Welcome back to another fantasy hockey season! As usual, every week, the weekly waiver wire report will help you target some players that you should be adding, or monitoring, on the waiver wire. You can’t win a championship with the team you drafted, which means, you’ll need to be active on the waiver wire to help replace injured players, and others who are just not getting the job done. Let’s get right into it for this week.

Robby Fabbri - Detroit Red Wings - Winger

I know we already talked about Fabbri in a previous waiver wire article, but fantasy owners didn’t get the message the first time, so let’s talk about him again. Since being traded from St. Louis earlier in the season, Fabbri has been unstoppable. The 23-year-old has nine goals on the season--five of them coming in the last six games-- and with Anthony Mantha expected to return to the lineup tonight, this should give Detroit two balanced scoring lines. There’s no reason for the former first-round pick to be 15% owned in Yahoo! Leagues. He’s an excellent pick up for anyone who needs a winger, and if he keeps up this pace, you may be unable to drop him. Don’t sleep on Fabbri anyone--add him!

Anthony Duclair - Ottawa Senators - Winger

Just like Fabbri, people didn’t seem to go out and add Duclair when we talked about it a month ago. The Senators’ forward is now up to 18-goals this season. To put that into perspective: Nathan MacKinnon has two more than him (20), and Duclair has four more goals than Patrick Kane and Mark Scheifele (14). Despite all those goals, he’s only 42% owned. The 24-year-old is on pace to score well over 30-goals, so why he is still under 50% is mind blowing. He’s a must add in fantasy hockey, no matter what. He won’t rack up a bunch of assists ( seven in 33-games this season), but in leagues that reward goals, Duclair is hovering close to elite status. If you need to add a goal scoring winger, this is the player to add.

Nick Schmaltz - Arizona Coyotes - Center/Winger

It’s finally time to jump on board the Nick Schmalz train. The 20th overall pick in the 2014 draft is now up to 23-points in 34 games. Those numbers aren’t exactly elite, but let’s not forget that he’s playing on a team that doesn’t score many goals. The Wisconsin native has triple position eligibility on Yahoo!, and fantasy owners know just how rare that is for a player to have. He’s available on whatever site you play on, so if you need a short-term winger/center, Schmaltz is a great option to consider. Maybe we will see him playing on the same line as Taylor Hall in the near future. 

Milan Lucic - Calgary Flames - Winger

THAT’S RIGHT! Don’t look now, but Milan Lucic is fantasy relevant in deep formats. The former Edmonton Oilers’ forward was off to a terrible start to the season, but since Gaudreau has been moved down to the third line, Lucic seems to have found his game. He has three goals in the last five games and he is averaging over 15 minutes in that same span. In leagues where hits are a valuable stat, Lucic has ten hits in his last two games. This mini hot streak will come to an end at some point, but for now, the veteran forward is worth a look in deeper leagues. What a time to be alive. 

Pavel Francouz - Colorado Avalanche - Goalie

Just like Fabbri and Duclair, people didn’t get the message with Francouz, and all he’s done over the last eight games is win hockey games. The 29-year-old is 7-0-1 in his last eight after losing his first two stars. With Grubauer expected back in the near future, some fantasy owners are going to drop him, and that will be their loss. Even with Grubauer retaking the starting job, we have to expect that Francouz has done enough to warrant more starts down the road, and considering just how good his team in front of him is, more starts could lead to more wins. We may even see a scenario where both goalies play an equal amount of games till the end of the season. We’ve seen it be successful with the Islanders last season, why not do the same in Colorado? Grubauer owners don’t want to hear about a timeshare, but Francouz is playing good hockey, and he deserves to be on a fantasy hockey team. 


 

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