After the All-Star break, teams go right back into action on February 2nd. Five teams have four games this week and there are some players that should immediately be picked up from the fantasy hockey waiver wire from those squads. In this post I will discuss Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire and John Scott All Star MVP
At the end of the fantasy hockey waiver wire – my take on the John Scott story.
Fantasy Waiver Wire Must Adds
Nail Yakupov – LW/RW – Edmonton Oilers
36% Owned
Nobody has suffered more from Connor McDavid going down than Nail Yakupov. With McDavid recalled from the AHL, he should find himself back on a line with Yakupov again. It makes sense, too. The two had amazing chemistry together for the first 13 games of the season. McDavid had 12 points in 13 games while Yakupov had 10 points in the same amount of games. In the 16 games Yakupov played without McDavid, he only put up four points. The best part of this situation? Edmonton has four games this week. Capitalize on Yakupov’s value and pick him up.
Andre Burakovsky – LW – Washington Capitals
5% Owned
Another player with a four game slate ahead of him. Another player with a ton of potential to make some noise this week. Andre Burakovsky has saw his usage go up over the last two games. Moved from the third line, up to the second and he’s now been seeing powerplay time as well. With three goals in his last two games, Burakovsky is starting to get noticed. He’s seemed to find some chemistry with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Justin Williams. The 20 year old’s performance in the upcoming games will solely dictate how long he continues to spend time as a top six forward with PP time
Mattias Ekholm – D – Nashville Predators
14% Owned
Mattias Ekholm is the hottest D-man in the league right now. Riding a five game point streak (2G, 4A) Ekholm has found himself to be a major part of Nashvilles offence. If you’re in a league with plus/minus, Ekholm is a safe play. He’s +7 at home but -6 on the road. Good news – Nashville plays three games at home (STL, PHI, SJS) following the All-Star break. Ekholm has seen himself paired up with Petter Granberg so he’s had the freedom to take some risks from the blue line. Head coach Peter Laviolette has rewarded his defenseman with an uptick in power play time as well.
JT Miller – C – New York Rangers
9% Owned
J.T. Miller is the multi-purpose player you’ve always wanted in your league. He does a little bit of everything. He hits and he scores. Miller has found the back of the net four times in the last four games while also racking up 15 hits across those games. He’s a must add in dynasty formats and someone you should definitely pick up in re-draft leagues.
Drops
Sam Bennett – C/LW – Calgary Flames
27% Owned
If you’re in a dynasty league – ignore this and do not drop Sam Bennett. If you’re in a re-draft league, please drop Sam Bennett. Bennett is as streaky as they come this year and right now he’s cold. People are still on Bennett because of his four goal game almost a month ago and are hoping he does it again. Pointless in his last three games, Bennett should see himself drop in the depth chart this upcoming week. Until he gets hot again, Bennett isn’t worth rostering. Find production somewhere else for the time being.
Tyler Myers – D – Winnipeg Jets
35% Owned
I don’t know about you, but if I was 6’8”, 240 lbs and in the NHL – I would hit a lot of people. Tyler Myers doesn’t use his body enough to warrant a spot on any fantasy team. 41 hits through 49 games isn’t good if you play in a league with hits. 19 points in 49 games isn’t that great either. Until Myers strings together a point streak or starts to throw his body around – I’m off him for the whole year.
4,149 Miles – John Scott All Star MVP
I’ll admit it. At first – I was probably the biggest John Scott hater there could be (yes, even more than Phil Kessel). I didn’t believe that goons deserved to be in the All-Star game. I didn’t believe that Scott, a player who has never played more than 56 games in a season should be allowed to participate. I didn’t think that Scott, a 33 year old Edmonton boy with five goals in 285 NHL games played deserved to hang out in Nashville among the leagues superstars. I didn’t think that Scott, a family man with two young children with twins on the way – deserved a chance to stick it to the NHL. I was fully convinced that John Scott was the bad guy in all of this.
Was I ever wrong.
None of this was Scott’s fault. Blame the fan vote before you blame Scott. Don’t get me wrong – I’m still fully against having the fan vote the way it is now. Create a list of eligible players that can be voted for and go from there. It’s not Scott’s fault that he was selected to the game. He didn’t ask to be voted for. Heck, at one point he told people to vote for people more deserving than himself.
The All-Star weekend was about John Scott. The normally boring All-Star game can thank John Scott for bringing a storyline into the fold.
Previously asked by Arizona and the NHL to bow out of the All-Star game, he refused and was traded to Montreal (inevitably, St. John’s) seemingly taking care of any chance Scott had of going to the All-Star game.
Nice try.
The NHL did it’s damnedest to try and keep Scott away from the party in Nashville. Everything from telling him he couldn’t wear his requested AHL St. John’s Ice Caps jersey and forcing him to wear a team-less sweater, to someone in the NHL asking Scott if his kids would be proud of him. You’re telling a guy who made a living with his fists what to do and not do. Probably not a smart choice.
At the end of the day, the All-Star game is a laugh. It’s a chance where players can put on mullets and pretend to be someone else. It’s a time where players can wear a Chewbacca mask and bring their son on the ice. It’s a time where all the feel-good stories come out about all the players participating. It’s an event that players bring their families to.
It’s the All-Star game.
They play an exhibition game. They have a skills competition. None of this means anything in the grand scheme of the rigorous 82 game NHL season.
It did mean something to John Scott though. A 33 year old journeyman who punched his way through 285 NHL games. An Edmonton boy with a wife and two kids while also expecting twins. A player sent 4,149 miles away from his previous NHL team’s arena to his new AHL arena to try and rid him from an exhibition game that he was voted into.
A player who was told that his kids wouldn’t be proud of him.
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or comments regarding NHL fantasy, NHL DFS or John Scott, feel free to reach out to me via Twitter @BESTofMATT
