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Fantasy Hockey Week 4 Waiver Wire Picks & Preview

Fantasy Hockey Week 4 Waiver Wire Picks & Preview
Fantasy Hockey Hacks

Fantasy Hockey Hacks

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Fantasy Hockey Week 4 Waiver Wire Picks & Preview

In the 32nd episode of the Fantasy Hockey Hacks Podcast, the FHH team discusses the fourth week in the NHL, covering fantasy hockey week 4 waiver wire picks & preview, schedule notes, and announcing the winner of our recent giveaway! We’ll discuss players to focus on in week 4 (and beyond), what the schedule looks like for each team this week, get you up to date on the latest hockey news, injury updates, and more! Subscribe to our podcast on all major directories; and stay up to date with the latest in fantasy hockey news and fantasy hockey advice.

Highlights:

  • Jacob Markstrom has been absolutely incredible
  • Sidney Crosby is officially back
  • Drew Doughty will miss about 8 weeks due to knee injury
  • Morgan Rielly signs an 8-year contract extension to stay with the Leafs
  • Cole Caufield sent down to the minors

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Hockey News & Injury Updates | October 25 – 31, 2021

October 25
  • Avs Defenceman Sam Girard could miss time with a head/neck injury after a hit from Steven Stamkos on Saturday night. 

  • The New Jersey Devils have confirmed that goaltender Mackenzi Blackwood has received his first COVID-19 vaccine shot (Pfizer). Tyler Bertuzzi remains the only unvaccinated player in the league. 
  • Corey Schneider was waived by the New York Islanders; expectation is that Varlamov is nearing return. 
  • Tyler Bertuzzi became the 3rd player in 25 years to record 9+ points through the first 5 games of a season. Zetterberg in 2007-2008 was one, and Brendan Shanahan in 2001-2002 was the other. 
  • The St. Louis Blues have started the season 5-0 for the first time in franchise history (54 Years), after shutting-out the LA Kings on Monday night. Vladimir Tarasenko has exceeded expectations, and Jordan Binnington has been impressive! 

  • Auston Matthews scored his 200th NHL career goal against the Carolina Hurricanes.
October 26
  • The Chicago Blackhawks held a press conference releasing the details of the investigation of sexual assault allegations. Stan Bowman stepped aside as President and General Manager. The NHL fined the Blackhawks $2M for “inadequate procedures and mishandling of 2010 matter related to conduct of former video coach Brad Aldrich.”

  • Jonathan Toews in COVID-19 protocol. Unknown how much time he will miss…
  • Ryan O’Reilly added to COVID-19 protocol. Expected to miss at least 10 days of game action. Brandon Saad was also added to the COVID-19 protocol. 

  • P.K. Subban was fined $5,000 for “dangerously tripping” (slew footing) Milan Lucic. 

October 27
  • According to the team, Nikita Kucherov underwent a successful procedure on Tuesday and will miss approximately 8-10 weeks with a lower body injury.

  • According to Penguins HC Sullivan, Sidney Crosby is officially DTD. 
  • Ryan Dzingel was placed on IR, with an upper-body injury. Nick Schmaltz is DTD. 
  • Blake Wheeler is out of COVID protocol. 
  • Drew Doughty is expected to miss approximately 8 weeks due to the knee injury he sustained against the Dallas Stars. Sean Walker has a torn ACL/MCL done for the season. 
October 28
  • Max Domi has been activated off IR. 
  • Semyon Varlamov says he is feeling 100%, should be back in the lineup this weekend. 
  • Mats Zuccarrello has been placed in COVID-19 protocol. 
  • TJ Oshie sustained a lower-body injury vs. Detroit, he is week-to-week. Niklas Backstrom has been skating in full-gear, next step is for him to join the team for practice in a non-contact jersey, but no timetable for that yet. 
  • Alex Edler on PP1 during LA Kings practice. Only 4% owned, could return value as a streamer. 
  • Joel Quenville resigns as head coach of the Florida Panthers. Fantasy Spin: John Tortorella is being considered as his replacement. How would that impact the performance of players he coached previously in Columbus (Duclair, Bobrovsky). 
October 29
  • New Jersey Devils announce that Jack Hughes will miss at least the next 5 weeks due to his dislocated shoulder. Hughes will be re-evaluated at that time.
  • Morgan Rielly signs an 8-Year contract extension with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The $60M deal carries a $7.5M AAV. 

