NHL Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire Rankings (1/7)

Welcome to the Week 14 Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire article here at FTN Fantasy. Before we get going, I’ve updated my Fantasy Hockey rankings for the rest of the season. Check out the link below!

Below you’ll see some of the best waiver wire pickups, players to stash, players to buy low and sell high, which players to drop and who to stream. I’ll also highlight some of the injuries, what it means for you and the Fantasy Hockey landscape.

There are seven teams scheduled to play four games in Week 15 (Jan.8 – Jan. 14) and there are three teams only slated to play two games. It’s that time of the season where you need to start piling up wins. It may mean you have to cut a struggling player for a four-game stream or someone trending up. Sometimes you have to make uncomfortable moves, but the way to get the best of your opponents moving forward is to have more games played, while taking advantage of the matchups each week.

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.

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My fantasy hockey rankings – UPDATED!!!

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Injuries

Jack Hughes, NJ
Connor Bedard, CHI
Kirill Kaprizov, MIN
Logan Couture, SJ
Timo Meier, NJ
Kyle Connor, WPG
Boone Jenner, CLS
Patrik Laine, CLS
Martin Necas, CAR
Miro Heiskanen, DAL
Zach Werenski, CLS
Justin Faulk, STL
Tyson Barrie, NSH
Dougie Hamilton, NJ
Shea Theodore, VGK
Miro Heiskanen, DAL
Seth Jones, CHI
Mikhail Sergachev, TB
Filip Gustavsson, MIN
Jake Oettinger, DAL
Adin Hill, VGK

Jack Hughes, C/LW, New Jersey Devils

We’re waiting for word on the extent of Jack Hughes’ injury, but it sounds like he could avoid surgery. As an owner, I’m hanging onto him. If I were outside of a playoff spot, I would consider moving him for a couple of good players to help me get into a playoff spot. It’s tough to move on, but you need to get to the dance. Also, this is a chance to buy him if he is owned on a team near the basement. Take advantage of a desperate owner.

Logan Couture, C, San Jose Sharks

Couture is close to returning, so add him now while you can. He’s worth a grab for sure and is a solid asset in leagues with faceoff wins.

Quick notes:

It sounds like Oettinger and HIll will be back soon. They’re top five goalies when healthy.
Heiskanen is considered week-to-week. Thomas Haley is a strong grab.
Hold the following: Connor, Kaprizov, Bedard, Meier, Heiskanen and Theodore.

Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire

The waiver wire consists of players owned in fewer than 60% of Yahoo leagues. They are ranked in order of how I value them for the rest of the season. I dug deep for those playing in NFHC High Stakes leagues.

Last Chance

Matt Duchene, DAL
Gustav Nyquist, NSH
Rickard Rakell, PIT
Gabriel Vilardi, WPG
Alexander Kerfoot, ARI
Tyler Seguin, DAL
Mason Marchment, DAL
Jonathan Drouin, COL
Blake Coleman, CGY
Yegor Sharangovich, CGY
Luke Hughes, NJ
Jamie Drysdale, ANA
Thomas Harley, DAL
Pyotr Kochetkov, CAR
Joey Daccord, SEA
Martin Jones, TOR

Gustav Nyquist, LW, Nashville Predators

Nyquist is Dangle Bet Celly favorite. He enters Week 14 on an eight-game point streak in which he has six goals and 12 points over that span. It took weeks and weeks for Ryan O’Reilly’s ownership to creep up over 50%. Don’t let that happen to Nyquist.

Jonathan Drouin, LW, Colorado Avalanche

Drouin is a sell-high candidate, but I don’t know who would be willing to buy and the return likely wouldn’t be high. He’s someone I would consider in a package to acquire a star player. Having said that, Drouin was in our sleeper portion of the fantasy hockey draft kit because of the possibility that he could play with his former Halifax Mooseheads teammate Nathan MacKinnon. That’s what’s happening, and MacKinnon leads the NHL in points since the start of November. Drouin has goals in three straight games and five points over that span. He’s played 21+ minutes in four consecutive games and has picked up at least one point in 10 of his last 12 games.

