NHL Week 26 Waiver Wire: Leave It All On The Table
Published: Apr 18, 2022
Welcome to another edition of the Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire Report. If you’ve made it to week 26, congratulations! It’s been a crazy ride to get to this point, and now it’s time to bring it all home. No one comes this far just to finish second. The waiver wire could be the difference between winning it all or coming up short. Let’s take a look at some players that we should target for this final week.
Tim Stuetzle - Ottawa Senators - Centre/Winger
It’s absolutely shocking that Tim Stuetzle is only 52% owned in Yahoo! leagues heading into championship week. He’s been on a tear of late and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. The Senators have nothing left to play for, so you bet they are going to give the kid every chance possible to go out there and just be himself. In shallow leagues, he’s probably still available, and he could easily help you win a championship.
Casey DeSmith - Pittsburgh Penguins - Goalie
Tristan Jarry is out of the lineup with a foot injury and is considered week-to-week. This means that Casey DeSmith is going to see the bulk of the action this week and he has some pretty favourable matchups. He might struggle a bit against Boston and Edmonton, but he should be able to dominate Detroit and Philadelphia. If you need a goalie at this point in the season, DeSmith is one of the best goalies probably available on the waiver wire.
Vasily Podkolzin - Vancouver Canucks - Winger
The Vancouver Canucks still have an outside chance at making the playoffs, but they probably need to run the table and get some help. Vasily Podkolzin is doing everything he can to keep the dream alive. The rookie is skating on the top line with J.T. Miller and has six points in the last five games. He’s widely available across most platforms and gives any fantasy hockey team some extra depth. As long as he holds onto that top line spot, he’s worth considering for this final week.
Antti Raanta - Carolina Hurricanes - Goalie
Frederik Andersen isn’t expected to be back this week, so Antti Raanta is going to see most of the starts this week. Carolina has matchups with Arizona, Winnipeg New Jersey and the Islanders, all games that are very winnable. Raanta hasn’t been amazing this season, but the team in front of him gives him a chance to win every night and put up some solid numbers. If you can scoop him up this week, do so.
Owen Power - Buffalo Sabres - Defence
We know how good Owen Power is and what he could become in the NHL, but he hasn’t really exploded in his first few games. It’s normal for a kid playing one of the toughest positions in the league to have a learning curve, but the Sabres are dedicated to playing him. He’s played over 22-minutes in the last three games without seeing any power play time, so the coaching staff trusts him five-on-five. Will the points come this week? Who knows, but he’s got some decent matchups coming up that it makes sense to add him as a depth player if you need one.
All stats provided by NHL.com
Player News
Robbie Ray allowed three runs over six innings and struck out nine in the Giants’ 10-6 win over the Diamondbacks on Tuesday.
Ray joined Max Fried as the only pitchers off to 6-0 starts thus far this season, and the Giants have gone 9-0 in his outings. His peripherals are significantly worse than his 3.04 ERA, but he’s definitely performed better in his last four starts than he did in his first five, when he seemed more lucky than good. He’ll pitch at home against the Royals next time out.
Brandon Pfaadt fell to 6-3 after giving up four runs in four innings Tuesday against the Giants.
All of the runs came on a Christian Koss homer in the second, though Pfaadt was still shaky over the rest of the outing. There is some mixed-league value here, but it’s a fine idea to bench him with a road start against the Dodgers coming up next.
Jung Hoo Lee went 2-for-5 with a three-run homer versus the Diamondbacks on Tuesday.
The homer off Joe Mantiply, which pretty much put away the game in the eighth, was Lee’s fifth of the year. He had come into this one hitting .250/.279/.327 over this previous 27 games.
Christian Koss’s first major leaguer homer was a grand slam off Brandon Pfaadt in Tuesday’s win over the D-backs.
Koss took an inside breaking ball just over the wall in left to homer in his 56th plate appearance as a major leaguer. He’s batting .241/.293/.296 while filling in at second base with Tyler Fitzgerald and Casey Schmidt on the shelf. With both of those guys currently on rehab assignments, it’s possible Koss will be sent back to Triple-A soon.
Josh Naylor had a two-run homer and a two-run single against the Giants in Tuesday’s loss.
The homer off Spencer Bivens in the ninth was his first since Apr. 17, and Naylor had as many RBI tonight as in his previous 13 games combined. He has five homers and 27 RBI in 42 games on the season.
Jacob Wilson went 4-for-5 and hit his fourth and fifth homers Tuesday as the A’s crushed the Dodgers 11-1.
He was on base all five times up, as he also reached on an error. So much of Wilson’s contact is rather weak that it’s always unexpected when he muscles up and hits a ball 380 feet, but he’s definitely demonstrated that he’s capable. He’s up to .363/.389/.512 for the season after tonight. He has 58 hits, yet just 41 hard-hit balls. His barrel and homer totals are also equal, though the league as a whole has a little more than twice as many barrels as homers.