NHL Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire Rankings (10/29)

Welcome to the Week 4 Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire article here at FTN Fantasy. Each weekend I’ll preview the week to come in Fantasy Hockey. I’ll highlight 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 only four teams scheduled to play four games for the week, and eight teams with only two games in Week 4 (Oct. 30 – Nov. 5). It’s too early to cut players included in this year’s Fantasy Hockey Draft Guide, such as my sleepers, targets and breakouts. It’s also too early to give up on players, as we’re not even four weeks into the NHL season. This is probably the last week to buy struggling players as well.

It’s important to get the most out of your moves so you can take advantage of your opponents. The strategy I like to call “attacking the schedule” can be the difference in winning a championship. As mentioned, it’s a touch early to drop a player because they only play two games this week. But 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

Matt Boldy, MIN
Nico Hischier, NJ
Brandon Montour, FLA
Aaron Ekblad, FLA
Thomas Chabot, OTT

Montour and Ekblad are joining the Panthers on their road trip this week, which means they’re close. Make sure they are owned. Chabot will miss time, which will increase the usage of Jake Sanderson and Jakob Chychrun. Hischier has been dealing with an upper-body injury. I’d buy where I could. I’d sell Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

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.

Ryan Johansen, C, Colorado Avalanche

Johansen was one of the most picked-up players for Sunday’s game in Buffalo and he’ll be one of the most dropped Monday morning after he went scoreless. The former Pred has four goals on the season and he’s been shooting the puck. Just like he did when he entered the league with Columbus. I love his role in the top six and on the first power play.

Last Chance

Josh Norris, OTT
Frank Vatrano, ANA
Evan Rodrigues, FLA
Teuvo Teravainen, CAR
Sean Couturier, PHI
Cam Atkinson, PHI
Owen Tippett, PHI
Chandler Stephenson, VGK
Boone Jenner, CBJ
Artturi Lehkonen, COL
Mike Matheson, MTL
Travis Sanheim, PHI
Karel Vejmelka, ARI
Joseph Woll, TOR

Joseph Woll, G, Toronto Maple Leafs

Woll had another strong week. This is from last week. Consider 30-1 to win the Calder Trophy.

“Max Domi needs to relax with the Carey Price comparisons, but he’s not wrong about the upside Woll brings to the Maple Leafs. Woll lost to the Blackhawks in his first start of the season, but he turned aside all 29 shots he faced against the Lightning when he came in for Ilya Samsonov. I believe Samsonov still has top-15 upside at the position, so I view him as a buy-low candidate. However, Woll should be rostered in case he takes the net for a bit. He’s already scheduled to start Toronto’s next game against the struggling Capitals.”

Deep-League Adds

Ryan O’Reilly, NSH
Nicholas Paul, TB
Jesperi Kotkaniemi, CAR
Alex Iafallo, WPG
Ryan Hartman, MIN
Pavel Zacha, BOS
Sean Monahan, MTL
William Karlsson, VGK
Mason McTavish, ANA
Scott Laughton, PHI
James van Riemsdyk, BOS
Thomas Novak, NSH
Kyle Palmieri, NYI
Ivan Provorov, CBJ
Kaiden Guhle, MTL

Banger Leagues

Adam Larsson, SEA
Connor Murphy, CHI
Jamie Oleksiak, SEA
Brenden Dillon, WPG
Jonas Siegenthaler, NJ
Marcus Foligno, MIN
Yakov Trenin, NSH
Jack McBain, ARI
Paul Cotter, VGK
Pavel Mintyukov, ANA
Mikey Anderson, LA

Hold

Jared McCann, SEA
Tyler Bertuzzi, TOR
Drake Batherson, OTT
Evander Kane, EDM

Consider Dropping

Kirill Marchenko, CBJ
Connor Brown, EDM
Jonathan Drouin, COL
Max Domi, TOR
Pavel Buchnecvich, STL
Jordan Eberle, SEA
Jake DeBrusk, BOS
Matty Beniers, SEA
Jonathan Huberdeau, CGY
Rickard Rakell, PIT
Nazem Kadri, CGY

Week 4 (Oct. 30 – NOV 5)

Four games

Arizona Coyotes

(MON vs. CHI, WED @ ANA, THU vs. MTL, SAT vs. WPG)

Nick Schmaltz, C/RW

Schmaltz won’t provide any hits and isn’t a big volume shooter, but there’s no reason for his ownership to be so low. He already has eight points in seven games and at least one point in six of those games. Three of his points have come on the power play, and it’s a good-looking power play. Schmaltz enters the week on a four-game point streak and has a great-looking schedule this week to extend that.

Barrett Hayton, C

Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz have combined for 16 points, and yet their center Barrett Hayton has yet to hit the score sheet. Hayton was a late-round target for me, so I owe you a big apology, but I’ve yet to cut ties in 12-team leagues. This is a big week for Hayton. If he can’t find the score sheet, I may have to let him go. He has 22 shots, but none of them have fallen. Even still, he hasn’t lost his spot on the top line or power play.

Logan Colley, C

Cooley only has seven shots on the season, and all five of his points have come on the power play. The PP production is nice, especially since he’s on the first unit, but his 5v5 game isn’t strong at the moment. You’d like to see him shoot more. Not an automatic hold in 12-team redraft leagues but someone to stash and be patient with in keeper leagues.

