Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire: Wilson, Gustafsson lead 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 that can add points to your total is the No. 1 way you can 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 that 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: Tom Wilson, Washington Capitals - RW (47% rostered)

You can be forgiven for wondering if you want to roster Wilson for this week, as he’s scored just a single point (a goal) in his last five games. With that said, there are a few reasons to be interested in what Wilson has to offer.

The first is the schedule this week: Washington opens up with two straight off-nights on Monday and Wednesday. Despite the lack of scoring, Wilson has registered four and seven shots in his last two games while averaging nearly 19 minutes per game. Additionally, if hits count for anything in your league, Wilson also provides those in spades. He’s averaging nearly three per game on the season and had nine total in his last two contests.

Wilson is feeling it at the moment, and Monday’s tilt with the cellar-dwelling San Jose Sharks feels like a prime opportunity for this particular kettle to boil over.

Honourable Mentions: Patrick Kane, NA - RW (47%) & Owen Tippett, PHI - RW (44%)

Rostered in 31-40% of Leagues: Tomas Hertl, C - San Jose Sharks (37% rostered)

You might also have concerns with rostering Hertl given how putrid the San Jose Sharks have looked this season, but what little offensive presence the Sharks do have to offer runs nearly exclusively through Hertl, and he’s put up a point per game pace since Nov. 4.

It’s no accident either, as Hertl has averaged 21:21 of ice time in that span, doing yeoman’s work elevating subpar linemates. The Sharks play four games with three off-nights this week, which is one of the better schedules to stream if you’re looking at week-long options.

I don’t know that Hertl will ever go off for a seven-point week, but I feel pretty good about getting 2-4 points from him this week and I’ll take that from my streamer.

Honourable Mentions: Alexis Lafreniere, LW/RW - NYR (40%) & Lawson Crouse, LW/RW - ARI (37%)

Rostered in 21-30% of Leagues: Adam Fantilli, C - Columbus Blue Jackets (26% rostered)

Fantilli hasn’t exactly lit up the scoresheet of late with just a single assist to show for his last seven games, but he’s amassed 26 shots on goal in that span, including a tremendous 10-shot effort against Arizona 10 days back.

What makes Fantilli exciting is the prospect of him taking the next step as a rookie in the league and starting to turn more of those shots into goals, while Fantilli's viability as a streamer for this week lies in the Blue Jackets’ perfect streaming schedule: four games and every one on an off-night. You’ll get all four games of Fantilli into your starting lineup this week, which is probably more than you can say for a player on any other team in the league.

Honourable Mentions: Charlie Coyle, C - BOS (29%) & Nick Schmaltz, C/RW - ARI (29%)

Rostered in 0-20% of Leagues: Kirill Marchenko, RW - Columbus Blue Jackets (14% rostered)

Marchenko provides the same four-game, four off-night schedule advantage as his teammate Fantilli, but Marchenko has better numbers of late (three points in his last three games) and deployment (top line and top power play alongside Boone Jenner and Johnny Gaudreau).

The 6-foot-3 forward's role with the team has steadily grown since he was scratched for the last two games of October, and he seems to be one of the few players in coach Pascal Vincent’s good books. Marchenko is a priority streaming target for me this week given the deployment, schedule and recent production.

Honourable Mentions: Dylan Strome, C - WSH (19%) & Sam Bennett, C - FLA (15%)

Defensemen

Rostered in 26-50% of Leagues: Erik Gustafsson - New York Rangers (42% rostered)

Gustafsson’s candidacy for this list centers around two things: first, Adam Fox remains on the injured list until at least Nov. 29, meaning I feel reasonably confident that Gustafsson retains his current PP1 role for the Rangers for at least the Monday and Wednesday off-night games the Rangers have this week.

Second, Gustafsson has been a point-producing machine ever since Fox left the lineup, netting 10 points in nine games since the injury. I’ll pick up Gustafsson and take the chance on Fox missing at least the Rangers’ first two games of the week against Buffalo and Detroit.

Honourable Mentions: Brayden McNabb - VGK (48%) & K’Andre Miller - NYR (47%)

Rostered in 0-25% of Leagues: Rasmus Sandin - Washington Capitals (19% rostered)

Sandin has not been a point producer (just four assists in 17 games played this season), but he’s skating a tremendous amount of minutes for the Capitals (23:34 ATOI on the season), including PP2.

The Swedish blueliner also gets a boost in bangers-heavy formats as a blocking machine (2.41 blocks/game on the season) who also contributes in the hits category (one hit/game). I wouldn’t be surprised to see Sandin finally see some luck swing back his way in terms of point production, with the peripheral floor there to fall back on as well.

As mentioned previously, Washington has Monday and Wednesday off-nights to open the week, and that provides a good basis with which to audition Sandin for a week-long stream.

Honourable Mentions: Torey Krug - STL (25%) & Jared Spurgeon - MIN (14%)

Goalies

Rostered in 26-50% of Leagues: Pyotr Kochetkov - Carolina Hurricanes (40% rostered)

Kochetkov hasn’t had a particularly impressive start to his season, with an .875 save percentage in four starts, but Antti Raanta coughing up eight goals and making just six saves against the Tampa Lightning, a window has opened up in the Carolina net for Kochetkov.

He’s already made good on the first opportunity, stopping 21 of 23 in a 3-2 win against Columbus on Sunday. I’d be shocked if Kochetkov didn’t get the nod for two out of the Hurricanes’ three games this week, and it’s not exactly a murderer’s row with PHI, NYI and BUF on deck. I’m rolling Kochetkov if I need a goalie stream this week.

Honourable Mentions: Connor Ingram - ARI (28%) & Elvis Merzlikins (33%)

Rostered in 0-25% of Leagues: Charlie Lindgren - Washington Capitals (23% rostered)

Despite allowing five goals on 35 shots against the Edmonton Oilers, Lindgren still has a .926 save percentage on the season.

The Capitals have four games this week so Lindgren is a solid bet to get at least two of those given that he’s started three of the last four. Lindgren gave us a solid month of fantasy hockey goodness last year when forced into a starter’s role, and he’s already commanded the attention of coach Spencer Carbery with his stellar play on the young season.

I think Lindgren is easily the best bet of the sub-25% rostered crowd to return value both this week and for the rest of the season.

Honourable Mentions: Pheonix Copley - LAK (12%) & Mackenzie Blackwood - SJ (10%)

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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.