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’ll want to check back through the week to see if players are added. The fantasy hockey season is a long one, but staying on top of the waiver wire will most certainly help keep your team competitive. Let’s see who we should be targeting this week.

 

Kiefer Bellows - New York Islanders - Winger

Since being promoted to the top line, Kieffer Bellows has three goals in two games. I don’t expect him to be a scoring machine every game, but as long as he has a home on the top line, he should be on a fantasy team, especially in deeper formats. He’s not seeing top power play minutes, so that doe cap his upside, but regardless, he’s 11% owned in Yahoo! leagues and won’t hurt your fantasy team in any way.

 

Adrian Kempe - Los Angeles Kings - Winger

We talked about Alex Iafallo two weeks ago about being a player to add, and if you missed that boat, you should really try to not miss the Adrian Kempe one. The 24-year-old has six goals in the last five games, and is expected to skate on the top line with Iafallo and captain Anze Kopitar. We don’t know how long Dustin Brown is going to be out of the lineup, but even when he returns, Kempe has 11 goals this season and has triple position eligibility on Yahoo!. He might be on your waiver wire as you read this, so stop right here and add him before it’s too late.

 

Joel Edmundson - Montreal Canadiens - Defence

I was very critical of Marc Bergevin when he signed Joel Edmundson, but there’s a reason why I tweet from my home office and I don’t make important decisions for a hockey team. The veteran defenceman has been excellent this season, and it’s time we start thinking about him in fantasy hockey. He was skating with Jeff Petry for most of the season, but with Ben Chariot out long term, he’s been promoted to the top pairing with Shea Weber. The former second-round pick won’t wow anyone with his offensive skills, but he has 42 shots on goal, 47 hits, and 28 blocked shots. In a categories league, those are very good numbers for a defenceman who is only 21% owned. He’s consistently seeing over 20-minutes of ice time per game, and that won’t change if he does stick on the top pairing. The cherry on top here-- he’s a plus-26 on the season, so if your league counts that meaningless stat, you’ll get that benefit too. As mentioned earlier, he’s not going to find the scoresheet very often, but take those points as a bonus and let him fill the other stat categories. 

 

Yanni Gourde - Tampa Bay Lightning - Center

Yanni Gourde has found his way onto the second line between Alex Killorn and Steven Stamkos, and so far, it’s been working out well for him. He’s been seeing a healthy amount of ice time and has five points in as many games. Four of those points did come in one game, but he’s shooting the puck a lot more, and that sometimes translates into more goals and points. We can’t ignore the opportunity that he’s getting, so if you need a depth forward to pick up, Gourde is a great option. Like Kempe, the 29-year-old also has triple position eligibility on Yahoo!, so now you really have no reason to not add him.

 

Ilya Sorokin - New York Islanders - Goalie

I know the Islanders are on a nine game winning streak, but seven of those wins have come against either Buffalo or New Jersey, and neither one of those teams are offensively gifted. Ilya Sorokin has played well during that stretch, and who knows, maybe he continues to play well for the rest of the season. Semyon Varlamov is the top dog on this team, but both goalies have split starts almost evenly over the last nine games, so if that trend continues, Sorokin definitely becomes fantasy relevant. The rookie has some pretty decent numbers this season, including six wins and a 2.20 GAA, and he does play on a very good hockey team. This could blow up in our face over the next few weeks, but goalie are hard to trade for, and there aren’t many available on the waiver wire. If he is, might as well add him if you need the help and hope that most of his starts are close games. 






 

All stats provided by NHL.com