NHL Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire Expected Starters - Monday, Jan. 8

Monday, Jan. 8. Four-game slate. 

* = confirmed or probable

Thatcher Demko, VAN* at Igor Shesterkin, NYR* (7 p.m. ET)

Alex Nedeljkovic, PIT* at Carter Hart, PHI* (7 p.m. ET)

Matt Murray, DAL* at Marc-André Fleury, MIN* (8 p.m. ET)

Jeremy Swayman, BOS at Alexandar Georgiev, COL (9 p.m. ET)

Streaming Options

( < 50% rostered in Yahoo leagues, ranked by matchup)

Alex Nedeljkovic, PIT at PHI (22% rostered)

This will be Nedeljkovic's eighth start since Dec. 1, compared to Tristan Jarry's nine starts. This is an interesting decision by Mike Sullivan, and it indicates that Nedeljkovic has played into a timeshare with Jarry. 

Nedeljkovic stopped 31 of 33 shots against the Flyers in their previous meeting, so maybe the Pens are just going with the hot hand. I'm not enamored with this matchup even though the Flyers are slumping with six losses in their past eight games and their offense is generally below average. I think a win is possible, but given the rivalry, this is going to be a tough matchup with both goalies potentially having poor save percentages if it devolves into a horse race. 

However, this is a situation to monitor, and if you're hurting for goalies, picking up Nedeljkovic as a stash is not a bad idea. 

Scott Wedgewood, DAL at MIN (44% rostered)

Wedgewood had his run and I'd be wary of starting him now. Jake Oettinger's return is imminent and it would be great for him to start in his home state, but there's likely no rush, not to mention the Wild and Stars are playing a home-and-home series. 

Wedgewood has allowed nine goals in his past two starts, and you wonder if the workload is just getting overwhelming for the career backup. I'd sit Wedgewood in this matchup for fear of a loss and a poor save percentage, although this early in the week, a bad start is not devastating since you'll have plenty of chances to recover over the next six days. 

Editor's note: Matt Murray (the other one) was the first off the ice and it looks like he'll be making his season debut to give Wedgewood a break. This move makes sense, though it means the Stars will need to pay extra attention on defense. Murray was 1-2-0/.844/3.39 last season, so that doesn't breed a lot of confidence. I'd avoid this matchup. There's too much potential for a blowout loss for my liking.