Hi, everyone, it’s LackeyDrinksOnMe!
It’s been a crazy application season with a ton of great kids deciding to apply early decision. Unfortunately this means I’ve been busy even on weekends, but things are finally slowing down a little bit and I can get back to a weekly long-run streamer column. These pickups are meant for filling more than just a single spot start, looking at days that have fewer games being played so you can gain an additional three or four starts a week from a single skater.
Not a lot of truly slow games this week, but Monday, Wednesday, and Friday all have only ten games, so there’s a few teams we can take advantage of.
Florida Panthers: M-W-F-St
The best schedule this week, playing on all of the short days with time to cut your adds for weekend spot starts.
Mike Matheson – Seeing 20:00 of ice time per game, Matheson is a terrific add for three or four games this week. You kind of wish more power-play time was there, but with eight assists and a nice amount of shots, he’s certainly worth a long streamer spot.
Frank Vatrano – Vatrano offers a ton of shots off the waiver, especially for the time he has on ice set to increase with Trochek likely out for the season. His scoring has been OK so far, but he’s worth a long look for his established power-play role and cross-category contribution.
Colton Sceviour – A bit of a long shot, but with Trochek out you might be able to gamble on Florida shuffling their line combinations a bit to figure out what’s going to work. Scevoir has decent ice time without much power play but that time is bound to increase, and with that the scoring opportunities he is presented.
Detroit Red Wings: M-W-St-Su
A nice schedule for Detroit who almost stopped my Sabres last night. Pick up two guys for M/W and set them free on Thursday morning, or hold onto either or both to fill spots on the weekend. This might require a little more planning, but it’s always nice to have your final two days chock-full of skaters.
Andreas Athanasiou – Double-A has put uup fifteen points on nearly seventy shots while only playing sixteen minutes a game, two and a half on the power-play. Very nice for a guy who is only owned in 10% of ESPN leagues.
Gustav Nyquist – I’m a Nyquist believer, and seeing he’s rostered in only 6% of ESPN leagues has me a little down. Sixteen points overall and skating on a line with Anathasiou, you could grab the pair and feel pretty comfortable about grabbing some points Monday and Wednesday.
Mike Green – He might not be available in your league, but if he is he’s definitely worth considering using a waiver move for, for his ice time and solid possession numbers. He has ten points in fourteen games, and should continue quietly producing.
Toronto Maple Leafs: M-W-St
Similar to Detroit, you can get some good early usage out of these guys and still able to either use them Saturday or cut them loose for spot starts during the remainder of the week. There are some names on my leagues’ waiver wire that, if available on yours, should be considered immediately: Patrick Marleau, Zach Hyman, and possibly Kasperi Kapenen. If you’re in a deeper league, maybe these players will work:
Ron Hainsey – Eleven points (3G/8A) with a ton of ice time per game, Hainsey is a good deep grab for a tough Toronto schedule. I do like his fine possession numbers, especially a quarter into the season as things have settled down.
Par Lindholm – Fourteen minutes of ice time a game and still contributing shots, blocks, faceoff wins, and hits, Lindholm is a fine roll of the dice for Monday and Wednesday to fill in some categories and maybe snag a point or two.
That’s it for now, I should be back next Monday with another streamer column but will be around all week to offer any advice I have. If I missed your questions over the past few weeks I sincerely apologize, my screen time has been reading essays!
