NHL Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire Goalie Pickups and Expected Starters April 8 - Talbot Helping Red Wings Soar

On every game day this season, THN Fantasy will highlight players and goalies for fantasy managers to stream or roster for the rest of the season. The recommended players and goalies are rostered in less than 50 percent of Yahoo leagues and can be selected in standard fantasy leagues or for daily fantasy games.

10 games on Tuesday, April 8

* = confirmed

Pyotr Kochetkov, CAR at Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, BUF (7 p.m. ET)

Cam Talbot, DET* at Sam Montembeault, MTL (7 p.m. ET)

Anthony Stolarz, TOR at Sergei Bobrovsky, FLA (7 p.m. ET)

Jeremy Swayman, BOS at Jacob Markstrom, NJ (7 p.m. ET)

Linus Ullmark, OTT at Elvis Merzlikins, CBJ (7 p.m. ET)

Spencer Knight, CHI at Tristan Jarry, PIT (7 p.m. ET)

Ilya Sorokin, NYI at Juuse Saros, NSH (8 p.m. ET)

Thatcher Demko, VAN at Jake Oettinger, DAL (8 p.m. ET)

Philipp Grubauer, SEA at Karel Vejmelka, UTA (9 p.m. ET)

Adin Hill, VGK at Mackenzie Blackwood, COL (9:30 p.m. ET)

Goalies

Cam Talbot, DET at MTL (49% rostered)

Talbot will be going for his third straight win and he’s been excellent since taking over for the injured Petr Mrazek. He’s allowed just eight goals on 146 shots (.945 SP) but now he runs into a red-hot team with five wins in a row. The Wings won their first two meetings but lost in their last meeting on Jan. 23.

I think Talbot should provide a lot of saves with a good save percentage, but this is a tough road game. The Habs are favored and a win for Talbot and the Wings would be a little surprising. The Wings have won one (!) road game since Feb. 25.

Karel Vejmelka, UTA vs. SEA (42% rostered)

The Kraken are playing the second game of a back-to-back and expected to start Philipp Grubauer while Utah’s coming off two days’ rest after an impressive 4-1 win against the Jets. Vejmelka struggled two weeks ago but he was excellent last week with three wins in four games.

Vejmelka is definitely the better goalie in this matchup with a good chance to earn the win even though the Kraken are 2-0-0 all-time against Utah, and Vejmelka’s career numbers against them (2-5-0, .884 SP, 3.57 GAA) aren’t good. Still, with the Kraken potentially fatigued and Utah on a bit of a roll, Vejmelka should be a viable streamer.

Spencer Knight, CHI at PIT (23% rostered)
Tristan Jarry, PIT vs. CHI (21% rostered)

This is a rubber match to conclude a home-and-home series after Knight was victorious on Sunday, allowing just one goal on 29 shots (.966 SP). Jarry will likely this game but his play is once again erratic, and more bad than good lately with only two wins in his past seven appearances. The Hawks have won consecutive games just once since Dec. 21, and the Pens have home-ice advantage.

I would begrudgingly lean Jarry if only because the Pens are at home. While both goalies can provide solid starts, it only happens occasionally. Neither goalie is a sure bet to provide solid stats, but the Pens are favored and so Jarry would be the better choice to earn the win.

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