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 January 6 to January 12
Week 14 brings back a typical schedule with no major holidays factored in games or travel. The total games scheduled increases to 53 with the largest notable increasing coming on Monday and Wednesday, both typical off-nights.
Try to map out your starting roster for the week with an extra focus on players who won’t make your starting lineup on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. If these players are replaceable, consider replacing them via free agency with players whose teams play on the previously mentioned off-nights. The difference in points or stat categories by the end of the week might be the margin of victory you need in weekly head-to-head formats.
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 5 | 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.
Teams playing twice this week:
- Nashville Predators
- New York Islanders
Teams playing four times this week:
- Anaheim Ducks
- Carolina Hurricanes
- Colorado Avalanche
- Dallas Stars
- Minnesota Wild
- Ottawa Senators
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- Seattle Kraken
- Tampa Bay Lightning
- Vancouver Canucks
- Vegas Golden Knights
- Washington Capitals
Off-night tracking
Along with more games being played during week 14 action, our concentration of games played on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday has decreased, leaving us with more teams and players worth adding for off-night action. Here are a list of teams to consider adding players from in efforts to increase your total games played on the week.
| Team | Off-night games |
|---|---|
| Carolina Hurricanes | 2 (Friday, Sunday) |
| Chicago Blackhawks | 2 (Wednesday, Friday) |
| Colorado Avalanche | 2 (Monday, Wednesday) |
| Detroit Red Wings | 2 (Friday, Sunday) |
| Florida Panthers | 2 (Monday, Wednesday) |
| Los Angeles Kings | 2 (Wednesday, Friday) |
| Montreal Canadiens | 2 (Monday, Friday) |
| Seattle Kraken | 2 (Monday, Sunday) |
| Utah Hockey Club | 2 (Wednesday, Friday) |
| Vancouver Canucks | 3 (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) |
| Washintgon Capitals | 3 (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) |
Back-to-back tracking
Use this week’s back-to-back games to plan out some extra goalie starts in spots where teams will be leaning on backup goaltenders.
| Team | Back-to-back games |
|---|---|
| Anaheim Ducks | Satuday, Sunday |
| Calgary Flames | Tuesday, Wednesday |
| Carolina Hurricanes | Thursday, Friday |
| Chicago Blackhawks | Friday, Saturday |
| Colorado Avalanche | Wednesday, Thursday |
| Dallas Stars | Saturday, Sunday |
| Los Angeles Kings | Friday, Saturday |
| Minnesota Wild | Saturday, Sunday |
| Montreal Canadiens | Friday, Saturday |
| Ottawa Senators | Saturday, Sunday |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | Saturday, Sunday |
| San Jose Sharks | Friday, Saturday |
| Seattle Kraken | Friday, Saturday |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | Saturday, Sunday |
| Utah Hockey Club | Friday, Saturday |
| Vancouver Canucks | Friday, Saturday |
| Vegas Golden Knights | Saturday, Sunday |
| Washington Capitals | Friday, Saturday |
| Winnipeg Jets | Friday, Saturday |
Strength of schedule
Easy schedules
| Team | Opponents |
|---|---|
| Detroit Red Wings | Ottawa Senators, Chicago Blackhawks, Seattle Kraken |
| Edmonton Oilers | Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, Chicago Blackhawks |
| Seattle Kraken | New Jersey Devils, Columbus Blue Jackets, Buffalo Ssabres, Detroit Red Wings |
Difficult schedules
| Team | Opponents |
|---|---|
| Montreal Canadiens | Vancouver Canucks, Washington Capitals, Dallas Stars |
| Nashville Predators | Winnipeg Jets, Washington Capitals |
| New York Rangers | Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils, Vegas Golden Knights |
Hottest teams
Last 10 games played
- Vegas Golden Knights 8–2–0
- Edmonton Oilers 7–2–1
- Dallas Stars 7–2–1
- Colorado Avalanche 7–2–1
- Toronto Maple Leafs 7–3–0
Coldest teams
Last 10 games played
- San Jose Sharks 2–7–1
- Seattle Kraken 3–6–1
- Buffalo Sabres 3–6–1
- Philadelphia Flyers 3–6–1
- Buffalo Sabres 3–6–1
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
Jason Zucker – 65.80 FPTS
Zucker’s big week was highlighted by a hat-trick against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night. He finished the week having scored 6G and adding 2A, 5PPP, 12 SOG, and 3BLK. Zucker plays on the Sabres first line where he has found success with linemates Dylan Cozens and Tage Thompson.
