Broad Street Bounty - Week 12 Waiver Wire Pickups

Analyzing the best streaming options, schedule advantages, and advanced metrics in Week 12.

By Jeff Stacks · December 28, 2025

Analyzing the best streaming options, schedule advantages, and advanced metrics.

Before I begin, I want to ask my readers a question: Do you want to play hard? Or do you want to play smart? If your answer was both, you’d be correct. That’s usually the best way to win. But if you’re sick of having to set an alarm to get a player before your fellow Fantasy Hockey Managers do, try the Fantasy Roundup Automated Waiver Tool. It allows you to add every player mentioned in this article on a schedule, so you can forget about having to set an alarm when you want to make a claim.

All you have to do is sign in to your Fantasy Roundup account - or sign up if you haven’t already - and sync your league. There’s a button here to login and see which player is available. There will also be a button before every player’s write-up to select them in the Fantasy Roundup Automated Waiver Tool and get to those players before everyone else.

Now you’re all logged in, I want to welcome everyone back in Week 12 to discuss this strange NHL Holiday break. Use this article as a guideline on how you can maximize your Fantasy Hockey rosters. Come on in and get festive.

WEEK 11 ROUNDUP

WEEK 12 PREVIEW

Week 12 sees a bizarre slate. Two game days to start the week, two game days to end the week. That's it. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday have zero games scheduled. Can someone please talk to Gary about that? Included at the end of this article is a legend which has definitions for several advanced statistics I'll be using to evaluate players, and any other fantasy hockey-specific terms or jargon I may use. Most Yahoo leagues allow four player adds per week. The players you can pick up with these adds are generally called "streamers". In this article I'll be outlining my five favourite streamer players for Week 10. One forward, one defenceman, one goalie, one "banger", and one deeper league target. The first section is headlined "SUPER SCHEDULES", where I'm going to list all the NHL teams with a preferable schedule. In the second section called "WAIVER WHIPLASH", I'll list my favourite Forward, Defenceman, and Goalie under 40% rostered in the standard Yahoo Head-to-Head (HTH) format.* I adjusted the roster percentage this week, because under 30%, pickings were SLIM. Great advantage for deeper league options, but not so great for leagues with 10 teams or less. The third section I've labeled "BANGER BEASTS". This will highlight my favourite player overall for those managers in banger formats, which have additional stats: Blocks (BLK), and Penalties in Minutes (PIM), combined with Hits (HIT) mentioned previously. The final section is entitled "DEEPER DARLINGS", where I'll identify an underrated player rostered under 10%, for managers in leagues with 12 teams or more (also called deep leagues). Advanced stats are provided courtesy of Natural Stattrick and Money Puck.

Light nights have five NHL games played or less. Monday and Sunday are our light nights for Week 12.

WAIVER WHIPLASH

Owen Tippett

My Forward pick for this week is a bit of a stretch, but I think you'll be able to find good value here. Owen Tippett is pretty good at a lot of things. Not great at anything in particular, but Tippett can be a serviceable streamer with a good schedule.

Tippett has a similar profile to my Forward pick from last week, Alexis Lafrenière. If you rostered Laf last week, you may not appreciate that comparison, but I think Tippett has quite a bit more upside in his game.

On pace for 49 points over 82 games, Tippett has always shown so much potential but has never been able to break through in his NHL career. He has been given better deployment occasionally, but hasn't figured out how to stick the landing. Sounds just like the aforementioned Lafrenière.

Tippett is third on his team in shots on goal with 71, only behind Travis Konecny and Trevor Zegras. He's second on his team in hits with 60, behind only Garnet Hathaway. His points output is where I see a bottleneck in his production.

Being just 242nd in the league over the past five games in SH%, Tippett can score more often, and he should fairly soon. Unfortunately, he will be stunted a bit being on the second Powerplay unit. Without a clear path to the first unit, minimal expectations for Tippett are recommended moving forward this week.

