Sunday, March 20, 2022

Fantasy Hockey 2021/22 Week 22 Waiver Wire Report

Welcome to my 2021/22 Week Twenty-Two Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire Report for those competing in head-to-head categories or rotisserie leagues. There are both standard and deep league acquisition targets. This report focuses on the best options among those who are likely to be available in your league as opposed to the universally owned players. There are 10 recommendations in total, 2 goalies, 2 defensemen, and 6 forwards. Some of these are only short-term targets, while others you may want to keep permanently.

 

Best Standard League Adds (25% to 65% Yahoo ownership):

 

1) Valeri Nichushkin, Col, (28% Yahoo ownership): The Colorado Avalanche are going to be playing 4 games this week, and Valeri Nichushkin is playing on the top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. He was already on pace to crush his career best PTS before landing this juicy deployment, scoring at a 65-point pace this season. In his last 13 GP, Valeri has scored 10 PTS (3 on the power play) with 29 shots. He’s available in both my leagues, and I’m going to be making a claim tonight. I’m all in.

2) Jesper Bratt, NJ, (62% Yahoo ownership): If you’ve been coming here for waiver wire advice all season, I really hope Jesper Bratt is already owned in your leagues. He has made several appearances on this list, with me generally musing that his fantasy ownership is unusually low given his level of production, which continues to be outstanding, netting 17 PTS in his last 12 GP. Bratt is scoring at an 86-point pace on the season. If he’s not available in your league (or you need hits) then have a look for Tanner Jeannot in Nashville.

3) Cole Caufield, Mtl, (62% Yahoo ownership): I bought stock in Cole Caufield a half dozen games after Marty St. Louis became the Habs coach. He joined one of my teams as a streamer and has been too good to drop, scoring 18 PTS in 13 GP with 42 shots. He’s on fire, and Montreal has a 4-game week coming up. His rejuvenation brings me a little vindication for reaching early to draft Caufield (later dropping him) in the same league where I just re-acquired his rights. I’ve got no plans to drop him anytime soon.

4) Jeff Petry, Mtl, (58% Yahoo ownership): It was a rough first half of the season for Jeff Petry, as he dropped from 92% owned on Oct 1st all the way down to 58% on March 20. But ever since Marty St. Louis started coaching, it has helped unlock the Habs offense. In his last 13 GP, Petry has scored 7 PTS with 26 shots and 28 hits. Those peripheral stats have always made him enticing, and now the offense is back. If you can’t find any Petry shares in your leagues, Jared Spurgeon and Damon Severson are also worth streaming.

5) Pavel Francouz, Col, (39% Yahoo ownership): This slot came down to Pavel Francouz, Mikko Koskinen, and Carter Hart who have all produced a similar SV% over the last 30 days and their teams all play 4 games this week. Francouz may only start once, but it should be a win. Koskinen will almost surely be in net for games against Colorado and Calgary. Carter Hart plays on one of the league’s worst teams, and could also find himself in goal against the mighty Avalanche. All of them have risk, but so do most goalies under 65% owned.

 

Honorable Mentions: Tanner Jeannot, Anders Lee, Jared Spurgeon, Cam Atkinson, Carter Hart

Last Week: Clayton Keller, Josh Norris, Nick Schmaltz, Vitek Vanecek, Noah Dobson

 

Best Deep League Adds (under 25% ownership):

 

1) Kailer Yamamoto, Edm, (11% Yahoo ownership): Do you remember when Ty Rattie was the hottest commodity in fantasy hockey because he was merely expected to start the season playing with Connor McDavid? We’ve come a long time since those days, but Yamamoto has been putting up good numbers playing with the league’s best player and is an attractive streaming target this week. In his last 13 GP, Kailer has scored 9 PTS with 24 shots and 21 hits. The Oilers will be playing 4 games this week.

2) Anthony Beauvillier, NYI, (9% Yahoo ownership): Beauvillier has been on my fantasy radar for the last few weeks as the Islanders have been playing a busy schedule and he has been scoring PTS. In his last 15 GP, the winger has potted 10 PTS (3 on the power play) while taking 43 shots on goal playing on the Islanders top line with Nelson and Lee. I became a Beauvillier believer back in the 2020 Covid playoff bubble, but thus far he has failed to breakthrough as a consistent high-level performer. The Isles have another 4-game week ahead.

3) Nico Daws, NJ, (11% Yahoo ownership): The Devils rookie goaltender is making his 2nd appearance here in the last 3 weeks and has played in 9 consecutive games for New Jersey (with a .910 SV% in his last 10 appearances). You probably shouldn’t expect 4 starts this week though, as the Devils play a pair of back-to-backs. Daws has been substantially better than current back-up Jon Gillies, so perhaps there’s a chance Daws gets starts on consecutive nights, but don’t count on it. Note I’d be nervous starting him against Toronto. Montembeault received consideration here, but Montreal has an even tougher schedule.

4) Ryan Pulock, NYI, (23% Yahoo ownership):  Pulock was owned in nearly 50% of fantasy leagues at the start of the season, but was widely dropped after an extended visit to injured reserve. Noah Dobson has emerged as the Islanders power play quarterback, and I’m not complaining since Dobson was on my preseason sleeper list. Fortunately, Pulock hasn’t needed power play time to score lately, putting up 10 PTS in his last 15 GP, with 25 shots, 15 hits, and a +9. He’s even better if your league counts blocks averaging 2.5 per game.

5) Yegor Sharangovich, NJ, (10% Yahoo ownership): I was really tempted to recommend Brandon Hagel in this slot, after Tampa just traded a pair of 1st round picks to get him, but in his first Lightning game, he only played 10 minutes on the 3rd line. That’s no good. I’d much rather have Yegor Sharangovich, who plays on the Devils top line with Jack Hughes, averaging 18:08 of ice time per game over the last 30 days, scoring 9 PTS in 12 GP with 35 shots. Yegor started the season slow, but he’s been on roll in the 2nd half.

 

Honorable Mentions: Travis Sanheim, Matt Boldy, Kyle Palmieri, Travis Konecny, Sam Montembeault

Last Week: Brock Nelson, Connor Brown, Travis Boyd, Karel Vejmelka, Luke Schenn

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