Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire: Lucas Raymond leads pickups to target this week

Working the waiver wire is a crucial part of any championship fantasy hockey season. Finding players to work into your lineup every single week who can add points to your total is the best way to control the outcome of your matchup.

In this article every week, I’ll be going over players at every position and at different levels of rostership so you can fill out your fantasy squad with the best players available in your league. Let’s dig in:

Forwards

Rostered in 41-50% of leagues: Lucas Raymond, LW/RW - DET (48% rostered)

I was frankly a little bit shocked to see Raymond still hanging out in the sub-50% rostered range despite continuing to hold down a spot on the surprising Red Wings’ top line. Any time you can guarantee a bunch of exposure to players as hot as Detroit stars Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Larkin have been to start the season, you have a case for fantasy relevance.

Raymond has a goal and three assists in his last four games and it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which Raymond doesn’t eclipse last season’s disappointing 45-point total if the Red Wings can keep rolling. I also think Raymond has additional upside if he can find his way back onto the top power-play unit, making him an interesting long-term bet to boot.

Honorable mentions: Tyler Bertuzzi, LW - TOR (41%) and Tom Wilson, RW - WSH (48%)

Rostered in 31-40% of leagues: Owen Tippett, RW - PHI (33% rostered)

As we get deeper here we start to find more weekly streamer-focused players with great schedules in the upcoming week for fantasy purposes. Tippett’s Flyers have the league’s best streaming schedule this week with a four-game, two off-night slate. Tippett has taken up residency on the resurgent Flyers’ top line and has taken flight of late after a slow start to the season.

Tippett has a goal and four assists in his last five games and has fired a tremendous 24 shots on goal in that span, nearly averaging five shots per game. Tippett is a significant contributor in the hits category so if that’s counted in your leagues, Tippett might be the best pickup you can make for the upcoming week.

Honourable mentions: Nick Schmaltz, C/RW - ARI (36%) and Mason McTavish, C/LW - ANA (31%)

Rostered in 21-30% of leagues: Robert Thomas, C - STL (24% rostered)

St. Louis has a nice mid-week schedule, hitting both the Wednesday and Friday off-nights. That makes it a good week to get onboard with Thomas, who hasn’t quite lit up the scoresheet in the early going but is skating a career-high 21:16 a game to go with a career-high shot rate.

If Thomas continues to get elite-level deployment and shoot more than he ever has in his career, he’s an absolute guarantee to become a high-priority pickup across Yahoo leagues. If you need some off-nights to fill out your roster this week then give ol’ Rob Tom a spin and see if he can’t turn into a season-long hold on your squad.

Honorable Mentions: Sean Couturier, C - PHI (21%) and Evgeny Kuznetsov, C - WSH (29%)

Rostered in 0-20% of leagues: Cam Atkinson, RW - PHI (16% rostered)

Atkinson checks all the boxes I’m looking for in a streamer and then some. Best team schedule in the league this week? Check. Getting top-line and top power-play minutes? Check. Scoring a lot recently? Check. In fact, Atkinson has four goals and three assists for seven points in his last five games and seems to have no lasting ill-effects from the neck injury that kept him out for the entirety of the 2022-23 season.

I have no qualms about recommending Atkinson this week as a terrific stream that might force you to choose a different player to drop for next week by the time next Monday rolls around.

Honorable Mentions: Ryan Strome, LW/RW - ANA (14%) and Barrett Hayton, C - ARI (8%)

Defensemen

Rostered in 26-50% of leagues: Travis Sanheim - PHI (48% rostered)

I’ll keep going back to the well with Philadelphia this week by touting Sanheim, who has seen an astronomical rise in rostership to the point where it’s now last call for his services. Sanheim has popped a goal and five assists in his last five games while skating a tremendous 26:37 per night including top power-play duties.

Sanheim has also increased his individual shot and chance production to levels he’s never reached before, giving me some hope we could be looking at a player who is simply breaking out rather than having a terrific but ultimately fleeting stretch of play. If Sanheim is still available in your league you need to rectify that issue immediately.

Honorable Mentions: John Klingberg - TOR (46%) and Owen Power - BUF (44%)

Rostered in 0-25% of leagues: Pavel Mintyukov - ANA (7% rostered)

Similar to Robert Thomas, the Anaheim Ducks’ schedule this week makes it a terrific entry point on Mintyukov, who has been wildly impressive through his first eight games in the NHL. In fact, Mintyukov ranks 19th in Corsi For per 60 minutes (CF/60) and 12th in scoring chances for per 60 minutes (SCF/60) amongst all NHL defensemen who have played at least 100 minutes so far this season.

Mintyukov has already unseated incumbent Cam Fowler as the top power-play quarterback in Anaheim and is skating about 19:30 a night. It’s fair to wonder what Mintyukov’s true upside might be as a rookie on a building Ducks team, but he’s provided 0.5 points per game to go with great peripheral contributions: 2.13 hits per game and 1.75 blocks per game. I’m very high on Mintyukov’s fantasy potential.

Honorable Mentions: Oliver Ekman-Larsson - FLA (19%) and Torey Krug - STL (22%)

Goalies

Rostered in 26-50% of leagues: Elvis Merzlikins - CBJ (32% rostered)

It’s tough to feel strongly about any goalie rostered in less than 50% of Yahoo leagues in yet another season where the goalie position feels impossible to predict in the early going (Jonas Johansson back-to-back shutouts anyone??), but Merzlikins still checks some boxes the other options in this range don’t.

First, Merzlikins is the clear-cut volume starter in Columbus and will have to play pretty terribly to lose that mantle. Second, Merzlikins will have plenty of opportunity to make a ton of saves as the Blue Jackets once again rank in the bottom third of the league in shots allowed. I wouldn’t be surprised if Merzlikins led the league in total saves by the end of the season, and that holds some value in most leagues. It’s a tough pill to swallow but Merzlikins is the best option in this grouping in my opinion.

Honorable Mentions: John Gibson - ANA (35%) and Philipp Grubauer (33%)

Rostered in 0-25% of Leagues: Joey Daccord - SEA (5% rostered)

It seems like it’s flown under the radar since Daccord is rostered in just 5% of Yahoo leagues, but he’s commanded three straight starts for the Kraken and posted a respectable .909 SV% in those games. Philipp Grubauer is likely to start Monday’s game against Tampa, but if he performs poorly again we could be looking at Daccord becoming a volume starter on an underperforming but typically solid Seattle squad.

I’m watching the Monday game very closely, and would pick up Daccord quickly if he was announced as the starter or if Grubauer starts and gets lit up by the Lightning. These are the types of situations that can yield long-term fantasy gold if mined correctly and are worth this kind of special attention.

Honorable Mentions: Jake Allen - MTL (20%) and Lukas Dostal - ANA (5%)

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Nate Groot Nibbelink is the creator of Apples & Ginos Fantasy Hockey and the originator of the #ZeroG draft strategy. You can find him pontificating about obscure fantasy hockey strategy topics in the Apples & Ginos Discord Server or on Twitter @applesginos.