Boost your fantasy team with these waiver wire defensemen. Ryan Ufko shines with recent offensive production.
On every game day this season, THN Fantasy will highlight players and goalies for fantasy hockey managers to stream, roster or utilize in standard leagues and/or DFS games. Players and goalies highlighted for streaming in standard leagues are rostered in less than 50 percent of Yahoo leagues.
Travis Sanheim, PHI at SJ (29% rostered) – FanDuel $4,600
Definitely a down season for Sanheim after what he accomplished last season, but note he’s scored a point in four of his past five games and this is a good matchup for the Flyers. The Sharks are not good defensively and with Yaroslav Askarov’s status questionable, they may have to turn back to Alex Nedeljkovic, who’s allowed 10 goals in his past two games, or third-string Laurent Brossoit. The downside is Sanheim doesn’t play on the power play, but his offensive production still outpaces both Cam York and Jamie Drysdale.
Logan Stanley, BUF at LA (7% rostered) – FanDuel $4,400
We haven’t seen Bowen Byram attack with the same kind of aggression lately and Stanley’s coming off a two-assist performance against the Sharks, so Stanley might be the better play here. A long-time Jet, he’s also more familiar with the Western Conference teams. Stanley’s playing on the third pair but his minutes have crept up lately, so perhaps the momentum can carry into this matchup.
Ryan Ufko, NSH vs. VGK (0% rostered) – FanDuel $3,600
Drafted in the fourth-round of the 2021 draft, the UMass-Amherst product is the type of undersized yet supremely skilled defenseman that’s become so valued in today’s NHL. Called up from AHL Milwaukee a month ago after leading the team in scoring, Ufko’s seeing limited, sheltered minutes but it has not stopped him from producing points.
In seven games so far, Ufko has scored five points despite averaging 13 minutes per game. He’s got plenty of offensive pop, some power play exposure and faces a team that’s been wildly inconsistent with mediocre goaltending.
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