This article is part of our From the Press Box series.
The waiver wire can still be useful as the final three weeks of the season are upon us. In addition to reviewing some names who can be helpful, we have a unique circumstance referring to the possible return, from the KHL, of a former star player.
Brandon Pirri: The Panthers have battled all season long to stay in the playoff hunt, and Pirri has emerged as a hot shooter. He has put together a Cy Young-type score line, with 18 goals and two assists in 40 games this season. If special teams factor into your pool categories, it is worth noting that he has six goals on the power play. He is riding a streak of five goals in his last six games and playing between 15-to-17 minutes per game in that period. He is also proving not to be a liability defensively, as he has posted plus-4 rating this season.
Marko Dano: In a season when a rash of injuries wiped out any realistic hopes for a playoff berth, the Blue Jackets have had to satisfy themselves with the notion that, once healthy, they still have a pretty good lineup. There would be no need to blow up the roster because it has fallen short of that goal. In fact, they may have uncovered another solid contributor in Dano, who has taken advantage of the situation to make his own positive impression. Columbus made him their first round pick in 2013, and he has had a 27-game
The waiver wire can still be useful as the final three weeks of the season are upon us. In addition to reviewing some names who can be helpful, we have a unique circumstance referring to the possible return, from the KHL, of a former star player.
Brandon Pirri: The Panthers have battled all season long to stay in the playoff hunt, and Pirri has emerged as a hot shooter. He has put together a Cy Young-type score line, with 18 goals and two assists in 40 games this season. If special teams factor into your pool categories, it is worth noting that he has six goals on the power play. He is riding a streak of five goals in his last six games and playing between 15-to-17 minutes per game in that period. He is also proving not to be a liability defensively, as he has posted plus-4 rating this season.
Marko Dano: In a season when a rash of injuries wiped out any realistic hopes for a playoff berth, the Blue Jackets have had to satisfy themselves with the notion that, once healthy, they still have a pretty good lineup. There would be no need to blow up the roster because it has fallen short of that goal. In fact, they may have uncovered another solid contributor in Dano, who has taken advantage of the situation to make his own positive impression. Columbus made him their first round pick in 2013, and he has had a 27-game debut with the big club this season, during which he has accumulated 15 points. He has scored eight points in the last seven outings while averaging 15 minutes per game.
Patrick Wiercioch: When the season began, Wiercioch was regarded as possibly the next-best offensive defenseman on the Senators' roster behind captain Erik Karlsson. He was coming off a season when he showed enough positive signs that saw him produce 23 points in only 53 games. He struggled out of the gate and was soon passed over in favor other more defensively responsible blueliners. In fact, through the first five months of the season, he has been shuffled in and out of the lineup, rarely playing more than 15 minutes per game. More recently, his playing time has increased and coincided with the recent surge that has propelled them into playoff contention. He has played over 19 minutes per game and produced six points and a plus-2 rating in those 12 games.
Matthew Dumba: The Wild drafted Dumba with the seventh overall pick in the 2012 draft, hoping that his offensive skills would translate at the NHL level. He was used sparingly by the big club this season, so he was sent to AHL Iowa to get more playing time. He impressed with 14 points in 20 games and was recalled in mid-January due to a rash of injuries to Minnesota's blueline. He was not used very much in the first 10 games of his recall, but since mid-February, his playing time has risen dramatically and he has looked great, compiling five goals, two assists and an impressive plus-16 in the last 19 games. He has averaged between 18-to-20 minutes of playing time and has even earned a regular turn on the power play.
Karri Ramo: The Flames have made a surprising return to playoff contention and they can attribute it to a number of factors, not the least of which is a battle for playing time between their two main goalies. Jonas Hiller was brought onboard as a free agent last year, moving in ahead of Ramo, who won 17 of 33 decisions with a decent 2.65 goals-against average last season. Well, Ramo has battled Hiller all season long for that No. 1 role, and he has been the more active since Feb. 14, helping the Flames with their spirited chase for a playoff berth. In this recent run, he has posted an 8-3-2 record, while posting a 2.50 GAA.
Alexander Edler: This veteran blueliner has been limited by a couple of nagging injuries and it seems as though he has been off his game for much of this season despite playing 65 games. Still regarded as the top offensive defenseman on the Canucks' roster, he was expected to take on a big role in Vancouver's attack and be productive at some point. That seems to be the case in a torrid month of March, as he is finally starting to look like he's back at 100 percent in terms of health and playing level. He has produced five points, a plus-4 rating and is playing an average of 23 minutes per game while being the catalyst to a more potent power play of late.
David Krejci: The Bruins' decline this season can be attributed, in large part, to the injury troubles that have limited Krejci to 26 points in only 38 games. He is almost ready to return after rehabbing his injured knee, and he will immediately be reinserted into the top-two scoring lines and the power play at a time when the Bruins, somewhat surprisingly, find themselves on the fringe of playoff contention. Smart fantasy owners need to be on top of situations when a lengthy injury to a proven player is coming to an end. Grab him if you can.
Ryan Spooner: Interestingly enough, Spooner is one young Bruin who tried to take advantage of Krejci's absence, and judging by his ability to produce 12 points in 20 games, it looks like he has done enough to stay on with the team, even with Krejci about to return. One notable aspect of his 15 minutes of playing time per game is that he has also averaged almost three minutes per game on the power play. He has done what very few players have been able to do in recent years: find a spot among the top scoring lines on this veteran roster.
Valeri Nichushkin: Another player in the gone-but-not-forgotten category, Nichushkin was expected to line up beside first liners Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn when the season began. However, he lasted just four games before being sidelined with a hip injury. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound winger is headed to the AHL for a conditioning assignment but could be back with the big club in a week, at which time he should get a chance to reclaim his assigned role. He may not provide much help in this year's leagues, but he is worth a slot in keeper leagues.
Ilya Kovalchuk: Here's a name that has been mostly forgotten since he bolted to the KHL a couple of seasons ago. However, earlier this week a story out of Russia suggests that he is going to try to get out of the last year of his contract and pursue a return to the NHL. Before you take an interest in picking him up as a potential keeper on your fantasy roster, you need to be aware that he signed voluntary retirement papers with the NHL prior to joining the KHL two years ago. As such, all 30 teams need to approve his return, or he needs to sit out one whole season before possibly re-joining the Devils, who last owned his NHL rights. Alternatively, he would have to wait until he turns 35, in the 2016-17 season, to return to the NHL without any required approvals.
