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!
