We’re dialing in on the fantasy hockey playoffs as the waiver wire remains as important as ever. Let’s take a look at some names worth considering off the wire as the final stretch approaches.

Rosterships courtesy of ESPN

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NHL Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire Advice (Week 20)

Nino Niederreiter (RW,LW – WPG) 35.4% rostered

The NHL trade deadline has a monumental effect on fantasy hockey. Niederreiter is a player that is now worth a serious look following a deal that sent him to the Jets.

He came off the blocks white-hot to begin the season but Niederreiter cooled off considerably over the past few months. However, he bagged four goals over his final three games with the Nashville Predators, earning him a trade to a competitor in the form of the Winnipeg Jets.

For the season, the Swiss-born winger has notched 18 goals and 28 points across 56 games. However, Niederreiter has also fired 130 shots on goal and thrown 115 hits, making him a solid contributor in those departments. He was a minus-nine in Nashville, a figure that should improve on a Jets team that is a plus-22 in the goal differential department.

The true value in Niederreiter lies in the fact he’s been lined up alongside Pierre-Luc Dubois and Nikolaj Ehlers in the Jets’ top six. Dubois is day-to-day with an upper-body injury but he’s having a big season — a career year in fact — and is easily the best center the gritty Niederreiter has played with this season.

If all that wasn’t enough, he’s also skating on the Jets’ top power-play unit, a feature that should help him improve on his five man-advantage points on the year.

In sum, Niederreiter’s value has skyrocketed since joining the Jets.

Max Domi (LW,C,RW – CHI) 30.1% rostered

Domi has stated he wants to remain in Chicago but the pending unrestricted free agent is now one of the top trade chips on the market following a flurry of activity over the last several days.

At any rate, Domi is having a real nice fantasy season despite skating on a putrid Blackhawks club. His production could take a hit following the Patrick Kane trade to the Rangers, but let’s look at what he’s done to this point.

Through 60 games, Domi has racked up 18 goals and a healthy 49 points while skating on the NHL’s last-ranked offense. His minus-nine is understandable on a team sporting a horrid minus-67 goal differential, but Domi has put 143 shots on goal and produced 18 power-play points while his 76 penalty minutes rank 10th in the NHL.

Hey, at 30.1% rostership, I’m taking that production. The Blackhawks’ lineup is now completely devoid of high-end offensive talent, but Domi remains the club’s No. 1 center at five-on-five while obviously getting first-unit power-play reps in the process. If he were traded he’d almost certainly slide down a contender’s depth chart, but whether the production tails off remains to be seen.

For now, he’s more than capable of delivering quality points, penalty minutes, and power-play points to your fantasy roster.

Dawson Mercer (C,RW – NJ) 25.8% rostered

Mercer is mercury-level hot right now.

The 2020 first-round pick is not only riding a seven-game point streak at the moment but also a seven-game goal streak with nine goals and 14 points in that time. That’s a cool two points per game over the streak as skates on a line with Nico Hischier and Tomas Tatar at even strength while getting second-unit power play reps.

The dynamite stretch has Mercer sitting with 20 goals and 43 points in 60 games. He’s already eclipsed the solid 42 points he posted across 82 games in his rookie season ago. While he was taken 18th overall in that 2020 NHL draft, it’s fair to say Mercer has blown past expectations in his first year and a half in the NHL.

Now, he doesn’t do a ton peripherally speaking. He averages fewer than two shots per game, has 25 hits, 14 penalty minutes, and just six man-advantage points on the campaign. He’s a sky-high plus-19, but aside from points he doesn’t bring a ton to the table.

In any regard, he’s absolutely doing more than enough to contribute. A top-line role should lock in consistent production in the goals, assists, and plus-minus columns. That’s certainly enough to warrant plenty of waiver-wire love.

He clearly won’t keep this pace going, but Mercer certainly appears to be a star in the making just 162 games into his NHL career.

Thatcher Demko (G – VAN) 39.9% rostered

It’s difficult to do on a weekly basis, but I do my best to get a top goaltending option into these pieces. This week, it’s Demko.

Now, rostering a goaltender on a seller set in re-tool motion isn’t ideal. However, if Demko can approach last season’s form after missing three months with a groin injury he can certainly be part of a production fantasy hockey tandem between the pipes.

The American netminder turned in a 2.72 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage across a hefty 64 games, going 33-22-7 in that time. While those figures may not jump off the page, consider that Demko’s 14.94 goals saved above average ranked 10th in the NHL, according to Hockey Reference. In other words, he fared extremely well behind a fragile Canucks defense.

That defense isn’t any good again this time around and it’s led to a 3.93 GAA and .884 Sv% in 16 games. He surrendered four goals on 38 shots (.895 Sv%) in his long-awaited return to action this week but ended up with a win nonetheless.

The first key to discovering value in fantasy hockey goaltenders is consistent starts. Demko will get that with only Collin Delia behind him on the depth chart. The club even waived Spencer Martin not too long ago. He’s going to start nearly every game moving forward.

Of course, the second key is production in the form of wins and save percentage. He may not deliver a ton in the latter, but at least Demko will get consistent opportunities to grab wins regardless of the state of the team in front of him.

At this point, he’s probably the best waiver-wire option between the pipes if you’re in the market for goaltending help down the stretch.

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