Waiver Pickups: Returning West Coast Wingers

With the Fantasy Hockey Playoffs slowly drawing closer, there are a couple of proven wingers who are ready to return from injury that could be available in your league that should help you going forward.

After missing 20 games with a broken jaw, Vancouver Canucks’ winger Alex Burrows appears set to return to the lineup on Saturday versus the Flames. Burrows was injured on December 1 after he took a puck in the face on teammate Chris Tanev‘s clearing attempt.

In 17 games this season he has only recorded three assists with a minus-7 rating. While those are ugly numbers, it is worth noting that he has scored 130 goals with 111 assists over the last five season. In his last four full seasons he has scored at least 20 goals in each season and in 2009-10 he had a career-high 35. The Canucks have struggled to score goals lately, so Burrows return could be just what the doctor ordered. He will likely find himself skating on the top-line with Daniel and Henrik Sedin. At 33-years-old the twins are not what they once were, but they are still among the NHL’s best and playing with them should help Burrows resurrect his season. Burrows is only owned in 11% of Yahoo! leagues, so there is a good chance he is available for you! He makes for a low-risk, high-reward mid-season addition that will provide you with depth at both left and right wing.

A little further east, P.A. Parenteau is expected to return to the Avalanche lineup next Tuesday. He will miss his 10th straight game on Saturday night, but that is nothing considering he was originally expected to be out until after the Olympic break. Parenteau is dealing with a second-degree MCL sprain so he could be slowed in his first couple games back, but he still makes for a worthwhile fantasy pickup for the second-half of the season.

In his first season with the Avalanche he was near a point-per-game player registering 43 points (18G / 25A) in 48 games. In his last three seasons he has totalled 163 points in 209 games (0.78 points/per game) which is slightly higher than his 0.63 points/per game that he has tallied so far this season (9G / 15A in 38 games). Parenteau will very likely return to the Avalanche’s top-6 on Tuesday. Colorado has a lot of talent on those top two lines so he should be able to rediscover his production from the last three seasons. He is currently owned in 63% of Yahoo! leagues, so it is less likely that he is available, however if he is… Do not hesitate to add him.