s leading scorer, is the Stars’ top prospect and holds a lot of intrigue and excitement, but his call-up Friday was a bit of a surprise, because Dallas is second in the league in scoring and already deep at forward. However, the Stars are managing injury situations, particularly with Tyler Seguin. Bourque appears to be skating in a prime position, with Logan Stankoven and Jamie Benn, meaning he has a great opportunity to capture a spot during the home stretch of the regular season. It’ll be interesting to see how he does with it. — Saad Yousuf
Detroit Red Wings
Simon Edvinsson: Obviously, the Red Wings will (and should) exercise some caution with a 21-year-old defenseman in the midst of a playoff race. But Edvinsson has made a difference for them already down the stretch, playing on the second defense pair and using his reach and size to kill plays defensively and keep them alive in the offensive zone. Most nights, that’s translated to a workload of around 18 or 19 minutes, but the number crept up above 20 in a recent win at Tampa Bay. Long term, Edvinsson will be logging an even bigger workload, but getting those 20-minute games in down the stretch is huge to give him a taste of what challenges the workload presents with managing his shifts — and, more importantly, it also just might give the Red Wings their best chance to win. — Max Bultman
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Edmonton Oilers
Philip Broberg: Oilers general manager Ken Holland said as far back as before the trade deadline that Broberg would be recalled from AHL Bakersfield and play NHL games. Well, time is running out. Everyone in the organization has been raving about how well Broberg has played in the minors. That’s not the big leagues, though. The Oilers are one injury away from possibly using someone who hasn’t played for the team since November as a regular defenseman in a playoff contest. — Daniel Nugent-Bowman
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Florida Panthers
Anthony Stolarz: There’s no obvious answer for the Panthers here. They’re already getting a look at their lineup without Aaron Ekblad and Carter Verhaeghe. It might be worth working Stolarz into an extra game or two down the stretch, though. His save percentage (.922) is nine points higher than Sergei Bobrovsky’s, and Bobrovsky has already started 55 games. Keeping him fresh, and Stolarz ready for whatever, would be smart. — Sean Gentille
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Los Angeles Kings
Alex Laferriere: As much as Alex Turcotte deserves to be in this space, the former No. 5 overall pick is on long-term injured reserve with an upper-body injury. It’s a shame because it looked like the injury-plagued forward was finally gaining some traction. With that in mind, Laferriere is the pick. The 22-year-old out of Harvard won a job in training camp and has stuck with Los Angeles all season, becoming a surprise in his rookie season. It helped that Viktor Arvidsson was out much of the year, but the opportunity presented itself and Laferriere took it with strong skating and forechecking while chipping in 11 goals. His minutes have gone down recently, but he will likely be in the playoff lineup so the Kings ought to see if he can be a contributor. Let’s also give a shout-out to Akil Thomas, who’s battled through multiple shoulder surgeries to earn his first call-up. The 24-year-old hasn’t played much in two games, but he had his first big NHL moment when he scored in Thursday’s win at San Jose. — Eric Stephens
Minnesota Wild
Jesper Wallstedt: The Wild have to make decisions on their goalie tandem for next season, especially if Marc-Andre Fleury returning is a possibility. It makes sense then to see if the team’s goalie of the future, Jesper Wallstedt, is ready for the present. The Swede had a rocky NHL debut in January but has learned a lot and rebounded nicely with AHL Iowa. Giving him a start or two down the stretch — assuming the Wild don’t make the miraculous run to the playoffs — would go a long way toward seeing what they have in him. — Joe Smith
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Montreal Canadiens
Cayden Primeau: Honestly, I feel the Canadiens are already doing this with Primeau; he started his fifth game since the trade deadline on Thursday, compared to seven for Sam Montembeault. But I had to pick someone. They’ve already elevated Jesse Ylönen off the fourth line, Jordan Harris and Jayden Struble are playing regularly ahead of Johnathan Kovacevic, and Tanner Pearson is regularly out of the lineup. This is fine. — Arpon Basu
Nashville Predators
Luke Evangelista: Evangelista’s line with Tommy Novak and Mark Jankowski has been a driver of opportunity, one of many factors in a franchise-record point streak of 18 games, and Evangelista on Thursday was placed on the first power-play unit — and promptly created a chance in front of the net that led to the Preds’ second power-play goal of the night against St. Louis. He’s a surging player who’s about to get his first taste of the postseason, and the Preds would love to see him carry momentum into it. — Joe Rexrode
