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Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire; Anders Lee
Four-game stream options for Week 18 of the Fantasy Hockey season are endless as 18 teams are scheduled to hit the ice at least four times, with the New York Islanders slated to play five games during the week. Every team not named the Arizona Coyotes, play at least three games. Instead of suggesting a player from each squad playing four games, you’ll see a list of several players hanging out on the waiver wire in fewer than 50 percent of Yahoo! and ESPN Fantasy Hockey leagues, who should be rostered for a stretch run.
When the puck drops on Week 22, it could mean the beginning of Fantasy Hockey playoffs making every move and each and every stream that much more important. Whether you’re fighting for a playoff spot, sitting comfortably or building for the future. It’s time to cut your loses on those who are just not getting the job done. You can’t leave a guy on your roster who you’ve been waiting on all year to turn his season around.
Week 17 was just the worst for Tyler Seguin (knee) owners as the Stars’ center will be sidelined for the next two-to-four weeks. Chances are Seguin helped carry you into a solid position and the news is good as you’ll most likely get him back for a playoff run, but you’ll need a replacement for the time being. Easier said than done as Seguin was fourth in the NHL in goals (29) and third in points (59) heading into Sunday.
Those who drafted Taylor Hall (leg) have basically needed a replacement all season long as the Oilers’ winger has been a huge disappointment in 2014-15 and will now miss the next four-to-six weeks with a fracture. Unless your’re sitting pretty or have an IR spot, you can go ahead and drop Hall. An example of cutting your loses. Frederik Andersen (head) was placed on the IR joining other top-end goalies such as Steve Mason (knee), Sergei Bobrovsky (groin) and Henrik Lundqvist (Strained blood vessel).
Dave Pitman and myself sat down Friday and suggested several stream options for Week 18 of the Fantasy Hockey season, led by Islanders rookie Anders Lee. There are several quality four-game stream options as 18 teams play at least four games.
Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire: Must-Owns
Anders Lee – C/LW – Y! – 19% / ESPN 19%
Lee is a player I have talked about for the past couple weeks as a guy who should be owned and no doubt he’s caught your attention now. He was six percent owned in Y! leagues last week, but with points in four-straight games (3G & 5A) his ownership has tripled. Lee is fresh off a four assist game against the Blue Jackets where he also picked up four shots, two hits and finished with a +4 rating. Lee has been more than deserving of Kyle Okposo‘s (eye) spot on the top line with John Tavares.
The 24-year-old has 28 goals over his first 74 NHL games and is tied for second among rookies with 18 goals this season, just one back from first. Lee scored one goal in two games in 2012-13 and scored nine last season in just 22 games. He’s fired 192 pucks on goal so far in his young career and playing alongside Tavares should only help his development and increase his production. Lee has 14 shots on net over his last three games and now has shots in 16 straight games and at least one in 46 of his 50 contests this season. Lee uses every bit of his 6-foot-3, 227 pound frame as he has hits (31) in 12 straight games.
Derick Brassard – C/LW – Y! 47% / ESPN 63%
Finally! Brassard’s ownership is above 50 percent in ESPN and a near 50 percent in Yahoo! leagues. For whatever reason, it took three quarters of the season for people to catch on as Brassard has 43 points (15 on the PP) in 52 games while playing alongside Rick Nash in just about everyone of those games. What bugs me is that Chris Kreider has 29 points (Brassard 30 assists) and was owned in over 50 percent of leagues from day 1 of the season. Mats Zuccarello is the third member of the Brassard and Nash line. He as well should be owned.
Kris Versteeg – LW/RW – Y! 27%/ ESPN 29%
Versteeg returned to action during Week 17 of the Fantasy Hockey season and it only took two games for Joel Quenneville to place the winger back on a line with Patrick Kane. Versteeg had 24 points in his last 26 games playing with NHL point leader Kane before breaking his hand. Versteeg deserves a top-six role having picked up 28 points, 90 shots and a +12 rating in 37 games this season and he deserves a spot on your roster.
Mike Fisher – C/LW – Y! 30% / ESPN 49%
I’ll continue to write about Fisher until his ownership jumps up to 50 percent of both Y! and ESPN leagues. I’ve been a big Fisher supporter since day 1. He fills up ever single fake hockey category you could need; Hits, faceoffs, blocked shots, PIMs and power play points.
The Preds’ center has four goals and five assists over his last 10 games with three of those points coming on the power play. Fisher has hits in 13 of his last 15 games and at least 10 faceoff wins in six of his last seven games.
Colin Wilson – C/LW – Y! 46% / ESPN 45%
Fisher’s teammate Colin Wilson missed two games during Week 17 and that was enough for people to give up on him. Two games people! He was dropped in both leagues and in the two games he’s played since his return; 1 G (GWG), +1, 9 SOG and 1 HIT. Wilson has 18 goals, 19 assists and is +24 on the season. That kind of production should not be hanging around the waiver wire.
The seventh overall pick from 2008 was dropped in seven percent of Y! leagues when he went down with an injury. We’re in a new world where the Predators are not only impressive on the back-end and in net, but they score a lot of goals as they are the six highest scoring teams in the NHL.
Blake Comeau – LW – Y! 16% / ESPN 18%
Comeau missed about two months with a wrist injury but now that he’s back in the Penguins lineup, he’s back to being one of the better fantasy assets out there. Comeau has a goal, two assists, 11 hits, six shots and a +1 rating in his three games since returning from injury.
