Calgary Flames
Schedule This Week
Wednesday: vs. Chicago
Friday: @Anaheim
Saturday: @Los Angeles
Talk about a murderer’s row. Next week, the Flames get the defending champions, the division winners last year, and back-to-back Western Conference Finalists. Yeesh.
Needless to say, this is much like the situation in Buffalo. Interestingly enough, Chicago has one of the worst penalty kills in the league this year. Avoid the Flames on the road and look for a couple cheap plays on Wednesday at home.
Carolina Hurricanes
This Week’s Schedule
Wednesday: @New Jersey
Friday: vs. New Jersey
Sunday: vs. Vancouver
That back-to-back with New Jersey is something to keep an eye on; the Devils are 25th in scoring in the NHL and will be coming off a grueling California trip with a home game against Winnipeg at the end.
Carolina is getting notorious for mixing and matching lines, so value plays will be difficult to pinpoint because the lines will be very fluid. That said, their power play units are fairly consistent, so those are the names you’ll want to target.
Chicago Blackhawks
Schedule This Week
Monday: @Edmonton
Wednesday: @Calgary
Friday: @Dallas
Saturday: @Phoenix
In their last 13 games, the Hawks have scored at least five goals seven times and scored one or fewer just once. They are a bastion of production.
Watch the Edmonton game, as the Oilers have been playing better lately and have scored 15 goals in their last three games. They are still shaky defensively, though. Be a bit wary of Chicago goalies this week in every game, as all four opponents are at least Top 16 in goals for per game this season.
Colorado Avalanche
Schedule This Week
Wednesday: vs. St. Louis
Friday: @Minnesota
Saturday: vs. Minnesota
Don’t touch anyone from Colorado in that St. Louis game, the Blues are just on a tear and already lit up Colorado once this year for seven goals.
In 11 games so far this month, the Avs have only scored fewer than three goals three times. While the injury of Matt Duchene is certainly a loss, the Avs are 3-0 since he went down. Minnesota is a better home team, so look for Avalanche players on Saturday particularly. With regards to Semyon Varlamov, legal troubles aside, all of his bad starts have come at home this year.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Schedule This Week
Monday: @Toronto
Wednesday: vs. Nashville
Friday: vs. Edmonton
Saturday: @Boston
Boston is a non-starter, so avoid Blue Jackets players on Saturday completely.
Columbus’ power play is nothing special, but the only team they face this week with a Top 10 penalty kill is Boston. In recent games, the line of Johansen/Umberger/Foligno has been getting a lot of power play time, so don’t be afraid to look deeper into Columbus’ line; every game is a team effort for them anyway. If you’re going to ever take Bobrovsky, or any Blue Jacket for that matter, Wednesday is probably the best target.
Dallas Stars
Schedule This Week
Tuesday: vs. Anaheim
Friday: vs. Chicago
Sunday: vs. Edmonton
A good team wins the games they’re supposed to, but Dallas also loses the games they’re supposed to; nine of their 11 losses this year have come to teams currently in a playoff position. That means Anaheim and Chicago should be no-goes for goaltender Kari Lehtonen in your daily lineups.
The depth in Dallas isn’t great, so don’t look to this team for really cheap picks. They don’t score a lot on the power play which means the second line players are probably the ones you’ll want to target this week. At least, that strategy should help avoid probable minus games against Anaheim and Chicago.
