Fantasy Focus: Mining the waiver wire on February 28

We're back again to unearth some of the waiver wire gems that are likely sitting around waiting to help you in the short term and maybe even turn into long-term assets.

If you’ve read any of my weekly Waiver Wire articles, or realistically, have much experience with fantasy hockey, you already know the importance of working the waiver wire, especially in a season like this one where we’re faced with constant roster upheaval by positive COVID diagnoses and COVID-related travel issues.

Every year we see players who were unheralded, underappreciate, underrepresented on draft day come out of the shoot hot and pay dividends for those who were fast enough to scoop them up. Some of those players fall back down to earth and end up back in the heap for anyone to take a stab at. Others continue to defy preseason expectations and turn into tangible pieces capable of helping your team charge toward the fantasy playoffs.

As we do every week, I'll explore some candidates that are rostered in fewer than half of Fantrax leagues at the time of writing but suddenly find themselves in better situations, with a hot hand, or facing an overly generous schedule.

This time around, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Vegas Golden Knights both play four games this week, three of them at home. The Carolina Hurricanes, New Jersey Devils, and Minnesota Wild each take part in four tilts with two at home. The Winnipeg Jets, Anaheim Ducks, and Columbus Blue Jackets will host three opponents, and the Edmonton Oilers represent sneaky value as they face three non-playoff squads this week. On the flip side, the Pittsburgh Penguins, Nashville Predators, Florida Panthers, and Arizona Coyotes only play twice and are looking like clubs to avoid. 

With that in mind, let’s dive into a handful of players who could step up and step into your lineup this week and make a difference.