Fantasy Hockey: Weekly Strength of Schedule and Streaming Targets — Week 19
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.
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 19 – Strength of Schedule
Week 19 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 19 Streaming Targets
Nashville Predators
The Predators have the best schedule this week, they are one of 19(!!!) teams with four games but have the easiest Average Opponent Rating (70.7) of the group. Unfortunately, they’re short on quality streaming targets, so you may have to look elsewhere.
Streaming Targets:
- Ryan O’Reilly (C) – 66% Rostered
- Gustav Nyquist (LW) – 24% Rostered
- Tommy Novak (C) – 2% Rostered
Tampa Bay Lighting
Coming off of a 9-2 loss to the Panthers and in the middle of a playoff fight in the Eastern Conference, the Lightning should be a motivated team this week. They have the second-best schedule overall, but their scoring is so concentrated to their superstars, that it doesn’t leave many crumbs for the rest of the lineup. The red-hot Anthony Cirelli may be the only exception, making him one of the top streaming candidates this week.
Streaming Targets:
- Anthony Cirelli (C) – 7% Rostered
- Nick Paul (C/LW) – 14% Rostered
Vegas Golden Knights
The good: Vegas has a great schedule and plenty of streaming options.
The bad: They have zero ‘Light Night’ games this week, so plan ahead before streaming any Golden Knights.
Streaming Targets:
- Ivan Barbashev (C/LW) – 43% Rostered
- Chandler Stephenson (C) – 22% Rostered
- Nicolas Roy (C/RW) – 13% Rostered
Buffalo Sabres
Three of the Sabres’ four games are on ‘Light Nights’ and the fourth-best schedule overall, making them ideal streaming targets this week.
Streaming Targets:
- Dylan Cozens (C/RW) – 52% Rostered
- Casey Mittelstadt (C) – 25% Rostered
- JJ Peterka (RW) – 18% Rostered