Welcome back to The Oil Rig‘s weekly fantasy update! We’re now amidst Fantasy Hockey Playoffs in all formats. This week, we want to give you the upper hand at the most important time.
The focus of playoff fantasy sports shifts towards winning at all costs. Roster management decisions change by comparison to the regular season to favour the amount of opportunities that players have to win you your current week matchup.
NHL weekly schedule
Games per day from March 31 to April 6
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 10 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 13 | 8 |
Week 24 will have less games to be played for fantasy managers. Off-nights account for 20 of the 51 games scheduled, an decrease from week 23. Managers will be able to add/drop players in do-or-die scenarios throughout the week, including eight games on Sunday. Make sure to use every one of your add/drops during playoff rounds to maximize your 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 the 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 two times this week:
- New Jersey Devils
- New York Rangers
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Toronto Maple Leafs
Teams playing four times this week:
- Boston Bruins
- Calgary Flames
- Colorado Avalanche
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- Dallas Stars
- Florida Panthers
- Minnesota Wild
- Montreal Canadiens
- Nashville Predators
- Ottawa Senators
- Vegas Golden Knights
- Washington Capitals
Off-night tracking
We’ve got a short list of teams playing 3+ times of off-nights this week. Look to key on available players from these teams to maximize your games played on the week.
| Team | Off-night Games |
|---|---|
| Chicago Blackhawks | 3 (Wednesday, Friday, Sunday) |
| Minnesota Wild | 4 (Monday, 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 | Saturday, Sunday |
| Buffalo Sabres | Saturday, Sunday |
| Calgary Flames | Monday, Tuesday |
| Carolina Hurricanes | Friday, Saturday |
| Colorado Avalanche | Wednesday, Thursday |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | Saturday, Sunday |
| Dallas Stars | Saturday, Sunday |
| Florida Panthers | Tuesday, Wednesday |
| Nashville Predators | Monday, Tuesday |
| Ottawa Senators | Saturday, Sunday |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | Saturday, Sunday |
| Vancouver Canucks | Saturday, Sunday |
| Vegas Golden Knights | Saturday, Sunday |
| Washington Capitals | Tuesday, Wednesday |
Strength of schedule
Easy schedules
| Team | Opponents |
|---|---|
| Anaheim Ducks | San Jose Sharks, Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks |
| Colorado Avalanche | Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, St Louis Blues |
| Seattle Kraken | Dallas Stars, Vancouver Canucks, San Jose Sharks |
Difficult schedules
| Team | Opponents |
|---|---|
| New York Islanders | Tampa Bay Lightning, Minnesota Wild, Washington Capitals |
| Utah Hockey Club | Calgary Flames, Los Angeles Kings, Winnipeg Jets |
Hottest teams
Last 10 games played
- St Louis Blues 9–1–0
- Carolina Hurricanes 8–2–0
- Dallas Stars 7–1–2
- Vegas Golden Knights 7–1–2
- Colorado Avalanche 7–2–1
Coldest teams
Last 10 games played
- Chicago Blackhawks 1–8–1
- Boston Bruins 2–7–1
- Nashville Predators 3–6–1
- Philadelphia Flyers 3–6–1
- Columbus Blue Jackets 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 Robertson – 63.9 FPTS
It was a busy week for Jason Robertson with things continuing to bounce his way. He scored 4G, 3A with 11SOG while skating to a +5 rating. The Dallas Stars are amongst the NHL favourites to win the Stanley Cup and Robertson has lead the way in points, down the stretch.
Centre
Robert Thomas – 73.5 FPTS
Thomas reached double digits in assists over the week with a whopping 10. The St. Louis Blues are the NHL’s hottest team having won nine of their last 10 games played. Thomas leads the way for Blues skaters despite being only 76% owned in Yahoo leauges.
Right wing
Nikita Kucherov – 96.1 FPTS
Chances are if you’re playing against Nikita Kucherov in your playoff matchup, your season is over. Kucherov has turned in the top performance for the year in a single week. He has scored 4G, 8A, +7, and 19SOG.
Defence
Victor Hedman – 49.40FPTS
Another member of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s top offensive group, Victor Hedman appears as the NHL’s top defender in fantasy points. He turned in a 1G, 5A, +5 rating, with 6SOG and 4BLK. The Lightning sit one point out of the Atlantic Division lead but command a +69 goal differential. Hedman is a key factor in the Lightning success yet again this season.
Goalie
Jake Oettinger – 72.8 FPTS
Oettinger highlighted the goaltender position this week winning 3 games with 1 shutout along the way. He allowed only 4GA while turning aside 108 shots, the most among NHL goaltenders on the week.
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 42% Rostered
The Blackhawks are scoring goals at a rapid rate tallying 13 in their last 3GP. Donato has scored five of those goals including his first career hat-trick against the Vegas Golden Knights. With Chicago playing 3 games on off-nights this week, Donato makes a fantastic addition to your team this week.
Taylor Hall (C,LW) – Carolina Hurricanes 27% Rostered
The Hurricanes will play four games this week. Hall has seen an elevated role where he is playing the point on Carolina’s PP1 unit and skating on the team’s second line. Over his last 3GP Hall has 5G on 8 shots, including 3PPP. Hall is one of the strongest adds for playoff teams this week.
JJ Peterka (C,LW) – Buffalo Sabres 49% Rostered
Since returning to the Sabres lineup Peterka has 4G and 2A in 6GP. The Sabres play a wide open style of game with 10+ goals scored in each of their last 2GP. Peterka is best timed as an addition late in the week to take advantage of back to back home games against Tampa Bay and Boston.
Joey Daccord (G) – Seattle Kraken 69% Rostered
The Kraken goaltender has been dropped in 3% of Yahoo leagues over the last day with more potentially coming in the next few days as the Kraken play Dallas again on Monday. The matchups you’re targeting are for Daccord are Wednesday against Vancouver and Saturday against San Jose. Look to add Daccord if he’s starting either game. Despite mainstream notions of the Kraken this season, Daccord as a strong .907 SV% and a respectable 2.72GAA.
The final stretch
It’s time to dig in right now. This week could be a make-or-break week, and those who go into it with active management will give themselves the best chances to come out on top.
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