Weekly NHL Forecaster December 11th – December 17th

Below is a breakdown of the seventh week of NHL games in the 2017-2018 season (can you believe we are about 25% into the season?!?) . The graph breaks down the schedule and the strength of the opponent in goals for, goals against, their power play and penalty kill and ranks it against the rest of the league on a scale from 1-31 (with 31 being the worst) So the higher the average ranks you see for an opponent the better schedule that team has. It factors in how well a team does at home vs. on the road as well.

*Stats are as of 12/8/2017

Favorable:

Offense: All in on Nashville lthis week – they have Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary and should see a lot of production from their players Calle Jarnkrok (2% owned), Kyle Turris (66% owned) and Craig Smith (21% owned) will be good adds. The Bruins have it best on offense with the Red Wings, Capitals (who are bad on the road) and Rangers.

Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Goalies: The Sharks have some offensively limited teams in the Flames and Canucks, should be a good week for their plus minus and goalie. Good week also for Pekka Rinne in Nashville as he faces the Canucks, Oilers and Flames.

Power Play: After a very rough week the Sabres have it good facing off against the Senators, Flyers and Hurricanes who are all fairly bad when killing penalties. Jack Eichel should see a spike in power play points. The worst PP unit in the league (Blue Jackets) get the worst PK units in Edmonton, NYI and Carolina, maybe they can finally net a few power play points Brandon Dubinsky (18% owned), Nick Foligno (46% owned) and Josh Anderson (26% owned).

Penalty Kill: The Hurricanes get the Golden Knights, Sabres and Blue Jackets, all terrible on the power play.

Unfavorable:

Offense: AVOID Anaheim’s offense. Injuries plus a rough schedule facing the Blues and Capitals who are both very strong defensively equal a low production week. Calgary does not have a good week for any form of offense, the Wild, Sharks and Predators are all very defensively sound teams. It doesn’t get much worse than the Oilers who have the Blue Jackets, Predators and Wild, three top 5 goalies in the league there.

Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Goalies: The Canadiens have it kind of bad with the Devils and Senators but by and large it should be good goings for most goalies this week.

Power Play: Calgary will have to face the respectable Wild and Predators PK units. They don’t mess around and will shut down power plays quick not to mention both teams have a strong goaltender behind their penalty killing squads.

Penalty Kill: The Coyotes face off against the Lightning and Penguins (two of the top 3 power play units in the NHL). The Bruins have a it slightly better but still have to face the Capitals, Red Wings and Rangers who are all top 10 power play units.