This time of year is always a tricky one when it comes to waiver pickups. You never know for certain if the guy you snag is going to be in the same situation after the trade deadline. You might pick a guy up on Friday only to see him moved to a deeper team on Monday.
With that in mind, let’s focus on the very near future with these waiver options. We are looking for players with an optimal schedule between now and Sunday to see who might give you a boost this week. As always, these players are widely available in fantasy leagues with all ownership values based on Yahoo leagues:
Tomas Hertl – C/LW – 27 per cent owned
The Sharks have a rare Wednesday-Friday-Sunday trio of games this week, which is an ideal mix avoiding back-to-back scenarios but also avoiding the packed Thursdays and Saturdays. Most of the big guns on the Sharks will be owned but Hertl has been skating on the top line of late and has four goals in his last five games. Getting exposure to the red-hot Joe Thornton is something every fantasy GM should be striving for right now.
Andre Burakovsky – LW – 18 per cent owned
Another team boasting the lovely Wednesday-Friday-Sunday troika is the Capitals. Like the Sharks the Capitals’ big guns are heavily owned but Burakovsky remains undervalued and has been a frequent name in this space. He only has 18 points in his last 17 games skating alongside Evgeny Kuznetsov.
Thornton, Crosby, and Kuznetsov lead the league in scoring since Jan. 1. Getting exposure to these players is paramount. Burakovsky can get you that exposure and three games of action this week.
David Perron – LW/RW – 46 per cent owned
Folks are starting to catch onto Perron given that he has scored 14 points in 15 games since joining the Ducks, but he is still available for plenty of you to snag for free. He skates with the resurgent Ryan Getzlaf but what really makes Perron interesting is his upcoming schedule.
You guessed it, the Ducks play three more games this week with the Wednesday-Friday-Sunday troika. Perron’s multi-positional eligibility practically ensures you get him for three games if you add him today.
Rickard Rakell – C – 15 per cent owned
In case Perron is unavailable to you but you still want to get in on the surging Ducks and their favourable schedule here’s another offering. While Getzlaf and Corey Perry have been split up it has allowed room for other Ducks to get in on the scoring, which includes Rakell who also has 14 points in 15 games since Perron arrived, while skating with Perry on the second line.
Matt Beleskey – LW – 15 per cent owned
You wouldn’t think that another team could possibly have the excellent Wednesday-Friday-Sunday combo this week but indeed the Bruins have that exact schedule. Beleskey is extremely hit or miss but he has three goals and four points in his last two games while seeing some usage on the top power-play unit of the Bruins.
Jordan Staal – C/LW – 38 per cent owned
When we boasted about Staal in this spot last week he was just 24 per cent owned with 18 points in 19 games since Jan. 1. All he did in that week was score five points in four games to drive himself up to a tie for ninth in league scoring in 2016. At this rate, Staal should be owned in every league.
Also helping matters is that Staal has three games remaining this week with a Thursday-Friday-Sunday combo that isn’t perfect, but given that the Thursday matchup is with the tanking Maple Leafs, you’ll want to find a way to get him into your lineup.
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Steve Laidlaw is the Managing Editor of DobberHockey. You can follow him @SteveLaidlaw.
