NHL Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire Rankings (10/13)

Welcome to the Week 2 fantasy hockey waiver wire breakdown here at FTN Fantasy. Below you’ll see some of the best fantasy hockey waiver wire pickups, four-game streams and players to cut and grab in deep formats.

There are only six teams scheduled to play four games in Week 2 (Oct. 14-20), and there are four teams with only two games. It’s too early to cut players who have had a slow start as we’re only one week into the season. I’m all about streaming to get the most out of your moves, but don’t give up on Claude Giroux, Patrick Kane, Martin Necas or Matvei Michkov for a random four-game stream like Michael Bunting or a hot start from Mason Marchment. Those are examples of some of the most dropped and added players.

The strategy I like to call “attacking the schedule” can be the difference in winning a championship. Each week, find out which borderline players or streamers wouldn’t crack your lineup on the busy days on the schedule.

Drop those players for players scheduled to play on the lighter scheduled nights. Those days are usually Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. If you’re in a shallow league or a roto league, this strategy may not mean that much to you. But if you’re not going to play an average player on a busy night like Thursday or Saturday, you’re better off dropping him for someone playing on those lighter days. This strategy is similar to “two-start” pitchers in fantasy baseball.

Please be sure to check out our fantasy hockey Discord channel. Reach out to me anytime with questions!

My fantasy hockey rankings

Dangle Bet Celly

Injuries

Aleksander Barkov, FLA
Joel Eriksson Ek, MIN
Macklin Celebrini, SJ
JJ Peterka, BUF
Boone Jenner, CLS
Jonathan Drouin, COL
Joseph Woll, TOR

Hold Celebrini in redraft leagues if you can. He’s considered week-to-week, so if you don’t have any IR spots you can move on in shallow leagues. The first overall pick scored a goal and picked up two points in his NHL debut. Mikael Granlund is someone I’ve added in spots. His 3 SOG shot prop was +145 Saturday. There’s no word on Peterka’s timetable as he works his way back from a concussion. He’s worth holding onto. You can move on from Jenner and Drouin. Anthony Stolarz was my most rostered goalie in best ball drafts. He was free and Woll has injury issues. Even if he does find a way to stay healthy, I believe the net will be split. Rocking both TOR goalies isn’t a bad strategy.

Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire

The waiver wire consists of players rostered in under 60% of Yahoo leagues. They are ranked in order of how I value them for the rest of the season.

Last Chance

Dylan Guenther, UTA
Logan Cooley, UTA
Nick Schmaltz, UTA
Sam Bennett, FLA
Barrett Hayton, UTA
Teuvo Teravainen, CHI
Tyler Toffoli, SJ
Fabian Zetterlund, SJ
Cutter Gauthier, ANA
Justin Faulk, STL
Lane Hutson, MTL
Anthony Stolarz, TOR
Sam Montembeault, MTL
Cam Talbot, DET
Joey Daccord, SEA

Guenther has five goals and 11 shots in three games. Honestly, I’m not surprised as he was the cover in the breakout section of our fantasy hockey kit. Hutson has four assists through games. It’s only a matter of time before he’s on the first power play. He’s that good.

Deep-League Adds

Mikael Granlund, SJ
Logan Stankoven, DAL
Andrei Kuznmenko, CGY
Jonathan Huberdeau, CGY
Pierre-Luc Dubois, WAS
Sean Monahan, CLS
Ivan Barbashev, VGK
Anthony Duclair, NYI
Connor Zary, CGY
Maxin Tsyplakov, NYI
Yegor Chinakhov, CLS
Logan Thompson, WSH
Lukas Dostal, ANA
Artus Silovs, VAN
Justus Annunen, COL

Banger Leagues

Jacob Trouba, NYR
Kaiden Guhle, MTL
Jake Walman, SJ
Jeremy Lauzon, NSH
Radko Gudas, ANH
Brenden Dillon, NJ
Nikita Zadorov, BOS
Mattias Samuelsson, BUF

Consider Dropping

Michael Bunting, PIT
Vladimir Tarasenko, DET
Dylan Cozens, BUF
Gustav Nyquist, NSH
Gabriel Vilardi, WPG
Joonas Korpisalo, BOS
Tristan Jarry, PIT

Week 2 (Oct. 14-20)

Four Games

Colorado Avalanche

(MON vs. NYI, WED vs. BOS, FRI vs. ANA, SUN @ SJ)

Casey Mittelstadt, C
Ross Colton, C
Justus Annunen, G

The Avs are so thin right now due to injuries. The schedule is awesome, so consider Mittelstadt or Colton later in the week when they play the Ducks and Sharks. Annunen deserves to start a couple of games. I have serious concerns about Alexandar Georgiev.

Florida Panthers

(MON @ BOS, TUE @ CLS, THU vs. VAN, SAT vs. VGK)

Sam Bennett, C
Evan Rodrigues, C/LW
Anton Lundell, C/RW

Bennett has value in bangers leagues even when he’s not scoring. He just so happens to be hitting the score sheet. He’ll be leaned on with Barkov sidelined for the next 2-3 weeks. Anton Lundell will also see a boost in ice time.

Los Angeles Kings

(MON @ OTT, WED @ TOR, THU @ MTL, SUN @ ANA)

Brandt Clarke, D
Alex Laferriere, RW

New Jersey Devils

(MON vs. UTA, TUE @ CAR, THU @ OTT, SAT vs. WAS)

Brenden Dillon, D
Dawson Mercer, C
Erik Haula, C/LW

Pittsburgh Penguins

(MON @ MTL, WED vs. BUF, FRI vs. CAR, SUN @ WPG)

Bryan Rust, RW
Evgeni Malkin, C
Rickard Rakell, C/RW

San Jose Sharks

(TUE @ DAL, THU @ CHI, FRI @ WPG, SUN vs. COL)

Mikael Granlund, C/RW
Tyler Toffoli, W
Fabian Zetterlund, W
Jake Walman, D
William Eklund, LW

Two Games

Calgary Flames
Minnesota Wild
Toronto Maple Leafs
Winnipeg Jets

Attack the Schedule

Monday: 6 games
Tuesday: 9 games
Wednesday: 4 games
Thursday: 11 games
Friday: 3 games
Saturday: 13 games
Sunday: 3 games

Having players Wednesday and Friday will give you an edge this week.

COL: MON, WED, FRI, SUN
LA: MON, WED, THU, SUN
PIT: MON, WED, FRI, SUN
ANH: WED, FRI, SUN
UTA: MON, WED, SAT

Back-to-Backs

Monday & Tuesday Games

Saturday & Sunday Games

No teams play Saturday and Sunday this week, which is rare. Carolina is the only team with a game Friday and Saturday. Anaheim, Colorado, Pittsburgh, San Jose and Winnipeg play Friday and Sunday.