NHL Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire Rankings (12/17)

Chris Meaney

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Welcome to the Week 11 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 no games on Sunday, December 24, so there are only two teams scheduled to play four games in Week 11 (Dec. 18 – Dec. 24). There are also no games on Monday, December 25th or Tuesday, December 26th. There are zero teams with four games in Week 12.

There won’t be a Week 12 fantasy hockey article, so I have a lookahead for Week 12 below. As mentioned, zero teams with four games and most teams have three games. There are four teams with two games. The Vancouver Canucks only pay once in Week 12. As for this week, every team has at least three games.

I’ve updated my Fantasy Hockey rankings for the rest of the season. Check out the link below!

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

Kyle Connor, WPG
Dylan Larkin, DET
Andrei Svechnikov, CAR
Jeff Skinner, BUF
Boone Jenner, CLS
Bryan Rust, PIT
Pavel Zacha, BOS
Mason McTavish, ANA
Patrik Laine, CLS
Rickard Rakell, PIT
Cale Makar, COL
Dougie Hamilton, NJ
Charlie McAvoy, BOS
Thomas Chabot, OTT
Shea Theodore, VGK
Sean Durzi, ARI
Seth Jones, CHI
Jake Oettinger, DAL
Adin Hill, VGK

Laine can be dropped. I put Rakell on the list because he’s expected back soon. He was awful before the injury, but he didn’t have much puck line. He’ll play with Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, and he could be valuable in deep formats.

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.

Gabriel Vilardi, C/RW, WInnipeg Jets

Here’s what I said about Gabriel Vilardi in the breakout section of the fantasy hockey draft kit:

Unfortunately, Vilardi suffered an injury at the beginning of the season but he’s been red hot since he returned. Also unfortunately, the Jets will be without Kyle Connor for the next six-to-eight weeks. I truly believe Vilardi would have found himself back on the top line with Connor and Mark Scheifele. We still may see that again, but the Jets rolled with Vilardi, Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers this week. Vilardi picked up four goals, seven points and 13 shots on goal. The trio has 19 points in their last four games.

Last Chance

Brock Nelson, NYI
Nikolaj Ehlers, WPG
Robert Thomas, STL
Quinton Byfield, LA
Tomas Hertl, SJ
Matt Duchene, DAL
Oliver Bjorkstrand, CLS
Owen Tippett, PHI
Matt Boldy, MIN
Josh Norris, OTT
Mikael Granlund, SJ
Luke Hughes, NJ
Pyotr Kochetkov, CAR

Pyotr Kochetkov, G Carolina Hurricanes

The Hurricanes haven’t been able to get a save all season, but it seems like Kochetkov has taken control of the net. He was great in his two starts this week in Ottawa and Detroit. Carolina also put Antti Raanta on waivers. Kochetkov has an appealing ceiling and the Hurricanes are still playing good 5v5 hockey. They don’t allow a lot of quality chances, so Kochetkov has upside to be a top 12 goalie the rest of the way.

Mikael Granlund, C/RW, San Jose Sharks

Granlund has moved from a four-game streaming option, to a must own at this point, especially in leagues with face off wins. Granlund has a solid 19 points in 23 games for the Sharks. The points, shots and FOW are piling up as he’s receiving a career-high 12:03 per game with the Sharks.

Deep-League Adds

Wyatt Johnston, DAL
Chandler Stephenson, VGK
JJ Peterka, BUF
Tyler Seguin, DAL
Mason Marchment, DAL
Sam Bennett, FLA
Eeli Tolvanen, SEA
Alexander Kerfoot, ARI
Yegor Sharangovich, CGY
Zach Benson, BUF
Stefan Noesen, CAR
Morgan Geekie, BOS
Torey Krug, STL
Kaiden Guhle, MTL
Simon Nemec, NJ
Scott Wedgewood, DAL
Martin Jones, TOR

Yegor Sharangovich, CGY

Yegor was also in the breakout section of the fantasy hockey draft kit, but I understand it was very hard to stick with him, considering how the start of his season went. He has goals in five straight games and 11 on the season. He’s worth an add, but I’d consider selling-high. He’ll obviously slow down, but he’ll touch career highs across the board, including ice time. I’d say he finishes with 20-25 goals this season.

