Welcome back to The Oil Rig‘s weekly fantasy update! We continue aiming to bring you the information you need to show up your friends (or enemies) and get bragging rights by winning your league.
Each week we 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 for a new update each week.
NHL weekly schedule
Games per day from December 9 to December 15
The schedule for week 10 is less flexible than the hunk of lumber sitting in the back of your dad’s garage. We have a whopping 78% of games played occurring on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. You’ll have limited opportunities to maximize your games played or pickup goaltenders from teams playing on back to back nights.
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| 3 | 11 | 2 | 14 | 1 | 15 | 5 |
Keep these resources at the top of your season-long tool list. Use them to guide your transactions. These become more valuable as the season goes on and teams establish themselves in overall power rankings.
Daily Faceoff provides a schedule table with each team’s games over the upcoming fantasy week for easy comparison between teams focusing on back-to-backs and off-day games.
Left Wing Lock goes deeper to look at strength of schedule so you can see which teams have easy games coming up and could be focused on for your streaming options.
Two teams play two times this week:
- Dallas Stars
- Washington Capitals
Eight teams play four times this week:
- Anaheim Ducks
- Buffalo Sabres
- Chicago Blackhawks
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- Minnesota Wild
- New York Rangers
- St Louis Blues
- Toronto Maple Leafs
Off-night tracking
With the schedule so heavy on chalk nights, we are only able to highlight teams with two games played between Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.
| Team | Off-night games |
|---|---|
| Anaheim Ducks | 2 (Monday, Wednesday) |
| Buffalo Sabres | 3 (Monday, Wednesday, Sunday) |
| Chicago Blackhawks | 2 (Monday, Sunday) |
| New York Rangers | 2 (Monday, Sunday) |
| Ottawa Senators | 2 (Wednesday, Friday) |
Back-to-back tracking
Another week over week decrease in games played on back to back nights. We see only 10 teams play on consecutive days. Of those teams, eight see their back to back games occur on Saturday and Sunday. From a strategy perspective, you’ll want to keep an add/drop saved for your weekend goalie considerations.
| Team | Back-to-back games |
|---|---|
| Anaheim Ducks | Wednesday, Thursday |
| Buffalo Sabres | Saturday, Sunday |
| Chicago Blackhawks | Saturday, Sunday |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | Saturday, Sunday |
| Minnesota Wild | Saturday, Sunday |
| New York Rangers | Saturday, Sunday |
| Ottawa Senators | Friday, Saturday |
| St Louis Blues | Saturday, Sunday |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | Saturday, Sunday |
| Vegas Golden Knights | Saturday, Sunday |
Strength of schedule
Easy schedules
| Team | Opponents |
|---|---|
| Carolina Hurricanes | San Jose Sharks, Ottawa Senators, Columbus Blue Jackets |
| Colorado Avalanche | Pittsburgh Penguins, Utah Hockey Club, Nashville Predators |
| Dallas Stars | Nashville Predators, St Louis Blues |
| New York Islanders | Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Blackhawks |
Difficult schedules
| Team | Opponents |
|---|---|
| Buffalo Sabres | Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, Washington Capitals, Toronto Maple Leafs |
| Edmonton Oilers | Tampa Bay Lightning, Minnesota Wild, Vegas Golden Knights |
| Vegas Golden Knights | Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers, Minnesota Wild |
Hottest teams
Last 10 games played
- Washington Capitals 7–2–1
- Minnesota Wild 7-2-1
- Vegas Golden Knights 7-2-1
- Toronto Maple Leafs 7–3–0
- Los Angeles Kings 7–3–0
Coldest teams
Last 10 games played
- Chicago Blackhawks 2–7–1
- Nashville Predators 2-5-3
- New York Rangers 3-7-0
- Detroit Red Wings 3–4–3
- Buffalo Sabres 3–5–2
Fantasy hockey team of the week
The Fantasy team of the week highlights the top player at each position from the previous week. Scoring follows Yahoo’s default point settings and categories.
Left wing
Andrei Svechnikov – 43.9 FPTS
It was an up and down week for the Russian winger. He started out with -6FPTS in a dismal 4–2 loss to the Seattle Kraken where he skated to a -3 rating with 0SOG. By the end of week 9 action, he topped the scoreboard for all left wingers by producing 3G, 3A, 4PPP, 11SOG, and 6HIT.
