Welcome back to The Oil Rig‘s weekly fantasy update! We aim 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 20 to January 26
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 8 | 2 | 13 | 2 | 15 | 3 |
Monday is going to catch half of your league mates by surprise with games starting at 11:00 AM. With nine games scheduled, it’s a good opportunity for savvy managers to get a few extra games played while their league mates scramble just to get their active lineups set in time.
A well-planned strategy for Week 16 action should include adding players whose teams play back-to-back games on Monday and Tuesday. You’ll have four options that fit this theme: Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes, San Jose Sharks and Tampa Bay Lightning.
In week 15, we saw 51 total games played. That number will increase by four during week 16. You should expect your total points scored and games played to rise accordingly.
Try to map out your starting roster for the week with an extra focus on players who won’t make your starting lineup on Thursday and Saturday. If these players are replaceable, consider replacing them via free agency with players whose teams play on the 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.
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:
- New Jersey Devils
Teams playing four times this week:
- Boston Bruins
- Buffalo Sabres
- Carolina Hurricanes
- Colorado Avalanche
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- Florida Panthers
- Minnesota Wild
- Ottawa Senators
- San Jose Sharks
- Tampa Bay Lightning
- Utah Hockey Club
- Vegas Golden Knights
- Winnipeg Jets
Off-night tracking
Here is a list of teams to consider adding players from in effort to increase your total games played on the week.
| Team | Off-night Games |
|---|---|
| Chicago Blackhawks | 2 (Friday, Sunday) |
| Colorado Avalanche | 2 (Wednesday, Sunday) |
| Florida Panthers | 2 (Wednesday, Sunday) |
| Utah Hockey Club | 2 (Friday, Sunday) |
| Vegas Golden Knights | 2 (Friday, Sunday) |
| Winnipeg Jets | 3 (Wednesday, Friday, Sunday) |
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 |
|---|---|
| Boston Bruins | Wednesday, Thursday |
| Buffalo Sabres | Monday, Tuesday |
| Calgary Flames | Saturday, Sunday |
| Carolina Hurricanes | Monday, Tuesday |
| Colorado Avalanche | Saturday, Sunday |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | Wednesday, Thursday |
| Dallas Stars | Friday, Saturday |
| Florida Panthers | Tuesday, Wednesday / Saturday, Sunday |
| Minnesota Wild | Saturday, Sunday |
| New York Islanders | Friday, Saturday |
| Ottawa Senators | Saturday, Sunday |
| Philadelphia Flyers | Thursday, Friday |
| San Jose Sharks | Monday, Tuesday |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | Monday, Tuesday / Friday/ Saturday |
| Utah Hockey Club | Thursday, Friday |
| Vegas Golden Knights | Thursday, Friday |
Strength of schedule
Easy schedules
| Team | Opponents |
|---|---|
| Minnesota Wild | Colorado Avalanche, Utah Hockey Club, Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks |
| Nashville Predators | San Jose Sharks x2, Anaheim Ducks |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks, Seattle Kraken |
Difficult schedules
| Team | Opponents |
|---|---|
| St Louis Blues | Vegas Golden Knights x2, Dallas Stars |
Hottest teams
Last 10 games played
- Edmonton Oilers 8–2–0
- Washington Capitals 7–0–3
- Columbus Blue Jackets 7–2–1
- Montreal Canadiens 7–2–1
- New York Rangers 6–1–3
Coldest teams
Last 10 games played
- New Jersey Devils 2–5–3
- Pittsburgh Penguins 2–5–3
- San Jose Sharks 3–7–0
- Utah Hockey Club 3–6–1
- Chicago Blackhawks 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
Filip Forsberg- 62.30 FPTS
After a remarkable streak of 18 GP without a goal, Forsberg has now cranked out 6G in his last 5GP. During week 15 action he registered 4G, 3A, and a +4 rating on 17 SOG. Despite the 2024–25 season being bleak for Predators players, they take a three-game win streak into a matchup against San Jose on Tuesday night where Forsberg projects to continue his recent success.