  • Cale Makar had a 2-point night to reach 100 career points, ties him for 6th fastest D-man to reach 100 points. 
  • Devon Toews should be back in the Avalanche lineup next week (sounds like Wednesday). 

October 30
  • Sidney Crosby and Jeff Carter returned to the Penguins lineup on Saturday.  
  • Sam Bennett is day-to-day with an upper-body injury; will not play Saturday.
  • Nolan Patrick was placed on IR, no other details provided. 

  • Brock Boeser scored his 100th NHL career goal against the Oilers on Saturday night. 
  • Jacob Markstrom posted his 3rd shutout in his last 4 starts! Over those 4 games: 4-0-0, 0.25 GAA, .992 SV%.  
  • San Jose Sharks head coach Bob Boughner, forwards Andrew Cogliano, Jonathan Dahlen and Matt Nieto; as well as defensemen Erik Karlsson, Jake Middleton, Radim Simek and Marc-Edouard Vlasic were unavailable as they were placed into COVID-19 protocol. Forward and captain Logan Couture, was also absent due to a non-COVID illness.
October 31
  • Jakob Silfverberg in COVID protocol. Rikard Rakell is week-to-week with an upper-body injury. 

  • Viktor Arvidsson and Gabe Vilardi in COVID protocol. 
  • Ryan Getzlaf breaks Ducks scoring record with 989th point. 

November 1
  • Cole Caufield has been reassigned to the AHL! Big blow for fantasy owners that drafted him at an ADP of 102.9. 

  • Mark Scheifele is out of COVID protocol. Will be interesting to see how Pierre-Luc Dubois’ fantasy value is impacted. 
  • Kris Letang is out of COVID protocol.  
  • William Karlsson is expected to miss some time now with a lower-body injury.

  • Adam Fox and the New York Rangers agree to a 7-year contract with a $9.5M AAV.

Listener Questions

  • Who would you pick – Pastrnak or Barkov in a standard fantasy categories league? 
  • Listener is considering dropping Jack Hughes for Jeff Petry or John Klingberg; Would you drop Jack Hughes for either? If so, which defenceman do you prefer? Any other D-men to consider? 
  • Listener is in a deep, competitive, 12-team league. Would it be wise to drop Jamie Drysdale for either Evan Bouchard or Shayne Gostisbehere? If so, which do you prefer? Or would you stick to Jamie Drysdale? 
  • It’s early in the season but the Habs look absolutely lifeless. When is it appropriate to give up on the “Cole for Calder” fad?
  • Based on a bet, a listener has the opportunity to grab one of Elias Lindholm, Kirill Kaprizov, or Patrick Kane; but has to drop one player from his roster – Marner, Couturier, or Panarin. Who would you select, and who would you drop? 
  • Should I trade Victor Hedman and Tom Wilson for Patrick Kane? Strictly a points-only league. Would then pick up Josh Morrissey or Moritz Seider on D. 

Edge Work | NHL Schedule, Week 4

Teams With 4 Games: CHI, DET, NSH, OTT, VGK
  • Teams Of Interest | None of the teams with the extra game next week have particularly favourable schedules. However, there is some value to be found between Nashville (Duchene, Johansen, Granlund), who happens to play 3 of 4 games on off-nights next week; and Vegas (Dadonov, Smith). Detroit (4-2-2) has been impressive to this point in the season as well; and both Greiss and Nedelkjovic could be serviceable options in goal. 
Teams With 3 Games: ANA, ARI, BUF, CGY, DAL, EDM, MIN, MTL, NJD, NYI, NYR, PHI, SJS, SEA, STL, TB, TOR, VAN, WPG, WSH
  • Teams Of Interest |  Arizona plays Philadelphia, Anaheim, and Seattle next week – target players from those teams! The Coyotes are currently tied with Chicago for the most goals-against per game at 4.50. Similar logic could be followed with Chicago by looking at players from Ottawa, Carolina, Winnipeg, and Nashville. St. Louis appears to have the most favourable schedule for next week with matchups against Los Angeles, San Jose, and Anaheim. Jordan Kyrou (64%) and Robert Thomas (5%) are options to consider; particularly Thomas who is just 5% owned and has 6 points in his last 5 games played. 
Teams With 2 Games: BOS, CAR, CBJ, COL, FLA, LAK, PIT
  • Team Of Interest | Carolina’s matchup against Arizona is the obvious target amongst teams with 2 games; beyond that there isn’t much to get excited about. Boston plays Detroit and Toronto who are giving up 3.25 GA/GP (8th) and 3.13 GA/GP (12th) respectively. 

