Final Stretch - Week 20 Waiver Wire Pickups

Analyzing the best streaming options, schedule advantages, and advanced metrics in Week 20 of the Fantasy Hockey season.

By Jeff Stacks · March 8, 2026 · Updated October 12, 2026

FANTASY ROUNDUP HOCKEY DASHBOARD

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.

In addition to the Automated Waiver Tool, the Fantasy Roundup development team has incorporated it into an all-encompassing Hockey Dashboard where you can edit your rosters, add and drop players, plan your schedule, view your matchups, and more!

On top of all that, we’ve also launched the Fantasy Roundup Trade Analyzer. This analyzer will take a look at your trades, incorporate sustainability factors, and ultimately tell you whether or not your trade is positive, negative, or even neutral, based on a variety of advanced metrics. Go check it out after signing in!

INTRODUCTION

Good Afternoon! Hope everyone reading is doing well today.

Coming off that incredible Olympic tournament, I took a bit of a break from research and writing to take it all in. I was planning on publishing speciality articles weekly, but unfortunately lots of stuff came up and I was unable to really hunker down and devote my time to this.

Watching all the incredible hockey in the Olympic tournament really gave my fantasy hockey mind a rest. The beautiful goals. The hard hits. The living and dying with every shot. The emotions. The drama. It was an entertaining saga to watch some of the best hockey ever to be played.

Congratulations to Team USA for winning the Olympic Gold Medal. They were dominant the entire tournament, and were clutch when they needed to be most. Jack Hughes becoming the American Hero, with his toothless grin biting gold will be an all-time accomplishment for that team, and the country as a whole.

That doesn’t negate how hard the other teams battled. As a Canadian, I was thoroughly impressed with Team Canada’s squad. I was heartbroken when the golden goal was scored, but was enthralled with how well they played. If they had gone with certain different players, maybe they could’ve won.

And how about that NHL Trade Deadline? After a some active days leading up to the deadline yesterday, it was pretty dead up until about 2:57PM ET. Preparing to call this article “Dudline”, I was pleasantly surprised with how many NHL GMs are procrastinators, just like me! One particular player suddenly became relevant for next week with a team he was moved to, so I’ll touch on a few takes from the Trade Deadline related to fantasy hockey.

Speaking of procrastinating, I had a Week 19 article ready to go, but unfortunately was unable to get it on the site due to technical issues. As I’m sure you’ve seen over the past few days, the information can become irrelevant very quickly and timing is crucial to get it out. I didn’t want to muddy the waters putting out content that did not make sense.

But now I’m back, baby! Just in time for Week 20. Let’s jump right in by starting my review of my Week 19 picks.

WEEK 19 ROUNDUP

While I can say the biggest highlight was Gabriel Landeskog, Sean Walker and Jackson Blake both overperformed from my expectations. That is to say I thought they would do well, but did not expect them to do THAT well. I was very happy with my Landeskog pickup in one of my leagues, but definitely should have grabbed Sean Walker over Patrick Kane, for example.

Casey DeSmith only had one game on March 3, 2026, but did he ever run with the opportunity. I can’t imagine being the backup goaltender for the Dallas Stars on their 10-game was the worst job in the world for Casey. He’ll probably get in against Chicago on March 8th, so keep an eye on your waiver wire for him if you need a Sunday spot-stream.

Keegan Kolesar started incredibly strong, with 16 hits in two games between March 1st and March 3rd. For whatever reason, his hit volume fell off a cliff. Kolesar finished the week with just two hits combined in the games March 6th and March 8th. The last time Kolesar got one or less hits, two games in a row, was Vegas’ back-to-back games on November 28th and 29th earlier this season. I’m so sorry I jinxed it, because that’s insanely bad luck.

I’m very happy with how my picks turned out in Week 19, and wish I could have shared the details with everyone earlier than today. There are LOTS of streaming options available in Week 20, so hopefully I can give you some juice to close out the fantasy hockey regular season.

WEEK 20 PREVIEW

Week 20 is a bit all over the place. No teams have a perfect schedule, but if you plan correctly, you can get upwards of six games played with three moves.

The Ottawa Senators are standouts with four games and three Light Nights in Week 20, but they don’t have many clear-cut good options at any position. The majority of their fantasy-relevant players are owned well-over 40% on the Yahoo platform.

