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 February 10 to March 2
| Saturday | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 10 | 2 | 12 | 3 | 12 | 2 | 13 | 6 |
The 4 Nations Face-off cup has created a unique scenario where we have nine days worth of hockey within week 19. The expected chalk nights are in play with Sundays representing your best opportunity to out produce your opponent in games played.
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 three times this week:
- Ottawa Senators
Teams playing six times this week:
- Nashville Predators
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- St Louis Blues
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 |
|---|---|
| Colorado Avalanche | 3 (Sunday, Wednesday, Friday) |
| Dallas Stars | 3 (Sunday, Friday, Sunday) |
| Los Angeles Kings | 3 (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) |
| New Jersey Devils | 3 (Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday) |
| New York Rangers | 3 (Sunday, Friday, Sunday) |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 3 (Sunday, 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 |
|---|---|
| Anaheim Ducks | Saturday, Sunday |
| Boston Bruins | Saturday, Sunday |
| Calgary Flames | Saturday, Sunday |
| Carolina Hurricanes | Saturday, Sunday |
| Chicago Blackhawks | Saturday, Sunday |
| Colorado Avalanche | Saturday, Sunday |
| Dallas Stars | Saturday, Sunday |
| Detroit Red Wings | Saturday, Sunday |
| Edmonton Oilers | Saturday, Sunday |
| Los Angeles Kings | Friday, Saturday |
| Minnesota Wild | Thursday, Friday |
| Nashville Predators | Saturday, Sunday, Saturday, Sunday |
| New Jersey Devils | Saturday, Sunday, Saturday, Sunday |
| New York Rangers | Saturday, Sunday |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | Saturday, Sunday, Saturday, Sunday |
| Seattle Kraken | Saturday, Sunday |
| St Louis Blues | Saturday, Sunday, Saturday, Sunday |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | Saturday, Sunday |
| Vancouver Canucks | Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday |
| Utah Hockey Club | Saturday, Sunday |
| Washington Capitals | Saturday, Sunday |
| Winnipeg Jets | Wednesday, Thursday |
Strength of schedule
Easy schedules
| Team | Opponents |
|---|---|
| Anaheim Ducks | Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver Canucks, Chicago Blackhawks |
| Montreal Canadiens | Ottawa Senators, Carolina Hurricanes, San Jose Sharks, Buffalo Sabres |
| New York Rangers | Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Islanders, Toronto Maple Leafs, Nashville Predators |
| Winnipeg Jets | St Louis Blues, San Jose Sharks, Ottawa Senators, Nashville Predators, Philadelphia Flyers |
Difficult schedules
| Team | Opponents |
|---|---|
| Calgary Flames | San Jose Sharks, Washington Capitals, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes |
| St Louis Blues | Winnipeg Jets, Colorado Avalanche, Seattle Kraken, Washington Capitals, Los Angeles Kings, Dallas Stars |
Hottest teams
Last 10 games played
- Winnipeg Jets 8–2-0
- Dallas Stars 7–2–1
- Detroit Red Wings 7–2–1
- Florida Panthers 7–3–0
- New York Islanders 7–3–0
Coldest teams
Last 10 games played
- San Jose Sharks 1–8–1
- Montreal Canadiens 2–7–1
- Philadelphia Flyers 3–6-1
- St Louis Blues 3–6–1
- Chicago Blackhawks 3–3–4
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
Brandon Hagel – 46.6 FPTS
Hagel took a hot stick into the 4 Nations cup logging 2G, 4A, and a +6 rating in his last 2GP. The Tampa Bay Lightning are on a four-game win streak, during which they’ve scored 20 total goals. Hagel has 4G and 4A over that stretch while he emerges as one of the NHL’s next wave of superstars.
Centre
Matt Duchene – 45.20 FPTS
Duchene had massive performances on back to back nights leading in to the break with 4G, 2A, and a +2 rating. Both games came on the road for Dallas who looks to challenge for second place in the Western Conference down the stretch.
