NHL Fantasy Waiver Wire: Now healthy, Ondrej Palat is a must-add

Tyler Johnson scored his second goal of the game 1:36 into overtime and the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period to beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-3.

With a new year comes a new scheduling twist for the NHL.

Because of the compressed schedule resulting from the World Cup of Hockey, each NHL team will have a “bye week” sometime in January or February. This break may not stretch an entire week, but each team will receive a minimum of five days off. This is a scenario that will be new to fantasy owners, so checking your player’s schedules ahead of time will be crucial.

The first three teams to receive a bye week will be the New York Islanders (January 1-5), the Pittsburgh Penguins (January 1-7), and the Ottawa Senators (January 2-6). So if you’re considering adding any player from these teams strictly for next week, you will want to look elsewhere. You can find a full list of bye weeks on this Dobber Hockey Forum post.

On to a list of possible waiver-wire pickups from the other 27 teams.

Ondrej Palat, LW, TB

Dropped in many leagues after a slow start, Palat is now back after a five-game absence due to an undisclosed injury. He has wasted no time reaching the scoresheet since returning, following up a goal and an assist against Montreal on Wednesday with a goal against Toronto on Thursday. More notably, Palat and the other two triplets (Nikita Kucherov and Tyler Johnson) have reunited to form what will likely be Tampa’s top line for the foreseeable future. The Lightning play four games next week, so Palat should be at or near the top of your add list if available.

Mikael Backlund, C, CGY

Backlund has been a Flame on fire recently. Over his last five games, Backlund has scored five goals, including goals in each of his last three games, while posting a plus-6 rating. Prior to Thursday, he had posted back-to-back three-point games. He has been clicking on a Flames’ secondary scoring line that includes rookie Matthew Tkachuk and veteran Michael Frolik, helping to boost their fantasy values in the process as well.

Scott Hartnell, LW, CBJ

The Blue Jackets have reached such lofty heights that Hartnell has been pushed down to the bottom 6, yet he still continues to produce. Averaging a meagre 12 minutes per game in ice time, Hartnell has still managed to score four goals over his past four games and now has a respectable 22 points in 34 games this season. With an average of 3.2 points per 60 minutes, Hartnell is currently 11th in the NHL among players who have played at least 15 games. Another reason to add him is that the Blue Jackets have four games on the schedule for next week.

Marcus Foligno, LW, BUF

Foligno is a deep league special for his skill set as a power forward. Lining up alongside Jack Eichel recently, Foligno has points in four of his last six games and a plus-6 rating over his last eight. The younger brother of Nick is a must-add in leagues that count hits, as his 106 hits places him in the top 10 in that category. His only drawback at the moment is a lack of power-play time, but he’s not hurting you in any of the other categories at the moment.

Jared Spurgeon, D, MIN

Averaging nearly 24 minutes per game, Spurgeon is riding the wave of the Wild’s 12-game win streak. He has scored eight points in 13 games this month, including goals in three of his last four games. Spurgeon’s plus-23 rating is second in the NHL, only trailing defense partner Ryan Suter (plus-25). This season could be the first in which Spurgeon hits the 30-point mark in his career.

Nikita Zaitsev, D, TOR

Zaitsev averages 22 minutes of ice time on the Leafs’ top pairing with Morgan Rielly. He has turned up the offence recently with five points and a plus-7 rating in his last six games. He showed some offensive upside in the KHL, scoring 26 points in 46 games in his final season with CSKA Moscow. He’s also worth adding in leagues that count hits, as he’s in the top-20 among defensemen in that category. If you do add him, though, keep an eye on his power-play usage, which has been all over the map as of late.

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