Detroit Red Wings
Schedule This Week
Wednesday: vs. Boston
Friday: at New York Islanders
Sunday: at Ottawa
This is getting ugly for Detroit with just three wins in their last 11 games. Although the goaltending is to be avoided, the Wings have still managed to score in each game over that stretch, so they aren’t a fantasy wasteland.
This is a very top-heavy team with Pavel Datstuk and Henrik Zetterberg the only players with more than 15 points. They still have a Top 10 power play and the Islanders have the worst penalty kill in the NHL, operating at just over 70% so far this year. Keep an eye on Datsyuk though, there are concerns about a potential concussion after Saturday night’s game.
Edmonton Oilers
Schedule This Week
Monday: vs. Chicago
Thursday: at Nashville
Friday: at Columbus
Sunday: at Dallas
After a deplorable start to the year, the Oilers are 3-0 in their last three and haven’t allowed more than three goals against in five straight games. If you want to roll the dice with Devan Dubnyk or Ilya Bryzgalov this week, either of their back-to-back games is the time to do it.
In their last three games as well, the Oilers have five power play goals. Observationally, they’re not waiting for a perfect play anymore and shooting more often (they’ve had back to back games of over 30 shots after doing it just twice in the previous eight games), so the Edmonton Top Six forwards are becoming the deadly threat we thought they were. If you’re daring, Chicago has a terrible penalty kill so you might want to plug in some high-end Oilers on a light Monday schedule.
Florida Panthers
Schedule This Week
Monday: vs. Philadelphia
Wednesday: vs. New York Rangers
Saturday: vs. Pittsburgh
The good news is that Florida plays all their games at home this week, the bad news is that they’re bad pretty much wherever they play.
This is not a good week for Florida players in daily setups: The Flyers haven’t allowed more than three goals in 10 straight games, the Rangers haven’t allowed more than three goals since October 19th and the Penguins have allowed more than three goals once this month. If you want goals from Florida, look elsewhere. Literally the only play I like at all is whoever starts Wednesday in net, and even that’s a stretch.
Los Angeles Kings
Schedule This Week
Monday: at Vancouver
Wednesday: at San Jose
Saturday: vs. Calgary
No Jeff Carter? No Jon Quick? No problem.
The Kings have not allowed more than two goals since their first game this month, have one regulation loss this month, and it’s the supporting cast doing the lifting: Slava Voynov, Tyler Toffoli and Ben Scrivens are among the names helping the Kings to win after win.
This is a good place to grab players if you need gaps to fill your daily lineups. I wouldn’t stack skaters from LA by any means, but there are nice individual values that can round out your rosters. Because there’s not a lot of margin for error (they don’t score a lot of goals), I would probably avoid most players from this team except against Calgary on Saturday.
Minnesota Wild
Schedule This Week
Monday: at St. Louis
Wednesday: vs. Phoenix
Friday: vs. Colorado
Saturday: at Colorado
Avoid Wild players on Monday.
Other than that, there are some good spots. Phoenix has allowed 3+ goals in six of their last seven games and their penalty killing is pretty bad.
Watch Colorado on the weekend because if Matt Duchene is back, it’s a downgrade for the Koivu line (match-up problems). Also, if you want to take any goalie starting for Minnesota this week, be wary: All three of their opponents this week are Top 5 in goals for/game and Top 12 in power play efficiency. That doesn’t bode well for a team that is T-24th in penalty killing.
Montréal Canadiens
Schedule This Week
Wednesday: at Buffalo
Friday: at Washington
Saturday: vs. Toronto
Coming off three wins last week, the Habs have outscored their opponents 14-6 over that stretch, which were games against Pittsburgh, Washington and Minnesota.
If there’s a game this week to have Carey Price in your lineup, it’s against Buffalo. The power play of Washington and seemingly great scoring chance-generation of Toronto are problems for a goaltender’s ratios. With the lines in flux, be sure to check back for updates. Slow-starters like Danny Brière and Max Pacioretty are coming on, so you won’t need to spend a lot of money to have productive players.
