NHL Fantasy: Under-owned wingers showing midseason promise

With much of the attention from fantasy owners focused on thriving at the important positions of centre, defence and goaltending, it’s easy to overlook wingers — especially with so many to pick from and so many factors coming into play.

Over the past few weeks, a group of lesser-known wings have clicked with new linemates, returned from injuries, or have just found their stride in general.

Here’s a few of those candidates to consider adding this week.

Andreas Johnsson, Maple Leafs (11% owned)

The left winger has found his groove playing alongside Auston Matthews (I mean, who wouldn’t?) as of late and has translated his eye-test success to the scoresheet, posting five goals and 10 points over his last seven games.

There’s a fairly high likelihood that Johnsson will stay on the left side of that line if or when William Nylander returns to his usual slot on AM34’s right side, and is being granted the opportunity to rack up some of those sweet, sweet power-play points on Toronto’s second PP unit.

Ondrej Palat, Lightning (9% owned)

Coming off a four-shot, two-goal performance (including one on the power play) against the Avalanche, Palat is now up to four points (one PP), 10 SOG and 12 hits in six contests since returning from a lower-body injury last month.

He is currently playing alongside Steven Stamkos and Yanni Gourde, but has also spent time on Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov’s unit. Fitting in as a constant with either of Tampa’s lethal top-two lines on the NHL’s highest scoring team should pay production dividends for a guy who is somehow owned in only one tenth of all Yahoo leagues.

Brett Connolly, Capitals (2% owned)

Connolly’s fifth goal of the campaign against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday extended his point streak to four games, giving the 26-year-old five goals and 18 points on the season — including five points during that four-game run.

With T.J. Oshie sidelined with a concussion and just resuming skating this week, now is the time to grab Connolly who has a few favourable contests upcoming against the likes of the Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes and Detroit Red Wings.

Pontus Aberg, Ducks (15% owned)

Anaheim looked dead since the start of the season up until a couple weeks ago, but the team has slowly found its scoring touch again recently and have vaulted up to second place in an underwhelming Pacific Division.

Aberg has turned out to be quite a steal for the Ducks, as the 25-year-old Swede has posted 16 points, with 10 goals so far this season and six points over his last five contests while playing alongside a rejuvenated Ryan Getzlaf on Anaheim’s top line.

Paul Byron, Canadiens (10% owned)

The Montreal winger has notched two goals and four points with plus-3 rating in his four games since returning from a lower-body injury, and now has 11 points in 15 games this season despite averaging less than 15 minutes of ice time per game.

Though he’s currently slotted on the Canadiens’ third line, he’s plying to the left of rookie Jesperi Kotkaniemi whom Montreal is going to deploy as much as possible to ensure the youngster is getting his reps — and Byron should benefit fro those consistent minutes as he gets his legs back after that aforementioned injury.

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