Sport: NHL

Welcome back to Fantrax’s fantasy hockey waiver wire report.

This week’s schedule is one for fantasy frustration. There are lots of games on the NHL’s traditional busy nights, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. And very few games on off-nights, including none on Friday.

More Fantasy Hockey Analysis: | Goalie Streamers | NHL Usage Trends | Buy-Low, Sell-High | NHL Schedule Preview | Fantasy Hockey Cold List | Prospect Report | NHL Injury Report | Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire

Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire

This week is more about picking the right players to play on stacked nights than finding the best off-night flier.

Off-Night Schedules:

Only three teams play two-off night games this week: the Buffalo Sabres (played one of them last night), the Washington Capitals, and the San Jose Sharks (played one of them last night)

Eleven teams play four games this week: Columbus Blue Jackets, Calgary Flames, Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, Nashville Predators, Ottawa Senators, San Jose Sharks, Seattle Kraken, Tampa Bay Lightning, Utah Mammoth, and Vancouver Canucks.

Only the New York Rangers play two games this week.

The Ducks, with three home games, also have the easiest schedule this week. Their three opponents have a combined .467 winning percentage (Nashville, San Jose, Vancouver). These three teams give up an average of 3.30 goals per game, the most of any matchup this week, as well.

Pierre-Luc Dubois, Washington Capitals

I get the hesitation, but with two off-night games and a four-game week, it is really hard to ignore the eight points he has produced over the last four games.

It’s playoff time, this is not the time to judge a player by the name on their jersey. Put the biases aside and take the production where you can find it. He’s only rostered in 45% of Fantrax pools, too. You could do worse.

Egor Chinakov, Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins are scoring goals like it is 2009. The sneaky good acquisition of Chinakov from Columbus earlier this year has been a reliable part of that attack. Chinakov has 7 points during his modest four-point streak and is now up to 33 in 40 games with the Penguins.

The Penguins only play three games this week, all against divisional non-playoff teams, New Jersey, and a back-to-back against Washington. Owned in 40% of Fantrax leagues, it’s rare to find a player playing at a 70-point pace sitting on the wire this late in the season.

Sam Malinski, Colorado Avalanche

While Cale Makar remains sidelined, Malinski’s value remains high. Owned in just 52% of Fantrax pools, you can grab some short-term offensive production from one of the biggest offensive surprises of the season. I doubt many, if anyone, had Malinski hitting 40 points on their BINGO card at the start of the year. Yet, here he is, with 37 points and five games to go.

Connor Brown, New Jersey Devils

Looking for late-season value?

has been a few years since Brown has played at this level of production, hitting 40 points for the first time since the 2019-20 season.

Brown has 14 points in his last 15 games, including 5 power-play points. He is also averaging over 20 minutes per game during this stretch.

If it doesn’t appear, the masses haven’t caught on yet, as Brown remains owned in only 15% of Fantrax pools. A first-line player, producing .93 points per game over the past month, remains unowned in 85% of Fantrax hockey pools.

Connor Ingram, Edmonton Oilers

He remains owned in just 40% of Fantrax pools, yet over the past week, he’s 3-1 with a .918 save percentage and a shutout. Yes, an Oilers goalie had a shutout.

The Oilers are  ‘like a box of chocolates’ this year, ‘you never know what you’re going to get’ (Forrest Gump). At this time of year, teams playing meaningful games can lift their level of play. This is what Edmonton has done the past two seasons. In a pillow-fight for the division title, Ingram should be the only goalie Edmonton plays down the stretch.

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