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It’s Friday which means a week of NHL action is just about in the books and fantasy hockey enthusiasts should be keeping their eyes on a handful of players. With a plethora of bigger names ailing from injuries, owners must stalk the waiver wire in order to either replace an injured star or just to add more depth to their roster as we slowly approach the end of this shortened season. So, let’s not waste any time. Let’s hit the wire.
Related: 2013 Fantasy Hockey Midseason Awards
Brandon Prust, Montreal Canadiens: Prust has provided the Habs with everything they wanted and more when they signed him in the offseason. He is mainly known for dropping the gloves and providing a physical presence to the Canadiens lineup, but his added offensive touch is an added benefit. Sure, nine points on the year certainly isn’t anything to write home about, but he is playing on a line with two players with a good amount of offensive upside in rookie Alex Galchenyuk and Lars Eller. And of course, his ability to get you PIMS is among the best in hockey, currently leading the league with 81 penalty minutes.
Jake Allen, St. Louis Blues: My oh my, what happened to the Blues goaltending situation? Jaroslav Halak has been injured and Brian Elliot has just been flat out awful. The team recalled Allen and the 22-year old stopped 23 of 26 shots in the team’s win on Thursday night. He has shown promising signs whenever he is between the pipes and it appears the Blues will ride with the young kid, considering the poor effort their one-two punch has provided thus far. If you are in need of some goalie help, Allen is certainly worth a look.
Chris Stewart, St. Louis Blues: Many people were looking for a turnaround season from Stewart and finally, he appears to be stepping it up. On Thursday night, Stewart posted one goal and three assists, giving him 15 points in his last 13 games and 19 on the entire season. He is only seeing 15 minutes of total ice time per contest and is still managing to produce for fantasy owners. Stewart is playing very well lately, so one would assume that his ice time will only increase. Playing on a line with red hot David Perron certainly can’t hurt his value either. Yeah, if possible, you should probably add him too.
Clarke MacArthur, Toronto Maple Leafs: With the way Nazem Kadri has been playing lately, MacArthur is almost a must own. He has five points over his last five contests and is clearly developing a boatload of chemistry with Kadri. The Leafs left winger seems to always be on the ice when his team scores (plus-8 on the year), providing a healthy plus/minus value for fantasy owners. He is currently owned in just 19 percent of Yahoo! leagues so he is widely available.
Adam Pfeifer is a featured fantasy columnist for Rant Sports.
You can follow him on Twitter @aPfeiferRS.
