Fantasy Hockey Week 18 Team Forecast

Goals Against - a low ranking means they let in lots of goals (Columbus is letting in 3.25 goals against per game, they are ranked #1).

Goals for - the lower the ranking the more the team scores (Washington is scoring the most goals for per game at 3.37 and is the number 1 ranking).

So you want to face a team with a low GA and a high GF. This is based off this seasons goals for and against, it will be updated as the season progresses to be a larger aggregate of this year.

Number of games this week:
4 Games: Edmonton Oilers, Montreal Canadiens, NY Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals
3 Games: Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Ducks, Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flames, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild, NY Rangers, Nashville Predators, New Jersey Devils, Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins, San Jose Sharks, St. Louis Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs and Winnipeg Jets
2 Games: Los Angeles Kings, Tampa Bay Lightning and Vancouver Canucks

Favorable Offensive Matchups:
Vancouver Canucks - Two games both are at home against Columbus (without their star goalie) and Calgary (whose defense continues to struggle and might be without Dennis Wideman). Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin can further cement/chase the team points records.
Columbus Blue Jackets - All three games are in Canada on the road. With that said, all three of them are amongst the 8 worst teams in goals against. Edmonton 5^th (2.96) Vancouver 7^th (2.80) and Calgary 3^rd (3.,04) This might be a good week to look at Erik Karlsson who has played well for them. Besides the obvious Johnny Gaudreau and Mark Giordano look at Sam Bennett and Mikael Backlund.

Calgary Flames - This is a funny situation where bad defensive teams are playing bad defensive teams. Calgary plays Carolina, Columbus and Vancouver. The later two should be a fun matchup to see if it goes to a high scoring matchup. Carolina is allowing 2.71 goals per game putting them at 10^th.

Unfavorable Offensive Matchups:
Arizona Coyotes - They face two California teams one home and one away and the Blackhawks. All three are allowing fewer than 2.36 goals per game. A tough week for Max Domi.
Detroit Red Wings - This will be tough for Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Dylan Larkin as they face The Florida teams on the road on back to back nights and the Islanders. All three are allowing fewer than 2.48 goals.

Favorable Defensive Matchups:
Boston Bruins - Toronto at home and a home and away against Buffalo. Tuuka Rask gets an easier week but should face quite a few shots.
Montreal Canadiens - All four games (3 of which are home) are against the worst 10 scoring teams. The most difficult will be Edmonton who scores 2.47 goals per game and SHOULD have Connor McDavid back. Carey Price SHOULD be back sometime this week.
NY Rangers - So three of the better goalies over the last few years (Tuuka, Carey Price and Henrik Lundqvist) get favorable weeks, I see some potential shutouts ahead. The Rangers face New Jersey

Unfavorable Defensive Matchups:
Buffalo Sabres - Face Boston twice and Montreal who are the 3^rd and 10^th best defensive teams.
Philadelphia Fllyers - have 4 games ( a few make up games from the strom cancelling games) and it's a 50/50 split home and the road. While Nashville is middle of the pack, Montreal, Rangers and Washington are all good. Jakub Voracek and Claude Giroux are in for a tough week.
Chicago Blackhawks - I posted an article earlier this week about Patrick Kane's struggles post all-star break, well it starts with a tough week against Colorado, Arizona and Dallas who are all amongst the more talented in scoring this year. Dallas and Colorado are in the  top 10.