Oil Kings - Week 15 Waiver Wire Pickups

Analyzing the best streaming options, schedule advantages, and advanced metrics in Week 15 of the Fantasy Hockey season.

By Jeff Stacks · January 10, 2026 · Updated October 11, 2026

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 jump right into the action in Week 15.

Following last week’s Shark Week feature which This week’s highlighted team with the best schedule is the Edmonton Oilers, boasting an unorthodox five games. Usually in a five-game week, that team will have two off-nights, but the Oilers only have one in Week 15.

They are still a decent option for a volume play, but don’t expect to get near their top six nor their powerplay from players on the waiver wire. The Oilers are very top-heavy, so finding something decent likely will be a struggle.

However, there are a few options from the Los Angeles Kings that recently became very relevant in the Fantasy scene. I’ll touch on those in a bit, but first I’ll review my picks from Week 14 and see how they did.

WEEK 14 ROUNDUP

WEEK 15 PREVIEW

As mentioned, Week 15 is projecting to be a more traditional week for streaming players, with one exception. The Edmonton Oilers have five games coming up, so you should be looking at them for volume, but don’t expect their streamers to get you much in terms of skater points. Their goalie situation is very fluid, and there are two players in particular I’ll be investigating in more detail. The Kings have a much better off-night schedule than the Oilers, and quite a few better options to pick up skater categories. With Kopitar, Armia and Perry all going down with injury after the January 5, 2026 game against the Minnesota Wild, several higher-end slots opened up on their roster. You should look to take advantage of those options starting on Monday.

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 15. 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 last week, and decided I would keep the same strategy this week for the first three waiver add options. Picking players rostered under 40% opened up the streaming options considerably and I will be keeping that threshold moving forward.

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.

While the Oilers and Kings have the best streaming schedules overall, there are some teams you can look at later in the week for better light nights as well.

The Red Wings, the Lightning and Senators all have two light nights after Tuesday, where the Oilers only have one and the Kings have two early light nights. Start the week with a Kings streamer, then drop a different one of your roster players in favour of a skater from the Red Wings or Lightning to get the Friday/Sunday light nights. It may be a bit tougher to get a PP1 player, so keep an eye out for powerplay lines and injuries from those teams and identify guys who could be next-up for better deployment.

WAIVER WHIPLASH

Alex Laferriere

Alex Laferriere was my "Banger Beast" pick in Week 14, but he has emerged as so much more than that. While he was taken off the PP1 unit after three of his teammates were hurt, he remained productive slotting in as the top line Center option alongside superstar winger Adrian Kempe.

As mentioned last week, Laferriere should be a major target for all banger league managers. His hit volume is elite, and especially coming from a player in a consistent top six role, but his shot volume is what made me take a deeper look at him last week. He has maintained that volume since the Week 14 article dropped on January 3rd.

The 6'1" Chatham, New Jersey native has always been mixing in with the Kings' top performers in his two previous NHL seasons, but this year he has become a standout on his own merit. Pacing at a similar point production rate as last year, Laferriere's newly-defined role as a coach favourite should help him continue the heater he's been on.

In his last five games, Laferriere has one goal, two assists, nine shots and 12 hits. His ATOI has increased as well, hitting 20:40 in his first game as the Kings' top Center.

His On-Ice underlying numbers are quite weak, a major contrast to when I looked at him last week, but that's likely due to the Kings' entire lineup being in flux. His very low OISH% and PDO indicate some positive regression incoming. His 60th ranking in iCF and 46th ranking in iSCF show he is driving play in a more trusted role.

I don't expect Laferriere to have a phenomenal week points-wise, but his shot and hit volume are so good he should be worth a look compared to some of your other lower-rostered players.

Brandt Clarke

As I'm sure you saw from the beautiful art that precedes my articles, my highlight player this week is Brandt Clarke. With his recent promotion to the Kings' first powerplay, and his elite underlying metrics, he was the clear choice for me.

Brandt Clarke had a great run for fantasy owners at the start of the 2024-2025 season. Drew Doughty was severely injured in preseason, so Clarke was given the reigns of the Kings' top unit and he ran with them. Unfortunately, with a coaching change from Todd McLellan to Jim Hiller, and Doughty coming back to take his spot, Clarke's relevance became diminished very quickly.

Hiller clearly prefers Doughty as the PP1 quarterback, but with the Kings losing two PP1 studs and Corey Perry on the same day, Hiller apparently decided he wanted to give Clarke a bigger shot.

Over the past five games Clarke's point totals don't shine, having only one powerplay assist. But his underlying metrics imply he is about to go on a fantastic run.

Ranked 3rd in CF%, 1st in SF% and 1st in xGF% is an incredible indicator. Combined with his mid OISH% shows the Kings' are not a very good offensive team, but Clarke has the potential to break ahead of that mold and produce in a much more trusted offensive role.

I do expect Clarke to produce in Week 15, he is also a great option if you need blocks. He is tied for 11th in shots blocked the past five games, which is a massive boost to a player I also anticipate to put up scoring categories.

Clarke is a Defenceman that you should look to grab in the coming week, but also potentially hang on to if he begins to outperform your other higher-rostered players and hangs on to his role on PP1.

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.

