Top 10 Waiver Wire Pickups

Tom Collins

2024-03-11

Now that the NHL trade deadline is over, so too are the deadlines in most fantasy leagues.

I’m in two keeper leagues. One trade deadline was on Friday, but I made no moves in that league. In my other league, the deadline was on Sunday night. I made a bevy of moves in that points-only league, trading away Andrei Vasilevskiy, Logan Stankoven, Jack Eichel, Adam Fox and Mark Stone for Alexandar Georgiev, Brandon Hagel, Sidney Crosby, Roman Josi and Matt Duchene across three different deals.

For the rest of our leagues, with no more potential trades, the only opportunity you have to make your team better is through the waiver wire.

Below are 10 players who are available in the majority of Yahoo leagues. As of Sunday night, everyone on this list was available in at least two-thirds of leagues. For deeper leagues, there are a couple of players that are available in 100 percent of leagues that are worth keeping an eye on.

10. Alexander Nylander, 0 percent

Nylander has been great since he made his Columbus debut on February 25. Aside from that first game (when he posted zeroes across the board and had nine seconds of power-play time), he has been extremely productive. In his last seven games, he has five goals, seven points, a plus-three, 25 shots and a power-play point. He has at least two shots in all seven games, and at least four shots in four of those contests. He’s being used on the top power-play unit, however, since Columbus doesn’t get many power-play opportunities, he’s only averaging 1:46 with the man advantage over those seven games.

9. Michael Bunting, 28 percent

Bunting has fallen off greatly since his Calder nomination in 2022, finishing below 50 points a year ago, and on pace for 48 this season. However, he could find himself in a great situation now that he’s on the Penguins. In his first two games with Pittsburgh, he played on the top line with Sidney Crosby, and while he went pointless, he did have seven shots and three hits. He was also on the top power-play unit. His 19:36 minutes in his first game was his highest since late October, and he followed that up with 18:50 on Sunday. He’s being given the opportunity to succeed, which is worth keeping an eye on.

8. Thomas Bordeleau, 0 percent

If you want young players to succeed, they need to be put in a position to succeed. All too often a young player is called up, and is stuck on the fourth line playing fewer than eight minutes a night with no power-play time. San Jose is going the opposite way since Bordeleau was called up last week. It’s only been two games, but he is firmly entrenched already on the top power-play unit, and is averaging over 15 minutes per contest. In his two games, he has three goals, all with the man advantage, and is averaging three shots per game. Maybe it’s too early to consider him an everyday player in your fantasy lineup, but he’s worth at least a stash until he plays a few more games.

7. Ryan Strome, 11 percent

With all the injuries in Anaheim, it’s probably gone unnoticed how good Strome has been over the past six weeks or so. In his last 16 games, he has six goals, 13 points, 10 PIM, 31 shots, eight power-play points and 13 hits. He’s on the top power-play unit and is averaging more than 16 minutes per night overall during this streak. The Ducks also play four games this week (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday) and he has dual eligibility as a left winger and a right winger in Yahoo leagues.

6. Nick Foligno, 9 percent

It’s not too often that you can find a top-line, number-one power-play unit forward on the waiver wire, but Foligno is going underrated in many leagues. In 14 games since he returned to the lineup on February 7, Foligno has six goals, 11 points, 30 shots, five power-play points and 33 hits. In Yahoo leagues, he’d be ranked much higher over the past month if it wasn’t for the minus-12 in that time as well.

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5. Max Pacioretty, 14 percent

Pacioretty missed a good chunk of the season with an Achilles tear, and you have to take into account that it took him a while to get back in game shape. However, he’s been pretty good recently, and is worth a look in many leagues. In his last 10 games, he has two goals, seven points, plus-one, 25 shots, three power-play points and 15 hits. That’s a pretty solid stat line, and he’s producing in almost every fantasy category. He’s also on the top power-play unit as well.

4. Sam Montembeault, 23 percent

Both Montembeault and Cayden Primeau stand to get a production boost now that Jake Allen is in New Jersey. Even if their numbers don’t improve, there are more minutes for each of them, as Allen was playing about 32 percent of Montreal’s minutes before the trade. Now those minutes will be allocated between the other two. Montembeault stands to benefit the most. He has the most minutes of all three Habs netminders this year, and should get the vast majority of starts the rest of the way.

3. Jake Allen, 13 percent and Kaapo Kahkonen, 6 percent

It’s kind of interesting that over the past seven months or so, the Devils have been linked in trade rumors regarding Juuse Saros, Connor Hellebuyck and Jacob Markstrom, but they wound up trading for two netminders who were backups on non-playoff teams. The worst-case scenario is that these two have a 50/50 split the rest of the way. The best-case scenario is that one of them starts winning and you have a number one netminder for the rest of the season. The best guess in the latter situation is that Allen will have the opportunity to be that guy.

2. Bowen Byram, 29 percent

His first two games with the Sabres might be a sign of what to expect from him going forward. With Buffalo, he hovered around 25 minutes of ice in each of the two games. In Colorado, he only broke 20 minutes in two of his final 19 games. He’s also being given a chance on the power play as the Sabres are going with three forwards and two defensemen on their top unit. In these last two Sabre games, Byram also has 5:20 of power-play time. In his final 11 games with Colorado, he had only 5:46 of power-play time. He’s responded in these two Buffalo games with a goal, two points, seven shots and four hits.

1. Shane Pinto, 29 percent

It’s kind of amazing that Pinto isn’t owned in more leagues. He’s only played in 21 games, but he has 18 points in those games, a 70-point pace. He has eight points in his last seven games. He’s on the top line at even strength and on the second power-play unit. He’s averaging an amazing 3.3 shots per game, and just under a hit per game. He’s a top-line player who is producing that can help you in your quest for a championship.

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