The NHL season is coming to an end with the upcoming week being the final one of the regular season. For those in their head-to-head finals, or pushing for a rotisserie or points league title, congratulations on grinding out the season. There is still work to be done, though.
Remember to max out games played or acquisitions this week. Don’t leave any games on the table; play fantasy long enough, and there will be razor-thin margins of error. Adding and dropping guys through the week is perfectly acceptable now that there isn’t much time left for dropped players to help another owner. Aside from the below waiver wire additions, there are some goalie streams at the end of the article.
Ryan Strome (NY Islanders – Centre/Right Wing) – Ownership: 26.8 per cent ESPN; 43 per cent Yahoo
Strome is fairly widely owned, but now that he’s beside John Tavares on New York’s first line, he should be owned in just about every league. Going into Saturday night’s action, Strome had six points in his previous six games, playing over 17 minutes in his last three. The Islanders only have one game before a back-to-back on Friday and Saturday, so I would wait until later in the week to add him.
Alex Wennberg (Columbus – Centre) – Ownership: 0.4 per cent ESPN; 1 per cent Yahoo
Columbus plays on Monday night, but it’s in New York to face the Rangers, so I would hold off until Tuesday to add Wennberg. After that, Columbus plays three games in four nights, including games against Toronto and Buffalo. Wennberg is on a line with Scott Hartnell, and those two have been excellent possession-wise this year (via Hockey Analysis). He’s also on the power play unit with Ryan Johansen, which could mean an easy power play point or two.
Colin Wilson (Nashville – Left Wing) – Ownership: 18.6 per cent ESPN; 23 per cent Yahoo
Going into Saturday, there were 11 players in the NHL with 20 goals, 20 assists, 20 penalty minutes, and a plus/minus of plus-20. Among those players is Colin Wilson. For those looking to max out games played, Nashville plays every other day starting Tuesday. For that reason, I would add him for Tuesday’s action, drop him for the game against Minnesota, and then add him again for the weekend.
Chris Higgins (Vancouver – Left Wing) – Ownership: 1.6 per cent ESPN; 4 per cent Yahoo
I would wait to add Higgins until later in the week. The Canucks only have one game until Thursday. At that point, though, their final two games are at home against Arizona and Edmonton. Playing on the second line in Vancouver would mean avoiding the Oliver Ekman-Larsson pairing for Arizona, and the Ryan Nugent-Hopkins line for Edmonton. In eight games against those two teams this year, Higgins has managed 23 shots on goal. He also gets second unit power play duties.
Valeri Nichushkin (Dallas – Right Wing) – Ownership: 2.2 per cent ESPN; 13 per cent Yahoo
After a lengthy injury kept Nichushkin out of the lineup for most of the year, he returned to the Dallas roster on Friday night. For both games on Friday and Saturday, he spent most of his shifts either with Tyler Seguin or Jason Spezza. Nichushkin is the definition of a game breaker. He might be a longshot to produce given his layoff, but he’s certainly worth adding early in the week with games against San Jose and Anaheim.
Alec Martinez (Los Angeles – Defense) – Ownership: 5.2 per cent ESPN; 8 per cent Yahoo
Kevin Connauton (Columbus – Defense) – Ownership: 0.9 per cent ESPN; 1 per cent Yahoo
I’m lumping Martinez and Connauton together because they make the perfect streaming combo for a defense slot this week: fantasy owners can get three games out of Martinez (@VAN, @EDM, @CGY) before dropping him for Connauton on the weekend (vs. BUF, @NYI). Both are getting power play duties for their respective teams, so it could be an easy way for a couple power play points in the final week.
Goalie Streams
Anton Khudobin (Carolina) – This is a bit tricky because Carolina opens the week with a back-to-back against Buffalo on Monday, and Detroit on Tuesday. For those in leagues that allow same-day pickups, waiting until a goalie is announced Monday is the move. For those that have to add a day in advance, I would speculate on Khudobin getting the start.
Cam Talbot (NY Rangers) – Now that Henrik Lundqvist is back, Talbot may have been dropped in a lot of leagues. With the Rangers having the division clinched, there would be no need to start Lundqvist on both games of the back-to-back to start the week against Columbus and New Jersey. Expect Talbot to get one of those games.
Curtis McElhinney (Columbus) – Columbus finishes the season with three games in four nights. It’s not a certainty that McElhinney gets a start, so he would be the last goalie I would speculate on this week.
*Some stats taken from Hockey Analysis, Hockey Reference, and War On Ice.