Edge Work | NHL Week 4 Waiver Wire Targets

Waiver wire targets will be focused on players with ownership ~50% or less. 

Top Waiver Wire Targets

📈 Troy Terry (RW), ANA | Rostered: 26% (Yahoo) | GP: 3 (vs.NJD, vs.ARI, vs.STL) | Line: 1 (w/ Getzlaf & Henrique) 
  • Troy Terry has been very impressive through 8 games so far this season. Leads the Ducks with a 59.11 CF%, 2nd on the team with a 56.53 xGF%, 4th on the team in individual scoring chances for (iSCF) with 22; and 9 points (4 G) in 8 games doesn’t hurt either. Terry isn’t getting much for PP time at the moment; but he played over 22 minutes on Friday night against Vegas, and saw 17:26 TOI the game before that. 
📈 Drake Batherson (RW), OTT | Rostered: 60% (Yahoo) | GP: 4 (@CHI, @MIN, vs.VGK, vs.TB) | Line: 1 (w/ Norris & Tkachuk) 
  • Drake Batherson covers all the bases – TOI (19:19/GP), SOG (3.0/GP), Hits (18 – 2.57/GP), Goals (4), Points (7), and PPTOI (57.7% PP Share). Batherson is also locked-in with quality linemates in Josh Norris and Brady Tkachuk. Ottawa’s PP is currently ranked 6th at 27.3%, so expect to see PPP from Batherson as well – he had 15 PPP last season.
📈 Matt Duchene (C/RW), NSH | Rostered: 13% (Yahoo) | GP: 4 (@CGY, @EDM, @VAN, @CHI) | Line: 1 (w/ Forsberg & Johansen) 
  • Many fantasy GMs left Duchene for dead (and with good reason), but he has turned things around in Nashville so far this season. The Preds have elected to stack their top line with Forsberg and Johansen, and so far it has paid off. Duchene is currently on-pace for 50+ points after a career-low 13 points in 34 games last season. Shot volume is up at 3.3 SOG/GM (3-year Avg. is 2.2), SH% (7.8%) is well-below his career average of 12.4%, he’s already matched his PPP total from last year (3), over 55% FOW, and playing 19:08 ATOI along with 3:07 PPTOI. 5v5 SH% is at 6.8%, so there is also room for positive regression there as well. With 4 games this week, worth a flyer. 
📈 Victor Olofsson (LW/RW), BUF | Rostered: 29% (Yahoo) | GP: 3 (@SJS, @SEA, vs.DET) | Line: 1 (w/ Thompson & Asplund) 
  • Olofsson, Thompson and Asplund is currently a top-10 line league-wide in terms of xGF% (58.10%! Olofsson himself has been hot as of late with 9 points (5 G) in his last 8 games played. A key cog on PP1 (3:04 PPTOI, 66.3% PP Share) and Buffalo’s top line; the production we’ve seen is even more impressive given the absence of both Eichel and Mittelstadt.
📈 Rasmus Asplund (C/LW/RW), BUF | Rostered: 1% (Yahoo) | GP: 3 (@SJS, @SEA, vs.DET) | Line: 1 (w/ Olofsson & Thompson) 
  • Similar to Victor Olofsson, Rasmus Asplund is a member of one of the top lines in the league in terms of xGF%; and he has the added bonus of being tri-eligible in Yahoo. Additionally, Asplund has produced 6 points (4 G) in his last 6 games while seeing 17:07 ATOI and 2:28 (53.3% PP Share) on the power play. Asplund also leads the Sabres in individual expected goals (iXG) at 2.29. It will be interesting to see how his deployment is impacted when Middelstadt returns, if at all. 
📈 Andrew Mangiapane (LW/RW), CGY | Rostered: 63% (Yahoo) | GP: 3 (vs.NSH, vs.DAL, vs.NYR) | Line: 3 (w/ Dube & Ritchie) 
  • Mangiapane has absolutely exploded offensively so far this season with 7 goals in 8 games played. Only 14:31 ATOI and 1:41 on the power play, but the goals have been there regardless. We know this point-pace is not sustainable (and the analytics suggest as much); but the way Calgary is rolling right now you need to take advantage of this player. 
📈 Alex Killorn (LW/RW), TB | Rostered: 55% (Yahoo) | GP: 3 (vs.WSH, @TOR, @OTT) | Line: 1 (w/ Point & Cirelli) 
  • With 9 points (6 G) in 8 GP, Killorn is currently on-pace for 92 points. Obviously not sustainable production, but playing next to Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli at 5v5 will certainly ensure some level of fantasy relevance. In addition to his role on the top line, Killorn is also seeing nearly 60% PP Share as a member of Tampa’s first PP unit. 
