Round One - Week 21 Waiver Wire Pickups

Analyzing the best streaming options, schedule advantages, and advanced metrics in Week 21 of the Fantasy Hockey season.

By Jeff Stacks · March 14, 2026 · Updated October 13, 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.

Week 21 is many fantasy hockey managers’ first week of playoffs! A tough grind to get here for sure, and I want to help you get to that next round.

If you have a bye this week, stay tuned because I’ll be touching on some options that are viable in Week 22 as well to use your extra adds on and get really prepared.

For everyone else, lets get right my review from last week, and your streaming options for Week 21.

WEEK 20 ROUNDUP

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 21. One forward, one defenceman, one goalie, one “banger”, 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. Borderline nights are right in the middle. There are three light nights and one borderline night in Week 21.

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

If you’re looking for volume, start the week by streaming PP1 unit players on the Calgary Flames or the New Jersey Devils. The Flames have vastly more options than the Devils. Colorado has the same schedule as Calgary, but there are virtually zero viable streaming options available from the Avalanche.

Finish the week by streaming guys from the Rangers, the Penguins and the Mammoth. Dallas has the same schedule as the three aforementioned, but they are in a similar boat to Colorado in terms of availability.

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

Alexis Lafreniere

I said I would never recommend this guy again back in my Week 12 article. The last time I recommended Lafreniere, he was up and down in the lineup and between powerplay units. He wasn't shooting, he wasn't hitting, and he wasn't scoring.

How much that can change when previously high-end prospects are given some opportunity. After the Rangers traded Artemi Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings on February 5, 2026, Lafreniere received a lengthy break as many of his teammates flew off to join their home teams to participate in the Olympics. His Captain even won the Gold Medal.

Since the Olympian Rangers returned to New York, they've been on a tear. Going 5-3 since the first game back against the Philadelphia Flyers on February 26th, they've been riding high and mostly on the back of our cover player, Alexis Lafreniere.

In that eight-game span Lafreniere has been on a white-hot streak, racking seven goals and five assists, while also putting up elite underlying metrics, and especially Individually.

Ranking 2nd in iSCF, 4th in ixG, 23rd in iCF and 26th in xGF%, Lafreniere has been one of the NHL's best players in the first two weeks of March.

Alexis Lafreniere is THE best pickup under 40% rostered right now, for both Weeks 21 AND Week 22. Go grab him while you still can, because his roster percentage has sky-rocketed in the past week and I don't expect it to drop any time soon.

Sean Durzi

Let me start off with my experience with Sean Durzi. I picked him up in early Week 20, thinking "Great! A PP1 Dman who has a back-to-back to start the week!". You would think… however he was worse than mid. In his past three games, Durzi has zero shots, zero goals, zero assists, and weak peripherals.

He was also bumped off PP1 with the injury return of Mikhail Sergachev in the Utah Mammoth's crazy game against the Chicago Blackhawks on March 12th. For reference, Sergachev had an assist, three shots, one hit and three blocks. There are CLEAR levels to this.

I swore off rostering him ever again in my two Banger leagues, as players who do nothing do not win Championships. With that all said, he may be your best bet if his luck turns around.

In his past five games, Durzi ranks 37th in CF%, but leans pretty mid in just about every other stat I could find. However, his low OISH% and PDO are indicators to me that he's been doing some good stuff on the ice with his limited minutes, and could get lucky in a week where you're going to want to make some Light Night adds.

Durzi is an immediate drop in Week 22 with Utah's two game skid, but he may be able to give you some unexpected point production in Week 21.

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.

Devin Cooley

Another repeat waiver Goalie pickup, you should look at as many spot-start options as you can with Devin Cooley of the Calgary Flames in Week 21.

Cooley has been spectacular in recent weeks, outside his six goals on 28 shots drubbing in the Flames' March 9th game against the Washington Capitals.

On the season he's posted an okay record of 7-8-4, but when that record is combined with an elite SV% of 0.917 and a good GAA of 2.45, there's clearly something going on with the team in front of him that he has zero control over.

As mentioned before, while the Flames have been utterly awful this season, that has not reflected on Cooley. I would love to see what this guy can do on a team that gives league-average goal support. My guess is his Win% would drastically increase, but what can he do for you on his current squad?

Well, I'm about to tell you. Among all goalies with 23 games played, Cooley ranks 5th in GSAX, 1st in GSAX/60, 1st in SV%>X, 1st in GAA>X and 5th in WAR.

Absolutely elite. If you have the space on your roster, I would recommend getting Cooley for every start he makes in Week 21. Of course, that may be a hard sell if he doesn't go at least 50/50 with the Flames' start Dustin Wolf, but Cooley should be worth an add if they do. Your goalie stats will thank me for it.

Cooley is a spot-start add in both Weeks 21 and 22, but I would worry about using an add on him unless he is 100% confirmed to play in any given night.

BANGER BEASTS

Adam Klapka

This article is a bunch of call-backs to previous options, eh? I can never NOT recommend Adam Klapka in a four-game week. One of the most consistent hitters in the NHL this season, Klapka would be on-pace for a whopping 316 hits if he played a full 82-game schedule.

He pops a couple points here and there, but that's not what you're looking for if you want the Flames resident monster. In his past five games, Klapka ranks 4th in Hits/60 with a rate of 27.75.

As long as he's not scratched, which I don't expect him to be considering the Flames' current outlook, Klapka could feasibly get you around 20 hits in Week 21. That would be on the high-end, but that is volume you simply cannot deny.

Keep an eye on his Light Nights in Week 22 if you make it there; he could be a grab and hold option for the first two rounds of the playoffs.

DEEPER DARLINGS

Simon Nemec

If you are in a Deeper league, I need you to take a look at Simon Nemec of the New Jersey Devils. He's in trade rumours, he's up and down the lineup, he has not been given the consistent deployment a former 2nd overall pick needs to produce.

In Week 21, I think he can help you out in spades.

Over his past five games, Nemec has posted a respectable two goals, eight shots, three hits and four blocks, but his advanced stats are incredible.

Ranking 1st in xGF%, 1st in SCF%, 2nd in ixG, 7th in CF% and 11th in SF%, Nemec is a legit NHL player who simply has not had any opportunity with two studs ahead of him in the lineup in Dougie Hamilton and Luke Hughes. With whispers around the NHL that Nemec may find a change of scenery starting next season, he deserves a heavy look if he is projected to be running a PP1 unit wherever he may land.

For Week 21 though, you need to grab the guy who has been ranked ahead of several Norris-calibre Defenceman over the past two weeks. He likely won't get a sniff at PP1 time, but what he will bring is three Light Nights, and playing even-strength minutes with the likes of Timo Meier, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, and last but not least, Jack "Golden Goal" Hughes.

If he performs, hold him into Week 22. The Devils have four games with one Light Night and have an above-average opponent schedule where they have the opportunity to dig themselves out of the NHL's basement and into a mid-range standings position while ultimately missing the playoffs. Cheers to them though.

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!