As always, waiver wires are to be used to supplement teams, not necessarily add a huge scoring punch. With that in mind, grabbing guys early in the season is almost always more beneficial than waiting until later in the season. The opportunity to significantly contribute to a fantasy team is greater the earlier a player is picked up. It might seem intuitive, but it’s kind of amazing how long people will hold on to the first or second waiver priority claim just waiting for that “perfect pickup.”
Here are some guys that are available in a lot of leagues that can help those fantasy owners fighting early season injuries. They are listed in the order that I would pick them up.
Andrew Shaw (C – Chicago) 40.9% owned ESPN, 28% owned Yahoo
This ownership rate is amazing in that it’s not close to 100% on ESPN, which is something I fully expected by this point of the season.
Anyone in Chicago’s top-six forwards should be owned. Repeat, anyone in Chicago’s top-six forwards should be owned. At the outset of the season, it looked like free agent signee Brad Richards would be centering the second line. So far this year, though, that position has gone to Andrew Shaw, between Brandon Saad and Patrick Kane.
Shaw’s positioning isn’t out-of-nowhere. He was fifth among Blackhawks forwards in CorsiRelative last year, and he and Saad showed very good chemistry on the third line. Not only is he in Chicago’s top-six forwards at even strength, he’s on their top power play unit. If he’s available, he should be owned ASAP.
Marcus Johansson (C/LW – Washington) 3.5% owned ESPN, 6% owned Yahoo
It’s been a few years that the hockey community, and the Washington Capitals, have been waiting for the breakout of Marcus Johansson. It appears he may be on the cusp of exactly that.
The former first round pick from 2009 had been toiling in the Capitals lineup for four years now, fluctuating line to line. Here’s the thing: Johansson only had 44 points last year, but 21 of them were on the power play. That mark of 21 power play points was tied with Martin St. Louis, and more than Phil Kessel or Jordan Eberle.
Johansson is shooting more early on with 2.5 shots per game, and he’s playing on the top power play unit in Washington. Those looking for power play points, look no further than Johansson.
Mark Stone (RW – Ottawa) – 0.1% owned ESPN, 1% owned Yahoo
It’s just a reality of sports, and fantasy sports by extension, but players drafted late in Entry Drafts or signed as free agents just don’t get a lot of hype. Rightly or wrongly, the guys that are drafted in the first couple of rounds get the hype.
It took a few years, but it appears Mark Stone, the former sixth round pick, is now a regular for the Ottawa Senators. This isn’t by accident; Stone had 79 points in 91 games in the AHL, with 30 goals in that mix. This is a guy with size and skill, and it appears he’s going to be staying on Ottawa’s top line with Kyle Turris, and Clarke MacArthur.
Almost any player playing on a team’s top line – and top power play unit – needs to be owned in the majority of fantasy leagues. He’s a good bench stash for those fantasy owners carrying around some dead weight right now.
Michael Frolik (C/RW – Winnipeg) – 0.1% owned ESPN, 6% owned Yahoo
This one is purely a Band-Aid play for the next week or so.
Evander Kane went down with an injury in the team’s season opener, and doesn’t appear to be coming back to the lineup any time soon. This has shuffled the forward mix for the Winnipeg Jets, and Frolik has landed on the unofficial second line with Bryan Little and Andrew Ladd. That’s a good thing.
Frolik has long been an underrated player. Since the advanced stats started being tracked, Frolik had been a positive relative possession player every season, going all the way back to his time with Florida. He should mesh well with Ladd and Little, so he should be a positive plus/minus player in the short term. I say should, because having Ondrej Pavelec as your goalie is the mitigating factor here.
I would rather have Stone because of his positioning (and conference) but Frolik is a good add for maybe the next 10 days.
Chris Tanev (D – Vancouver) – 0.7% owned ESPN, 1% owned Yahoo
This is a situation that could change on almost a game-by-game basis, but for right now, Chris Tanev is playing the top power play unit for Vancouver. At least in a rotating situation.
Again at the outset of the season, it appeared as though Alex Edler would be the top power play quarterback on the blue line. That has now transferred over to Tanev, another player who has been underrated. Last year, Tanev played the toughest competition of any Canucks defenseman, with the fewest offensive zone starts of any Canucks defenseman, and was still a positive relative possession player. That’s pretty astounding.
Over the last two seasons, Tanev is T-39th among regular NHL defensemen in points/60 minutes at 5-on-5 (0.81). That number is ahead of names like Niklas Kronwall (0.77) and Ryan Suter (0.73). He’s been given more minutes this year, and is now in a position to succeed offensively.
*As always, thanks to Hockey Analysis, Hockey Reference, Behind The Net, and NHL.com
