Weekly NHL Forecaster February 5th – February 11th

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 1/26/2018

Favorable:

Offense:

Nashville goes up against NY Islanders (29^th at home), Senators (31^st at home) and Canadiens (22^nd at home) with an average Toronto (18^th at home) mixed in. Could be a good week for Calle Jarnkrok (5% owned), Mattias Ekholm (52% owned) and Craig Smith (22% owned).

Winnipeg gets defensively weak Arizona and NYR with a tougher match against St. Louis in the middle.

Goalies:

Islanders first three games this week are against bottom 11 teams in their home/away locations – Nashville (20^th), Buffalo (31^st) and Detroit (27^th). The final game against the Flames will be their biggest challenge (10^th).

Toronto has some weak offenses in the Ducks, Predators in Senators – a good week for Frederik Andersen.

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.

Penalty Kill:

The Avalanche get some poor Power Play units late in the week Carolina (24^th) and Buffalo (28^th) with two average ones earlier San Jose (17^th) and St. Louis (14^th).

Washington will make a strong go of it against the Blue Jackets who are the worst PK unit and 2^nd worst power play unit this year.

Unfavorable:

Offense:

Chicago has a gamut. First Calgary (3^rd best offense on the road) then Dallas (15^th best offense on the road) followed by Minnesota (best offense at home).

The Rangers have it rough – they are facing Dallas, Boston, Calgary and Winnipeg. The games are road/home mixed and it’s the perfect mix for each opponent to thrive. Add to this they are 3-7 over their last 10 games.

Goalies:

Buffalo had a good week last week, the honeymoon is over. Anaheim is weaker on offense but after that they get the Islanders (4^th most goals on the road) and Boston (6^th best offense at home) followed up by Colorado who is average.

Columbus – Goalie Bob gets the Capitals on a home and away as well as the Devils, that’s three games against two top 11 offenses in the NHL.

Petr Mrazek will face the Bruins and Islanders (both 3^rd on offense in their respective home/away situations) as well as Washington.

Power Play:

The Oilers go up against the Ducks and Kings (both top 5 PK units) with two average PK units on the bookends in Tampa Bay and San Jose. Quite a bit of traveling involved.

Ottawa has top three 10 PK units against NJD, Nashville and Toronto.

Penalty Kill:

Chicago’s 3 games are all top 12 PP units in the NHL (Calgary, Dallas and Minnesota).

The Stars face three top 11 power play units – NYR (11^th), Pittsburgh (1^st) and Vancouver (2^nd) with an average PP unit – Chicago (15^th) mixed in half way through the week.