NHL Best Bets for Tuesday (11/19)
Kenneth Le
Welcome to the Week 25 Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire article here at FTN Fantasy. That means it’s fantasy hockey playoffs for those playing in head-to-head formats. If you’re lucky enough to have a bye, congratulations, but don’t sit back this week. Plan ahead and set yourself up for success next week. You should be looking ahead to Week 26.
Below you’ll see some of the best fantasy hockey waiver wire pickups, four-game streams, players to cut and grab in deep formats. I also highlighted the fantasy hockey playoff schedule below.
There are only two teams scheduled to play four games in Week 25 (Mar. 25 – Mar 31). There are four teams with only two games this week, so most teams have at least three games. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are always busy days, and this week is no different. There are only six combined games on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
With only a couple of weeks left in the fantasy hockey season, every move is critical. You may have to cut a struggling player for a four-game stream or someone trending up in order to punch your ticket to the dance. 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. Streaming is more important than ever at this time of the season. If you’re comfortably in a playoff spot, start looking ahead to some of the weeks that will matter to you.
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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Injuries
- Mark Stone, VGK
- Gabriel Vilardi, WPG
- Josh Norris, OTT
- Patrik Laine, CLS
- Tomas Hertl, VGK
- Logan Couture, SJ
- Trevor Zegras, ANH
- Adam Fantilli, CLS
- Dougie Hamilton, NJ
- Mikhail Sergachev, TB
- Alec Martinez, VGK
- Aaron Ekblad, FLA
- Thatcher Demko, VAN
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
- Nick Suzuki, MTL
- Valieri Nichushkin, COL
- Wyatt Johnston, DAL
- Anthony Duclair, TB
- Pavel Zacha, BOS
- Charlie Coyle, BOS
- Nick Schmaltz, ARI
- Gustav Nyquist, NSH
- Sam Bennett, FLA
- Zach Werenski, CLS
- Travis Sanheim, PHI
- Casey DeSmith, VAN
Deep-League Adds
- Evgeny Kuznetsov, CAR
- Jamie Benn, DAL
- Alexis Lafreniere, NYR
- Juraj Slafkovsky, MTL
- Casey Mittelstadt, COL
- Sean Monahan, WPG
- Dylan Guenther, ARI
- Mikael Granlund, SJ
- Fabian Zetterlund, SJ
- Bobby McMann, TOR
- Seth Jones, CHI
- Jake Allen, NJ
- Anthony Stolarz, FLA
Banger Leagues
- Jeremy Lauzon, NSH
- David Savard, MTL
- Kaiden Guhle, MTL
- Cam York, PHI
- Nick Seeler, PHI
- Adam Larsson, SEA
- Jake McCabe, TOR
- Mario Ferraro, SJ
- Connor Murphy, CHI
- Yakov Trenin, COL
- Alexander Romanov, NYI
- Ryan McDonagh, NSH
Consider Dropping
- Sean Couturier, PHI
- Evan Rodrigues, FLA
- Matty Beniers, SEA
- Jonathan Drouin, COL
- Evgeni Malkin, PIT
- Elias Lindholm, VAN
- Jeff Skinner, BUF
- Jordan Kyrou, STL
- Thomas Harley, DAL
- Jake Sanderson, OTT
Week 25 (Mar. 25 – Mar. 31)
Four Games
Anaheim Ducks
(TUE @ SEA, THU @ SEA, SAT @ EDM, SUN @ VAN)
Alex Killorn, W
Killorn may not provide much, but he’s appealing for those playing in deep formats because of his four games, and he plays on Sunday in the only game that day. He scored twice last week, but it came against Chicago.
Trevor Zegras, C
Zegras is close to returning to the lineup. He’s listed as a game-time decision to play Sunday evening against Tampa Bay. I wouldn’t drop anyone good for Zegras, but he could be a difference-maker especially later in the week. I would roster Troy Terry over him if he was available.
