Whether you're in a head-to-head or a roto league, we are now in mid-March which means things are really getting down to the nitty gritty. Trade deadlines for your leagues have come and gone by now. You should have a pretty good idea on both what your roster can do, and what challenges may lay ahead for you and your squad. Whether that be fending off some competition that are right on your heels, or maybe you need a couple big weeks to sneak into the playoffs. It's getting pretty close to do-or-die time in a lot of situations. Let's look at what might be available out there for you on the waiver wire!

T.J. Oshie

Oshie has had quite the career in the NHL, having split his time between the Blues and the Capitals over the past 15 years. The peak of his playing time came during the Capitals’ Stanley Cup run back in 2018 when he came up with some big-time performances on the biggest of stages. He's never been a big name in fantasy hockey though, and over the past few years he's been constantly hampered with injuries. This year he's managed 17 goals and 13 assists for 30 points through 49 games.

Despite the downward trends that Oshie has gone through the past few seasons, the 36-year-old has been healthy as of late, and he's actually been on quite a decent hot streak. He's netted seven goals along with six assists for 13 points over his last 12 games. The Capitals have been fighting for their playoff lives for a while now, and sometimes that can bring the best out of players. 

On top of the solid point streak Oshie's strung together, you can also rely on him to be a steady hitter. His 104 body checks this season gives him an average of just over two per game. He also peppers enough shots on net not to be a detriment to your squad. This year he's averaging 2.2 shots per game which isn't too shabby at all. He's getting middle-six minutes at even strength, but he still finds himself the beneficiary of playing on the top power play unit alongside Alexander Ovechkin, and that's never a bad thing. 

As long as Oshie can stay healthy for the remainder of the season, he could be a nice little streamer add if you need to pick up an extra game, or alternatively he could be a stellar replacement if you need to plug a hole created by injuries. In Yahoo leagues, Oshie is owned in 34% of all leagues, while over on Fantrax he is owned at a rate of 47%.

Vladislav Namestnikov 

Namestinkov has been a bit of an anomaly throughout his NHL career. There was lots of hype around him during his draft year all the way back in 2011. He proceeded to drop down the draft board before being taken by the Tampa Bay Lightning late in the first round. Usually when a Russian player drops down the draft board in such a manner, it's because general managers are weary of said player defecting back to Russia and playing in the KHL. This never was the case for Namestnikov though as he has spent the entirety of the past decade playing in North America for NHL clubs.

Despite that though, he's been bounced around from club-to-club, and he never really lived up to his full potential. He stuck with Tampa Bay for the first half of his career, but since then he has been on six different teams in the last five seasons. Leading up to this year's trade deadline, Tampa opted to trade him to San Jose, who immediately flipped him to Winnipeg. It's been a small sample size, but he seems to have landed in a favorable spot, for now at least. 

Namestnikov finds himself on the Jets' second line alongside Nikolaj Ehlers and Blake Wheeler. This is definitely a nice change of pace for the Russian forward, as he had mostly been toiling in the bottom-six for pretty much the entire season to this point, and his numbers definitely reflect that. However, it seems he is making the most of his opportunities with the Jets. He's got five points in his four-game stint there, highlighted by a two-goal, three-point performance last night versus a very capable Florida Panthers squad. 

Like Oshie, Namestnikov is also a capable physical player who isn't afraid to lay the body. In 61 games he has 85 hits which is well over a hit per game. The Jets are fighting for their playoff lives right now in the Western Conference, so Namestinkov has a golden opportunity to play big-time minutes and make a good impression in the last handful of games this season. He's probably playing for a job next season, so I expect he will be doing everything he can to impress. 

Namestnikov is worth a speculatory add to your team if you have room for him or have a streaming spot on your team. He is widely available on pretty much all platforms. Yahoo he is only owned by 1% of all players, while Fantrax shows he is 6% owned. Considering he isn't owned by many people, you could also wait a few more games and get a bigger sample size of how he's fairing in Winnipeg before making any decisions.

Akira Schmid

Okay time to put on my tinfoil hat and get a little crazy! So Schmid (no relation to former NHL'er Ladislav Smid) was a fifth-round draft pick by New Jersey back in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. He's still a baby in goalie years at just 22 years of age. He's managed to get a decent amount of time in net this season though considering he is third on the organization's depth chart. Overall he is 8-4-1 with a sparkling 1.91 goals against average, and a .927 save percentage. Not too shabby at all!

Most recently in late February, he was called up to back-up for Vitek Vanecek since Mackenzie Blackwood sustained an injury and was headed to the IL. This is all pretty standard, but the plot thickens my friends. As of late, Vanecek has been a bit lousy all things considered, so the young Swiss netminder has seen some extra opportunities. He's seen time in five of the last seven contests for the Devils, and he's looked pretty impressive while doing so. He even racked up a shutout in one game!

Now maybe the Devils are just giving Vanecek a little rest down the stretch in order to prepare for the playoffs. But this is at least worth monitoring for the time being. The Devils are one of the premiere teams in the league this year, and if you could land a goalie that will get semi-regular starts for a team of this caliber, it could be a real game-changer. The next week or so will be very telling. The Devils have a pretty tough slate coming up with three games versus the Lightning, a game versus the Hurricanes, and a game against the Panthers. I plan to track these games closely to see how much Schmid is deployed against these tougher opponents, and how he fares in the games he plays.

If you have the space to take a gamble on him now though, he has pretty low ownership. In Yahoo leagues he is 14% rostered, though he's starting to get picked up a lot more over the last day or so. In Fantrax leagues he is only 22% rostered, so he can still be had over there as well. I don't recommend doing anything crazy to make room for him. Like I said before, this could just be the Devils' giving Vanecek some well-needed rest to get ready for the playoffs.  But maybe you could get lucky and find a needle in the haystack in the last weeks of fantasy hockey!

Well that's all for this week folks. There's not a whole lot out there in my leagues at this point. It feels like every rock has been turned over and people have done their due diligence to find a lot of players who hold decent value. That still doesn't mean you shouldn't look and try to find good players where you can! Not much time left now, so finish strong! Have a great week!