Scott Wedgewood, G, Dallas Stars

I have a few shares of Jake Oettinger so I immediately added Wedgewood in those leagues. The ceiling isn’t as high, but Oettinger had been struggling. I’d say he’s a must grab if you own Oettinger and if you don’t consider Wedgewood a top 15-17 option for as long as Dallas remains without their starting goalie.

Zach Benson, LW, Buffalo Sabres

I was extremely impressed with Benson’s game this week and he’s been good to us in the betting and NHL DFS markets. He scored a goal in Colorado and Vegas, and he had some chemistry with Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch. Benson put up at least three shots on goal in each one of his last three games. He’s worth your time in deeper formats with Jeff Skinner sidelined.

Banger Leagues

Radko Gudas, ANA
Adam Larsson, SEA
Connor Murphy, CHI
Pavel Mintyukov, ANA
Jamie Oleksiak, SEA
Brenden Dillon, WPG
Jonas Siegenthaler, NJ
Marcus Foligno, MIN
Yakov Trenin, NSH
Matt Dumba, ARI
Jeremy Lauzon, NSH
Alexander Romanov, NYI

Hold

Nikita Kucherov, TB
Jack Hughes, NJ
J.T. Miller, VAN
Evander Kane, EDM
Roope Hintz, DAL
Valeri Nichushkin, COL
Matt Boldy, MIN
Robert Thomas, STL
Bo Horvat, NYI
Quinn Hughes, VAN
Evan Bouchard, EDM
Mike Matheson, MTL

Consider Dropping

Andrei Kuzmenko, VAN
Jonathan Huberdeau, CGY
Dawson Mercer, NJ
Evan Rodrigues, FLA
Erik Gustafsson, NYR
Hampus Lindholm, BOS
Owen Power, BUF

Week 11 (Dec. 18- Dec. 24)

Four games

Detroit Red Wings

(MON vs. ANA, WED @ WPG, FRI vs. PHI, SAT @ NJ)

J.T. Compher, W

Compher returned to the lineup over the weekend and played 21 minutes. Dylan Larkin is expected back this week as well. Compher skated with Patrick Kane. It’s a solid looking top six when everyone is healthy, even with some shooting regression expected throughout the lineup.

Jake Walman, D

Hits and blocks with some offensive upside.

Minnesota Wild

(MON @ PIT, TUE @ BOS, THU vs. MTL, SAT vs. BOS)

Brock Faber, D

Faber logged 30 minutes in each of his last two games. He was already logging heavy minutes and now Jared Spurgeon is out again.

Marco Rossi, C

It’s nice to see Matt Boldy get the coaching change boost. Rossi is still receiving top -six minutes and he scored twice last week. He’ll begin the week on the second line with Mats Zuccarello and Marcus Johansson. Boldly is on the top line where he belongs. The buying window is closing.

Attack The Schedule

Monday – 5 Games
Tuesday – 11 Games
Wednesday – 3 Games
Thursday – 12 Games
Friday – 4 Games
Saturday – 14 Games
Sunday – 0 Games

WPG – MON, WED, FRI
DET – MON, WED, FRI, SAT
MON – MON, THU, FRI
SEA – MON, WED, SAT

The Jets have a great looking schedule this week. All the more reason to like Vilardi. Consider Juraj Slafkovsky in deep leagues. He looked strong next to Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. Josh Anderson finally scored on a goalie. He had two in his last game and they tend to come in bunches. He’s also shooting. Eeli Tolavanen and Oliver Bjorkstrand are still hanging around waiver wires.

Back-to-Backs

Week 12 (Dec. 25- Dec. 31)

2 games

1 game

The following teams have games on Wednesday and Thursday to start Week 12. Start the week strong with two games to begin the week.

Buy-Low Candidates

Leon Draisaitl, EDM
Jason Robertson, DAL
Matthew Tkachuk, FLA
Kirill Kaprizov, MIN
Nico Hischier, NJ
Timo Meier, NJ
Tim Stutzle, OTT
Tage Thompson, BUF
Roope Hintz, DAL
Miro Heiskanen, DAL
Adin Hill, VGK

Sell-High Candidates

Alexander Kerfoot, ARI
Leo Carlsson, ANA
Yegor Sharangovich, CGY
Robby Fabbri, DET
William Karlsson, VGK
Mathew Barzal, NYI
Mark Stone, VGK
Oliver Ekman-Larsson, FLA
Martin Jones, TOR