Centre
Dylan Larkin – 58.2 FPTS
The Detroit Red Wings have won four consecutive games capped off by a road victory against the Winnipeg Jets. Larkin has scored 4G during that period and added 2A. He has 18 SOG and 3PPP during that same stretch of games. The Red Wings top power play unit has been a big reason the teams recent success.
Right wing
Patrick Kane – 58.90 FPTS
Anytime you see Patrick Kane on a list like this one, it brings back memories from his illustrious career with the Chicago Blackhawks. Like Dylan Larkin, Kane found success on the Red Wings PP1 unit over week 13. Kane had 3G, 4A, 4PPP, 11 SOG, and a +3 rating over that week.
Defence
Zach Werenski – 69.4 FPTS
Werenski makes back to back appearances as the top fantasy defender in this segment tallying an impressive 69.4 FPTS during week 13 action. He posted 1G, 5A, a +5 rating, 26SOG, and 8BLK. Achieving 26 shots in 3GP is an outstanding feat for any player, let along a defender. Werenski is knocking on Cale Makar’s door as the top fantasy player at the position.
Goalie
Filip Gustavsson – 58.8 FPTS
Gustavsson appeared in two games over the week. His high point was a 4–0 shutout victory over the Carolina Hurricanes where everything seemed to go his way. The Minnesota Wild netminder trails only Connor Hellebuyck in fantasy points this season and ranks fourth in total wins.
Banger league player of the week
Moritz Seider – 46.5 FPTS
Here’s the type of player that you would rather have on your team than play against. Seider is a physical defender who initiates a lot of contact. He makes his way up the leaderboard this week with 5A, 3PPP, 10BLK, and 9HIT.
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.
Troy Terry (C,RW) – Anaheim Ducks- 38% Rostered
Terry has the dual position eligibility to qualify as a centre in this week’s recommendations. The Anaheim Ducks play four times including games against the St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers which project to be high scoring contests. Terry has been productive, of late, with 4G and 2A in his last 4GP skating on the Ducks top line and PP1 unit.
Matthew Knies (LW) – Toronto Maple Leafs – 45% Rostered
Knies exploded for a hat trick on Hockey Night in Canada against the rival Boston Bruins. The young forward has the opportunity to play on a line with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, giving him a lot of value as a streamer or season long add. Knies makes a great add in banger leagues where his HIT totals will make a weekly impact on your team production.
Jackson LaCombe (D) – Anaheim Ducks –20% Rostered
LaCombe is emerging as the Ducks top offensive defenceman and extra opportunities have come his way after Cam Fowler was traded to the St. Louis Blues. The young defender has 2G and 3A in his last 6GP during a stretch where the Ducks have gone 4–2 with games against some of the NHL’s top teams. Look for LaCombe to continue producing offensively in week 14 with four games on schedule for the Ducks.
Jonathan Quick (G) – New York Rangers – 26% Rostered
Igor Shesterkin was recently placed on IR giving way for Quick to see routine starts for the Rangers. While all isn’t well for the Rangers, Quick will be able to provide Fantasy Managers with multipe starts in the coming week. His next NHL win will mark the 400th of his NHL career.
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.
Connor Murphy (D) – Chicago Blackhawks – 12% Rostered
Prior to suffering a groin injury, Murphy had been a popular add for fantasy managers looking to get production across a variety of categories. Fortunately, better option are currently available from a streaming and season long perspective to replace Murphy in all formats. Feel free to move on from the injured defender who was a -7 in his last 5GP prior to injury.
