Snag these overlooked goalies to fortify your fantasy roster. Exploit matchups and uncover hidden value with these strategic waiver wire gems.
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.
13 games on Tuesday, December 23
* = confirmed
Stuart Skinner, PIT at Joseph Woll, TOR (4 p.m. ET)
Jake Oettinger, DAL at John Gibson, DET (6:30 p.m. ET)
Igor Shesterkin, NYR at Logan Thompson, WSH (7 p.m. ET)
Jacob Fowler, MTL* at Jeremy Swayman, BOS (7 p.m. ET)
Alex Lyon, BUF at Linus Ullmark, OTT (7 p.m. ET)
Jacob Markstrom, NJ at David Rittich, NYI* (7 p.m. ET)
Sergei Bobrovsky, FLA at Frederik Andersen, CAR (7 p.m. ET)
Juuse Saros, NSH at Filip Gustavsson, MIN (8 p.m. ET)
Samuel Ersson, PHI at Spencer Knight, CHI (9 p.m. ET)
Karel Vejmelka, UTA at Scott Wedgewood, COL (9 p.m. ET)
Dustin Wolf, CGY at Calvin Pickard, EDM (9 p.m. ET)
Yaroslav Askarov, SJ at Carter Hart, VGK (10 p.m. ET)
Joey Daccord, SEA at Pheonix Copley, LA (10 p.m. ET)
Goalies
Jacob Fowler, MTL at BOS (20% rostered) - FanDuel $7,000
Fowler has generally been good even though his stats against the Rangers (.828 SP) and Flyers (.850 SP) say otherwise, bookending those two performances with two wins, both against the Pens. He now faces a Bruins team that’s lost three in a row and getting scored on a lot, so you’re hoping the Habs can provide good goal support. This is a risky start between two pretty evenly matched teams, but if Fowler plays well, he could have more long-term value as their preferred option over Jakub Dobes and Sam Montembeault.
Calvin Pickard, EDM vs. CGY (11% rostered) - FanDuel $8,000
You’re banking on the Oilers to provide good goal support more than anything, and it’s true the Oilers have been playing a lot better lately and, similar to last season, this may be the sign of a big second-half turnaround. If Connor Ingram draws this start, he would be a good streaming option, too, and he might be even better than Pickard if only because we know what we’re getting with Pickard, and there’s a chance Ingram can regain his 2023-24 form.
Samuel Ersson, PHI at CHI (4% rostered) - FanDuel $7,500
Ersson has lost four straight games and been generally unreliable this season but this is a good matchup for the Flyers even though they’re playing the second half of a back-to-back. The Hawks are without their top two centers, Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar, and as a result may have a lot of trouble scoring.
Pheonix Copley, LA vs. SEA (1% rostered) - FanDuel $7,400
Copley has not started a game since Dec. 10, 2023, and he’s nowhere near as good as his 2022-23 run when he went 24-6-3. Both teams are playing the second game of a back-to-back; the Kraken won despite getting heavily outshot by the Ducks, 39-21, while the Kings scored just one goal on 24 shots against the Jackets.
I like this matchup because the Kings tend to be a good defensive team and the Kraken offense has struggled for much of the season. You’re hoping Copley can keep the goals against to a minimum and pick up a win, though there’s still considerable risk given how he’s played over the past two seasons.
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