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New Jersey Devils
Alexander Holtz: This comes with a caveat: Holtz has to earn his playing time. Both interim coach Travis Green and now-fired Lindy Ruff have benched him within games this season, and general manager Tom Fitzgerald publicly said he hasn’t had a good season. But the 2020 No. 7 pick still has 16 goals, and with the season dwindling, now might be the time to give him more than the 11:36 of ice time a night he’s averaged so far. — Peter Baugh
New York Islanders
Simon Holmstrom: Holmstrom was a healthy scratch for four of five games before returning on Tuesday and scoring the crucial winner to beat the Hawks and keep the Isles’ iffy playoff hopes alive. With Holmstrom out, the youngest Islander forward in the lineup was … 26-year-old Mathew Barzal. Holmstrom, 22, could use a real look to see if this team can even try to get younger up front. — Arthur Staple
New York Rangers
Zac Jones: There admittedly isn’t a great answer for the Rangers. Most of Peter Laviolette’s lineup is set going into the playoffs, and there aren’t any prospects who need to be playing at the NHL level right now. Jones likely won’t be one of the six defensemen in the Game 1 playoff lineup, but it wouldn’t hurt to get him, as well as Chad Ruhwedel, to get a few games in down the stretch. That way they will be fresh if there is an injury or two and they need to come into the lineup when games matter most. It would also give the other Rangers defensemen rest and recovery for any lingering bumps and bruises. — Peter Baugh
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Ottawa Senators
Tyler Kleven: The Senators certainly have some questions to answer about how their blue line will be configured next season. Kleven is a 22-year-old prospect who might be ready to knock on the door for a full-time NHL job next fall. With Ottawa well out of the playoff picture, it would be wise to let Kleven have as much time against NHL competition as possible. Kleven has the potential to bring a physical and nasty element to Ottawa’s back end for years to come. The organization should use these final two weeks to determine if his body and game have matured to the point where he could thrive on a regular basis in the NHL — or if he still requires more seasoning in the AHL. — Ian Mendes
Philadelphia Flyers
Ivan Fedotov: After suddenly arriving from Russia following his military service and another season in the KHL, Fedotov unexpectedly made his first career start in relief of Sam Ersson on Monday and was solid. He should get at least one or two more games down the stretch. Considering he will probably be on the NHL roster next season, it will be a good chance for team brass to see what they have in the 6-foot-7 netminder. And Ersson has struggled lately, so Fedotov could even play a key role in the Flyers’ playoff push. — Kevin Kurz
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Pittsburgh Penguins
Jack St. Ivany: Since his recall from the AHL, St. Ivany has impressed. He plays big. He moves the puck well. He is confident. He takes what’s given. He hasn’t been caught out of position. Should his role increase? Perhaps. But not too much. Maybe he can play more on the penalty kill, which has been a lot better for the Penguins of late. But St. Ivany has stabilized a third pairing that wasn’t very dependable for the Penguins, and he’s become a player that should stay in the lineup, if not get more reps in an unexpected playoff push. — Rob Rossi
San Jose Sharks
Klim Kostin: It makes sense for the Sharks to get a good look at their youngsters the rest of the way, and Thomas Bordeleau has already had some nice moments following his promotion while William Eklund has been in the NHL all season. At 24, Kostin is not necessarily “young” by current NHL standards, but the Russian power forward has shown in his 13 games with San Jose that he could be part of the plans for 2024-25 (he’s signed through next season). A first-round pick by St. Louis in 2017, Kostin has bounced around, with additional stops in Edmonton and Detroit. It didn’t work with the Red Wings this season, and Sharks general manager Mike Grier picked him up off the scrap heap. Kostin has scored five times in 13 games and is up to playing around 16 minutes per game. Top defense prospect Shakir Mukhamadullin was another candidate here but is likely done for the rest of his AHL season due to an upper-body injury. Another player to look out for is Filip Bystedt, the Sharks’ top pick in 2022. The 20-year-old center had an outstanding debut for the San Jose Barracuda, scoring twice and assisting on a goal. — Eric Stephens
Seattle Kraken
