All bets are off for the rankings this week, as the remaining schedule encompasses between five and seven games for every single team. That's a small enough sample size that any player could be relevant.
Here are some examples from the standard ESPN categories that are both food for thought when considering the minimal schedule left, as well as possibly relevant to your consideration of the available free agents in your league. All stats are from March 14 to the present, when players have played between five and seven games:
There are 23 players with four-plus goals, including Andreas Athanasiou, Ivan Barbashev, Patrick Maroon, Anthony Cirelli, Alex Killorn and Zach Hyman.
There are 30 players with five-plus assists, including Zach Sanford, Dylan DeMelo, Tyler Bozak, Derek Ryan, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and J.T. Miller.
That said, the cream also rises to the top. The only players with double-digit points in this span are Steven Stamkos, Aleksander Barkov, Victor Hedman, Jonathan Huberdeau, Tyler Seguin, Patrice Bergeron, Nikita Kucherov and Kyle Connor.
Mikael Backlund is among the top 10 for shots on goal, while Vinnie Hinostroza sits in 11th place. Ryan Donato is tied for 12th.
Jordan Binnington and Philipp Grubauer have easily been the most valuable fantasy goaltenders in this span. They are available in 40 percent and 80 percent of ESPN leagues, respectively.
The most goals allowed over this stretch? Carter Hutton has let 17 pucks slip by, while Panthers rookie Sam Montembeault has allowed 19 tallies. However, both of them are surpassed by none other than fantasy's overall No. 1 goaltender, Andrei Vasilevskiy, who has allowed 20.
Carey Price has made the most saves in this span, but be warned! Montreal has the worst schedule in the league going forward, playing the Panthers, Blue Jackets, Jets, Lightning, Capitals and Maple Leafs. In other words, Price needs to be at his best to keep the Canadiens in playoff position.
The recently turned 42-year-old Zdeno Chara is tied for the best plus/minus in this brief sample at plus-10.
Aside from perhaps shedding some light on a possible addition to your roster for the stretch run, the point of these tidbits is to say that with a window of five to seven games, you can expect contributions from all over the NHL map. Other things I took into consideration when ranking the players for the final stretch of games include the actual number of games for their team, how competitive they need to be to push for the playoffs and the quality of their opponents.
Quick hits
Phil Kessel moves up in the rankings as the Pittsburgh Penguins take it slow with the health of Evgeni Malkin ahead of the postseason. Kessel has upped his game in Malkin's absence, and he's been bringing linemates Jared McCann and Teddy Blueger along for the ride.
Tread cautiously if you're relying on the Colorado Avalanche. Mikko Rantanen remains day-to-day, while Gabriel Landeskog could make a surprise return for the final few games. The Avalanche is in the thick of it for a wild-card berth, so they will want these guys back ASAP. But will they be healthy enough to contribute? In net, however, you can and should start Philipp Grubauer with confidence as he builds a reputation for late-season heroics in the crease.
The Calgary Flames may not be outright resting their stars, but they are giving them some shifts off. Johnny Gaudreau's ice time has dipped to 17 minutes and David Rittich is getting some nights off against bottom-feeding teams. The Flames could implement even more rest as they pull away from the other teams in the West.
As noted above, the Montreal Canadiens have a brutal schedule to close the season and it makes Carey Price less attractive on paper.
The script has flipped on which Columbus Blue Jackets defender should be started to run out the season. Zach Werenski has eight points (three on the power play) in his past 12 games. Seth Jones has four (none with the man-advantage) during that same span.
Justin Schultz and Charlie McAvoy should be squarely in lineups until either Kris Letang or Torey Krug, respectively, return to replace them.
Alexander Nylander ended up on the Buffalo Sabres top line with Jack Eichel on Monday. The Sabres have nothing to play for other than perhaps seeing what some of their younger prospects could do with more ice time. That makes Nylander a possible contributor down the stretch. The Sabres have the best schedule the rest of the way.
I want no part of Frederik Andersen for the remainder of the season. The Toronto Maple Leafs, even when they get back to their winning ways like they did on Monday, still allowed five goals. In his past six starts, he's allowed 23 goals on 145 shots -- a 4.84 GAA and an .841 save percentage.
Sven Baertschi could get himself back into the mix in Vancouver. He returned from a prolonged concussion absence to skate on a line with stud youngsters Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson.
Devon Toews has been getting the majority of the power-play time for the New York Islanders on the point. Although the team has gone ice-cold on the man-advantage during that span, it's still worth noting.
This is more of a "next season thought," but it could be applicable for some Hail Mary goalie starts down the stretch. The Los Angeles Kings got quality goaltending from Jack Campbell and Cal Petersen in their 32 starts, as the pair combined for a 13-17-2 record with a .926 save percentage and 2.39 GAA. In 42 starts, Jonathan Quick posted a 15-21-6 record with a .891 save percentage and 3.25 GAA. It's a big enough sample from the backups to make me suggest that the problem here might be the 33-year-old Quick.
New to rankings
Alexander Nylander, Mats Zuccarello, Andreas Athanasiou, Zack Kassian, Gabriel Landeskog, Pavel Buchnevich, Sven Baertschi, Devon Toews, Teddy Blueger, Jack Campbell, Alexander Kerfoot, Derek Stepan, Ryan Dzingel, Brett Connolly, Vince Dunn, Dylan Sikura, Casey Mittelstadt, Quinn Hughes, Nolan Patrick, Tyler Myers, Linus Ullmark, J.T. Compher, Radek Faksa, Oscar Klefbom, Henrik Borgstrom, Andrew Shaw and Bryan Rust.
Dropped out
Troy Terry, Adam Henrique, Rasmus Ristolainen, Micheal Ferland, Nick Foligno, Carl Soderberg, Jimmy Howard, Frank Vatrano, Ilya Kovalchuk, Tyler Toffoli, Jonathan Quick, Jeff Petry, Wayne Simmonds, Kyle Turris, Jimmy Vesey, Henrik Lundqvist, Travis Sanheim, Brian Elliott, Ivan Provorov, Casey DeSmith, Erik Karlsson, Jake Allen, Ondrej Palat, Yanni Gourde, J.T. Miller, Kasperi Kapanen and Shea Theodore.