📈 J.T. Compher (C/RW), COL | Rostered: 20% (Yahoo) | GP: 2 (vs.CBJ, @CBJ) | Line: 3 (w/ Jost & Kaut) 
  • J.T. Compher is producing at a point per game pace, but doesn’t seem to be getting the fanfare he deserves given his 20% ownership. Compher has cemented himself on the top PP (3:56 PPTOI, 64.8% PP Share), and is averaging 19:56 TOI so far this season. Shot volume (2.5 SOG/GM) is much higher than expected, given his 3-year and career averages, but you can say the same about his FOW%, PP%, and overall production. Take advantage while he is hot. 
📈 Ryan Suter (D), DAL | Rostered: 28% (Yahoo) | GP: 3 (@WPG, @CGY, @VAN) | Pair: 1 (w/ Heiskanen) 
  • Ryan Suter has been staples to the first pair for Dallas, playing alongside one of Miro Heiskanen or John Klingberg, while averaging 23:35 TOI. Suter has also been getting time on PP1 with Heiskanen, seeing an average of 2:14 PP TOI per game (56.5% PP Share). Production has been limited with just 3 assists through 8 games; but he has been chipping in with PIMS and Blocked Shots. Given his current deployment though, he’s probably worth a look, particularly in deep leagues. 
📈 Rasmus Andersson (D), CGY | Rostered: 21% (Yahoo) | GP: 3 (vs.NSH, vs.DAL, vs.NYR) | Pair: 1 (w/ Hanafin) 
  • How many top pair, PP1 defencemen on a winning team are available 8 games into a season? Not many! So if Andersson is still available in your league, make room for him on your roster. 6 Assists (4 PPP), 23:12 ATOI, 2:54 PPTOI (59.5% PP Share). 62 point-pace. 
📈 Craig Anderson (G), BUF | Rostered: 30% (Yahoo) | GP: 3 (@SJS, @SEA, vs.DET) | Role: Starter
  • Somehow the Buffalo Sabres are second in the Atlantic division with a 5-1-1 record; and are only the second team in the division with a positive goal differential (+9). This is despite no Eichel and no Mittelstadt. 👀 Anderson himself has wound the clock back, posting a 4-1-0 record with 1.98 GAA and .939 SV%. 2012 was the last time Anderson had a SV% above .930, so we know these numbers are not sustainable; but Anderson makes for a great option for the time being. 
📈 Thomas Greiss (G), DET | Rostered: 21% (Yahoo) | GP: 4 (@MTL, @BOS, @BUF, vs.VGK) | Role: Tandem 
  • The Detroit Red Wings have been a pleasant surprise to start the season. Currently 3rd in the Atlantic division with a 4-3-2 record, there has been plenty to like about this team from a fantasy perspective. Greiss showed last year that he was capable of posting respectable numbers on a rebuilding team, and this year that team has taken a step forward early. With a 3.11 GAA and .905 SV%, Greiss appears average at best; but those numbers are inflated by just two bad starts against Montreal and Toronto, in which the Red Wings gave up 5 goals. Expect 2 starts from Greiss this week at minimum. 
📈 Mikko Koskinen (G), EDM | Rostered: 53% (Yahoo) | GP: 3 (vs.SEA, vs.NSH, vs.NYR) | Role: Tandem
  • Mikko Koskinen was seconds away from posting his first shutout of the season on Saturday against the Canucks, unfortunately Brock Boeser had other ideas. Koskinen has played very well in Mike Smith’s absence, winning 4 of 5 starts with a 2.26 GAA and .934 SV%. Koskinen’s value will take a hit when Mike Smith returns, but he’s worth streaming for the time being and whenever he is called upon for the Oilers.  
📈 James Reimer (G), SJS | Rostered: 14% (Yahoo) | GP:  (vs.BUF, vs.STL, vs.NJD) | Role: Tandem
  • James Reimer has been quietly impressive for the San Jose Sharks this season. Carrying a 1.13 GAA and .964 SV% through 4 games played. By contrast, Adin Hill has been up and down, posting a 2.96 GAA and .893 SV%. If you need some help in goal, you could do worse than Reimer.

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2021 How To Win Your Fantasy Hockey League Series

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