Matias Maccelli, LW

Maccelli was in the breakout section of the Fantasy Hockey Draft Guide. All five of his points have come over his last four games, and three have come on the power play. Maccelli was impressive in the second half of his rookie season that has carried over here in his sophomore campaign.

Nick Bjugstad, C: Faceoff wins.
Jack McBain, C: Hits.

Dallas Stars

(MON vs. CBJ, WED @ CGY, THU @ EDM, SAT @ VAN)

Wyatt Johnston, C

Johnston is another player who was all over the draft guide. It’s tough to roster him in a standard 12-team format, but I really do love this kid. He has five points and four over his last three games. A hold in keeper leagues and someone to own if you drafted someone like Jonathan Huberdeau or anyone in Washington not named Alex Ovechkin.

Matt Duchene & Tyler Seguin, C/RW

These two are on a line together, and although they haven’t been spectacular, they’re getting some chances. I prefer Duchene over Seguin. The schedule is decent.

Philadelphia Flyers

(MON vs. CAR, WED vs. BUF, FRI @ BUF, SAT vs. LA)

Owen Tippett, Sean Couturier, Cam Atkinson

I’m grouping these players together because they all deserve love. If you’re part of the FTN Bets or FTN Daily family, you’re already aware because they’ve been helping us win some cash. I stressed the upside of this line last week on Dangle Bet Celly, and Atkinson was in our very first waiver wire article of the season. Tippett was in our draft guide.

All three are worth holding onto for the rest of the season. Couturier gets a boost in faceoff leagues and Tippett in leagues with hits. Atkinson has 30-goal upside. Here’s the same game parlay we hit last weekend. Pretty good value from Vegas when it comes to point props on the trio as well. Cam is my favorite of the three to own.

Travis Sanheim, D

Sanheim isn’t a point-per-game defenseman, but he’s racked up eight points in eight games to start the season. He’ll regress in the point department, but he enters the week second in ice time per game. He’s piling up a ton of shots and blocks along the way. I’ve had to adjust my rankings and get him in the top 35 due to the usage rate.

Scott Laughton, C

Always a great streaming option in leagues with faceoff wins, hits and shots. Laughton is a sneaky good fantasy asset in high stakes leagues.

Sean Walker, D

Good asset for hits and blocks this week.

Deep league: Bobby Brink, Joel Farabee

Vegas Golden Knights

(MON vs. MTL, THU vs. WPG, FRI vs. COL, SUN @ ANA)

I think everyone you want in Vegas is owned. Chandler Stephenson is hanging around some wires. Brayden McNabb and Alec Martinez can give you some grit. Ivan Barvashev is linked to Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault. William Karlsson has quietly racked up 10 points. I would own Logan Thompson if I had Adin Hill. Ride that duo to 50 wins.

Two games

Calgary Flames
Colorado Avalanche
Edmonton Oilers
Minnesota Wild
Ottawa Senators
Pittsburgh Penguins
San Jose Sharks
Washington Capitals

Ovechkin and Carlson are the only players I’d enjoy rostering from Washington. I don’t really care about the Flames outside of Elias Lindholm. Hold your Sens, Avs, Oilers and Pens. Stash Matt Boldy.

Attack The Schedule

Monday – 9 Games
Tuesday – 2 Games
Wednesday – 4 Games
Thursday – 12 Games
Friday – 2 Games
Saturday – 15 Games
Sunday – 2 Games

It’s all about Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

Philadelphia Flyers (MON, WED, FRI, SAT)
New Jersey Devils (THU, FRI, SUN)
Buffalo Sabres (WED, FRI, SAT)
St. Louis Blues (WED, FRI, SAT)
Anaheim Ducks (MON, WED, SUN)

We love the Flyers. No team plays back-to-back on Tuesday and Wednesday, but the Flyers and Sabres play a home-and-home on Wednesday and Friday. Maybe think of some deep-league options in NJ for Friday and Sunday – either Dawson Mercer or Ondrej Palat. The Wednesday game in Colorado and home to New Jersey Friday makes it tough to stream from the St. Louis Blues.

Back-to-Backs

Arizona Coyotes
Buffalo Sabres
Chicago Blackhawks
Dallas Stars
New Jersey Devils
Philadelphia Flyers
St. Louis Blues
Vegas Golden Knights

Buy-Low Candidates

Jason Robertson, DAL
Roope Hintz, DAL
Tage Thompson, BUF
Timo Meier, NJ
Alex Ovechkin, WAS
Matthew Tkachuk, FLA
Alex Tuch, BUF
Nico Hischier, NJ
Jared McCann, SEA
Carter Verhaeghe, FLA
Erik Karlsson, PIT

Sell-High Candidates

Brock Boeser, VAN
Frank Vantrano, ANA
Joel Eriksson Ek, MIN
Chandler Stephenson, VGK
Evan Rodrigues, FLA
Teuvo Teravainen, CAR
Nicholas Paul, TB
Mark Stone, VGK
Oliver Ekman-Larsson, FLA
Jonas Johansson, TB
Carter Hart, PHI
Jordan Binnington, STL