Even with March Madness ahead, there is still room for professional sports, such as hockey. And with any sport comes the fantasy version of it that can turn into its own madness. For those owners reading this that made the playoffs, good luck. For the others trying to make it or trying to advance a seed, also good luck. But no matter the situation you are in, adds will be essential, both short-term and long-term. Here are my waiver wire gems for this week.
Winger
Nick Bjugstad (FLA)
Don’t look now, but the same Florida Panthers team that had the third-worst record in the Eastern Conference about a month ago is now just three points out of a playoff spot. And one advantage they do have to get in? Games at hand, which a lot of are this week. The Panthers have four games this week, and only one is a difficult matchup on paper, Thursday versus the Boston Bruins. That being said, it is at home, which is much easier than having to travel to TD Garden. As for Bjugstad, I’ve mentioned he has struggled in the goal-scoring department, with just 15 on the season. However, he’s picking it up lately, including a hat-trick against the President’s Trophy leading Tampa Bay Lightning. And between that and the assist total still being decent at 25, combined with some good matchups and four games, I like Bjugstad as my add for winger this week. I mentioned how they had one difficult matchup against the Bruins, who are third best in goals against average at 2.54. But after that, they have the Edmonton Oilers, Montreal Canadiens, and Ottawa Senators, who are all in the bottom 10 in that department. Ottawa is second worst at 3.37 GAA and the Oilers are third worst at 3.24, while the Carey Price-less Canadiens are ninth-worst at 3.09. This should be a chance for the Florida Panthers to thrive on a winning streak to get into that second wild card spot over the New Jersey Devils, who are on a tough road trip. And expect Bjugstad, one of their more skilled offensive players, to keep up his impressive play.
Center
Derick Brassard (PIT)
Last time I picked Derick Brassard as my waiver wire pick, he was a member of the Ottawa Senators. Now he’s a member of the defending Stanley Cup Champions, surrounded with all kinds of offensive talent. This Penguins team tends to play well in the second half of the season to begin with, and their matchups are very strong this week as well. Brassard is still trying to get his feet wet with Mike Sullivan and the Pittsburgh Penguins, which have the greatest arsenal of offensive talent that he’s ever played with. With just one goal and zero assists so far for the Penguins, Brassard is due for a breakout, and I believe it comes this week. The Penguins only have three games, but they come against the New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens, and New York Islanders. The Islanders have been the worst goaltending team all year, currently standing at 3.51 goals allowed per game. The Rangers have just been in free fall recently as well, seemingly allowing three or more goals every game since the month of March began. As a result, they have fallen to seventh worst in GAA at 3.13. And as I mentioned above, the Canadiens have not been the same without Carey Price. The Penguins, the last two years, have constantly summoned trade deadline pieces and have gotten them to work for Stanley Cup runs. We’ve seen guys like Nick Bonino, Justin Schultz, and Ian Cole have essential impact in this time. Who says that Brassard can’t be the next, and who says it can’t start now?
Defenseman
Brandon Montour (ANA)
Another team with a favorable schedule this week is the Anaheim Ducks, and one of their more underrated defensemen this year has been the young Brandon Montour. Montour has done a good job taking over the Sami Vatanen role for the Ducks, contributing 20 assists on the season, trailing only top pair defenseman Cam Fowler who has 21. Being that Fowler is currently owned in 51.4% of leagues, he is not eligible for this article. Moving on to their matchups, the Ducks have the Canucks, the Red Wings, and the Devils this week. Vancouver has struggled defensively this year, totaling a 3.21 GAA, which is fifth worst in the entire league. Detroit, with Jimmy Howard playing a lot more than he should at age 33 (soon to be 34 in 13 days), has struggled a lot recently as well. Their GAA has also recently fallen over 3.00, standing at 3.04, which is 10th worst. Their final matchup, the New Jersey Devils, are a talented defensive team with a talented goaltender. But there are other factors to why I like Montour and other Anaheim Ducks for fantasy purposes even here. For one thing, Schneider has been up and down so far since his return. In addition, the Devils are still below average (13th worst) with a 2.96 GAA. Next, the Devils are on a very long Western Conference road trip that started this weekend with the Nashville Predators. Their fatigue level may be higher due to that. And finally, the Devils and Ducks both play a very physical style. So even if Montour can’t get it going offensively in that particular game, he still can get some hits and blocks, which do contribute points in some leagues, including the one I play in right now. So as a whole, I do believe Montour can accumulate valuable points. I don’t know if long-term he’s going to be a feature defenseman on your team. But for this week, I like him as a matchup play if you need a third or fourth option.
Goaltender
Tristan Jarry (PIT)
Another Penguin worth adding this week is goaltender Tristan Jarry. Since Matt Murray has been out with a concussion, Jarry has been the featured goaltender for the Penguins, starting the better of a platoon with Casey DeSmith. Murray is back traveling with the team, but likely won’t be ready to go until next week, giving Jarry a chance to handle the good matchups. Being that goaltenders owned under 50% didn’t have great matchups, I decided to pick on the Rangers and Canadiens again, like I did for Brassard earlier. The Rangers, even though they have done OK at scoring goals this season, traded away a lot of their top offensive players at the trade deadline, including leading goal scorer Michael Grabner and free agent signing Rick Nash. They haven’t struggled statistically like a lot of the other teams I pick on, but they really don’t have many scary offensive players. As for the Canadiens, they have struggled offensively all year, third worst at 2.51 goals per game. And now they lost their best offensive player in Max Pacioretty for the season, meaning their most talented offensive player is probably Alex Galchenyuk, which is not scary at all if you are looking at a goaltender. The one tough matchup is the third, against the New York Islanders, which have an offense that has been very good all year. However, Murray may come back by then, and even if Jarry does play again, he can still get points from wins, as the Islanders as a team have still slumped badly and have struggled to win games. With all these factors in mind, in what has been another tough goaltender market in fantasy hockey, I would roll with Jarry this week if you are desperate.
Kyle Kloiber is a correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Kyle, check out his archive and follow him @2Kgmenrule1080.
