Fantasy Hockey: Weekly NHL Forecaster 2/27 - 3/5

Weekly NHL Forecaster 2/27 -€” 3/5

Below is the average of ‘CORSI For per 60 minutes' on the Home team and Away team to tell me if this is going to be a shot filled matchup. The graph below is sorted from the most offensively oriented games to the least offensively oriented. To put it in a nutshell, if you want goals scored -€” look at the top teams, if you want to see where your goalie will be seeing few shots and have the best opportunity look to the bottom. Updated as of 12/28/2016

Weekly schedule -€” ranked by CORSI:

Ten Notes:
1. Toronto Maple Leafs. Quite the slate -€” cross country vs. SJ, LA and Anaheim. It's that time of the year where teams are making this trek and it's tough. They might pull out a win here or there but it takes a toll. All three California teams are dwindling a bit with each having a losing record over their last 10. Toronto is scoring a lot and allowing a lot of goals on the road so expect some high scoring games here. Potential benefits for Nikita Zaitsev (22% owned), Leo Komorov (19% owned), Josh Leivo (3% owned), Jakob Silverberg (52% owned), Tanner Pearson (17% owned) and Patrick Marleau (56% owned).

2. LA Kings. Rough start on the road at Minnesota (home of the top goalie right now) but then Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver should provide a beneficial chance for someone NOT named Jeff Carter to score a goal.

3. Buffalo Sabres. In the words of one Admiral Ackbar -€” IT'S A TRAAAPPP. On the surface these matchups look good, especially in the middle against Arizona and Tampa Bay but all teams are above .500 in their last 10 (even Arizona). Be careful of this rough week ahead of the Sabres.

4. Florida Panthers. NOW is the time to enjoy the Panthers schedule. They roughed it out on the road and at home and this week they enjoy three games against teams who are a combined 9-19-2 over their last 10 games. I said in my bold prediction article, I'm very bullish about the Panthers down the final month of the season. Great play right now by Jussi Jokinen (32% owned), Vincent Trocheck (64% owned) and Jonathan Marchessault (39% owned).

5. Vancouver Canucks. Scoring the 11^th fewest goals while allowing the 4^th most goals on the road, they make the road trip through all of the California teams, yet again, avoid.

6. Montreal Canadiens. They are such an up and down team, first they allow 10 goals in a game, then they score 10 goals, then they go 8-2 then they go 2-7-1. They are in the depths and they face a rough week of home and road matchups against teams that are playing well right now, I'm avoiding most of them until I see signs of improvement.

7. New Jersey Devils. Great start to the week against a bottoming out Montreal team, then, a buzz saw. Last 10: @ 7-2-1 Capitals, @ 7-3 Bruins and vs. 5-4-1 Blue Jackets.

8. New York Islanders -€” They are a shutdown team on the road, no goals for, no goals against.  All three games this week are on the road so expect good +/-, hits and blocked shots from guys like Dennis Seidenberg (8% owned), Calvin de Haan (8% owned) and Johnny Boychuk (48% owned).

9. Anaheim Ducks -€” They are the 5^th best defense at home and they face both games at home this week, should be great for their +/- and goalie situation.

10. Arizona Coyotes. They have been playing really well lately, but they aren't the best road team. I'll be curious to see how they fare as they face red hot Boston,  Buffalo and ice cold Carolina on the road, than again at home. It might be a tale of first and second half of the week for them.