Ottawa’s big players don’t do it for me this week, but a few others do. After the Senatos, there are six teams that have four games and two Light Nights. This sparked my interest.

For example, the strategy I’m planning to employ this week is unorthodox, but should grant me the aforementioned six extra games with three roster moves. I’ll talk about it more in the Super Schedules section.

SECTION INTRODUCTION

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 20. 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.

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.

Heavy nights have more than eight games. Light nights have less than eight NHL games. There are four light nights and one borderline night in Week 19.

Light nights are highlighted in green. Borderline nights are highlighted in yellow. Heavy nights are highlighted in red.

My plan is to start with a Los Angeles King for the Monday-Tuesday back-to-back. Make sure you can fit someone in on Tuesday, as there are 13 games scheduled for that day. I have an open Defenceman slot, so that’s the position I’m targeting.

On Wednesday, you can switch over to a Philadelphia Flyer for the Wednesday-Thursday back-to-back. The St. Louis Blues then have Friday and Sunday games, ensure you can maximize your week with your streamer adds.

Going into Week 20 with no plan could make or break your season. You have two days to prepare, try and find some time to write down your plans. Good luck everyone!

Stay flexible with your streaming slots and track ownership trends to grab these adds. This approach should help you maximize categories and production throughout the week without major roster headaches.

WAIVER WHIPLASH

Ryan Leonard

Ryan Leonard’s first real season in the NHL has been quite successful. The 21-year old Winger has seen ice time with players like Alex Ovechkin, Tom Wilson, John Carlson and Jakob Chychrun, to name a few. I’m sure these four have been a great influence on the hard-hitting Forward, who has logged 1.96 shots and 1.41 hits per game this campaign.

Leonard’s schedule is looking great if you need some shots, hits and powerplay points on Monday and Wednesday to start the week. Again, this is assuming he’s on the first powerplay unit. It is possible he’s replaced by the recently returning Pierre Luc-Dubois. In my research, Dubois was the best overall Forward in underlying metrics, but Leonard’s slightly worse metrics won my attention with his powerplay deployment.

In his last five games, Leonard has a modest one goal and zero assists, but his shot volume is a heavy indicator that he just needs a bit of puck luck to start producing. His On-Ice metrics are not promising, but with his Individual metrics showing positively along with his horrible OISH% and low PDO, Leonard has a fantastic opportunity this week to give you some underrated points in Washington’s two early Light Nights.

Keep an eye out however, because if Pierre Luc-Dubois gets a spot on PP1 after John Carlson was moved to the Anaheim Ducks on March 6th, PLD is the clear better pick for your fantasy squads.

Jamie Drysdale

Jamie Drysdale also has an excellent schedule to begin the week. With the Philadelphia Flyers playing on the same Monday and Wednesday Light Nights as Leonard, Drysdale is an incredibly low-rostered PP1 Defenceman option in Week 20.

Over his last five games, Drysdale has one goal and one assist. Nothing crazy to write-home about, but like Leonard his advanced stats look better than what he's put on the score sheet.

Ranked 14th in SCF%, 20th in iSCF% and 32nd in iXG, his ice time and deployment are in a great spot. To go along with the solid stats, his low OISH% and PDO gives me some confidence of much better actual production for your fantasy team in Week 20.

Note that Flyers Head Coach Rick Tocchet often changes the Powerplay units depending on who is available, but Drysdale has been in a comfortable second-pair, top powerplay usage for several weeks now. Alternate options for the Powerplay Quarterback include Travis Sanheim and Cam York, so go with them in Week 20 if you notice any personnel changes.

GOALIE SIDEBAR

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. 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 I am recommending in good faith.

Anton Forsberg

This is the second time I've recommended Anton Forsberg since starting to write for Fantasy Roundup in Week 10.

Forsberg continues to pop up as a fantastic option for goalie spot-starts. Los Angeles Kings new Head Coach DJ Smith keeps playing him, and he keeps winning when start Darcy Kuemper falters, or goes out for a few games nursing one of his various ailments this season. You can't ask for much more than that from a goalie streamer.

Anton Forsberg's record this season has been decent, posting a 10-9-5 record with a 0.904 SV% and a 2.70 GAA. These numbers exceed league average, which is exactly the perfect target if you're trying to pick up extra goalie stats.

