Week 15 Fantasy Hockey Planner and H2H Streamers

Week 15 Fantasy Hockey is here and you need to plan your moves.  Whether you are locking down a playoff bye or rallying to grab that last playoff spot, elbow grease will set you apart from the competition.  That means streamers.  All streamers listed below are owned in less than 50% of Fantrax leagues as I write.

Be on the lookout for our waiver wire column and all the rest of our Fantasy Hockey content.

Week 15 Fantasy Hockey Planner

Weekly Lineup Picks

Standard disclaimer: weekly leagues aren’t about what days games are on, they are about how many games your guys play.  A 4-game guy only needs to be half as good as a 2-game player to match the results, not to mention a 5-game guy. Win most games played every week.

Week 15 Fantasy Hockey Schedule Grid:

As near as I can tell, there is only one week in the entire 2019-20 fantasy hockey season where a team plays five games in a week.  It is the Islanders in Week 15.  While the Isles are not exactly the most exciting fantasy team, I have to prioritize them in Week 15.

Another quirk of the schedule involves the impending All-Star break.  Weeks 16 and 17 are combined in most leagues to form a single matchup period.  This is fortunate as between January 20-26 there are 17 teams that play no games at all.  The NHL schedules games only from Monday-Wednesday in Week 16.  Others (Detroit, Florida, Minnesota, and Winnipeg) follow 2-3 games in Week 15 with a 2-game stretch at the beginning of Week 16.  If your league happens to combine weeks 15-16 into one matchup period, you need to be especially aware of how to deploy your streaming moves.

My Week 15 5-game and 4-game skater targets: 

Jordan Eberle (C/RW- NYI) is what qualifies for “hot” on the Isles.  His goal at New Jersey broke a 6-game scoreless streak.  That said, his 2+ shots per game with half a hit and half a block per contest provide a balanced floor.  His 18 points this year have come in just 32 games, and his 5.9% shooting (compared to a 12.9% career mark) portends better days to come.

Devon Toews (D – NYI) is theoretically the #1 power play QB, though no defenseman on the Isles seems to get a great amount of power-play run.  Since the team’s loss of Adam Pelech for the season, Johnny Boychuk has been paired with Toews, and Toews has been getting all the minutes he can handle. In the first 38 games of the year, Toews surpassed 23 minutes TOI twice.  In the past 4 games, he has done it 3 times. While Toews has rarely scored, his 2.5 shots, 1.5 hits, and 1.5 blocks are another piece of the puzzle for peripherals leagues.  In his first full season at age 25, it is possible he could fall into a point or two in Week 15.  With his newfound minutes, he has a greater opportunity to do so.

Warren Foegele (LW/RW – CAR) is a boom-or-bust scorer.  In the last 8 Canes contests, Foegele has scored in only two.  December 28 against the Capitals he had two goals and an assist.  This week against the Flyers he had a goal and an assist.  Moreover, he almost never sees power-play time.  So why recommend him?  Foegele seems locked into the first line with Jordan Staal and breakout star Andrei Svechnikov, a very nice place to be.  He has held that deployment since November.  A look at advanced stats shows Svechnikov has been far more successful in terms of shots taken and shots allowed paired with Foegele than without him.  Add that to the well over 2.5 shots Foegele has averaged on this line and his hit per game on the season and I see a reasonable chance to tally points in week 15.

Dominik Kubalik (LW/RW – CHI) is on a tear.  In 16 games since moving to Jonathan Toews’s line, Kubalik has 8 goals, 6 assists, 34 shots, and 13 hits.  He has played on Chicago’s PP2 unit as well.  Though Kubalik had only 10 points in his first 27 games of the year, the 24-year-old rookie is not only a worthwhile play for Week 15, but may be difficult to drop after.

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Daily Head-to-Head Streamers:

The Hurricanes have 3 quality games this week, so players who need to conserve moves may want to join weekly lineup players in targeting Foegele.  A full 10 teams have 2 quality games.  Also, the Tuesday slate has 9 teams resting, so you may be able to squeeze a Monday-Tuesday back-to-back into your lineup.  That is the Isles (again) and the Bruins.  I am focused on players whose teams play twice between Monday and Wednesday – those you can drop to grab a second streamer mid-week.

Daily Streaming Targets for Week 15 Fantasy Hockey: 

Ilya Kovalchuk (LW/RW – MON) is somehow a streamer again.  In 3 games in action with his new team in Montreal, Kovalchuk has already put up 3 assists, 7 shots, and 8 hits.  His Monday and Wednesday matchups, Chicago and Calgary, allow the most and 3rd-most shots against, respectively, for the season.  Kovalchuk’s deployment has not stabilized yet, but it appears he’ll be alongside Max Domi.  His 6:01 PPTOI and 21:22 overall TOI Tuesday against Detroit shows Montreal will not be afraid of keeping him out on the ice to pile up the stats.

Robert Thomas (C/RW – STL), a highly-touted prospect, has been on fire.  In 7 games since Christmas Thomas has 4 goals and 4 assists.  As seen weekly in this column, I am not ashamed to ride a hot streak.  Admittedly, there are reasons Thomas remains on so many waiver wires.  He plays 3rd line, 2nd power-play minutes, has a high shooting percentage of 15.7%, and posts few peripherals.  Once you bank two games played and drop Thomas Thursday, that will be his next manager’s problem.

Tyler Bozak (C/RW – STL) plays alongside Thomas at even strength and on the power play, and both men have benefited from this arrangement.  Bozak has equaled Thomas with 5 goals and 3 assists since Christmas.  1.5 shots, half a hit and half a block are not great peripherals, but Bozak’s 55% faceoff wins are a nice peripherals bonus.

Streaming Goalie

Igor Shesterkin (G – NYR) is under 50% owned for now, but you had better hurry.  Shesterkin has long been awaited in New York.  He finally arrived this week with 2 wins.  Shesterkin gave up 3 goals in each, but his 46 saves against New Jersey got many Rangers fans excited for life after Hank.  With the Rangers trying to make it to the All-Star break with Shestorkin, Lundquist, and Alexander Georgiev all on the active roster, Ilya may have to do a couple of nights in the press box.  Still, the Rangers play 3 quality matchups out of their next four games (including one at the beginning of Week 16 leading to the All-Star break).  3 of the 4 matchups are against the Islanders (28th in goals scored) and the other against the Blue Jackets (25th in goals scored).  Buy and hope for 2-3 nights in net.

My weekly podcast Fantasy Hockey Life is right here on FantraxHQ.  Listen in for more streamer suggestions, great guest interviews, analysis, and general fantasy hockey tomfoolery.  Find it wherever you download podcasts.

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