Welcome to The Oil Rig’s weekly fantasy update! We want to bring you the information you need to show up your friends and get bragging rights by winning your league.
Each week we will provide a schedule breakdown showing which teams to stream players from, who is hot and who is cold, some sleeper picks with low owned percentages to keep an eye on, and some Edmonton Oilers fantasy hockey updates.
Keep checking back on Mondays for a new update each week.
Weekly Schedule
Games per day from October 7 to 13
The NHL schedule is busiest on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. All other days are typically referred to as off-nights. Reviewing the number of games played each day will give you a good sense of your options to maximize games played as the week goes on.
Monday – 1
Tuesday – 3
Wednesday – 5
Thursday – 9
Friday – 4
Saturday – 14
Sunday – 4
Add these resources to your season long tool list. Use them to guide the transactions that you make. These become more valuable as the season goes on and teams establish themselves in overall power rankings.
https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/nhl-weekly-schedule
Left wing lock – Strength of Schedule
The Washington Capitals are the only note worthy team from a schedule perspective playing only one game on the week. The remaining NHL teams play two or three times in during Week 1 action.
Off-day tracking
Thursday and Saturday account for 23 of the 40 games scheduled during Week 1. The Winnipeg Jets and Vegas Golden Knights both play three games in the week: Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. Players from each team can help you maximize your games played for the week.
Back-to-back tracking
14 teams play on back-to-back nights this week. You’ll have no problem reaching your minimum games played at the Goalie position.
Anaheim – Sat/Sun
Calgary – Sat/Sun
Carolina – Fri/Sat
Chicago – Fri/Sat
Dallas – Sat/Sun
Edmonton – Sat/Sun
Minnesota – Sat/Sun
Montreal – Wed/Thu
Philadelphia – Fri/Sat
Pittsburgh – Wed/Thu
Seattle – Sat/Sun
St Louis – Thu/Fri
Tampa Bay – Fri/Sat
Toronto – Wed/Thu
Strength of schedule
Easy Schedules
Edmonton – WPG/CHI/CGY
Minnesota – CLB/SEA/WPG
New York Rangers – PIT/UTA
San Jose – STL/ANA
Vancouver – CGY/PHI
Difficult Schedules
Buffalo – LAK/FLA
Carolina – TB/TB
Columbus – MIN/COL
Tampa Bay – NSH/CAR/CAR
Who’s hot?
Matthew Barzal (C,RW) – New York Islanders
Barzal tallied nine points during pre-season action including a five-point performance against the New York Rangers. Look for Barzal to open the season playing right wing with the Islanders L1/PP1 groups where he has developed chemistry with Bo Horvat.
Quinton Byfield (C) – Los Angeles Kings
Byfield scored four goals and added two assists during his four games played this pre-season. We’re going to see Byfield take a big step forward in 2024–25 as one of the NHL’s young stars.
Logan Stankoven (C) – Dallas Stars
Leading the pre-season in a category is impressive, on its own, but Stankoven was eight shots clear of the next closest player totaling 26 SOG. In five games played, he scored four goals, three assists, and had a +5 rating. We’ll see a blend of centre and right wing position starts for the young Dallas forward leading us to believe that he will develop dual position eligibility during the season.
Anthony Stolarz (G) – Toronto Maple Leafs
We got to see Stolarz start three pre-season games for the Leafs and he made a strong case to see an increasing amount of starts posting a .964 SV% and a .92 GAA in three games. Toronto’s revolving door of goalies looks to take a step forward in 2024–25 with Joseph Woll and Stolarz guarding the net.
Who’s cold?
JJ Peterka (RW) – Buffalo Sabres
The young forward suffered a concussion during Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils. Peterka is in danger of missing the beginning of the season with the Sabres who open up on Thursday against Los Angeles. Keep an eye on his status beyond opening night as the news is relatively fresh.
Streaming candidates for the week
Logan Stankoven (C) – Dallas Stars – 39% Owned
Ride the hot hand out of the gate. Stankoven and the Stars have three games in Week 1 action. He averaged 5.2 SOG/G with a 15.4 S% and a +5 rating during his exciting pre-season.
Victor Olofsson (LW) – Vegas Golden Knights – 6% Owned
The Vegas Golden Knights will have a very different group of offensive contributors in 2024–25 Olofsson looks to get the first crack at the open L1/PP1 role that Jonathan Marchessault leaves behind. Vegas plays three times on off-nights this week.
Gabriel Valardi (C,RW) – Winnipeg Jets – 41% Owned
One of the knocks against the sixth year forward has been his health. Valardi has yet to play a full season in the NHL. We are coming into the season with hopes that his career 17.3 S% will find success in a role with the Jets where he is slated to play L1/PP1 along side Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele. Winnipeg plays three games on off-nights this week.
Justin Faulk (D) – St Louis Blues – 41% Owned
With offensive defenceman Torey Krug on IR, Justin Faulk will garner additional offensive opportunity and ice time in 2024–25. Faulk is slated to start the year off in the PP1 role for the Blues who play three games in four nights from Tuesday to Friday. Consider Faulk a smart streaming option for managers looking to maximize GP on the week with six teams playing back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday.
Anthony Stolarz (G) – Toronto Maple Leafs – 53% Owned
The Maple Leafs goaltending position will be one to watch closely this season. Stolarz is coming off a strong pre-season showing where he allowed only two goals across three games. The Maple Leafs play three games on the week, including a back to back on Wednesday and Thursday.
Early season transactions are key to achieving lasting success in fantasy hockey so check back next week as we review week one action and look forward to the week two schedule. While our sample size of data will be small, we’ll have a much better picture of line combinations and power rankings which will serve us well.