Centre
Auston Matthews – 48.4 FPTS
The Leafs had the benefit of playing four games during week 9 action so it’s no surprise to see Matthews leading all centres in FPTS. His 3G, 2A, and 16 SOG are no surprise but his 10 blocked shots shouldn’t be overlooked as a noble part of the game that he plays.
Right wing
Matthew Tkachuk – 89.30 FPTS
Tkachuk came alive during week 9 action with an amazing 5G, 6A, 17 SOG, 5HIT, and a +4 rating. This was a remarkable week for any player but its worth noting that Tkachuk was able to do so in only 3GP. The pesky forward did nearly half of his damage on the power play including a 4PPP game against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Defence
Shea Theodore – 39.3 FPTS
Theodore is the top offensive defender for the Vegas Golden Knights who are 7–2–1 in their last 10GP. In week 9, Theodore produced 2G, 2A, 2PPP, 7SOG, 3BLK, while skating to a +3 rating. His offensive production has earned him a spot on Team Canada’s 4 Nations Roster.
Goalie
Sam Montembeault – 54 FPTS
The Canadiens are one of the NHL’s worst teams, holding a -23 goal differential, so its very impressive to see the success from Montembeault in week 9. His week was highlighted by a shutout of the Nashville Predators and followed up closely by a 30-save 2–1 win against the New York Islanders.
Banger league player of the week
Trent Frederic – 34 FPTS
The Bruins winger produced 2G, 1A, 2PPP, 10SOG, 18HIT, and a +2 rating during week 9 action. He is filling the scoresheet for the Bruins who are heating up under interim Head Coach Joe Sacco. Frederic plays a bottom-six role for the the Bruins and appears on the team’s second power play unit. He ranks eighth in the NHL with 91 hits on the season.
Streamers of the week
It’s basically expected that the league’s top players will be the ones you want on your roster week-in, week-out. But those players aren’t likely to be available for you to pick up. Here’s some players who are hot with low ownership percentages that you should consider picking up for the week.
Nick Schmaltz (C,RW) – Utah Hockey Club – 29% Rostered
Schmaltz has had the hot hand of late scoring 4G in his last 4GP, including a 2G game against the Vegas Golden Knights. He plays L1 and PP1 for Utah who have won three of their last 4GP. Look for Schmaltz and the top-six forward group to see extended ice team against the Wild and Avalanche who are two of the leagues best teams.
Jake Neighbours (LW,RW) – St Louis Blues – 20% Rostered
Neighbours is well positioned for success in week 10 where the Blues play four times and draw two favourable fantasy matchups against the Sharks and Rangers. We’ll be looking for offensive production and accessory stat contributions from the young winger who plays L1 and PP1 for the Blues. In his last 4GP he has 2G, 1A, 2PPP, 10SOG, 11HIT, 6BLK, and a +3 rating.
Damon Severson (D) – Columbus Blue Jackets –17% Rostered
Severson has found new life with the Columbus Blue Jackets. His role remains the same as its been for much of his career but his production is up across all categories. In week 9 action he contributed 2G, 9SOG, 3HIT, 9BLK, and a +3 rating making him a worthy add in most formats. The Blue Jackets play four times in week 10. Severson makes for a smart streaming option in category based leagues which reward blocked shots.
Jaxson Stauber (G) – Utah Hockey Club – 12% Rostered
Stauber made his first start on Nov 30 against the Vegas Golden Knights and shut them out on 29 SOG. He got another opportunity to start, Sunday, against the Philadelphia Flyers. Yet again, he was victorious turning aside 22 of 24 shots faced. The Utah Hockey Club plays three times during week 10 action. Its increasingly likely that Stauber gets another start. Keep an eye on the starting goalies for you’re next opportunity to stream him.
Fantasy hockey players to consider dropping
Not everyone is always rosterable. Sometimes, it makes sense to let someone go and pick up one the players above to get you more points this week. Here’s a recommendation of who has gone ice cold lately that it may be time to drop.
John Gibson (G) – Anaheim Ducks – 21% Rostered
If you’re still holding onto John Gibson and the distant memories of his solid NHL career, you can safely move on from those thoughts and drop him. The Ducks are 10–12–3 on the season and now embark on a road trip through Eastern Canada. Gibson has lost each of his last three starts and received only three goals in support of his efforts. The Ducks can’t support a fantasy relevant goaltender right now.
