Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire Rankings (3/31)

Welcome to the Week 26 Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire article here at FTN Fantasy. In head-to-head formats, this is either your semifinal matchup or it’s championship week of your fantasy hockey playoffs. For those playing in roto leagues, there are only 18 days left in the regular season.

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 17 teams scheduled to play four games in Week 26 (Apr. 1 – Apr. 7). The Vegas Golden Knights are the only team with two games this week. This week is a much more balanced week in the NHL. There were only six combined games on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday last week. There are at least five games on every day this week with nine on 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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My fantasy hockey rankings  

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Injuries 

• Mitch Marner, TOR
• Valieri Nichushkin, COL
• Mark Stone, VGK
• Boone Jenner, CLS
• Elias Lindholm, VAN
• Josh Norris, OTT
• Phillip Danault, LA
• Patrik Laine, CLS
• Tomas Hertl, VGK
• Logan Couture, SJ
• Adam Fantilli, CLS
• Michael Bunting, PIT
• Morgan Rielly, TOR
• Dougie Hamilton, NJ
• Vince Dunn, SEA
• Mikhail Sergachev, TB
• Timothy Lilegren, TOR
• Radko Gudas, ANH
• Thatcher Demko, VAN
• Adin Hill, VGK

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
• Wyatt Johnston, DAL
• Seth Jarvis, CAR
• Jamie Benn, DAL
• Anthony Duclair, TB
• Pavel Zacha, BOS
• Nick Schmaltz, ARI
• Gustav Nyquist, NSH
• Zach Werenski, CLS
• Casey DeSmith, VAN

Deep-League Adds

• Jake Neighbours, STL
• Evgeny Kuznetsov, CAR
• Alexis Lafreniere, NYR
• Juraj Slafkovsky, MTL
• Casey Mittelstadt, COL
• Sean Monahan, WPG
• Dylan Guenther, ARI
• Mikael Granlund, SJ
• JJ Peterka, BUF
• 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
• Chandler Stephenson, VGK
• Elias Lindholm, VAN
• Jeff Skinner, BUF
• Valeri Nichushkin, COL
• Thomas Harley, DAL
• Jake Sanderson, OTT
• Owen Power, BUF

Week 26 (Apr. 1 – Apr. 7)

Four Games 

Colorado Avalanche

(MON @ CLS, THU @ MIN, FRI @ EDM, SUN vs. DAL)

• Artturi Lehkonen, W
• Jonathan Drouin, LW
• Casey Mittelstadt, C 

Columbus Blue Jackets 

(MON vs. COL, THU vs. NYI, SAT vs. PHI, SUN @ CAR)

Nothing here. 

Edmonton Oilers 

(MON @ STL, WED @ DAL, FRI vs. COL, SAT @ CGY)

• Mattias Ekholm, D
• Adam Henrique, C/LW

Florida Panthers 

(MON @ TOR, TUE @ MTL, THU @ OTT, SAT @ BOS)

• Sam Bennett, C
• Vladimir Tarasenko, W
• Aaron Ekblad, D

Los Angeles Kings 

(MON @ WPG, WED vs. SEA, THU @ SJ, SAT vs. VAN)

• Quinton Byfield, F
• Viktor Arvidsson, W

Minnesota Wild 

(TUE vs. OTT, THU vs. COL, SAT vs. WPG, SUN @ CHI)

• Brock Faber, D
• Ryan Hartman, C/RW

Montreal Canadiens 

(TUE vs. FLA, THU vs. TB, SAT vs TOR, SUN @ NYR)

• Juraj Slafkovsky, LW
• David Savard, D 

Nashville Predators 

(TUE vs. BOS, THU vs. STL, SAT @ NYI, SUN @ NJ)

• Gustav Nyquist, LW
• Jeremy Lauzon, D 

New Jersey Devils 

(TUE vs. PIT, WED @ NYR, SAT @ OTT, SUN vs, NSH)

• Jake Allen, G

New York Islanders 

(MON @ PHI, TUE vs. CHI, WED @ CLS, SAT vs. NSH)

• Kyle Palmieri, RW
• Jean-Gabriel Pageau, C
• Ryan Pulock, D

I like having someone on Monday and Tuesday, so Palmieri is someone I’m streaming. 

Ottawa Senators 

(TUE @ MIN, THU vs. FLA, SAT vs. NJ, SUN @ WSH)

• Shane Pinto, C

Pittsburgh Penguins 

(MON @ NYR, TUE @ NJ, THU @ WSH, SAT vs. TB)

• Bryan Rust, RW
• Drew O’Connor, LW
• Rickard Rakell, RW

I’m surprised Rust’s ownership is as low as it is. O’Connor has goals in three straight games and continues to skate on the top line. He’s someone I’m streaming this week.

San Jose Sharks 

(MON vs. SEA, THU vs. LA, SAT vs. STL, SUN vs, ARI)

• Mikael Granlund, C/RW
• Fabian Zetterlund, LW 

St. Louis Blues 

(MON vs. EDM, THU @ NSH, SAT @ SJ, SUN @ ANH)

• Jake Neighbours, W 
• Justin Faulk, D
• Torey Krug, D
• Brayden Schenn, C/LW

The Blues have the Sharks Saturday and the Ducks Sunday. Those are two amazing matchups to finish the week. Keep in mind, St. Louis was shut out at home against the Sharks on Saturday. Jordan Kyrou could also be on the wire. 

Tampa Bay Lightning 

(MON vs. DET, WED @ TOR, THU @ MTL, SAT @ PIT)

• Anthony Duclair, LW
• Tanner Jeannot, W

Washington Capitals 

(TUE @ BUF, THU vs. PIT, FRI @ CAR, SUN vs. OTT)

• Dylan Strome, C
• T.J. Oshie, RW

Two Games 

• Vegas Golden Knights

Attack the Schedule 

• Monday – 8 games
• Tuesday – 8 games
• Wednesday – 5 games 
• Thursday – 9 games
• Friday – 6 games
• Saturday – 11 games
• Sunday – 9 games 

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

• EDM – MON, WED, FRI, SAT
• NYR – MON, WED, FRI, SUN
• SEA – MON, WED, FRI
• ARI – WED, FRI, SUN

Back-to-Backs

• CAR
• CHI
• COL
• CLS
• DAL
• EDM
• FLA
• LA
• MIN
• MTL
• NSH
• NJx2
• NYI
• OTT
• PHI
• PIT
• SJ
• STL
• TB
• VAN
• WAS

Scott Wedgewood, DAL

Wedgewood should get Chicago Saturday. 

Monday & Tuesday Games 

• FLA
• NYI
• PIT

Saturday & Sunday Games

• CLS
• DAL
• MIN
• MTL
• NSH
• NJ
• OTT
• STL

Fantasy Hockey Playoff Schedule

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.