With the trade deadline quickly approaching on Monday, February 29th, now is the time to lock in some players who may see a rise in production due to trades surrounding them or being traded themselves. Below, I’ll outline who these players are as well as providing you with some other adds and drops for the fantasy hockey waiver wire week 21.

Must Add

Rickard Rakell – C – Anaheim Ducks
13% Owned
OPP: CAL/EDM/VAN/CAL

Rickard Rakell has been thriving playing with Corey Perry. Rakell has already shattered his career highs in every category. At the time of writing this – in 16 less games played compared to last year, Rakell has 30 more shots and his shooting percentage is up to 11.1% from 8.6% last year. In his last five games Rakell has only played less than 17 minutes just once. The Ducks are high on Rakell and you should be too in your fantasy leagues.

Jordan Staal – C/LW – Carolina Hurricanes
32% Owned
OPP: WPG/OTT/SJS/TBL

Jordan Staal is a perfect example of someone whose production will sky rocket due to a trade. If his brother Eric is traded (And he doesn’t seem to care if he does or not) Jordan will almost certainly jump to the first line in Carolina. Already the points leader for the Hurricanes, a bump to the top line with more minutes would almost guarantee that he finishes the season the leading point getter in Carolina. A plus player with a 14.30% shooting percentage to go along with 100+ hits, Staal is a perfect fantasy stat stuffing machine.

Jason Pominville – RW – Minnesota Wild
16% Owned 
OPP: VAN/CAL/EDM/CHI

Jason Pominville is literally at the hands of the Minnesota Wild in the best ways possible. Pominville and the Wild are hot right now (Pominville – three goals over his last three games. Minnesota – winners of four straight) and they have to decide if they want to be buyers or sellers at the deadline. If they’re buyers – they’ll almost certainly get a complimentary player to help Pominville keep putting the puck in the net, but if they’re sellers – Pominville is definitely a big trading chip.

Michael Stone – D – Arizona Coyotes
16% Owned
OPP: MTL/DAL/STL

Mostly known as a shot blocker, Michael Stone has really been chipping in offensively as of late. With six points in his last five games, his trade value has never been higher. With the Coyotes five points out of a wildcard spot, it’s looking more and more like they’ll be sellers at the deadline. Stone is a perfect fit on a contending team looking for blocked shots with a bit of an offensive upside.

Drops

Mark Streit – D – Philadelphia Flyers 
42% Owned
OPP: NJD/MTL/TOR

With Shayne Gostisbehere as the go-to guy in Philadelphia, Mark Streit is basically fantasy irrelevant. He might be on the second powerplay unit, but it’s with nobody special (Sam Gagner is the biggest name on the unit). If he’s not scoring – he’s not helping you out fantasy wise.

Lee Stempniak – LW/RW – New Jersey
48% Owned
OPP: PHI/NYI/WSH

Lee Stempniak was good for providing some offence with Mike Cammalleri out of the lineup but at the end of the day, Stempniak can’t be relied on for a long period of time to do so. He’s cooled off considerably with no goals in his last nine games with only two assists across that span as well.

 

Thanks for reading! If you have any NHL DFS or season long questions, feel free to contact me via Twitter @BESTofMATT