Fantasy Hockey: Weekly Strength of Schedule and Streaming Targets — Week 22

Identifying the players with four games each week and filling your roster with those players can increase your chances of winning your fantasy hockey matchup. That’s why our Weekly Schedule tool is so helpful!

I took that weekly schedule and combined it with a Team Defense Score I created using key defensive metrics to find which teams/skaters have the best schedule this week.

ARTICLE PRESENTED BY BETWAY

How it Works:

Team Defensive Ratings are given on a scale of 0-100, with 0 being the best possible defensive team and 100 being the worst. For context, CBJ currently grades as the worst defensively, with a rating of 92.16. Carolina is the best, with a rating of 12.46.
SCORE: The sum of all of the Defensive Ratings that the team will face this week.
AVG Opponent: The Average Defensive Ratings that the team will face this week.
Strength of Schedule is determined by the sum of defensive ratings, because we want players that play the most games but also have the easiest matchups.
Light Nights: A night in the NHL with eight or fewer games.

Week 22 – Strength of Schedule

Week 22 Opponent Ratings

Team Ratings are based solely on defensive metrics and goaltending quality in order to identify the best matchups for skaters. They are in no way a reflection of overall team quality. The lower the rating, the better the team is defensively = worse skater matchup.

Week 22 Streaming Targets

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Blue Jackets have the easiest schedule this week, facing MTL (Worst Defensive Rating), OTT (12th), SJS (29th), and WPG (9th). Almost all of the Blue Jackets’ best players are available on the wavier wire, especially in shallower leagues. Unfortunately, they only have one light night game, so check ahead to make sure you can squeeze them into your lineup.

Streaming Targets:

Boone Jenner (C/LW) – 49% Rostered
Johnny Gaudreau (LW) – 49% Rostered
Kirill Marchenko (RW) – 7% Rostered
Dmitri Voronko (LW) – 5% Rostered
Alex Nylander (LW/RW) – 3% Rostered
Yegor Chinakhov (RW) – 2% Rostered

Winnipeg Jets

The Jets have the second-easiest schedule this week, and all four games are on light nights, making them a streamer’s dream. However, they don’t have a ton of streaming options, but Sean Monahan looks like the best target of Week 22 if he’s available in your league.

Streaming Targets:

Sean Monahan (C) – 35% Rostered
Nino Niederreiter (RW) – 19% Rostered
Adam Lowry (C) – 15% Rostered

San Jose Sharks

It has been a tough season for the Sharks, but they’ve actually been a little better offensively as of late. In their last eight games, they’re averaging 2.83 goals per game, which is 19th best in the NHL. They average a second-worst 2.17 goals per game for the season. They have the third-easiest schedule this week, and all four games are on the road, so there are better options out there, but San Jose is a reasonable fallback option, and you’ll have the pick of the litter with the entire roster.

Streaming Targets:

Mikael Granlund (C/RW) – 15% Rostred
William Eklund (C/LW) – 3% Rostered
Fabian Zetterlund (LW) – 2% Rostered
Thomas Bordeleau (C) – 0% Rostered

St. Louis Blues

The Blues have a nice schedule for streaming this week. They have the fifth-easiest schedule and are one of three teams with at least three games on light nights. Their offence is pretty concentrated to Robert Thomas, Pavel Buchneivch and Jordan Kyrou though, so they don’t have many quality streaming targets.

Streaming Targets:

Jake Neighbours (LW/RW) – 10% Rostered
Brandon Saad (LW) – 1% Rostered

Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins are struggling right now, they’ve lost three in a row and have been outscored 15-to-1 in those games. Still, they have a favourable schedule for a bounce-back this week and plenty of top-6 streaming targets to choose from.

Streaming Targets:

Rickard Rakell (RW) – 37% Rostered
Michael Bunting (LW) – 28% Rostered
Reilly Smith (LW/RW) – 21% Rostered
Valtteri Puustinen (RW) – 0% Rostered

Los Angeles Kings

The Kings schedule ranks 13th this week but they have three light night games, so they’ll be easy to get into your lineup if you choose to go this route.

Streaming Targets:

Quinton Byfield (C/LW/RW) – 48% Rostered
Pierre-Luc Dubois (C/LW) – 37% Rostered
Phillip Danault (C) – 22% Rostered

Others to consider based on personal play and not schedule:

Teuvo Teravaienn (CAR – LW/RW) – 47% Rostered
Yegor Sharangovich (CGY – C/LW/RW) – 45% Rostered
Pavel Zacha (BOS – C) – 39% Rostered
Nick Schmaltz (ARI – C/RW) – 31% Rostered
Logan Stankoven (DAL – C/RW) – 28% Rostered
Kyle Palmieri (NYI – RW) – 22% Rostered