I like to see a relatively high xGF% when picking short-term streamers like Tippett. Combined with his very low OISH% and very low PDO, his luck should turn around if he can continue with his high shot volume through Week 12.

Travis Sanheim

Travis Sanheim is far and away the Flyers' best Defenceman. While that's not saying much looking at their Defence core, Sanheim being Named to Team Canada in the 4 Nations tournament last year increased his stock this campaign.

Drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round (17th overall) of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, Travis Sanheim has developed into a cornerstone Defenceman for the team as one of the league's most reliable workhorses.

With injuries sidelining key blueliners Cam York and Rasmus Ristolainen at various points this season, Sanheim has stepped up in a big way. Sanheim often averages over 25 minutes per game and consistently handles top-pair duties under coach Rick Tocchet. A two-way defender by nature, Sanheim has flourished with expanded opportunities to contribute more offensively while anchoring the Defence core.

In his last five games, Sanheim has posted two assists, five shots, two hits and five blocks. He's a volume player who thrives on heavy ice time, and should be treated as such on your roster.

Sanheim's underlying metrics look great, but he has been unlucky over the past five games. This is a similar profile to his Flyer peer Owen Tippett as mentioned above. I would not expect a high volume of points, but also would not be surprised if he had a good week in the limited game sample.

Sanheim isn't a major point-producer or elite fantasy standout. He's best suited as a 4th or 5th Defenceman on your roster for consistent peripherals and occasional points. With his elevated role, PP1 deployment and big minutes, he's delivering the kind of multi-category volume that makes him a worthwhile streamer or hold in deeper leagues right now.

The NHL goalie is quite possibly the most unpredictable position in all of sports. While there are some studs in the NHL, all goalies are fallible. Even the great Connor Hellebuyck, widely regarded as the best goalie in the NHL – and possibly the world – he started three games this season where he played at a below average level. Then there are stories of rookies setting the world on fire. Jesper Wallstedt is a perfect example of this. Prior to this season, Wallstedt played a whopping five NHL games in the past three years. In those games he posted a record of 2-3-0, and put up a Sv% of 0.876, well-below league average. This year, Wallstedt came out of nowhere and began to dominate the league. In 13 games he has a record of 10-1-2, boasting a GAA of 1.96, a Sv% of 0.936 and FOUR shutouts. Unbelievable performance for the 23-year old rookie. Those numbers should put him in both the Calder and the Vezina conversations. Small sample size, yes, but in Fantasy Hockey, you grab good goalies when you can get them. This type of change in performance is virtually unexplainable. In terms of advanced stats and underlying metrics, the current landscape can show how a goalie is performing relative to their peers, but there has not been much advancement in the idea of future indicators of performance. Goalies are voodoo, as they say. Considering this, I am not here to recommend a goalie for any particular reason other than they could have a good schedule, they could be on a good team, or I just like the way they play and think they have potential to produce good numbers. Take anything I say about goalies with a grain of salt, but know I have done research into them and am recommending in good faith.

John Gibson

John Gibson is the undisputed No. 1 goalie for the Detroit Red Wings after being acquired by General Manager Steve Yzeman from the Anaheim Ducks over the summer. Gibson had quite a rough start. Going 4-7-1 over his first 12 games, he's since come back with a vengeance in the month of December.

Currently on a six-game winning streak, the numbers in December are a stark difference to his performances in October and November. Boasting a GAA of 2.00 and a Sv% of 0.935 along with two shutouts in his past six games, Gibson is projected to get two out of the three Red Wings games in Week 12.

Outside of the projection, I can provide the underlying metrics for him but again, do not expect these numbers to reflect future performance. John Gibson is strictly a spot-start volume option if you're in need of a Goalie appearance or two. As the Red Wings are a much better team than in years' past, Gibson could emerge as a more long-term option depending on your needs.

Coach Todd McLellan has shown much more trust recently by giving Gibson the lion's share of starts, and I would suggest you try to take advantage of that volume in a very limited week.

