NHL Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire Goalie Pickups Jan. 9 - Rolling With Merzlikins Into The Deep

On every game day this season, THN Fantasy will highlight players and goalies for fantasy managers to stream or roster for the rest of the season. The recommended players and goalies can be used in standard fantasy leagues or for daily fantasy games

10 games on Thursday, Jan. 9

* = confirmed

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, BUF* at Anton Forsberg, OTT* (7 p.m. ET)

Jeremy Swayman, BOS* at Andrei Vasilevskiy, TB* (7 p.m. ET)

Jacob Markstrom, NJ* at Igor Shesterkin, NYR* (7 p.m. ET)

Casey DeSmith, DAL* at Samuel Ersson, PHI* (7 p.m. ET)

Stuart Skinner, EDM* at Alex Nedeljkovic, PIT* (7 p.m. ET)

Joey Daccord, SEA at Elvis Merzlikins, CLB* (7 p.m. ET)

Joseph Woll, TOR* at Pyotr Kochetkov, CAR (7:30 p.m. ET)

Lukas Dostal, ANA at Joel Hofer, STL* (8 p.m. ET)

Mackenzie Blackwood, COL* at Filip Gustavsson, MIN* (8 p.m. ET)

Ilya Sorokin, NYI at Adin Hill, VEG* (10 p.m. ET)

Goalies

Elvis Merzlikins, CLB vs. SEA (25% rostered)

I'm not sure Merzlikins can offer a good save percentage - three straight games of .879 SP or worse - but he's getting a lot of goal support and won five of his past seven games. The Kraken are 2-7-1 in their past 10 and they likely won't have enough firepower to keep up with the Blue Jackets; even if Merzlikins is not sharp, he has a good chance of winning. The Kraken are the slightest favorites according to FanDuel's odds as of Wednesday evening, but I think that has mostly to do with the Kraken's five-game winning streak against the Jackets. I don't mind rolling the dice with Merzlikins here.

Anton Forsberg, OTT vs. BUF (6% rostered)

I think this is a good matchup for the Senators because even though they're having trouble scoring right now, the Sabres defense and goaltending shouldn't pose much of a challenge. Dating back to 2023, six of their past seven games have featured at least six goals with the Sens holding a 4-3-0 edge with an extra win in overtime.

The problem with streaming Forsberg is that he's almost guaranteed to let in at least a few goals. The Sens are without two of their regulars in Jacob Bernard-Docker and Travis Hamonic, and Forsberg's mediocre play has been a season-long issue; asides from his two shutouts, he's posted a .900 SP or better in just two of his 10 starts. The Sens are favored but the win will come with a costly save percentage and goals against.

Tristan Jarry, PIT vs. EDM (26% rostered)

It could be Alex Nedeljkovic who gets the start since the Pens are in a funk again with four straight losses and Nedeljkovic has the better home record (6-1-1, .909 SP, 2.67 GAA) than Jarry (4-3-2, .875 SP, 3.86 GAA). Either way, however, the struggling Pens are coming up against one of the best teams in the league since Dec. 1 (12-3-1, .781 P%, second-best in the league) and any time you're facing Connor McDavid and Rocket Richard leader Leon Draisaitl, you're better off avoiding the matchup. Jarry has a career 1-4-0, .868 SP, 4.75 GAA record against the Oilers.

Jonathan Quick, NYR vs. NJ (24% rostered)

Tough matchup. Quick has allowed 11 goals in his past two games even though the Rangers offense has come alive with 14 goals in their past three games. The Rangers will be missing key players in Chris Kreider and possibly Filip Chytil - even if they've underperformed this season - which will hurt their attack.

In the most recent Devils-Rangers matchups, the disparity between the two teams was very evident, and if the Rangers choose to dress Matt Rempe, who's eligible to return following an eight-game suspension, I'm not sure quality hockey will be on the menu. The Devils have won both of their previous matchups by a combined 10-1 score. I'd shy away from Quick in this matchup - there's just too many things that could potentially go wrong.

Ivan Fedotov, PHI vs. DAL (6% rostered)

I suspect Fedotov will get the call for the third straight game despite consecutive losses because he's still a better option than Aleksei Kolosov. Even if the Flyers manage to keep the shots to a minimum, as they did in two games against the Leafs where they had just 42 total shots, there's no guarantee Fedotov will stop enough of them to win. Tack on the fact the Flyers have had trouble scoring lately, and facing a tough goalie in Jake Oettinger, streaming Fedotov just feels like a losing cause.

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