His advanced stats back up the eye test. Among all goalies that have played 26 games, Forsberg ranks 16th in GSAx, 10th in GSAx/60, 11th in SV%>x, 10th in GAA>x, and 16th in WAR.

Forsberg could shake out to be a league winner for astute fantasy GMs. Los Angeles does not have a great playoff schedule, with just 10 games between and two back-to-back games Weeks 21-23, but they do have several favourable matchups, particularly in Week 21.

If Forsberg plays well, he will likely continue to start opposite games to his goaltending partner Darcy Kuemper. This gives you access to a goalie that may play upwards of 50% on a good defensive team in the Los Angeles Kings.

To me, Forsberg is an add for Week 20, but could be a hold for you into the playoffs.

BANGER BEASTS

Colton Dach

Colton Dach's trade from the Chicago Blackhawks to the Edmonton Oilers was incredibly interesting to me. To me, the Edmonton spending a First-Round Pick to acquire Dach and Jason Dickinson was pretty poor asset management. If Oilers' General Manager Stan Bowman feels they can help in the Defensive end, and with their atrocious goal differential, then all the power to him.

What this trade does do however, is help your banger league fantasy squad. Initially I was going to target Vasily Podkolzin from the Oilers, but Dach popped up as a potentially better option if you're ONLY looking for hits. If you need more shot-generation and a scoring touch, go with Podkolzin.

The reason I chose Dach is his hit volume. Dach clears Podkolzin in both hit totals at 191 and in hits per game at 3.54. If you can get Dach into your lineup on Wednesday, you can potentially get around 11 hits from one player.

His advanced stats are awful so do not expect Dach to score in any capacity, but as long as he's in the lineup, he will smash, and smash often at that.

Outside of Week 20, there are far better options to start your playoffs than Colton Dach. I'll get more into those options next week in my Week 21 Waiver Pickup article.

DEEPER DARLINGS

Jordan Spence

Like most Deeper Darling targets, expect modest production when making your selections. With Jordan Spence though, he is primed for an unexpected production uptick in Week 20 with the Ottawa Senators' four games and three Light Nights schedule.

Currently listed on the third pair and second Powerplay unit, Spence has not taken as much of a step as was expected when he was traded from the Los Angeles Kings to the Senators on June 28, 2025.

With that said, Spence's production has been meaningful in Ottawa's hunt for their second playoff run in as many seasons. Potting four goals and 15 assists in 52 games, Spence would be on a career-high 30 point pace over an 82-game slate.

Again, modest. I don't project Spence to be a league winner by any means, but if he gets any increase in even-strength and powerplay time I do expect him to provide a few points in Week 20.

Over his last five games Spence has put up a bunch of goose eggs on the stat sheet, but his shot volume (like most streamer targets) encouraged me to look more thoroughly into his play.

Ranking 11th in CF%, 11th in SCF%, 18th in xGF% and 24th in SF%, his On-Ice metrics are borderline elite. Combined with his good Individual metrics, his low OISH% and low PDO, I have Spence ranked as the 30th best advanced stats Defenceman in the NHL since February 5, 2026.

His ice time is low for a D, but he seems to be trying to take advantage of whatever minutes he can get from Senators' Head Coach Travis Green. Pick Spence up for the three Ottawa Light Nights, or at least the first two then reassess where your team can improve on when Thursday comes around.

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, sync your league, and work with the Hockey Dashboard. Do your sleep a favor; work smarter, not harder, and get that edge over your league mates.

The new Fantasy Roundup Hockey Dashboard allows you to view your team, make adjustments to your roster positions, view your matchup, make adds and drops natively, without ever having to go to the Yahoo platform. There’s now also a Mobile version of the site.

Before the Olympic break, we added a trade analyzer to the Hockey Dashboard. Frankly, it is the most robust trade analyzer I’ve ever used. Running a few mock trades, and the Fantasy Roundup Trade Analyzer will provide the trade recommendation, but also break down why a trade could be positive or negative to your team, explaining sustainability, strength of schedule, line assignments, powerplay deployment and more. We will be fine-tuning this system and get it working really well for next season.

Big reminder to go to the comment section and tell me how your picks did this week. We would love to hear feedback from our readers and how we can make ourselves better.

Good luck, and stay stacking!