With roughly a week into the NHL season, I've already picked up a number of free agents off the waiver wire. While patience is a virtue in many cases, in fantasy it can be a detriment. Every season, average players & rookies come out of the woodwork to establish themselves as stars. If you write those players off as flukes, or hesitate to add them, you could very well miss your chance. The trick, of course, is being able to pick out who's for real, and who is not. And, more often than not, that means beating the rest of your league to the wire.
My team as currently constituted:
F: Daniel Sedin, VAN
F: James Neal, PIT
F: Nicklas Backstrom, WSH
F: Brad Richards, NYR
F: Nail Yakupov, EDM
F: Vladimir Tarasenko, STL
D: Andrei Markov, MON
D: Brian Campbell, FLA
D: Jack Johnson, CLS
D: Raphael Diaz, MON
G: Jimmy Howard, DET
G: Cory Anderson, VAN
Bench: PK Subban, MON
Bench: Craig Anderson, OTT
Bench: Jarome Iginla, CGY
Bench: Cory Conacher, TB
Waiver Wire Claims: Nail Yakupov
Adds: Vladimir Tarasenko, Cory Conacher, Raphael Diaz
Trades: Jimmy Howard
Someone in my league, who probably could've used a little more patience, dropped Nail Yakupov, so I scooped him up without hesitation. I essentially dropped Joffrey Lupul for him (who is out with a broken arm), so that worked out well for me. And, yes, Yakupov is young, but he's GOOD. And very good at that. So, I'm more than willing to take a chance on him.
Similarly, I pulled the trigger on Tarasenko and Conacher before anyone else could get to them. I dropped Lubomir Visnovsky for Tarasenko (which was a pretty good deal, if I don't say so myself) and James van Riemsdyk for Cory Conacher (which is a little more sketchy. Some people don't think Conacher is for real, but the chemistry he's developed with Vinny Lecavalier looks plenty real to me. Granted, van Riemsdyk should be a stud in his own right, but this is a case of going with the hot hand. Could it come back to bite me? Sure. But, at worst, van Riemsdyk may finish the season slightly better than Conacher, but I wouldn't bet on it. Conacher is legit). As for Diaz, I picked him up as a replacement for Subban, because he already has 5 points and is skating on the top power play unit. So, I thought that was a decent move, considering how hard defensemen are to come by in my league (the next best available is probably Marek Zidlicky or Erik Johnson). He may not be able to keep it up, but I just need him to keep it up until Subban gets back on the ice. (I dropped Nabokov for him, by the way. That was a tough call, since goalies are in short supply in my league, but I was putting up goose eggs with Subban in my lineup, and Nabokov was my 4th string goalie, keeping my bench warm).
And finally, I traded Henrik Zetterberg for Jimmy Howard before the season started. Admittedly, I was scared shitless after Howard got blown out on opening night (as he doesn't have the strongest track record, nor does he have Lidstrom skating in front of him anymore), but he seems to have settled down since then. So, all in all, I think it was a good trade. I had plenty of forwards to spare (and there are plenty available on the waiver wire as well), but the best free agent goalie in the player pool is Ben Scrivens. So, goalies are going at a premium in my league, whereas forwards are a dime a dozen.
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