Shane Wright: The Kraken just haven’t been able to manufacture enough offense in their third season. Part of what’s missing is star power. Matty Beniers will bounce back after a challenging sophomore campaign, but the Kraken need more contributions from blue-chip, potential superstar-level talent. And Wright, the 2022 No. 4 pick, is the club’s likeliest bet to jump over that high bar. At the tail end of an impressive age 20 season in the AHL, Wright was called up earlier this week and is playing a significant role, including getting a look on Seattle’s second power-play unit. He’ll likely return to Coachella for a Calder Cup run, but for the balance of this NHL season, it would behoove the Kraken to stick with what they’re already doing. Wright needs NHL reps, and the club needs to get a firm grasp on what he can offer them next year. — Thomas Drance
St. Louis Blues
Zack Bolduc: The Blues were planning to keep Bolduc in AHL Springfield for the entire 2023-24 season, but with the offense sputtering, the team’s 2021 first-round pick was called up in February. He scored his first NHL goal in Detroit on Feb. 24, which was his 21st birthday. Six weeks later, he is approaching 20 games in his rookie season, and there have been glimpses of great skill. He’s also had turnovers that led to healthy scratches, but he’s made progress, which is a plus considering that few expected him to see much NHL action this season. — Jeremy Rutherford
Tampa Bay Lightning
Emil Martinsen Lilleberg: The Lightning’s top pair of Victor Hedman and Darren Raddysh is thriving, but they need to find a way to balance out their bottom four. The decision likely comes down to whether Lilleberg, Nick Perbix or Calvin de Haan should be in the lineup. Lilleberg’s play started to trend in the wrong direction in March, but it has ticked back up over the past few games. Now the question is whether he can maintain that in a playoff environment. That’s something the coaches should get a better sense of down the stretch as they mix and match the bottom four to find the best pair options. — Shayna Goldman
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Toronto Maple Leafs
Simon Benoit: Benoit has been maybe the biggest surprise of the season for the Leafs. This is a guy who wasn’t even on the team to begin the year but who got a chance and parlayed it into a regular opportunity and, eventually, a three-year contract extension. The outstanding question is whether he’ll be a part of the team’s playoff lineup. In the aftermath of trades for Ilya Lyubushkin and Joel Edmundson, Benoit was briefly the odd man out. But now, amid injuries, he’s continuing to do what he has done all season — play solid defense — and is making one last push to be in the Game 1 lineup. — Jonas Siegel
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Vancouver Canucks
Pius Suter: The Canucks need more offense from Suter, who hasn’t scored in 30 games and was a healthy scratch Wednesday. They also need to give him more minutes. He might not be a top-six-caliber point producer, but he contributes in a ton of subtle ways to outscoring the opposition at even strength and can play just about anywhere in their lineup. The fourth line isn’t where Vancouver needs Suter; they need to get back to trusting him to help their big guns stack up heavy shifts. In fact, he’s arguably Vancouver’s best bet to complement Brock Boeser and J.T. Miller on the top line — Thomas Drance
Vegas Golden Knights
Pavel Dorofeyev: The 23-year-old winger is proving himself as an every-night NHL player this season for the Golden Knights, scoring seven goals over his past 15 games heading into Friday night, with most coming from right in front of the net. Dorofeyev has averaged only 13 minutes of ice time per game through Thursday but could see that go up with his recent form. His 2.39 points per 60 minutes of even-strength ice time before Friday were fourth on the team behind only Jack Eichel, Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson. — Jesse Granger
Washington Capitals
Darcy Kuemper: Kuemper is back from what seems to have been a minor injury, and it might be time to rely on him over Charlie Lindgren — and not just on the Caps’ two remaining back-to-backs. The Caps wouldn’t be in the playoff hunt without Lindgren, but in eight games heading into Friday’s, he had put up an .878 save percentage and nearly four goals allowed above expected. That’s not going to work, especially now that Washington has less of a firm grip on a playoff spot. — Sean Gentille
Winnipeg Jets
Nikolaj Ehlers: Winnipeg’s top line with Mark Scheifele, Ehlers and Gabriel Vilardi win their minutes like top lines on Stanley Cup contenders do. Without Ehlers, the line gets hemmed in its own zone, like we saw in the second period against Calgary this week. The results are night and day, but Ehlers appears to frustrate his head coach just enough to be Rick Bowness’ first demotion when the going gets tough. — Murat Ates
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(Top photos of Simon Edvinsson, Ivan Fedotov and Jesper Wallstedt: Charles LeClaire / USA Today, Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images and Tim Garland / Courtesy of the Iowa Wild)