Comeau has skated alongside Evgeni Malkin for most of the season and it shows in his numbers. He had nine points in 13 games leading up to his injury and has 12 goals, 21 points, 76 shots and 105 hits in 34 games. Comeau would be among the hit leaders in the NHL if he wasn’t sidelined for seven weeks. He’s only gone two games all year without registering a hit. The former 24 goal scorer has an eight hit game and two seven hit games this season.
Josh Bailey– LW Y! 7% / ESPN 8%
I like Lee more, but Bailey is the third member of the Islanders’ top unit and has been all over the score sheet of late. He finished Week 17 with three goals and five points with a +6 rating in three games. Bailey also has shots in 11 straight games with 26 over that span. Mentioned him last week and his ownership has stayed the same this week.
Jonathan Huberdeau – C/LW – Y! 38%/ ESPN 15%
Huberdeau is pointless over his last three games, but he extended his shot streak to six games with four against the Blues. He has 15 shots over his last six games, but has no goals to show for it. He does however have five assists over his last seven games.
Nick Bjugstad has been much better than Huberdeau and is only owned in 32 percent of Y! leagues. He’s ownership is closer to 50 in ESPN. Bjugstad picked up his 2oth goal of the year in his last game and now has four snipes in the last six games. He also has shots (29) in seven straight
David Desharnais – C – Y! 18% / ESPN 23%
Get him while he’s hot because he won’t be for long. I guess that’s not totally true. As long as Desharnais continues to play alongside Max Pacioretty he’s worth a pick up. He has two goals (one in overtime) and six assists over his last seven games. Desharnais won’t provide any hits and hates to shoot the puck, but Pacioretty loves to shoot the puck and both spend time together on the power play.
Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire: Defensemen
Travis Hamonic -D Y! 26% / ESPN 31%
Nine of Hamonic’s 19 points have come over his last 11 games and we can look to his ice-time as a big reason why. Hamonic is averaging 21 minutes per-game in his fifth season in the NHL, but is averaging 24 minutes per-game over his last six. He has six power play points, but four of them have come over the last two weeks.
The ability to put up real-time stats is what makes Hamonic so appealing. He has hits in 44 of his 46 games for a total of 146 on the season. He has nine in his last two games and at least one in 17 straight. The Islanders’ defenseman has only played three games without blocking a shot. If you play with PIMs and plus/minus, well he has 71 penalty minutes and is +11 on the year.
Tyler Myers – D – Y! 21% / ESPN 21%
Myers is Fantasy relevant again with the move to Winnipeg. He has five shots on goal and two assists in his first two games with the Jets and one of them came on the power play. Let’s not forget Myers had 48 points in his rookie season on his way to a Calder Trophy. Change of scenery will do wonders for Myers. Jacob Trouba should be owned as well.
Seth Jones – D – Y! 27% / ESPN 29%
Jones has three goals and two assists for Jones over his last seven games. The 20-year-old has shots in 17 straight games, hits in 16 of his last 17 games and a at least a blocked shot in nine of his last 11 games. Cody Franson may cut into some of his ice-time and production, but Jones is still worth of an add. 20 plus minutes in 17 straight games for Jones and he reached 25 minutes twice in the past week. He may not reach that number again with the Franson addition.
Hampus Lindholm – D – Y! 37% / ESPN 24%
Lindholm had four points in seven games before missing a game last week with an injury. Owners panicked and dropped him but there was no need to let him go and now that he’s back in the lineup he should be owned.
He has two assists, two PIMs, three hits and two shots on goal over his last two games. He’s played 20 plus minutes in 16 of his last 20 games and has been getting power play time too.
Oscar Klefbom – D – Y! 2%/ ESPN 2%
The 19th overall pick from the 2011 draft is starting to make a name for himself. The defenseman only has 10 points on the year, but eight of them (1 G & 4 A) have come over his last 11 games. It’s always risky plugging in an Oilers player if you are playing in +/- leagues and I wouldn’t suggest picking him up if you are. Klefbom led all Oilers players with 26:35 of ice time against the Habs last week and picked up two assists, three shots and a hit.
Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire: Goalie
Cam Talbot – G – Y! 45% / ESPN 35%
Talbot is starting to find a grove now, as the back-up turned starter for the next couple weeks at least, has won three straight starts. He’s started six straight for New York and is coming off his best game of the six having turned aside 34 of 35 shots.
John Gibson – G – Y! 47% / ESPN 24%
It seems the Fantasy Hockey community has high expectations for the Ducks’ goalie as his ownership skyrocketed past Talbot’s two days after his call up. I can’t say I blame owners. Gibson was my Rookie of the Year prediction. Too bad he’s only had seven starts this season. Now I’ll I need is Andersen to sit out the remainder of the year, and I’ll be good 
Gibson’s first start of the season way back in October was awful as he let in six against the Penguins. He followed that outing by allowing only three goals over his next three starts, including a 38 save shutout against the Blackhawks. He then suffered an injury and was sent to the minors where he’s played until his call up on February 10th.
Gibson was terrific against the Hurricanes making 35 saves in a 2-1 win. He was awful in his second start Sunday, allowing five goals on 28 shots. There’s no telling how long Anderson (head) will be out, but Gibson has the upside to be worth a pick up, just in case Andersen is out long term. Gibson won all three games he started in the regular season last year posting a 1.33 GAA and a .954 SV%. He also became the youngest netminder in NHL history to record a shutout his first playoff game.
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