Fantasy Hockey: Week 8 Preview and Waiver Pickups
Photo Credit: Jess Starr Photography (@jmstarr_)
How's it going hockey nerds, vizioN back again with this week's preview and waiver pickups. Life has been hectic with schoolwork piling up, so apologies to those who expected a post last week and the Reddit DMs I couldn't respond to. If you ever have a question, you can find me on Twitter @vizionsnaps as I'm more active on there than Reddit.
Let's jump right into this week, shall we?
EDM is the team to target this week with 3 games against OTT, who are allowing a league-worst 3.89 goals per game. ANH has 2 games (Friday and Saturday) against SJS who rank 30th, allowing an average of 3.86 goals per game. TBL has 2 games (Tuesday and Thursday) against DET who rank 29th, allowing an average of 3.35 goals per game.
ARZ, COL, LAK, MIN, and OTT all have their games (4) on off-days. Streaming players from these teams will allow you to maximize your schedule.
Make sure to avoid CGY as they only play 2 games this week.
Number of Games for Each Day
| Day | Number of Games | Off-day? |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 6 games | ✔️ |
| Tuesday | 9 games | ❌ |
| Wednesday | 5 games | ✔️ |
| Thursday | 10 games | ❌ |
| Friday | 5 games | ✔️ |
| Saturday | 12 games | ❌ |
| Sunday | 6 games | ✔️ |
Number of Games for Each Team
| Number of Games | Number of Teams | Teams |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Games | 14 | ANH, ARZ, COL, CBJ, DAL, EDM, LAK, MIN, MTL, NJD, NYI, OTT, TOR, and VGK |
| 3 Games | 16 | BOS, BUF, CAR, CHI, DET, FLA, NSH, NYR, PHI, PIT, SJS, STL, TBL, VAN, WSH, and WPG |
| 2 Games | 1 | CAL |
Number of Off-Day Games
| Number of Games | Teams |
|---|---|
| 4 Games | ARZ, COL, LAK, MIN, and OTT |
| 3 Games | ANH, EDM, and VGK |
| 2 Games | MTL, SJS, STL, and VAN |
| 1 Game | CAR, CBJ, DAL, DET, NJD, NYI, and TOR |
Teams With Back-to-Back Games
| Back-to-Back Days | Teams |
|---|---|
| Wednesday and Thursday | MTL |
| Friday and Saturday | ANH, SJS, STL, and VGK |
| Saturday and Sunday | CBJ, DAL, NJD, NYI, and TOR |
Week 8 Waiver Pickups
All player ownership percentages are derived from Yahoo
1. Rickard Rakell - W (29%)
We're kicking off this week's list with Ricky Racks. The Swedish sniper, who's shooting 4.9%, looks like he has finally found his groove with 9 points in his last 5 games. ANH has 2 games (Friday and Saturday) against SJS who rank 30th, allowing an average of 3.86 goals per game. No net is safe when Martin Jones is the keeper.
2. Martin Necas - C/W (40%)
Necas was someone who I recommend you guys to grab 5 weeks ago and he's has been on a tear with limited minutes putting up 14 points in 16 games since then. His player ownership percentage has ballooned from 6% to 40% in the time frame. For those who's been riding Necas to the moon, congratulations! His production seems absolutely sustainable as he has more primary (8) assists than secondary (6), which indicates that he is driving play. Moreover, he is only shooting 9.1% this season. CAR's second line of Nino-Trochek-Necas has been clicking this season and shows no signs of slowing down. They also play 2 games against NSH and 1 against DET. These 2 teams have trouble keeping pucks out of their net so expect a scoring fiesta.
3. Frank Vatrano - W (12%)
A personal favourite of mine. Franky boy has been elevated to FLA's top line, riding shotgun to Sasha Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe. Since being promoted, Vatrano has 4 points (3g & 1a) in 5 games. The winger is averaging almost 3 shots (2.92) per game while skating 14:43 a night. Vatrano is ranked 5th among forwards who have played 10 games with 11.55 shots per 60 minutes. Only Max Pacioretty, Brady Tkachuk, Brendan Gallagher, and David Pastrnak are ranked higher. Vatrano is a great addition to your team as long as he maintains his top-line deployment. Another option is Mason Marchment (0%). Marchment has 5 points in his last 6 games on FLA's third line.
4. Pavel Buchnevich - W (28%)
Buchnevich has 19 points in 23 games this season, which leads all Rangers skaters. The winger has been solid as of late with 11 points in his last 10 games. Buchnevich is shooting 16.7% and averaging 2.4 shots per game in that time span. Keep in mind, he's doing this while Mika Zibanejad is still cold. Just imagine what happens once Zibby gets hot.
5. Kailer Yamamoto - W (59%)
Yamamoto broke onto the scene with 26 points in 27 games last season, cementing a spot beside Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. However, Yamamoto has been a bit of a letdown this season with 13 points in 26 games but that is not surprising as the winger shot 25% last season after all. However, Yamamoto has found himself beside McJesus and Draisaitl during the third period of Saturday's game against Calgary, scoring a goal and putting up an apple. The trio was placed on a line together again for Sunday's practice and it can be expected that the three will stick together for the next few games. With three games against OTT, do I have to say more? Grab him while you still can, with his reputation in tatters!
6. Alex Tuch - W (43%)
Tuch has 9 points (8g & 1a) in his last 7 games. He's currently one of the hottest snipers in the league but keep in mind, he is shooting 42.1% during this time-span. Also, be aware that Tuch is on VGK's third line so opportunities will be few and far between. On the bright side, VGK has two games against MIN on Monday and Wednesday. Tuch had 3 points (2g & 1a) in 2 games against them last week.
7. Mattias Ekholm - D (37%)
With Ellis sidelined for the next 4-6 weeks, Ekholm has stepped up in his absence putting up 4 points in 4 games since then. Ekholm has also taken over Ellis' spot on PP2.
8. Kaapo Kähkönen - G (53%)
Kähkönen was another player who I recommended you guys to grab 6 weeks ago. Like Necas, his ownership has skyrocketed from 11% to 53%. Since returning from his injury, Talbot has amassed a record of 1-2-1 with a 3.51 GAA and 0.887 SV%. In that time frame, Kähkönen is 2-0-0 with a 2.00 GAA and .925 SV%. With Talbot's blowup and Kähkönen solid start during their series against ARZ this weekend, expect MIN to lean more on Kähkönen as they challenge for the playoffs.
9. Thatcher Demko - G (53%)
It seems like Demko has snatched the starting role from the incumbent Braden Holtby, starting 8 of the last 11 games for the Canucks. In his past 8 starts, Demko is 4-3-1 with a 1.90 GAA and 0.936 SV%. Demko is coming off consecutive wins off TOR where he maintained a 1.50 GAA and .958 SV%.
10A. Ilya Sorokin - G (42%)
With NYI playing a 3 game series against NYI in the latter portion of the week, expect Sorokin to make at least one start. Expect the same thing from the BUF series, but replace them with NJD. NJD offensive bad team. NYI good defensive team. Mitch Korn goalie god. Sorokin win. Ez dub.
10B. Jake Oettinger - G (18%)
DAL is playing in a back-to-back against CBJ later this week, so expect Oettinger to get one of the games. Oettinger already shutout CBJ a few days ago and we can expect the same thing, more or less. CBJ has been dreadful offensively this season. However, DAL just played Oettinger back-to-back this weekend so they could easily do the same with Khubdobin.