Welcome to another edition of the Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire Report. If you’ve made it this far, congratulations. Making it to the finals in Fantasy Hockey is a grind. You’ve made it this far, now it's time to bring it home. The Waiver Wire is key at this point of the year and every move could help bring you closer to a championship or sink you. Let’s take a look at some players worth targeting this week.

 


Jaden Schwartz - Seattle Kraken - Winger

The Seattle Kraken have four games this week; two against the Coyotes, one against the Canucks and one against Chicago. Those are some soft matchups that could see the Kraken score a ton of goals. They are still trying to lock up a playoff spot, so this week will be critical for them. Jaden Schwartz is skating on the second line and top power play unit while seeing over 16 minutes per game in the last five. He’s also been shooting the puck a healthy amount, so he’s in a really good spot this week to do some damage.


Barrett Hayton - Arizona Coyotes - Center

The Arizona Coyotes only have three games this week, but they are against the Kraken twice and the Anaheim Ducks. Seattle is a good offensive team, but they have struggled to keep the puck out of their own net, while the Ducks have just been terrible at everything. Barrett Hayton has been really good in the second half of the season and continues to skate on the top line with Clayton Keller. He’s only 36% owned in Yahoo! leagues, so there’s a good chance he might be on the waiver wire in your league. If there’s a week to own him, it’s this one. 


Alex Newhook - Colorado Avalanche - Winger/Center

The Colorado Avalanche also play four games this week; two against the San Jose Sharks, one against the Los Angeles Kings and one against the Anaheim Ducks. Three of those matchups are elite, so Colorado should be able to score a fair amount of goals this week. Alex Newhook is skating on the second line and second power play unit, so he should be able to collect a few points this week. The best case scenario would be four points in as many games, which isn’t a stretch. His ice time isn’t where it needs to be, but that could change with the soft matchups this week. 


Gavin Bayreuther - Columbus Blue Jackets - Defence

If you’re in a categories league, you need players who are going to do more than just score goals and rack up points. Gavin Bayreuther isn’t a sexy name, but he’s a player that can do everything but score goals. He’s seeing time on the top power play unit, but we are adding him because he can shoot the puck a couple of times on goal, add a few hits and block shots. These are categories that you are going to need to win a week, and he’s basically free across every platform. I’m not saying to start him over a superstar, but if you have a free roster spot and need a boost in those categories, he’s a name to consider. 


Alex Lyon - Florida Panthers - Goalie

The Florida Panthers have three games this week and are one point behind the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Alex Lyon has started three games in a row and has won all of them while also posting a shutout. He was fantastic last week and he will need to be just as good this week if the Panthers want to keep up. He did have some easy matchups against Montreal and Columbus, but he still won both games and that’s all that matters. If Sergei Bobrovsky isn’t able to return this week, it would shock me if Lyon didn’t play every game. 

All stats provided by NHL.com