With fantasy hockey, due to players scoring, assisting, and hitting in spurts, a lot of winning is defined throughout the waiver wire, adding the guys that have the best matchups and best chance to get hot. This is especially key during this stretch of the hockey season when some teams are on their mandatory bye weeks. This week, the Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, Carolina Hurricanes, Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks, and Winnipeg Jets are on their bye weeks, with a lot of offensive talent being sidelined until this weekend or even later. With that, here are my players to watch who can have an impact in your lineups this week, one for each position (wing, center, defenseman, goaltender). As a side note, all these players are owned in less than 50% of ESPN fantasy hockey leagues.

Winger

Pavel Buchnevich (NYR)
Pavel Buchnevich, a second-year winger for the New York Rangers, hasn’t been world-class spectacular like he was when he was playing in his native Russia. But he has still been a valuable player for the Rangers’ 3rd (and sometimes 4th) lines this season, scoring 11 goals and 15 assists up to this point in the season. Buchnevich right now is on a goal-scoring drought, but with a team like the Rangers, that isn’t going to last very long. I’m not saying the Rangers are a world-class offensive team, but they don’t have the star players that are going to take away goals from 3rd and 4th line players. Buchnevich, as a result, can break out in this week for that reason. He certainly has the quick hands and speed to make an impact, and this week, I also believe he has the good matchups. The Rangers are playing against some teams that have iffy goaltending and not overly deep teams in the Philadelphia Flyers, Colorado Avalanche, L.A. Kings, and Anaheim Ducks. Now the Kings have good goaltending with Quick and the Ducks certainly have depth and good skater defense on their roster, but don’t have the other. Expect Buchnevich, a young player looking to break out, to take advantage of this stretch and be able to get hot and end his goal-scoring and points drought that he has been going through.

Center

Derick Brassard (OTT)
From a current Ranger to an ex-Ranger, Derick Brassard is my pick this week for center. The Ottawa Senators have had a rough year so far, with 15 wins and just 39 points this season, good for second to last in the Eastern Conference. That being said, if they are going to get it going, this would be the stretch to do it in, and the offense will have to lead the way to do it. Like the Rangers, the Ottawa Senators have some easy goaltending matchups coming up, playing twice against the St. Louis Blues, who despite being a good team still haven’t had consistent goaltending year in and year out. Other matchups this week include the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Minnesota Wild, who have been very streaky teams this year, and Devan Dubnyk has been much more streaky than he was last year. Brassard possesses the third-most fantasy points among Ottawa Senators players, behind youngsters Mark Stone and Mike Hoffman. That being said, that talent around him will allow for him not only to get goals against these weaker goaltenders but assists as well. If he is not playing with Stone or Hoffman, he could be playing with recently returned Bobby Ryan, a very skilled player who has missed 10 games for Ottawa this season, or youngster Ryan Dzingel, who has scored 13 goals. Not to mention, Ottawa has some good offensive defensemen in Erik Karlsson, Cody Ceci, and even Dion Phaneuf who surprisingly has 10 assists this year. Brassard, as somebody who likes to hang around the net and set screens on goaltenders, may get some deflection goals that way with those guys shooting from the point. He also is a good passer who can set up these struggling, but still talented wingers for goals, and he can hit a little too, something that certainly wasn’t noted as much when he was with the Rangers. Look for Brassard, owned in just 42.6% of leagues, to be a sleeper option out there on the waiver wire if you need a player with some good matchups, good supporting cast, and a team with a sense of urgency to get something going to turn their season around.

Defenseman

Joel Edmundson (STL)
I mentioned earlier in the article that the Senators play the Blues twice this week. This is not to say that only Senators players have good value on the waiver wire due to that matchup. The Blues, a very different-look team who have had success this season (55 points, 26-17-3), certainly have some good options on the waiver wire due to their matchups as well. One of those is defenseman Joel Edmundson, a player that has seen top-line action due to the departure of Kevin Shattenkirk and the injuries suffered to Jay Bouwmeester. Edmundson has 6 goals and 9 assists but also has contributed 76 hits and 104 blocked shots this season as well, which matters in some fantasy league setups as well. Against the Ottawa Senators, those statistics may make a difference, in addition to the main offensive stats goals and assists. The Senators have a good offense and will like to shoot a lot, but they are also a smaller team that does not possess as much physicality as they did last year. Expect Edmundson, who is receiving first-pair minutes, to strive in those two areas. And when it comes to goals and assists, 6 and 9 is good for a defenseman of his level, and the teams they are playing, the Senators, Leafs, and Coyotes, have all had iffy goaltending. Both Craig Anderson and Frederik Anderssen have played well at teams, but are still nothing to be concerned about. After a breakout year last year, Anderson has a save percentage of .899 and a GAA of 3.22. Frederik Anderssen has been a little better statistically, with a .921 save percentage and GAA of 2.69. However, he is also a very streaky goaltender and doesn’t get a lot of help from his defense, which may bode well to create a high scoring game. Edmundson, with 6 goals, may be able to get one through or get a deflection from one of his forwards for an assist. The last matchup is the Coyotes, who have been the worst team in the Western Conference with goaltending that has been abysmal this season. Due to that, as well as the matchup with the skaters as well size-wise, expect Edmundson to be a sneaky good option if you need a defenseman in your lineup.

Goaltender

Jaroslav Halak (NYI)
The Islanders goaltender situation has not been very good this year. However, Jaroslav Halak, with his better play from earlier in the season, has surpassed Thomas Greiss as the #1 option on this team. He played very well against the Rangers on Saturday, stopping 37 out of 39 shots in that game. He also played well for fantasy purposes in their game the day before against the Devils, despite allowing 4 goals, still made 42 saves. What that translates into for fantasy owners, if he is not pulled out of the game for poor performance, is sneaky good fantasy success. The Islanders defense is not very deep, so expect a lot of shots against these goaltenders. And despite a shaky season from Halak, he can still be trusted against some sub-par offensive teams both performance wise and talent wise. The New Jersey Devils have certainly overperformed offensively, but would you really call them an offensive juggernaut? The Blackhawks still have Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, but don’t possess the same depth with a lot of free agent losses from their 2015 Stanley Cup team as well as two talented young players in Artemi Panarin and Teuvo Teravainen. And then the other two matchups are the Bruins and the Coyotes, who have both been iffy offenses this year. The Bruins have been better with Brad Marchand back from injury, but they have still been a streaky offense. And the Coyotes have not been good in really any facet of the game this year, second-to-last in goals with 105 goals scored. The other factor to consider is that the Islanders can win all those games with their offense, as they have all season long, which would give Halak a win in those statistics. In some fantasy leagues, the win statistic rewards extra points for goaltenders. Even if he does allow 3 goals and still makes a decent amount of saves, the goal support may come from an Islanders team that is second in the league with 158 goals scored, only to the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 161. With all those factors considered, if he does play the majority of the games this week (pay attention to the announcements made by Islanders coaching staff), Halak could be an interesting matchup goaltender to watch if your team’s goaltender is on a bye week or even to serve as a backup option on your roster in deeper leagues.

Kyle Kloiber is a correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Kyle, check out his archive and follow him @2Kgmenrule1080.