Centre
Connor McDavid – 61.80 FPTS
McDavid picked up his goal-scoring during week 15 with 4G while adding 3A, 12 SOG, 3BLK and a +4 rating. While most of the attention that McDavid received this weekend circled around an undersized Canucks winger straining for relevancy, the Oilers superstar is picked up steam in areas that matter. He now has 65PTS in 43GP and is well-positioned to repeat as the top point producer over the remainder of the season.
Right wing
David Pastrnak – 52.30 FPTS
Perhaps one of the most unlikely ways to earn a spot on the team of the week is with only 2GP. Pastrnak made the most of his chances by accumulating 1G and 2A in each game. He now has 3PTS in each of his last 3GP and has a juicy set of games approaching with San Jose, New Jersey and Ottawa as his next three opponents.
Defence
Roman Josi – 40.4 FPTS
Not unlike teammate Filip Forsberg, Josi enjoyed a strong fantasy week while registering 4A, 6SOG, 5BLK and a +2 rating. Josi was often selected behind only Cale Makar in 2024–25 fantasy drafts but has failed to live up to expectations between time missed and team performance.
Goalie
Logan Thomspson – 58.60 FPTS
Thompson turned in one of the best weeks for any goalie this season powered by two shutouts and a one-goal victory against the Penguins. He has won nine of his last ten games played bringing him to 21 on the year.
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, and week out. But those players aren’t likely to be available for you to pick up. Here are some players who are hot with low ownership percentages that you should consider picking up for the week.
Pavel Dorofeyev (LW,RW) – Vegas Golden Knights – 28% Rostered
From the beginning of the year, it was clear that multiple wingers would have an opportunity to succeed for the Golden Knights. Dorofeyev has earned his role on the point for the Golden Knights PP1 unit where he’s accumulated 4PPP in his last 4GP. He is a goal scorer in nature and caught fire in back-to-back games against Minnesota and Nashville where he tallied 5G. The Golden Knights play four times on the week, including two games against the St Louis Blues.
Nick Schmaltz (C,RW) – Utah Hockey Club – 23% Rostered
Despite a difficult schedule during week 16 action, Schmaltz and company project to continue engaging in high-scoring games. In the last 3GP for Utah, a total of 22 goals have been scored. During that stretch, Schmaltz has 1G, 3A, 8SOG and 3BLK. He finds himself on a five-game point streak playing RW on the Hockey Club’s L1 and PP1 where he plays with Logan Cooley and Clayton Keller.
Darren Raddysh (D) – Tampa Bay Lightning –14% Rostered
The Lightning play four games on the week, including back-to-back games on Monday and Tuesday. Raddysh has picked up his game, of late, producing 4PTS in his last 3GP. Playing alongside Victor Hedman, Raddysh appears on Tampa Bay’s top pairing and PP2 unit that features Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel and Nikita Kucherov. Don’t be surprised if he continues his recent success.
Elvis Merzlikins (G) – Columbus Blue Jackets 33% Rostered
The Blue Jackets are now amongst the league’s hottest thanks, in large part, to a six-game win streak where Merzlikins won all four of his games played. The Blue Jackets are playing better defensive hockey, having not allowed 3GA since January 7. Consider Merzlikins a strong streaming option in week 16 action.
Fantasy hockey players to consider dropping
Not everyone is always rosterable. Sometimes, it makes sense to let someone go and pick up one of 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.
Tyler Toffoli (LW,RW) – San Jose Sharks – 37% Rostered
Toffoli is currently listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury after missing the Sharks’ last game against the Islanders on January 18. While Toffoli has scored 17G to this point on the year, the Sharks are struggling to score goals now having only 1GF in four of their last five games played. It’s possible that his current injury is a limiting factor for the remainder of the season while his plus-minus continues to make an impact in formats which track that category.
