Fantasy Focus: Mining the waiver wire for young shooters, first-liners, goaltenders, and more

Believe it or not, we're over halfway through the fantasy hockey season. Even for those of you who only play one-week playoff matches, this is the midway mark in the season. It’s put up or shut up time. These next few weeks will determine whether you’re a legit playoff club or should be a seller at the deadline.

Finding value at this point of the year becomes a little more complex. Of course, you’re looking for a quick plug-and-play option if the schedule favours it. But you’re also keeping in mind value plays - adding players that may not help immediately, but will be useful down the stretch and into the postseason. If you’re trending towards being a seller, you’re identifying assets that could be useful to others.

This is the time of year that I begin to look at the NHL schedule around the playoff season. This is where the schedule generator tool at DobberHockey becomes a must-have resource.

Just a reminder that the players featured in this piece are (usually) rostered in fewer than half of all Fantrax leagues.