Connor Ingram

The Oilers entire goalie tandem is my pick for Week 15. Having five games and two light nights, Connor Ingram and Calvin Pickard project to give you elite goalie volume. Now, I'm not saying they are going to give you good numbers, but for leagues that count total saves and wins, I can't think of a better option where two guys are going to combine for five games on a team led by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

Ingram should give you better GAA and SV%, where Pickard should give you more opportunities for wins and adding total saves. The reason I say this is because they seem to be in a 50/50 split tandem, rotating every other game, and Pickard should get the Thursday game against the New York Islanders if the pattern tracks.

One big caveat is Tristan Jarry's injury status. The Oilers shifted Jarry to LTIR on January 6, 2026 after missing the previous seven games. However, he was pictured skating and taking shots as recently as January 9, 2026. If my gut is correct, Pickard will be the one sent to the Oilers' AHL affiliate the Bakersfield Condors if Jarry comes back this week. If Jarry is out as of Monday's skate, Pickard will likely give you at least the Monday light night.

Considering how fluid the Oilers' goalie situation is, it's important to keep a close eye on updates from Edmonton beat reports and any changes they report in the organization's IR moves and AHL transactions.

Calvin Pickard

BANGER BEASTS

Vasily Podkolzin

There were a few options for Bangers in Week 15 but the clear favourite for me was the Edmonton Oilers' Vasily Podkolzin. When you're looking for banger stats in a streamer, volume is always king, and Podkolzin brings a boatload of hit volume.

After spending three seasons between the Vancouver Canucks and their AHL affiliate the Abbotsford Canucks, the Russian winger was acquired by the Edmonton Oilers on August 18, 2024. Vasily's size is average in the NHL, but what he may lack in bulk compared to similar banger targets like Adam Klakpa and Jack McBain, he makes up for in his point totals.

Over the last five games Podkolzin has hammered 14 hits, which is exactly what you're looking for in a week where he has five games. His 2.8 hits per game over that stretch is great consistency, and he should get around another 14 hits in the five-game slate in Week 15. He's also tallied one goal and two assists, which is a benefit to playing with a superstar like Leon Draisaitl.

I'm not going to bore you with his underlying numbers because they are not good, but with Kasperi Kapanen recently back from injury and slotting on the right side on second line with Draisaitl and Podkolzin, they could be incredibly effective as a supplement to the first line if they get shut down defensively at any time.

Grab Podkolzin for lots of hits, but hang on to him if he goes on any sort of point production heater. Just know you can and should drop him easily if he's not performing to your expectations.

DEEPER DARLINGS

Andrei Kuzmenko

Coming off a pretty bad pick last week in Chernyshov, which I selected against my better judgment despite his poor underlying metrics, I wanted to get more of a sure-thing this week for my deep league readers.

Andrei Kuzmenko is on his third team in two years. Last season, he was on three different teams! Usually being on your fourth team in just seven NHL seasons is a poor indicator of performance – and his counting stats do certainly show that - but I think Kuzmenko's lack of production can be more chalked up to inconsistent deployment.

Teams seem to give Kuzmenko a run with elite ice time at first, then shift him down the lineup after short stints of their top six players having good streaks. I can imagine this has been frustrating for the veteran winger, who must be in a constant state of worry about his job security in the show.

With the Los Angeles Kings though, he seems to have woken up a bit. Don't expect him to get anywhere close to his point totals in his rookie season with the Vancouver Canucks in 2022, but he is currently pacing at having the second-best season of his career.

Recently promoted to PP1 with the loss of Kopitar, Armia and Perry, Kuzmenko has developed a bit of a hot streak of late.

Scoring two goals and two assists his past five games, this is Kuzy's opportunity to take ownership of the Kings' recent offensive struggles and show why he should be trusted with their top unit's offensive production. He's not a high-volume shooter by any means, but his advanced stats are very encouraging.

His individual metrics are pretty mid, but his on-ice performance has put him into an interesting echelon of players. Being 7th in SF% shows me his line is shooting a ton, likely due to being partnered with Kevin Fiala at even-strength on the third line, and together on the powerplay. They were both moved up to PP1 together at the Kings' January 6th practice so they should perform even better over the next seven days.

He's top 40 among all forwards in CF%, xGF% and SCF%, and pair that with low OISH% and PDO numbers, I do expect Kuzmenko to put some points on the board in Week 15.

If he doesn't perform, don't hesitate to drop him, but I would recommend practicing patience with him, especially as long as he stays on the Kings' top powerplay unit.

WEEK 16 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 favor; work smarter, not harder, and get that edge over your league mates.

Another thing I wanted to mention is that Fantasy Roundup has recently introduced a Streaming Planner in addition to the Automated Waiver Tool. This allows you to assess the best schedules and free agents in any given week. It can also review your team’s strengths and weaknesses, and will recommend players that could help you address any areas of improvement.

Fantasy Roundup is also working hard to make this section more robust for fantasy managers. Introducing editable rosters that reflect on your actual Yahoo teams, ability to drop players from within the dashboard, and the opportunity to review your synced league’s adds and drops.

Personally, I think this is incredible work from the dev team to keep giving you more and more value for your money. Go check it out and let us know what you think about it!

I’m still in the process of researching and writing my next specialty article “Quinn to the Wild”. Following that release, I’ll be taking a lot at how the upcoming Olympics in Milan, Italy could affect your fantasy squads.

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!