2023-24 NHL Wire Troll All-Star Team
Brock Faber was the pick of the waiver wire litter this season. (Bildbyrån)
The 2023-24 NHL regular season is now complete, so while you revel (or wallow) in Carolina’s expected victory on Tuesday to dispatch the Islanders, it’s time to review which of our Fantasy hockey waiver wire recommendations from the current campaign hit paydirt.
Employing the wire can provide value in tons of ways. Sometimes, it offers a temporary fix for an injury issue or it’s simply a case of jumping on a hot player for the short term. But when you pick up a player and he sticks on your team for the entire season — or even most of it — and contributes throughout, that is the true definition of waiver wire gold.
Based on this thinking, we rank players higher that were identified earlier in the season as they — in theory — had an opportunity to provide value for your team over a longer stretch, and therefore have made greater contributions to your success.
As expected, we had some misses among our picks, and because of the bi-weekly nature of our column, it means that hot free agents sometimes got scooped up and exceeded our ownership percentage limit (50) days before we could tout them. But the fact is that if you managed to wind up with two or three of these guys on your team, you probably enjoyed some success.
There is still plenty of awesome playoff action to lay some coin down on over at FanDuel, but for now — without further ado — we present our 2023-24 NHL Wire Troll All-Star Team, listed in order of the value they provided…
The dates in parentheses represent when we first recommended each player.
Brock Faber, D, Minnesota Wild (Week Two): As if Faber’s rookie season wasn’t remarkable enough, now we have learned that he was toiling with fractured ribs for the final two months. He played every single game, averaged nearly 25 minutes, drove play extremely well (see video below) and flirted with 50 points. Yup, not bad for a dude that was available on the wire early this season. Faber was easily the Wild’s top defenseman this season and even graded out slightly better than a more celebrated breakout star like Filip Hronek. Minnesota entrusted Faber in all situations and he showed he could hold his own physically. Small wonder he was considered for Rookie of the Year in our 2023 Hockey Awards.
Quinton Byfield, C, Los Angeles Kings (Week One): A Week One gem, Byfield enjoyed a breakout campaign, even if he suffered from some inconsistency –especially down the stretch when he managed just six points over 19 games before a multi-point effort in the finale. Still, after struggling to a mere eight goals over his first 99 games, he potted 20 in 80 tilts this season while also flashing fine playmaking skills. The Kings took a patient approach to Byfield’s development and it seems to have paid off as he continues to show off his playmaking skills in the playoffs.
JJ Peterka, RW, Buffalo Sabres (Week One): Another breakout we pegged right at the outset of the campaign, Peterka flashed his potential as a key component of Buffalo’s rebuild by playing in every game and flirting with 30 goals, including five game-winners. After being paired with Tage Thompson, Peterka was particularly hot in March, scoring seven goals for the month, including five over a four-game stretch.
Jonathan Drouin, LW, Colorado Avalanche (Week 12): Drouin’s injury during the first round of the playoffs hurts, but can’t take away from a great season in which he ascended to the Avalanche’s top line. He set career bests in assists and points while enjoying the highest shooting percentage (for a full season) of his career. After going his final three seasons in Montreal without a single power play goal, Drouin potted five man advantage tallies and proved to be nearly as big a force on this unit as he was during his last season in Tampa Bay and his first campaign as a Hab. Watching him this season, it’s hard to believe this is the same dude who scored just 10 goals over his last 146 games in Montreal.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, G, Buffalo Sabres (Week Eight): Buffalo finally found a legitimate No. 1 goalie in UPL, and while he gave the team a better chance, it still wasn’t enough to break the longest playoff drought in NHL history. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t as efficient as he hinted he might be in 2021-22, but in facing more rubber than ever, he bounced back nicely after last season’s disaster. Oh, and then there were those five shutouts, good for a share of fifth place in the league for Luukkonen. Early this season, it looked like he was ticketed for the backup role behind Devon Levi, but UPL clearly had other ideas and we got a preview of that very quickly when he shut out Colorado on October 29.
Casey DeSmith, G, Vancouver Canucks (Week Four): DeSmith was forced into the spotlight in the playoffs thanks to an injury to Vancouver’s No. 1 starter Thatcher Demko, and things didn’t exactly go well. Still, there’s no denying that for the most part DeSmith had a pretty successful first season as team’s backup, especially coming off the worst season of his career in 2022-23. In March, he had to take over as the starter for a couple of weeks when Demko was hurt and DeSmith really got the job done, a fact that very much helped earn him a spot on our waiver wire All-Star squad.
Gabriel Vilardi, C, Winnipeg Jets (Week 10): Vilardi missed a huge chunk of the season, yet was still a solid waiver wire pick, potting four multi-goal efforts out of 47 tries. He was a beast on the power play and now has 11 game-winning goals over the last two seasons despite playing in just 110 total games (so that’s a GWG exactly 10 per cent of the time). Vilardi wasn’t as prone to defensive zone turnovers and finished in the top 25 in the NHL in goals per 60.
RotoRob Tune of the Day
Beyond his comedy work, Bill Cosby also did plenty of acting. Here’s “Football,” another bit from his 1992 compilation album, Bill Cosby at His Best.
