Welcome to the fantasy hockey waiver wire report! 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.

Jeff Skinner - Buffalo Sabres - Winger

Jeff Skinner is having himselfa season to forget. When he left Carolina, everyone was excited to see him go to a team and play top line minutes, but that hasn’t been the case, and Skinner has managed to score only 11-goals in 44-games. He won’t hit 40-goals like he did last year, but the 27-year-old has too much skill to be this bad. The Sabres need more production from players not named Eichel and Reinhart, and Skinner has proven that he can score at an elite level in this league. He’s 49% owned in Yahoo! leagues, which mean in shallow leagues, fantasy owners are starting to give up on him. Buffalo has an outside chance at making the playoffs, and if Ralph Kruger can get his head out of his *bleep* and start playing his best players together, maybe Buffalo can turn this sinking ship around and play some meaningful hockey in March. If the Toronto native is on the waiver wire and your fantasy team needs some help, it’s worth taking the risk on a proven 40-goal scorer. 

Rasmus Andersson - Calgary Flames - Defence

With Flames captain Mark Giordano out week-to-week with a hamstring injury, someone is going to have to step up and log some minutes, and it looks like Rasmus Andersson will be that guy. He played over 24-minutes last game against Nashville and scored a goal. He’s also seeing some time on the top power play unit. The increase in ice time both five-on-five and on the power play make him a low risk/high reward fantasy option. He’s very much available on Yahoo! and ESPN, so if you’re looking for a short-term solution that could pay off, Andersson is an option to consider.

Vincent Trocheck - Florida Panthers - Center

Florida captain Aleksander Barkov is still out of the lineup due to injury, and we have no idea when he might be ready to return. In the meantime, Vincent Trocheck has been skating on the top line and played a season high 20:55 minutes against the Vegas Golden Knights. He finished that game with a goal, and assist and three shots on goal. The boost in ice time will certainly help his fantasy value go up. Like Skinner, Trocheck isn’t having a great season-- scoring only eight goals in 46-games-- but should Barkov be out for another week or two, the 26-year-old should continue to see a healthy amount of ice time, and hopefully that leads to more points.  He’s 53% owned in Yahoo! leagues, so he might be sitting on the waiver wire ready to be claimed.

Nick Suzuki - Montreal Canadiens - Center

I know we talked about Suzuki last week, but my message has fallen on deaf ears, so I’ll say it louder for  the people in the back: ADD NICK SUZUKI! The rookie has seven points in the last six games, and has played over 17-minutes in four of those games. We all knew that Suzuki had skill, but he’s starting to put that talent together and it’s paying off. It also helped that head coach Claude Julien is giving him the ice time needed to showcase just how ready he is to play in the NHL. I said he could top 50-points before the end of the season, but at this current pace, it almost seems like a given. He’s still only 21% owned, which continues to make me want to pull my hair out of my head. I don’t want to talk about him again next week, so please go straight to the waiver wire and add him. He isn’t a short-term solution, he’s a player that can help you win your fantasy hockey league.

Adam Gaudette - Vancouver Canucks - Center

Elias Pettersson was a late scratch on Thursday due to a lower-body injury, and that gave Adam Gaudette the opportunity to center the top line. He didn’t do much of anything, but he does remain an interesting fantasy option moving forward. We don’t know how long EP40 will be sidelined, and Gaudette does have 23-points in 45-games this season. Of those 23-points, ten of them have come on the power play, which is quite impressive. He’s a short-term solution to anyone who needs a centerman to plug into their lineup until at least the end of the week. 



 

All stats provided by NHL.com