Fantasy Corner: Best Round 2 Pickups From Avalanche/Blues Series

As the second round is set to kick off, you will likely be looking for a few players to pick up in playoff pools. From the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues series, here are three of the best options who may be available to pick up.

Valeri Nichushkin

The Avalanche spread out their scoring a bit throughout the forward lines for Round 1 against the Nashville Predators. It was a great move as they scored 21 goals in four games. Keep in mind that the Predators didn’t have their starting goaltender, but the Avalanche were dominant either way.

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Valeri Nichushkin, Colorado Avalanche (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

Due to this mixing of the lines, Valeri Nichushkin was elevated to the top line beside Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. Nichushkin has proven with his play and tenacity throughout the season that he is deserving of playing top minutes. As a result, he scored two goals and added an assist in the four first-round games. The series against the Blues lines up to be more competitive and will likely give any Avalanche player more than just four more games in the second round to give you fantasy points.

Artturi Lehkonen

Artturi Lehkonen is another player that is benefiting from the line rearrangements for the Avalanche. He joins Gabriel Landeskog and Nazem Kadri on the second line. Both players were well above a point per game during the regular season and will be able to add more points in this round of the playoffs.

Lehkonen is skilled in his own right but will be able to get in on the action and offence that the second line will surely be providing the Avalanche. Goals are typically more valuable than assists in playoff scoring for fantasy and he provides his team with more goals than assists. He scored two goals in the four games and had six in 16 games since coming over from the Montreal Canadiens. Look for him to score a few more goals and add some points to his totals in the second round while being on the more likely team to advance to the third round.

Brayden Schenn

Brayden Schenn didn’t have the most productive first round against the Minnesota Wild, only assisting on three goals. But his production should rise, even against a team like the Avalanche since he is playing on the top line beside Ryan O’Reilly and David Perron who both had a very productive first-round series.

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Brayden Schenn, St. Louis Blues (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

Perron leads the Blues with five goals and nine points, while O’Reilly is right behind him with five goals and eight points. Schenn should start getting in on more of the points as those two playoff performers keep up the pace they’re on. He also plays on the top power play, which was clicking at over 30 percent, so the added bonus of power-play points is also there.

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