Weekly NHL Forecaster February 19th – February 25th

Below is a breakdown of the seventh week of NHL games in the 2017-2018 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 1/13/2018

Favorable:

Offense:

Boston. The Bruins have four games on the road and they get some weak home opponents in Flames, Oilers, Maple Leafs and Sabres, all of them save Toronto are among the worst 10 in goals against at home.

Colorado. 3 road matchups, Canucks, Oilers and Flames, all bottom 7 teams scoring while at home.

New Jersey. They get 3 home games – Blue Jackets, Wild and Islanders all bottom 13 teams defensively on the road. Nico Hischier (26% owned), Kyle Palmieri – wrote about him the other week (47% owned), Jesper Bratt (15% owned) and Will Butcher (46% owned).

Goalies:

Boston. A good week for Tuuka Rask. All four of the aforementioned teams above are also among the bottom 12 in scoring goals at home.

Carolina. Pick your goalie be it Cam Ward or Scott Darling, they face Pittsburgh at home and Red Wings on the road, both bottom 5 in goals scored in their respective locations.

Colorado. The above mentioned 3 teams are also bad on offense at home.

Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Power Play:

The Hurricanes face some struggling PK units in Philadelphia, Vancouver, and Colorado. Not a bad week to pick up Elias Lindholm (12% owned) and Teuvo Teravainen (44% owned)

Washington gets some bad special teams against Columbus (twice) and Detroit.

New Jersey. Blue Jackets, Wild and Islanders are all bottom 5 PK units.

Penalty Kill:

Chicago. The Blackhawks face LAK, Senators, Sharks and Blue Jackets, all bottom 12 PP teams.

Ottawa. Nashville, Chicago, Tampa Bay Philadelphia – it starts easy at 23^rd best PP unit and gets tougher with each matchup down to 6^th and 4^th.

Unfavorable:

Offense:

Arizona. Three home games is good but not when you are facing off against 2 teams who are in the top 6 in goals scored while on the road (Flames and Ducks)

Chicago. While their 4 games are great for their PK unit, not so good for the offense. Facing Jonathan Quick, Craig Anderson, Martin Jones and Sergei Bobrovsky will do that.

Dallas Stars face the Predators, Sabres and Hurricanes at home and Rangers on the road. The Preds and Rangers are top 11 defensive units.

Goalies:

Minnesota. I feel for Devan Dubnyk as he goes up against the metropolitan gauntlet – Islanders, Devils and Rangers on the road and Sharks at home. Save Devils, all top 12 in their locations on offense.

Winnipeg Jets. Steve Mason gets some tough matchups with LAK, Blues and Stars, all top 8 offenses in their locations.

Power Play:

Colorado. Great matchup 5vs.5, terrible on special teams as the Canucks and Flames are top 8 power play teams.

Florida. The Panthers have a rough special teams week – Maple Leafs, Capitals and Penguins are all bottom 12 PK units.

Penalty Kill:

The Arizona Coyotes face off against the Flames, Ducks and Canucks, all three are top 10 Power Play teams.

Colorado and Florida – Ditto to above on the Power Play.

Montreal – not that I’m picking them much in general but this will be a tough week with the Flyers, Rangers and Lightning (all top 12 Power Play units).