Deep-League Adds

Trevor Zegras, ANA
Troy Terry, ANA
Pierre-Luc Dubois, LA
Max Pacioretty, WAS
Tyler Bertuzzi, TOR
Dawson Mercer, NJ
Mikael Granlund, SJ
J.T. Compher, DET
Marco Rossi, MIN
Alex Killorn, ANA
Eeli Tolvanen, SEA
Charlie Coyle, BOS
Morgan Geekie, BOS
Ryan McLeod, EDM
Brock Faber, MIN
Kaiden Guhle, MTL
Simon Nemec, NJ
Scott Wedgewood, DAL

Pierre-Luc Dubois, C/LW, Los Angeles Kings

PLD was a fade for me because the minutes were going to decline with the move to LA. He received top power-play time and minutes in Winnipeg, which he just hasn’t received with the Kings. LA now has PLD playing with Adrian Kempe, so he may go on a bit of a run now. The duo picked up two goals and four points in their first game together. Trevor Moore is on the top line with Anze Kopitar and Quinton Byfield. I believe Kempe will be back with Kopitar at some point, so this could be a short-term play for PLD. Maybe a chance to sell in deeper leagues. I noticed him on my wire in deeper formats and have taken a chance.

Banger Leagues

Connor Murphy, CHI
Adam Larsson, SEA
Colton Parayko, STL
Kaiden Guhle, MTL
Mario Ferraro, SJ
Will Borgen, SEA
Josh Manson, COL
Brenden Dillon, WPG
Yakov Trenin, NSH
Matt Dumba, ARI
Jeremy Lauzon, NSH
Alexander Romanov, NYI
Jake Middleton, MIN

Don’t Sell

Nikita Kucherov, TB
William Nylander, TOR
J.T. Miller, VAN
Roope Hintz, DAL
Valeri Nichushkin, COL
Matt Boldy, MIN
Andrei Svechnikov, CAR
Tage Thompson, BUF
Bo Horvat, NYI
Quinn Hughes, VAN
Evan Bouchard, EDM
Mike Matheson, MTL

Consider Dropping

Andrei Kuzmenko, VAN
Jared McCann, SEA
Matty Beniers, SEA
Quinton Byfield, LA
Evander Kane, EDM
Erik Gustafsson, NYR
Hampus Lindholm, BOS
Owen Power, BUF
Tyson Barrie, NSH
Joonas Korpisalo, OTT

Week 14 (Jan. 8- Jan. 14)

Four games

Boston Bruins

(MON @ COL, TUE @ ARI, THU @ VGK, SAT @ STL)

Charlie Coyle, C & Jake DeBrusk, W

Coyle and DeBrusk each enter the week on six-game point streaks. They are two players we’ve been all over in the NHL props market during this run. DeBrusk and Coyle both have four goals over this run as well. The newly formed second line with Brad Marchand has combined for 23 points over the last two weeks.

Morgan Geekie, C/RW

Geekie has quietly racked up six goals and 12 points over his last 13 games. He also continues to play alongside David Pastrnak. Geekie is also collecting shots, faceoff wins and hits along the way.

Dallas Stars

(MON @ MIN, WED vs. MIN, FRI vs. NSH, SAT @ CHI)

Tyler Seguin, C/RW & Mason Marchment LW

We’ve been all over the Stars’ second line with Matt Duchene, Tyler Seguin and Mason Marchment in the NHL DFS and NHL betting world. You could make the argument that this line has been Dallas’ best of the season. Duchene is owned in most leagues, but his wingers are still available. Seguin leads the team with four goals over the past two weeks, and Marchment has a team-high nine points over that span.

Thomas Harley, D

Harley continues to get more and more ice time and is picking up points, shots, hits and blocks to be worthy of a deep-league stream. Heiskanen is out for weeks.

Wyatt Johnston, C & Evgenii Dadonov, W

Dadonov has taken Joe Pavelski’s spot on the top line with Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz, so he becomes a pretty decent streaming option. Pavelski will get his spot back eventually, but I get the move because Johnston’s line with Dadonov and Jamie Been has taken a step back this season. Stream Dadonov in deep leagues, and keep an eye on the third line. Johnston is a player who can catch fire.

