This article is part of our NHL Waiver Wire series.
The NHL implemented five-day bye weeks for each team this season, and keeping tabs on them will not only be important for managing your roster but could also lead to some helpful players landing on the waiver wire.
This week, the Coyotes, Avalanche, Rangers and Maple Leafs have the five-day gap between games and only play twice. Additionally, Ottawa and Tampa Bay also only play twice. Anaheim, Calgary, Dallas, Florida, Montreal, New Jersey, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Washington and Winnipeg all have four games, so there is no shortage of options to fill out your lineups in weekly settings.
Remember to double-check the availability of players previously covered in this space and keep tabs on the recommended adds in our Daily Puck articles throughout the week.
Bo Horvat, F, VAN (Yahoo: 21%, ESPN: 41%, CBS: 46%): The 21-year-old pivot has caught fire of late with five goals and 13 points while averaging 17:39 of ice (2:13 with the man advantage) through his past 13 games. Horvat has also been consistent with a point in 11 of the 13 games. After scoring 14 goals and 30 points through his final 43 contests last year, Horvat is up to 30 goals and 59 points through his past 85. Those are impressive totals.
Kevin Labanc, F, SAN: (Yahoo: 1%, ESPN: 2%, CBS: 8%): The rookie has scored at every stop of his career and is currently lining up with Logan Couture in a top-six role. Labanc has three goals, six points and
The NHL implemented five-day bye weeks for each team this season, and keeping tabs on them will not only be important for managing your roster but could also lead to some helpful players landing on the waiver wire.
This week, the Coyotes, Avalanche, Rangers and Maple Leafs have the five-day gap between games and only play twice. Additionally, Ottawa and Tampa Bay also only play twice. Anaheim, Calgary, Dallas, Florida, Montreal, New Jersey, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Washington and Winnipeg all have four games, so there is no shortage of options to fill out your lineups in weekly settings.
Remember to double-check the availability of players previously covered in this space and keep tabs on the recommended adds in our Daily Puck articles throughout the week.
Bo Horvat, F, VAN (Yahoo: 21%, ESPN: 41%, CBS: 46%): The 21-year-old pivot has caught fire of late with five goals and 13 points while averaging 17:39 of ice (2:13 with the man advantage) through his past 13 games. Horvat has also been consistent with a point in 11 of the 13 games. After scoring 14 goals and 30 points through his final 43 contests last year, Horvat is up to 30 goals and 59 points through his past 85. Those are impressive totals.
Kevin Labanc, F, SAN: (Yahoo: 1%, ESPN: 2%, CBS: 8%): The rookie has scored at every stop of his career and is currently lining up with Logan Couture in a top-six role. Labanc has three goals, six points and 14 shots through his past seven games, and he's also receiving power-play looks with the second unit. With 234 points in his final 133 junior games and 13 points in his first eight tilts in the AHL, he's an offensive spark plug the Sharks have been missing this season.
Connor Brown, F, TOR: (Yahoo: 5%, ESPN: 13%, CBS: 20%): Excelling alongside Auston Matthews, Brown has five goals, nine points and 19 shots while averaging a healthy 19:35 of ice (2:38 with the man advantage) through his past eight games. Brown and Matthews have also combined for an otherworldly 4.59 goals per 60 minutes at five-on-five this season. This isn't a case where Brown is completely siphoning off Matthews, either -- the 22-year-old winger is an accomplished scorer in his own right.
Mattias Ekholm, D, NAS: (Yahoo: 19%, ESPN: 42%, CBS: 53%): Through 10 games with P.K. Subban (back) out of the lineup, Ekholm has averaged 24:03 of ice (2:13 on the power play) and notched a goal, six points, nine shots, 11 blocked shots, eight PIM and nine hits. The production isn't overwhelming, but there is cross-category appeal, and Ekholm is eating minutes. He's a nice addition to fill out your blue line because of his ability to top the scales in each stat column.
Aaron Dell, G, SAN: (Yahoo: 2%, ESPN: 1%, CBS: 5%): In deep leagues, Dell is a depth piece to plug in for his occasional start, but for Martin Jones' owners he's close to a must-have handcuff. The rookie has been outstanding whenever called upon with four wins through five starts and a .936 save percentage and 1.78 GAA over his six appearances. The Sharks are also allowing just 2.25 goals per game and have two back-to-back sets left in January.
Players to consider from previous articles: Ondrej Palat, Mikael Granlund, Anders Lee, Conor Sheary, Evander Kane, Mitch Marner, Alexander Wennberg, Robby Fabbri, Derek Stepan, Bobby Ryan, Eric Staal, Rickard Rakell, Frank Vatrano, Charlie Coyle, Mikael Backlund, Jason Zucker, Victor Rask, Nazem Kadri, Justin Williams, Matthew Tkachuk, Frank Vatrano, Jacob Trouba, David Savard, Morgan Rielly, Jeff Petry, Jake Gardiner, Jared Spurgeon, Dion Phaneuf, Dmitry Orlov, Juuse Saros, Antti Raanta, Chad Johnson, Peter Budaj