Mason McTavish, C/LW
The Ducks have plenty of options, but they don’t score a lot of goals. When Zegras is in the lineup, the top six will be a bit more appealing. Let’s see what the lines look like when at full health. I wouldn’t roster any of these players on Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday. The schedule is too packed on those days, but I would have them close by for Sunday.
Vegas Golden Knights
(MON @ STL, TUE @ NSH, THU @ WPG, SAT @ MIN)
Chandler Stephenson, C/LW
Stephenson is a fantastic streaming option, especially with the promotion to Jack Eichel’s line. He may not stick with Eichel, but they were certainly great together on Saturday. Stephenson picked up two assists to give him 14 points in his last 15 games.
Ivan Barbashev C/LW & Anthony Mantha RW
These are two wingers to consider. Barbashev is the safer of the two.
Two Games
- Minnesota Wild
- New Jersey Devils
- New York Islanders
- Tampa Bay Lightning
Attack the Schedule
- Monday – 2 games
- Tuesday -12 games
- Wednesday – 2 games
- Thursday – 14 games
- Friday – 1 games
- Saturday – 15 games
- Sunday – 1 games
Having players on Monday, Wednesday and Friday will give you an edge this week.
Monday
Vegas @ St. Louis
Los Angeles @ Vancouver
- Conor Garland has points in three straight games and six of his past seven. He has at least three shots on goal in four of his past six games and 15 total over that span. He’s been productive on the top line with Elias Pettersson. Vancouver also plays on Sunday.
- As discussed above, Chandler Stephenson skated on a line with Jack Eichel during Saturday’s 4-2 win.
- Quinton Byfield and Viktor Arvidsson are hanging around waiver wires.
- Logan Thompson should be rostered if you own Adin Hill.
Wednesday
Ottawa @ Buffalo
Boston @ Tampa Bay
- JJ Peterka was placed on the top line Thursday and scored two goals. Keep an eye on him, because a promotion to line one with Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch is a game-changer. The Sabres play Friday as well.
- Anthony Duclair should be owned by now.
- Pavel Zacha & Charlie Coyle.
- Shane Pinto
Friday
New Jersey @ Buffalo
- Peterka again.
- Jake Allen if you’re desperate in goal.
Sunday
Anaheim @ Vancouver
- Garland really is a fantastic streaming option. This late in the week you can consider Nils Hoglander, Elias Lindholm and Pius Suter.
- One of Troy Terry, Mason McTavish, Leo Carlsson or Alex Killorn could be on the wire. Plan ahead.
Back-to-Backs
- ANH
- BOS
- BUF
- OTT
- VGK
Fantasy Hockey Playoff Schedule
Week 25 (Mar. 25 – Mar. 31) Quarterfinals
Four games
- Anaheim Ducks
- Vegas Golden Knights
Two Games
- Minnesota Wild
- New Jersey Devils
- New York Islanders
- Tampa Bay Lightning
Week 26 (Apr. 1 – Apr. 7) Semifinals
Four Games
- Colorado Avalanche
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- Edmonton Oilers
- Florida Panthers
- Los Angeles Kings
- Minnesota Wild
- Montreal Canadiens
- Nashville Predators
- New Jersey Devils
- New York Islanders
- New York Rangers
- Ottawa Senators
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- San Jose Sharks
- St. Louis Blues
- Tampa Bay Lightning
- Washington Capitals
Two Games
- Vegas Golden Knights
Week 27 (Apr. 8 – Apr. 14) Championship
Four Games
- Arizona Coyotes
- Calgary Flames
- Seattle Kraken
- Toronto Maple Leafs
- Vegas Golden Knights
Two Games
- Boston Bruins
Week 28 (Apr. 15 – Apr. 21) Final Week of Regular Season – Roto
Three Games
- Edmonton Oilers
H2H Two Week Final Yahoo Sports! (Apr. 8 – Apr. 18)
Six Games
- Calgary Flames
- Seattle Kraken
- Vegas Golden Knights
- Toronto Maple Leafs
- New York Islanders
Every team plays at least four games in the final two weeks of the season.
