Hey, everyone.
I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year’s, and that you’re geared up for 2018. My Buffalo Bills made the playoffs for the first time since 1999, so I’ve been a little distracted. I also have had work off, so I haven’t been able to update my spreadsheets. Luckily, we have a pretty straightforward streaming slate this week, so let’s hop to it.
As you might know by now, my managing style and what I discuss in my advice column is maximizing games played and putting more skaters on the ice that your opponent. I don’t have access to my desktop right now, but the abbreviated version of what I want to reiterate every thread is this:
I will update this this week, but out of 472 data points, managers who have played ten or more skaters (as of 12/18) than their opponents are 50-5-5. 50 wins, 5 losses, 5 ties. Even 5 more players on-ice than your opponent moves your meter considerably closer to the Wins column. Yes, some teams might have better players, or might put up more points (G+A), but nothing correlates more accurately to a Win than the difference of games played between teams. Points, goalie starts, you name it… the bottom line is, you want to put more skaters on the ice per week than your opponent, and wins will follow. This column isn’t for spot-streams, it is for grabbing players on Monday or Tuesday and having them play on short-slate days in order to maximize player starts.
A side note is that micro-managing your lineup this way means fewer counting stats left on the bench. An opponent I played had Dylan Larkin sitting when he got a SHP, which is a total waste you cannot get back. When I play, I rarely, if ever, have a player on the bench accumulating stats.
So, in order to give Razzball readers a potential plus-6 or plus-8 skaters on the week of 1/1, I’m going to cover the three teams with an optimal schedule to grab additional starts.
Week of 1/1
Teams to target:
Chicago (W/F/Su), Detroit (W/F/Su), Ottawa (W/F/St)
Chicago: Richard Panik is always on my radar for streaming. He can get hot and take off for a few games at a time and then will drop off completely. He’s currently on the low end of that but is well behind on his expected goals, and his Corsi For is among the best in the league. After that I like Nick Schmaltz for cross-category contribution. For deeper leagues, I might ride the hot hand in Jordan Oesterle.
Detroit: My boy Anthony Mantha has cooled off considerably, but I’d recommend trying to buy low because he’s going to shake out of this funk. For players owned at streaming levels, Gustav Nyquist has solid production levels across the board, and Trevor Daley is worth a look even in shallow leagues for decent shot and hit rates, but also PIM and time on the penalty kill (my league counts SHP so I’m always looking for PK players).
Ottawa: Derick Brassard is worth a look if he’s available in your league, with a great shot rate and good possession numbers. He also shuffles between good lines, so the scoring chances will always be there. I also like Cody Ceci– he’s not the greatest, but he’s a counting stat contributor. For two games he’ll take some shots and deliver some hits, and the you can cut him loose to fill another gap on Saturday or Sunday.
That’s it for now. I’ll be watching this thread as much as I reasonably can all week, so if you have questions that you want an arbiter for, I will chime in (and will work to give you the best information I have). I am sure Viz and Reid will also pop in every so often. I hope this is helpful, and happy new year!!
Good luck this week!!