Right wing
Ryan Donato – 43.00 FPTS
Thought the lights are dim for the Chicago Blackhawks, Donato is a bright spot who has recently gained steam with 4G, 4A over his last 4GP. Playing on a line with Connor Bedard has opened the door for Donato to produce offensively. Until we see signs that he cools off, Donato is a great add in all formats.
Defence
Erik Cernak – 32.6 FPTS
The Lightning have been hot and a number of players on their roster have been benefactors of the teams strong offensive pace. Cernak joins this week’s team of the week with 1G, 2A, a +5 rating and 5 BLK. We can’t expect the offensive output for Cernak to continue at this pace, but his accessory stat category contributions make him worth of an add in banger leagues.
Goalie
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 31.6 FPTS
It should come as no surprise that Vasilevskiy is featured in this week’s Fantasy team of the week. He narrowly edged out the New Jersey Devils Jake Allen for top spot with second winger while turning aside 66SOG. Expect to see the Lightning goaltender appear on the Fantasy team of the week again this year. Tampa Bay was among the league leaders in players on 4 Nations cup rosters.
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.
Ryan Donato (C,LW,RW) – Chicago Blackhawks 27% Rostered
Over his last 4GP, Donato has 4G, 4A, and 16SOG. His role on the Blackhawks L1/PP1 unit has been a big reason for his success. Playing alongside Connor Bedard in all scenarios, the Blackhawks are placing all of their offensive eggs in one basket. The Blackhawks play three games inside the first four days of the extended week. Look to add Donato and be able to pivot off him after Tuesday’s game against Utah if his production doesn’t continue.
Boone Jenner (C,LW) – Columbus Blue Jackets 20% Rostered
Jenner has yet to appear during the 2024–25 NHL season following off-season shoulder surgery. He is projected to return to a second line role with the surging Blue Jackets where his blend of offensive contributions and accessory production make him a strong add in banger leagues.
Lian Bichsel (D) – Dallas Stars 5% Rostered
The most common defender added this week is going to be Sean Durzi, and for obvious reason. With that being a surface level move, I’ll reach deeper and recommend you add Bichsel in banger leagues where his accessory category production holds significant value. Since joining the Stars lineup Jan 24, Bichsel has 38HIT, 10BLK and 10SOG to go with his 3A. The Stars have rewarded Bichsel with increasing ice time which is an encouraging sign for his rest of season expectations.
Eric Comrie (G) – Winnipeg Jets 4% Rostered
Comrie looks to play at least two games over the extended week, starting with a confirmed start against St Louis on Saturday. The Jets play back-to-back games against Ottawa and Nashville on Wednesday and Thursday. You can expect Comrie to be in net for one of those two contests. He will be favored to win each of the games started in week 19 action.
Fantasy hockey players to trade away
While we usually review players who are drop candidates, this week we’re going to highlight two players who you should consider trading away before additional news is released.
Thatcher Demko (G) – Vancouver Canucks – 81% Rostered
We know that Demko is sidelined with a concerning knee injury. The Canucks have no labelled him week to week and indicated that he won’t join the team on their upcoming five game road trip. Worse yet, they signed Kevin Lankinen to a five-year extension indicating his position with the team is long standing. It appears the Canucks are bracing for a long road ahead with Demko where the possibility of surgery shouldn’t be ruled out.
Charlie McAvoy (D) – Boston Bruins – 92% Rostered
Another big name player unfortunately featured in this section of the weekly update. McAvoy has an AC joint injury as well as an infection in his injured shoulder. The Bruins haven’t set a time table for his potential return to the lineup, but coach Joe Sacco doesn’t expect him back in the short term. The concern here is that McAvoy gets ruled out for the remainder of the season or undergoes surgery.
Edmonton Oilers fantasy updates
Matt Savoie (C) – Edmonton Oilers – 2% Rostered
Savoie has been called up from Bakersfield and will appear in Saturday’s game against Philadelphia. Early indications have him play RW on a line with Leon Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin. With the Oilers playing back-to-back games against the Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals, Savoie becomes an intriguing player to monitor inside the Oilers top-six group.
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