Welcome back to The Oil Rig‘s weekly fantasy update! The championship matchup is the Stanley Cup Finals of fantasy hockey leagues with managers competing to reach this point all season long. If you’re fortunate enough to have made it this far, congratulations. From draft day through playoffs, a lot of effort goes into reaching this point for most managers.
Now that we’re into the final matchup of the season, managers don’t need to worry about dropping players for any reason. With such a short window until the end of the year, you can begin to drop players who are injured, being rested or simply have a amount of games remaining. Look to see your roster full of players from teams fighting for playoff spots who need every last effort in order to succeed.
NHL weekly schedule
Games per day from April 7 to April 13
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 11 | 9 |
Week 25 might be the best schedule, from a fantasy management perspective, over the entire year. Off-nights are evenly paced with five games scheduled on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Sunday finishes off the week with nine games, acting as a full day which could tilt the scales in nearly any matchup.
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:
- NONE
Teams playing four times this week:
- Anaheim Ducks
- Buffalo Sabres
- Calgary Flames
- Carolina Hurricanes
- Colorado Avalanche
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- Edmonton Oilers
- New York Islanders
- New York Rangers
- San Jose Sharks
- Seattle Kraken
- Tampa Bay Lightning
- Toronto Maple Leafs
- Winnipeg Jets
Off-night tracking
We’ve got a very strong group of teams playing four games this week on off-nights. Multiple players from each team will make excellent additions for managers looking to maximize games played this week.
| Team | Off-night Games |
|---|---|
| Anaheim Ducks | 3 (Monday, Wednesday, Sunday) |
| Calgary Flames | 4 (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday) |
| Edmonton Oilers | 4 (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday) |
| San Jose Sharks | 4 (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday) |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | 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 |
|---|---|
| Anaheim Ducks | Wednesday, Thursday |
| Buffalo Sabres | Saturday, Sunday |
| Carolina Hurricanes | Saturday, Sunday |
| Colorado Avalanche | Saturday, Sunday |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | Saturday, Sunday |
| Detroit Red Wings | Thursday, Friday |
| Minnesota Wild | Friday, Saturday |
| Montreal Canadiens | Friday, Saturday |
| New York Islanders | Saturday, Sunday |
| New York Rangers | Wednesday, Thursday |
| Philadelphia Flyers | Saturday, Sunday |
| Seattle Kraken | Monday, Tuesday |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday |
| Winnipeg Jets | Saturday, Sunday |
| Washington Capitals | Saturday, Sunday |
Strength of schedule
Easy schedules
| Team | Opponents |
|---|---|
| Boston Bruins | New Jersey Devils, Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins |
| Calgary Flames | San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks, Minnesota Wild, San Jose Sharks |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | Chicago Blackhawks, New Jersey Devils, Boston Bruins |
Difficult schedules
| Team | Opponents |
|---|---|
| Anaheim Ducks | Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, Los Angeles Kings, Colorado Avalanche |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | Ottawa Senators, Buffalo Sabres, Washington Capitals x2 |
| Vancouver Canucks | Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild |
Hottest teams
Last 10 games played
- St Louis Blues 10–0–0
- Toronto Maple Leafs 8–1–1
- Los Angeles Kings 8–2–0
- Dallas Stars 7–1–2
- Vegas Golden Knights 7–3–0
Coldest teams
Last 10 games played
- Boston Bruins 1–8–1
- Nashville Predators 2–8–0
- Chicago Blackhawks 2–7–1
- Florida Panthers 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
Alexander Ovechkin – 58.8 FPTS
The new all-time leader in goals scored, the great 8! From breaking his leg to breaking one of hockey’s most prolific records inside the same season. All eyes were on the Russian winger who scored 5G, 3A, 4PPP, on 12 SOG.
Centre
Nick Suzuki – 74.9 FPTS
Suzuki turned in one of the top performances of the season for any skater in a single week producing 5G, 4A, +6 rating, 2PPP, 11SOG, and 3BLK. The Canadiens top group has closed out the season in strong form. Look for them to take a step forward into 2025–26 as one of the leagues top scoring groups.
Right wing
David Pastrnak – 61.8 FPTS
While the Bruins are limping towards the finish line in 2025, Pastrnak has been steady as ever. Over the week he scored 5G, 3A, +3 rating, 12SOG, and 1BLK. The Bruins winger had one of the top games for any player this season with 3G, 2A, +5 rating, and 5SOG in Saturday’s 5–1W over Carolina.
Defence
Lane Hutson – 66.30FPTS
Hutson has positions himself extremely well to win the Calder trophy in 2024-25. His best week of the year included 1G, 6A, +7 rating, 2PPP, 7SOG, 12BLK. The rookie defender has made himself a household name amongst NHL fans. His future is extremely bright. Mark this young stud for draft next season.
Goalie
Karel Vejmelka -58.8 FPTS
Vejmelka has remained available in most formats all season long. He made a great pickup in week 24 with three wins including a surprise 4–1 victory against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday. He has now appeared in 20 consecutive games for Utah, an impressive feat in its own.
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.
Sean Monahan (C) – Columbus Blue Jackets 55% Rostered
The Blue Jackets have four games on the week. Monahan rejoined the Blue Jackets after missing an extended period of time with a wrist injury and quickly found success, including a four point night against the Predators. Monahan is skating on the Blue Jackets second line and centers their PP1 group.
Morgan Geekie (C,LW, RW) – Boston Bruins 35% Rostered
Geekie has been a major contributor for the Bruins this season but his role has been elevated following the departure of Brad Marchand. He is playing LW on the Bruins top line and playing the point on their PP1 unit. Geekie had the game of his career against Carolina with 1G, 4A, and a +5 rating. While he follows David Pastrnak, he prospers.
Kaiden Guhle (D) – Montreal Canadiens 15% Rostered
Guhle missed an extended period of time for the Canadiens before returning to the lineup March 28. He is skating along side standout rookie Lane Hutson on the teams second pairing. Guhle contributes in all categories for the Canadiens and makes a strong add for managers in banger league formats.
Cam Talbot (G) – Detroit Red Wings 50% Rostered
The Red Wings have turned to Talbot in five consecutive games due to poor play from Alex Lyon and an injury to Petr Mrazek. While the schedule over the week ahead is difficult, Talbot is playing some of the best hockey of his season right now.
The final stretch
Don’t be afraid to drop anyone on your roster in redraft formats, this week. Big name players are hard to picture yourself parting with, but can often be rested ahead of playoffs and have little impact on your team that is fighting for a championship victory.
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