Fantasy Hockey Forecaster: February 14th – 20th

Welcome to my weekly Fantasy Hockey Forecaster! Here you will find:

• Top 3 waiver wire adds (among all players under 50% rostered at ESPN)
• Top 3 players who have gone “cold”
• Each team’s schedule ranking based on opponent’s points allowed, where the #1 ranked team plays teams allowing the most points so far this season.

Top 3 Waiver Wire Adds (under 50% rostered)

• Blake Coleman (RW, CGY) 33% owned. The 2^nd line for Calgary is very hot/cold, but right now they are playing well. Blake Coleman by himself has two goals and four assists across his last four games, along with nine hits. Add his linemates Andrew Mangiapane and Mikael Backlund to the mix and you get 12 additional points (six apiece).
• Oliver Ekman-Larsson (D, Van) 43% owned. Oliver is on the top Canucks defense pairing and the top power play unit amidst injuries and Covid. He’s made the most of it with two goals and three assists across the last three games and a healthy 24 ATOI per game.
• Jake Oettinger (G, Dal) 47% owned. How is he under 50% owned?? He has won three of his last four games and currently owns a 2.58 GAA and a .910 SV% on the season, even though the Stars didn’t really utilize him until almost a month in. There are a few 4-5 goals allowed games, but he gets wins and maintains good numbers—he’s ranked as the sixth-best goalie across the last two weeks.

Top 3 Players Gone Cold (over 50% rostered)

• Nicklas Backstrom (C, WSH) 82% owned. Backstrom has just one assist across his last four games.
• Cale Makar (D, Col) 100% owned. It’s amazing that you can say one assist across three games for a defensemen is going cold, but he has 44 points in 41 games and is headed towards a continued pace of Norris awards.
• Semyon Varlamov (G, NYI) 69% owned. Varlamov is only starting every 2-3 games at this point and he’s lost his last three games. I’ll say he’s allowed fewer than 3 goals in two of those three games but it’s clear he’s falling out of grace with the Islanders.