NHL Fantasy Hockey Week 5 Waiver Wire Pickups: Lukas Dostal Emerging as Starting Goalie in Anaheim
Welcome to another edition of the Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire Report. The NHL season has just begun, which means we need to start looking at the waiver wire. This part of the year is critical to be able to claim players that might have been missed in drafts. Some of these players will help you win a championship, so make sure you aren’t asleep at the helm of your fantasy team. Let’s take a look at some players worth targeting this week.
Ryan O’Reilly - Nashville Predators - Centre
Don’t look now but Ryan O’Reilly has seven goals on the season and seven points in the last four games. He’s not going to stay this hot all season, but the veteran is playing some inspired hockey and he is making a case to be on a fantasy hockey roster. If he’s on the waiver wire, make sure you go add him so someone else doesn’t benefit from his strong start.
Dawson Mercer - New Jersey Devils - Centre
Nico Hischier is still not ready to return to action and there is some fear that Jack Hughes may miss an extended period, so Dawson Mercer is going to get a strong look on the top line for at least the next couple of games. He picked up his first point of the season since being promoted to the top line and there’s going to be more of that in the future. It’s been a real struggle for Mercer this season, but he has a chance to turn his season around and find his confidence.
Ilya Mikheyev - Vancouver Canucks - Winger
The Vancouver Canucks are off to a red-hot start to the season and that’s good news for Ilya Mikheyev. He’s skating on the top line and has six points in seven games, including three points in the last three. It’s easy to forget about Mikheyev when you look at just how talented the Canucks roster is, but he’s getting a great chance to play with some elite players and that can only help his production. He’s 12% owned in Yahoo! leagues, so you can probably find him just floating around waiting to be added to a fantasy team.
Kevin Shattenkirk - Boston Bruins - Defence
Imagine waking up in 2023 and seeing that Kevin Shattenkirk is still a thing. The veteran defenceman is getting an expanded role thanks to Charlie McAvoy deciding to do something dumb. The Bruins are thin on the blueline, so Shattenkirk is going to get every chance to succeed. He’s not a long-term solution, but he could help a fantasy team this week that is struggling with injuries.
Lukas Dostal - Anaheim Ducks - Goalie
Am I really going to take about an Anaheim Ducks goalie as a good waiver wire pickup? You bet! Don’t look now, but the Ducks are actually a decent hockey team and Lukas Dostal is a big reason for that. He has five wins on the year and is sporting a 2.80 GAA and a .920 SV%. Those are respectable numbers when you take into consideration the team he plays for. John Gibson is still in town, but the veteran netminder is going to fade away into the sunset at some point. He’s just not a very good goalie, so if you have a chance to add Dostal to your team, he could be a player that never ends up on the waiver wire ever again. There are going to be some tough games down the road, but right now, he’s winning hockey games and that’s all we care about.
All stats provided by NHL.com
Player News
J.P. Crawford singled in the winning run in the bottom of the 11th as the Mariners edged the Yankees 2-1 on Tuesday.
Crawford was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts before his liner to left barely dropped into fair territory and plated the automatic runner in the 11th. It gave him his first RBI in nine games. He’s currently hitting .271/.378/.364 for the season.
Bryan Woo blanked the Yankees for 6 1/3 innings in a no-decision Tuesday.
Woo has come up big for the Mariners in pitching at least six innings every time out this season and going 4-1 with a 2.84 ERA. The 1-0 lead he left with tonight didn’t hold up, but the Mariners did prevail in extra innings to move to 6-2 in Woo’s starts. He’ll face the White Sox next time out.
Andrés Muñoz was charged with a blown save after giving up an unearned run in the ninth Tuesday against the Yankees.
Muñoz created his own trouble by hitting Paul Goldschmidt to start the ninth, but that was the only mistake he made as a pair of grounders went on to score pinch-runner Pablo Reyes. Muñoz still hasn’t given up an earned run this season.
Max Fried allowed one run over five innings before being lifted against the Mariners on Tuesday.
Fried needed 91 pitches to get his 15 outs, so he didn’t come back out for the sixth. Still, he was effective in allowing four hits and striking out five. He’ll take a 1.11 ERA into his next start, which will likely come Sunday against the Mets.
Devin Williams pitched a perfect 10th in a tie game Tuesday against the Mariners.
Williams followed Luke Weaver, who worked flawless eighth and ninth innings before the game went to extras. It’s Williams’ third straight scoreless appearance and sixth in seven games since he was pulled from the closer’s role. Weaver hasn’t had any issues, either, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Williams get a save chance sometime soon.
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.