This week’s Waiver Wednesday will be Penguins-centric.
Just about everything that can happen to a team to change their fantasy outlook happened to the Penguins in a span of three days. They fired their coach. They made a trade. They lost their starting goaltender to a concussion.
As always, here are six players widely available on waiver wires in the leagues around the globe. (All ownership figures are based on Yahoo! leagues.)
Matt Murray – G – Two per cent owned
This is Connor Hellebuyck 2.0. With Marc-Andre Fleury out with a concussion the Penguins recalled Murray. While Jeff Zatkoff gets the first start on Wednesday, he is not the guy you want if this injury goes long term. Murray is a stud who set the AHL shutout record last season and continues to boast tremendous numbers again this season.
Why is Murray toiling in the AHL if he is so good? Teams like to keep their more talented young goalies in the minors to get reps while keeping a veteran like Zatkoff on the NHL roster because he doesn’t need as many reps to be developed. Murray is the more talented of the two and could absolutely have an impact like Hellebuyck has had.
The only difference between Hellebuyck and Murray is the incumbent starter they are replacing. Fleury is really good, while Ondrej Pavelec is too inconsistent. So Hellebuyck has a chance of lingering even when Pavelec returns. Murray won’t have that same chance.
Trevor Daley – D – 13 per cent owned
Daley’s ownership figure was in the low single digits at this time last week. When his trade to Pittsburgh was announced the mad dash to pick him up has him up into the teens. A few years ago, his ownership might have skyrocketed but that didn’t really happen for two reasons:
1. The depth at the defence position is better than ever. Every NHL team has at least one defenceman worth rostering if not two or three. That situation makes taking a flyer on Daley a much trickier proposal.
2. The Penguins’ really are not the offensive powerhouse they are supposed to be. Maybe Daley helps with that. There is no question that his skating ability will help their transition attack. Simply having a defenceman who can skate the puck out of trouble is a tremendous asset that swing momentum.
Daley is coming off a season in which he scored 16 goals and 38 points in 68 games, while skating top-pairing minutes for the league’s second best offence. That is not the situation he is coming into here but it is better than the one he is leaving in Chicago.
There was no room for Daley in Chicago. With Kris Letang on the shelf until after Christmas, there is room for Daley to be top dog right out of the gate. In the short term that could mean fireworks.
Long term, Daley is still the guy who hadn’t scored 30 points in a season until last year. He is unlikely to break that mark again this year. Once Letang gets back Daley will serve in more of a depth role. It could still be a productive role but not one that is going to be definitively fantasy relevant. Daley is worth a flyer right now in case he does spark the Penguins’ offence right away but look to make a trade once Letang is coming back.
Jeff Skinner – LW/RW – 55 per cent owned
Most of the folks who could definitely benefit from Skinner’s goal-scoring binge have already jumped on board but there is still room for more. Skinner has recorded two hat tricks in the past week and has 10 goals in his last 10 games. En fuego.
There are some concerns that Skinner is still only skating on the third line and second power-play unit. Those concerns cannot be dismissed. Skinner is out-performing his deployment. This can go one of two ways. Either he regresses back to a lower level of performance that better reflects his minutes or the coach elevates his minutes. I would campaign for the latter and indeed Skinner received over four minutes of power-play time in his last outing.
Mathieu Perreault – C/LW – 28 per cent owned
The Jets’ playmaking winger has gone off with 10 points in his past 10 games. Skating on the second line and first power-play unit Perreault has multiple avenues to generate points. The streaky second line with Mark Scheifele and Drew Stafford can go off for three or four goals on any night. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, Perreault usually uncovers a few assists. Meanwhile, his spot on the top power-play unit keeps him productive on the nights when the second line doesn’t have it.
Perreault is legit, having scored at a 53-point pace in each of the past two seasons. He has just struggled to stay healthy. Perreault is on pace for 66 points this time around. While he probably falls short, he is still far too productive to be sitting on so many waiver wires.
Alec Martinez – D – 14 per cent owned
The Kings’ defenceman has shaken off a dreadful opening month to post 10 points in 20 games since the start of November. That type of production won’t blow your socks off but it is a 40-point pace, something that only 27 defencemen sustained for the entirety of last season.
Martinez will also chip in with some scoring in the peripheral categories. He ranks 13th among defencemen with 67 blocked shots, 25th in hits with 61, and 47th in shots with 53. Oh and skating for an elite Kings team should keep his plus/minus in the black. This is a guy you can roster on any given night and see results in one category or another.
Shayne Gostisbehere – D – 37 per cent owned
Now that Rasmus Ristolainen’s ownership has reached 71 per cent, this is the best defenceman still out there on the majority of waiver wires. Gostisbehere is a power play machine having scored six of his 11 points (in just 15 games) with the man-advantage. He is the perfect fit for the Flyers’ power play, boasting a big shot and a willingness to use it. Half of Gostisbehere’s six goals have been overtime winners. He will not slow down from this pace until Mark Streit returns, and even then you have to wonder if he hasn’t earned his spot for good. Streit isn’t due back until after Christmas.
Steve Laidlaw is the Managing Editor of Dobber Hockey. You can follow him on Twitter @SteveLaidlaw.
