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.

Ilya Kovalchuk - Montreal Canadiens - Winger

It still feels crazy that Ilya Kovalchuk is a part of the Montreal Canadiens. The veteran was signed last week to help them score some goals, and although he’s still looking for his first in a Habs uniform, the Russian winger has been very impressive so far. He has three points in three games, and is seeing about 20-minutes of ice time per game. That is a lot of ice time for a player that hasn’t played in a month and was apparently “done in the NHL.” As long as he continues to see top-6 and top power play minutes, he’s worth owning in deeper fantasy hockey formats. The Habs will continue to roll him out there in hopes of putting an end to their current eight game losing streak. 

Igor Shesterkin - New York Rangers - Goalie

I’m going to be honest: I have no idea who Igor Shesterkin was before the beginning of the week, but it looks like he could be something special. The rookie goalie has an impressive 1.93 GAA and .932 SV% in 23 games in the AHL, and now he’s getting his shot to play in the NHL. It’s never a good thing when an NHL club has three goalies, especially when one in Henrik Lundqvist, but the Rangers look ready to move on from Henrik as the king of their goal crease, and Shesterkin has been impressive in his two starts, including a 46-save performance against the Devils. If you’re desperate for some goalie help, Shesterkin is a risk worth taking. 

Anthony DeAngelo - New York Rangers - Defence

I am very late to the Anthony DeAngelo party, but it’s better to be late than not show up, right? The Rangers’ defenceman is coming off a hat trick against the woeful New Jersey Devils, officially putting everyone on notice that he is here and ready to be one of the best defencemen in the league. He’s 66% owned on Yahoo!, which is a little low considering just how good he’s been all season. The 24-year-old has 36-points in 43-games so far this season, which puts him on pace to eclipse the 50-point plateau. If for whatever reason he is available on the waiver wire, add him and go buy a lottery ticket. 

Samuel Girard - Colorado Avalanche - Defence

I know we’ve already talked about Girard in a previous waiver wire article, but fantasy owners didn’t seem to get the message, so I’ll talk about him again and hope that he’s not still 27% owned by the end of next week. Everyone is talking about Cale Makar, and they have ever reason to, but Samuel Girard is being forgotten, and that needs to change. The 21-year-old only has one goal this season, but he has 24-assists-- 11 of those coming in the last six games-- and despite that, he remains widely available across most fantasy hockey platforms. The goals are going to come at some point, but he’s racking up points at a crazy rate mostly because he gets to play with Makar, Rantanen and MacKinnon. He’s also doing this without seeing top power play minutes. If you’re in a head-to-head points league, Girard is a very serviceable defenceman that could possibly win you a championship. Stop sleeping on him and add him!

Dominik Kahun - Pittsburgh Penguins - Winger

We can officially move on from Alex Galchenyuk and just label him as a bust. He’s come to Pittsburgh and has been unable to find a spot in the top-6, mostly because he’s just been #NotGood. It’s only a matter of time before they trade him to another team. While Galchenyuk skates on the fourth line, Dominik Kahun is skating on the top line with Malkin and Rust. Any player getting a chance to play with those two deserves to be considered in fantasy hockey. With Guentzel out for the season, someone is going to have to step up and be the team’s top line left winger, and it looks like it could be Kahun. He has 10-goals in 43-games this season, and we could see that total increase drastically over the next few weeks. 




 

All stats provided by NHL.com