BANGER BEASTS

Boone Jenner

Boone Jenner is one of my favourite players to roster in Bangers Category leagues. I drafted him in two leagues this year. Boone projected in my FW league as the 10th overall player to draft if he had PP1 deployment.

While Jenner lost PP1 deployment pretty early in the season, he is still one of the better all-around banger players you can have on your team.

Coming back from a lengthy injury recovery on the December 11, 2025 game against the Ottawa Senators, Boone made an immediate impact for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Scoring one goal, one assist, adding two shots, four hits and a block, I'm sure he made many managers sigh with relief after being out for over a month.

As of writing, the Jackets' Captain has scored two goals, two assists, as well as added nine shots, 10 hits and five blocks in the four games since his return. Elite even-strength production. If he ever gets some PP1 deployment with Zach Werenski and Kiril Marchenko, Boone has the upside to be a top 30 player in any bangers format.

Jenner is a rare banger breed that has decent analytics for the type of player he is. The high OISH% and PDO are a bit concerning, but you always want to take advantage of a guy on a hot streak who is usually renowned for peripheral production.

Go get Jenner as soon as you can. In most banger leagues Jenner is a hold long-term. He becomes a must-roster player if he gets on the top Powerplay unit.

DEEPER DARLINGS

Oliver Bjorkstrand

Oliver Bjorkstrand is my pick for this week's Deeper Darlings target. His advanced stats have continued their upswing since joining the Tampa Bay Lightning mid-season last year. Bjorsktrand has seen PP1 deployment on the Lightning over more traditional options like Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli. He's a strong candidate in this truncated week with two light nights, and back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday.

Bjorkstrand performed decently well in Week 11. In two games, he tallied one goal, one assists, six shots and three hits. Very promising for a guy rostered at only 4% right now. Being a dual-eligible winger, you may be able to roster Bjorkstrand for all three of the Lightning's games, including the heavy 13-game Saturday night.

Bjorkstrand's On-Ice metrics are borderline elite. Playing with Nikita Kucherov at even-strength and on PP1 will do that. Darren Raddysh has been a big part of the Lightning's success of late, and Bjorkstrand regularly plays with him too. Both Kucherov and Raddysh are putting up incredible advanced stats and actual production this season, and Bjorkstrand is doing very well riding their wake. His individual metrics are not as promising, indicating impending regression, but as long as he keeps his current L1/PP1 deployment I don't expect him to slow down.

With three games on the slate, he should perform quite a bit better than the average streamer. If you have an extra add in Sundays' games with nobody obvious to use it on, use it for Oliver Bjorkstrand.

NEXT WEEK PREVIEW

As mentioned at the beginning, all these players listed can be scheduled with the Fantasy Roundup Automated Waiver Tool when you sign in to your account and sync your league. Do your sleep a favour and work smarter, not harder, to get an advantage over your Fantasy Hockey league mates.

Keep an eye out for my next article, entitled Fire Sale. Use it as a trade guide, as I’ll be going over different strategies on how to approach selling your players and look at potential trade ideas you can submit to your fellow managers. We are planning to publish it this week. Think of it as a little present for our readers during the Holiday Break.

Also, I want to hear from you! Fantasy Roundup has recently added a comment section below the articles to make sure we can hear YOUR voice. How did your Week 11 streamers perform? Did you use any of my suggestions from last week’s article? How did they perform for you? Anything on your mind, we want you to type to your heart’s content. Otherwise, I wish you all a safe and happy Holiday season Week 12, and hope you win your matchups.

Good luck, and stay stacking!

*The standard Yahoo HTH format includes skater stats: Goals (G), Assists (A), Plus/Minus (+/-), Powerplay Points (PPP), Shots on Goal (SOG), Hits (HIT); and goalie stats: Wins (W), Goals Against Average (GAA), Save Percentage (SV%), and Shutouts (SHO). For my articles, I will exclude +/- as it is more reflective of a team stat, and not an effective scouting tool for skaters.*

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