Minnesota Wild

(MON vs. DAL, WED @ DAL, FRI vs. PHI, SAT vs. ARI)

Brock Faber, D

Faber has been one of the most impressive rookies this season and has played more than any first-year player in the NHL. The Wild defenseman logged 30:12 in his last game where he picked up three assists, including two on the power play. He only has two goals, but he has 17 points and has taken over the first PP unit. Jared Spurgeon is back in the IR, so Faber should continue to be leaned on. The more minutes he gets, the more shots and blocks he’ll pick up.

Marco Rossi, C

Rossi is getting a chance to play center with Matt Boldy and Mats Zuccarello. I’d roster Zuccarello and stream Rossi in a deep league. Outside of Kirill Kaprizov, who is hurt, and Boldy, there isn’t much on the Wild to get excited about.

Jake Middleton, D

Blocks.

New York Rangers

(MON vs. VAN, THU @ STL, SAT @ WAS, SUN vs. WAS)

Alexis Lafreniere, W

Lafreniere is too inconsistent to roster in a standard 12-team league, but he’s on a bit of a run at the moment and worth a stream because he plays with Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck. Lafreniere has seven points in his last nine games.

Philadelphia Flyers

(MON vs. PIT, WED vs. MTL, FRI @ MIN, SAT @ WPG)

Joel Farabee, W

Farabee hasn’t spent much time on the top line this season, but he’s playing with Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny at the moment, which makes him a solid pickup. The winger has four multi-point games in his last seven.

Sean Couturier, C

I’d roster Couturier over Farabee, especially if you play with faceoff wins. He should be owned in all formats with FOW. He likely sticks with Konecny all season and TC is Philadelphia’s most consistent fantasy player.

Scott Laughton, C

Laughton touches a lot of different categories if you’re playing in deeper formats.

Cam York, D & Nick Seeler, D

York has 10 blocked shots in his last two games. He’s more likely to pick up a point than Seeler.

Toronto Maple Leafs

(TUE vs. SJ, THU @ NYI, FRI vs. COL, SAT vs. DET)

Tyler Bertuzzi, LW

It’s been a disappointing season for Bertuzzi, as he only has six goals and 18 points in 37 games. However, he has two multi-point games in his last three games, and half of his points have come over the last three weeks.

Vancouver Canucks

(MON @ NYR, TUE @ NYI, WED @ PIT, SAT @ BUF)

Dakota Joshua, C/LW

Joshua is Vancouver’s third-ranked fantasy hockey skater over the last 30 days, behind only J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson. Joshua has six goals, 11 points, 17 shots and 40 hits. Joshua has moved up and down the lineup and is not getting much power play time, but I love that he’s throwing his body around. On top of that, he has points in eight of his last 10 games.

Attack The Schedule

Monday – 4 Game
Tuesday – 10 Games
Wednesday – 3 Games
Thursday – 13 Games
Friday – 2 Games
Saturday – 16 Games
Sunday – 2 Games

DAL – MON, WED, FRI, SAT
MIN – MON, WED, FRI, SAT
NYR – MON, THU, SAT, SUN
PHI – MON, WED, FRI, SAT
COL – MON, WED, SAT

Dallas and Minnesota are two teams to target this week given the fact they play Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Back-to-Backs

2 games

Buy-Low Candidates

Leon Draisaitl, EDM
Matthew Tkachuk, FLA
Roope Hintz, DAL
Jason Robertson, DAL
Tim Stutzle, OTT
Dylan Larkin, DET
Clayton Keller, ARI
Erik Karlsson, PIT
Brandon Montour, FLA
Igor Shesterkin, NYR

Sell-High Candidates

Jack Hughes, NJ
Alex Ovechkin, WAS
Alexander Kerfoot, ARI
Jake DeBrusk, BOS
William Karlsson, VGK
Jonathan Drouin, COL
Blake Coleman, CGY
Mathew Barzal, NYI
Mark Stone, VGK
John Carlson, WAS
Martin Jones, TOR