Hi all, and welcome to week six of the NHL season. I’ve been a little under the weather the past couple days so this is going to be a quick update this week but I’ve still got strength of schedule rankings and streaming targets for you, so let’s get right into it!
Busy nights in the league this week will be Thursday and Saturday which opens up the streaming field a bit more than usual. Those teams with the maximum amount of four games played are as follows (listed by strength of schedule):
- Vegas (the only team this week with four games played all on off-nights)
- Carolina (three off-nights)
- Nashville (three off-nights)
- Pittsburgh (three off-nights)
- Vancouver (two off-nights)
- St. Louis (two off-nights)
- Seattle (two off-nights)
**Special shout out to the Caps, Colorado, and Calgary as well – who play only three games but all on off-nights.**
The teams playing the league low of two games this week (adjusted by strength of schedule) are:
- Utah (two off-nights)
- Anaheim (two off-nights)
- Tampa Bay (no off-nights)
- Minnesota (no off-nights)
- Chicago (no off-nights)
Top Streaming Targets for the Week:
- Although Vegas is our top team by schedule and strength of opponents there unfortunately aren’t a lot of great streaming options available for the VGK. I would however take a quick peek at your waiver wire and double check if A.) William Karlsson (C) isn’t somehow still sitting there as he was out for the first few weeks of the season or B.) that Pavel Dorofeyev (RW) is available (far more likely). Dorofeyev is playing right-wing on the second line with Hertl and Howden and is seeing time on PP1 currently with Hertl. Eichel, and Shea Theodore. If he’s available he’s my #1 stream this week and likely even a hold for the foreseeable future given his deployment.
- We’re going to have an encore this week from Alex Laferriere (LW) who was our pick up of the week last week. I hope you were able to grab him and I hope you held onto him as well! Despite only playing three games this week the Kings have a nice schedule, playing Monday/Wednesday/Saturday, and Laferriere has been great. Last week over four games you got a point per game with three apples and one goal over nearly 17 mins average time on ice. He’s a hold for me on the Kings top PP unit at least through this week unless you’re in a very shallow league.
- If you didn’t get on the Laferriere train last week and he’s not on your waiver wire now a great pivot would be Vladislav Gavrikov. This versatile D-man is on the Kingsfirst pairing and first PK and through their last four games has 2 goals and 2 assists while averaging a whopping 23:33 average TOI. He’s a bit more offensive-minded than my defensemen streams typically are (I usually prefer the safety of blocked shots and hits out of my d-men than streaky scorers) but he’ll also usually generate a couple hits and a blocked shot or two per game as well.
- My final two recommendations are two forwards on the Canes, who I personally added both of to my own lineup for this week. If you only have space for one of the two I’m primarily interested in Jack Roslovic (RW). He’s now on the top full-strength line with Aho and Svechnikov as well as the second PP unit. He’s not averaging a ton of ice time at 13:36 per game but he has 9 goals over 13 games played and is averaging nearly 3 shots on goal per game. I like him for easily a couple goals this week and Carolina has a great schedule to boot. If Roslovic is taken or you have the roster room to add one more forward for this week I’d also consider picking up Jordan Martinook (LW) as well. He’s always been a streaky goal scorer but right now the hot-hand is red-hot. Over the Canes’ past four games he has 4 goals including a multi-goal game on Saturday vs. Colorado plus an assist. He’s generally playing on the third line with Staal and Seth Sarvis as well as the first PK. So, although there’s no PP time which limits his upside I’m ready to ride this hot streak for the week and hope good things continue to happen.
That’s all for this week. I’m going to go rest and hopefully recover from my cold now, but as always feel free to leave any questions about other players and/or teams in the comments below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I’m able! Good luck in your matchups this week!
Nice work, these are quite helpful.
Quick question:
Was offered a struggling Elias Petterson for a surging/breaking out Cole Caulfield. Which side do you prefer ROS?
Thanks!
Hi Ruby, glad it’s useful for you!
As for your question, I know Petterson has been a struggle for quite some time now (dating back to late last season in fact) but he’s come alive a bit lately and I just can’t shake the feeling that the Canadiens look a mess whenever I watch them. I wouldn’t fault you at all for sticking with Caufield here but I personally have more confidence in Vancouver’s offense ROS. And with identical deployment on the second full strength line and 1st powerplay, which I doubt changes – I don’t see Caufield displacing Kirby Dach on the top line nor Petterson ousting JT Miller without an injury happening, my gut is telling me to risk it for the biscuit on Petterson.
e.robinson took jarvis’ top 6 spot lately not martinook i’d put him higher on CAR. if we didn’t know their names, which of these would you rather have as an owned players’ linemates:
necas/kotkaneimi
j.staal/w.carrier
used to be able at leftwinglock to check the exact % of the time whoever played, and on what line, shame they got rid of that (or maybe it moved behind paywall, not sure, had been free in prior years).
i’d still have roslovic higher though for sure, he’s on line 1 and PP2. and i was wrong, leftwinglock still has that, i forgot i was in “game day” (based on practices) vs the other options that show most recent game, or last 3 etc.
Yea Robinson is definitely an OK pickup this week as well. I just tend to lean towards more time on ice in these low-rostered streaming situations. Robinson is getting no special teams deployment so his ice time is fairly limited despite being on the second line right now.
If I’m understanding your question right it’s which linemate duo would I prefer to have rostered? If that’s correct, then it’s easily Necas/Kotkaniemi. You’re not only getting the best offensive player of the four in Necas but you get the goal/assist synergy from owning his linemate but also exposure to both the Canes’ 1st and 2nd PP units (Necas on PP1 and Kotkaniemi on PP2) which isn’t something you get with the Staal/Carrier combo.
it wasn’t a real question, robinson is playing with the better 2 of those, martinook with the lesser 2.
Ok, I see what you’re saying. I mean I don’t really think it’s a big deal either way for a one week stream. I chose Martinook simply for Carolina’s schedule and because he’s been on fire lately. Again, I think Robinson would have been a fine choice as well. I just prefer Martinook right now and I can only mention so many players each week to keep this article a reasonable length :]!