NHL Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire Defensemen Pickups Jan. 3 - Fowler Continues Excellent Run With Blues

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.

Cam Fowler, STL vs. OTT (36% rostered)

Fowler went from an afterthought to being rostered in more than one-third of Yahoo leagues in a week. His fantasy value is rising rapidly with three goals and seven points in his past six games. While I doubt his current scoring pace will continue, there's some potential ROS value with L1 and PP1 deployment.

The Sens have been quite stingy lately but they're playing the second game in two nights and will likely start Anton Forsberg, who's just returned from injury and might be rusty.

Jackson LaCombe, ANA at EDM (14% rostered)

LaCombe's three-game assist streak was snapped on Thursday, but the good news is he led all Ducks defensemen in total ice time (24:55) and they've now won three in a row. The Oilers will be eager for revenge after losing in Anaheim on Dec. 29, and with last change that'll put pressure on LaCombe because he might get tougher matchups. Regardless, LaCombe's still the Ducks' top option at the moment, and the Oilers' defense and goaltending have been quite porous all season.

Alex Vlasic, CHI vs. MON (12% rostered)

Connor Murphy is considered day-to-day and his status for Friday is questionable at best. That means Vlasic could be in line to play more minutes, especially on the PK with Seth Jones. The return of Jones has hurt Vlasic's fantasy value because he's no longer on PP1, but Vlasic can be a consistent source of peripheral categories. He's recorded at least a shot and a blocked shot in each of his past four games. On a fairly light night, you may just want a defenseman who can fill in on the non-scoring categories.

Kaiden Guhle, MON at CHI (5% rostered)

We're playing the matchup more than anything here. Guhle was the Habs' minutes leader in their previous game (24:20) against the Knights, their sixth win in seven games. Guhle's offensive upside is not high, even with two points in his past three games, but the Hawks are arguably the worst team in the league. Guhle spends a lot of time at 5-on-5 with top center Nick Suzuki, so that bodes well for his chances of getting a point.

Tyler Myers, VAN vs. NSH (2% rostered)

Erik Brannstrom was expected to be the Canucks' PP1 QB but he was a late scratch Thursday against the Kraken in favor of minor leaguer Guillaume Brisebois. That left Myers as the Canucks' top QB, with Carson Soucy on the second unit. At this stage of his career, Myers is a borderline top-four defenseman and pressed into such a role based out of necessity with injuries to both Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek. The upside is not high and the Canucks are playing the second game of a back-to-back, but there might be some value with Myers' PP minutes on a night with few streaming options.

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