This week’s Waiver Wednesday will follows a simple formula: Examine who the hottest players in the league are and pluck out those who are widely available in fantasy leagues.
Our Frozen Pool report generator makes this a very simple exercise. Using this tool you can break down the top producers for any period of time and for any league format. It is a versatile and useful tool, and it’s free to use! Now, off to the waiver wire!
Brayden Schenn – C/LW – 43 per cent owned
Schenn, a mainstay on the Flyers’ lethal top power-play unit has recently been bumped up to the top line alongside Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds, leading to a three-point night. Schenn has been tried on Giroux’s line before and the results have been mixed.
The difference is that right now Schenn is one of the league’s hottest players. With 19 points in 20 games since Jan. 1, Schenn is tied with the likes of Pavel Datsyuk, Jordan Eberle and Nikita Kucherov for 13th in league scoring in that span.
Jordan Staal – C/LW – 24 per cent owned
Missed the boat on Schenn? Try for Staal instead. While he got off to a glacial start to the season Staal has 18 points in 19 games in 2016, good for a tie with John Tavares, Simmonds and a few others for 18th in league scoring in that span.
Rostering a Hurricane can be tough but Staal appears to be one of the only guys in Carolina producing reliably.
Andre Burakovsky – LW – 17 per cent owned
Also tied with Staal is Burakovsky who has scored 18 in 18 games since Jan. 1. Burakovsky has meshed well with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Justin Williams and has avoided getting yo-yoed up and down the lineup like last season. The result has been reliable production for a month and a half now. Most impressive is that Burakovsky has just one power-play point in this extended run.
You could view that as a knock on him if your league scores power-play points separately but this indicates that Burakovsky has potential for more were he to get usage on the top power-play unit.
Benoit Pouliot – LW – 22 per cent owned
One more guy tied with the gang at 18 is Pouliot who has clicked well with Eberle and Connor McDavid since the latter’s return. Most of his damage has been done in the eight games since McDavid’s return, as Pouliot has 11 points in those games. Be forewarned that Pouliot was bumped off the McDavid line on Tuesday night in favour of Taylor Hall but don’t expect that to continue long-term.
Mathew Dumba – D – 17 per cent owned
Dumba has surged to relevance of late thanks to an injury to Jared Spurgeon. He has skated over 20 minutes in four of his last five games, and has seen time on the Wild’s top power-play unit alongside Ryan Suter in each of those games, including their last game when Spurgeon returned to the lineup.
Most notable about this last game was that it was also interim head coach John Torchetti’s first for the Wild. Dumba boasts a ton of talent, with a big shot and a willingness to jump into the play. If he continues to see a big role under Torchetti he should be productive down the stretch.
Joonas Korpisalo – G – 32 per cent owned
This one will make you feel notably uneasy. No one wants Blue Jackets on their fantasy team right now. However, Korpisalo has played remarkably well. He has eight wins in his last 12 starts and has allowed three goals or more just twice in that span. He has been sneakily reliable for the folks brave (or desperate) enough to give him a chance.
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Steve Laidlaw is the Managing Editor of Dobber Hockey. You can follow him @SteveLaidlaw.
