Yahoo Sports NHL Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire Goalie Pickups Jan. 30 - Fleury's Montreal Swan Song
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. 30
* = confirmed
Connor Hellebuyck, WPG* at Joonas Korpisalo, BOS* (7 p.m. ET)
Marc-Andre Fleury, MIN* at Jakub Dobes, MTL* (7 p.m. ET)
Logan Thompson, WSH at Anton Forsberg, OTT* (7 p.m. ET)
David Rittich, LA at Andrei Vasilevskiy, TB (7 p.m. ET)
Arvid Soderblom, CHI* at Pyotr Kochetkov, CAR (7 p.m. ET)
Ilya Sorokin, NYI* at Ivan Fedotov, PHI* (7:30 p.m. ET)
John Gibson, ANA at Dustin Wolf, CGY* (9 p.m. ET)
Cam Talbot, DET at Stuart Skinner, EDM* (9 p.m. ET)
Elvis Merzlikins, CBJ* at Ilya Samsonov, VGK* (10 p.m. ET)
Yaroslav Askarov, SJ* at Joey Daccord, SEA* (10:30 p.m. ET)
Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Goalies
Marc-Andre Fleury, MIN at MTL (20% rostered)
Jakub Dobes, MTL vs. MIN (22% rostered)
This will be Fleury's last appearance in his home province and he's been very succesful against the Habs throughout his career (27-13-6), including a 12-6-3 record with a .911 SP at the Bell Centre. This season, Fleury's been excellent on the road with a 7-2-0 record and .920 SP. Though the Wild are playing the second game of a back-to-back, there is minimal travel from Toronto.
The Habs are on a three-game skid and the luster might be wearing off on Dobes. He was excellent when he was first called up, but he's also allowed four goals in each of his past two starts. The Habs will also be without key defenseman Kaiden Guhle, who's out indefinitely due to a laceration.
The Wild will probably outshoot the Habs, which is setting up Dobes to get plenty of saves. I think Fleury will see fewer shots than Dobes, but this is setting up to be another win for the Wild.
John Gibson, ANA at CGY (14% rostered)
Gibson should get the start after taking a breather. He was injured last Saturday but healthy enough to back up Lukas Dostal against the Kraken on Tuesday. Gibson has been very good this season considering the Ducks aren't very good; he has a .921 SP and 2.52 GAA through nine games in January.
The Ducks have won three straight but there's a good chance of an upset. I think Gibson can be a really good under-the-radar play for a lot of saves and a good save percentage, with the bonus being his ninth win of the season.
Cam Talbot, DET at EDM (47% rostered)
Talbot is going for his fourth straight win with only four goals allowed in three starts. The Red Wings are on a roll yet again after losing three straight but shutting down the Oilers offense will be very difficult because Connor McDavid is back in the lineup following his suspension and scored a goal against the Kraken on Monday. If Talbot starts, this will be his second start against the Oilers this season after an overtime loss on Oct. 27, 3-2.
I think Talbot will make a lot of saves and post a good save percentage, but the Oilers offense is elite and they've been arguably the league's best team over the past two months. I don't think the Wings will get the win, but the peripherals should be good.
Yaroslav Askarov, SJ at SEA (14% rostered)
Askarov gets his fourth straight start - why not, when your only other option is Alexandar Georgiev - after a strong performance against the Pens where he allowed just one goal on 30 shots (.967 SP). The Sharks have won three straight games against the Kraken and they're generally not an intimidating matchup because their offense tends to be very mid. I don't mind rolling the dice with Askarov in this matchup. Note Vitek Vanecek is on a rehab assignment in the minors, and once he's recalled, there's a good chance Askarov is returned to the AHL. As bad as Georgiev has been, Askarov is exempt from waivers, while there's always a risk - however unlikely - Georgiev gets claimed if he's waived.
Askarov has a good chance to rack up plenty of saves and provide a good save percentage based on his last performance. I don't think he'll get the win, however, because Joey Daccord is at the other end of the ice and he's been excellent despite losing to the Sharks earlier this season.
Elvis Merzlikins, CBJ at VGK (33% rostered)
Merzlikins has been very good with three goals allowed in his past two starts, stopping 59 of 62 shots (.952 SP), but that really hasn't been the norm this season. Merzlikins' best chance to win this game is for the Blue Jackets to provide plenty of goal support, and there's definitely a good chance that could happen; the Knights are 3-6-2 since Jan. 9 with poor goaltending the main culprit. Merzlikins boasts a surprisingly strong career record against the Knights with two wins in three games, a .921 SP and 2.36 GAA.
I'm not confident Merzlikins can continue his dominance against the Knights. This feels like it could be a high-scoring game. It's a big-risk, big-reward streaming option. The upside is a win and plenty of saves for Merzlikins, and the downside is a lot of goals against and poor save percentage.
Ivan Fedotov, PHI vs. NYI (4% rostered)
The Flyers laid an absolute egg in a 5-0 loss to the Devils on Wednesday, but knowing John Tortorella's teams, they're going to come out with a much better effort. Fedotov has generally been quite good lately, but he also has not won a game since Nov. 29 against the Rangers, a span of six appearances, including last night when he came in relief for Samuel Ersson. This game could go either way, but note the Isles are on a roll with a five-game winning streak and having little trouble scoring goals.
The Isles are red-hot and the Flyers will have a lot of trouble beating Ilya Sorokin, especially with Owen Tippett potentially out of the lineup after leaving Wednesday's game with an injury. Fedotov needs goal support to win games; at best, you're looking for saves and good save percentage, but even that's unlikely right now. Fedotov's a risky start that should be avoided unless there are no other options.
David Rittich, LA at TB (7% rostered)
The Lightning have lost four of their past five and they've scored just one goal in their past two games. The Kings offense has similarly sputtered, scoring two goals or less in nine of their past 10 games (3-6-1). The difference in this matchup is the Lightning are actually a good offensive team that's just a little snakebit, while the Kings have trouble generating offense on a regular basis. Rittich is a mediocre backup who's been atrocious on the road this season (3-8-0, .860 SP, 3.20 GAA).
Even if Rittich somehow has a strong start, he will need the Kings to provide goal support, which seems like an impossibility these days. The Kings are the underdog, and there are simply too many factors working against them right now to count on Rittich to get the win, or even post a good save percentage. Pass.
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