In many leagues, Week 10 is the midpoint of your fantasy hockey season. There is no time to spare, you need to flex your streaming muscles as you start the second half of your season. The Week 10 Fantasy Hockey Planner will guide you through your lineup decisions and also steer you toward the right H2H streamers. All streamers listed below are below 50% fantrax owned as I write.
Be on the lookout for our waiver wire column and all the rest of our Fantasy Hockey content.
Week 10 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. Five teams can offer 4-game weeks. A 4-game guy only needs to be half as good as a 2-game player to match the results. Win games played every week.
Week 10 schedule grid:
| Team | Games | Quality Games | 12/9 | 12/10 | 12/11 | 12/12 | 12/13 | 12/14 | 12/15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anaheim (ANA) | 3 | 0 | @MIN | LA | NYR | ||||
| Arizona (ARI) | 3 | 0 | CGY | CHI | NJ | ||||
| Boston (BOS) | 4 | 2 | @OTT | @WSH | @TB | @FLA | |||
| Buffalo (BUF) | 3 | 0 | STL | NSH | @NYI | ||||
| Calgary (CGY) | 4 | 1 | @COL | @ARI | TOR | CAR | |||
| Carolina (CAR) | 3 | 0 | @EDM | @VAN | @CGY | ||||
| Chicago (CHI) | 4 | 1 | @VGK | @ARI | @STL | MIN | |||
| Colorado (COL) | 3 | 3 | CGY | PHI | NJ | ||||
| Columbus (CBJ) | 3 | 1 | @WSH | @PIT | @OTT | ||||
| Dallas (DAL) | 3 | 1 | NJ | VGK | @NSH | ||||
| Detroit (DET) | 4 | 1 | @WIN | WIN | @MON | LA | |||
| Edmonton (EDM) | 3 | 0 | CAR | @MIN | TOR | ||||
| Florida (FLA) | 3 | 0 | TB | NYI | BOS | ||||
| Los Angeles (LA) | 4 | 1 | NYR | @ANA | @PIT | @DET | |||
| Minnesota (MIN) | 4 | 1 | ANA | EDM | PHI | @CHI | |||
| Montreal (MON) | 3 | 1 | @PIT | OTT | DET | ||||
| Nashville (NSH) | 3 | 0 | SJ | @BUF | DAL | ||||
| New Jersey (NJ) | 3 | 1 | @DAL | @COL | @ARI | ||||
| New York Islanders (NYI) | 3 | 1 | @TB | @FLA | BUF | ||||
| New York Rangers (NYR) | 3 | 0 | @LA | @SJ | @ANA | ||||
| Ottawa (OTT) | 3 | 2 | BOS | @MON | CBJ | ||||
| Philadelphia (PHI) | 3 | 2 | @COL | @MIN | @WIN | ||||
| Pittsburgh (PIT) | 3 | 0 | MON | CBJ | LA | ||||
| San Jose (SJ) | 3 | 0 | @NSH | NYR | VAN | ||||
| St. Louis (STL) | 3 | 0 | @BUF | VGK | CHI | ||||
| Tampa Bay (TB) | 4 | 1 | NYI | @FLA | BOS | WSH | |||
| Toronto (TOR) | 3 | 0 | @VAN | @CGY | @EDM | ||||
| Vancouver (VAN) | 4 | 1 | TOR | CAR | @SJ | @VGK | |||
| Vegas (VGK) | 4 | 2 | CHI | @STL | @DAL | VAN | |||
| Washington (WSH) | 3 | 2 | CBJ | BOS | @TB | ||||
| Winnipeg (WIN) | 3 | 1 | DET | @DET | PHI | ||||
| Total teams playing | 8 | 24 | 6 | 24 | 4 | 28 | 8 |
The relatively good news for this week is no teams have a 2-game schedule. The Thanksgiving schedule quirks are past. The quality game schedule is the typical Monday-Wednesday-Friday-Sunday.
My weekly 4-game skater targets:
Alex Tuch (LW/RW – VGK) is a player who will haunt players who passed him over on the waiver wire. Tuch started the year injured and only came back on Halloween. In his first 10 games back, he managed only a goal and an assist. In his last 4 games, however, he has exploded for 4 goals (2PPG) and 3 assists (1 PPA). Even through his slow start, he still averages 2 shots, a hit and half a block per game. While his current tear will not last forever, I could easily see Tuch putting up a 60-65 point pace for the rest of the year with good peripherals. If you can try him out next week, I recommend it.
Robby Fabbri (LW/RW DET) continues his career refresh in Motor City. With Anthony Mantha out, that has meant sometimes playing aside Dylan Larkin and Anthony Bertuzzi, the only mildly exciting line on the team. Fabbri typically gets multiple shots per game and scored a couple of goals in the past week with heavy power p. Even with a relatively slow end to November, Fabbri still has 10 points in 13 games for the red and white. If you get 2 points, 8 shots, and 4 hits in 4 games, that is a reasonable floor.
Kevin Fiala (LW/RW – MIN) has a goal and 5 assists in his last 6 games with the suddenly frisky Wild. It is unlikely the Wild can keep extending their current 5 game win streak. Fiala might fall victim to a team lull, but with linemates like Parise and Koivu he has a fighting chance of keeping things going. Fiala has never been much of a peripherals guy, so streaming him for a week is definitely a better play in points-only leagues. While it seems like he has been around for a long while, Fiala is only 23 and his current 50+ point pace is not unreasonable.
Tanner Pearson (LW – VAN) has been a favorite stream for me this year. I celebrated when he saved one of my teams with an amazing 2 goal, 2 assist performance against Edmonton last Saturday night. He had another goal on Tuesday and his current 220 shot pace would mark a career-high. Pearson does not get a lot of run with the stacked Canuck power play, but consistent deployment with Bo Horvat at even strength is a very nice situation. Pearson is currently at a hit per game on average, but his career rate is closer to 1.5 hits per game, providing more sneaky peripheral value.
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Daily Head-to-Head Streamers:
The Thanksgiving schedule quirks are passed. The quality game schedule is the typical Monday-Wednesday-Friday-Sunday. You can get a serious edge on your opponent in games played by grabbing a Monday-Wednesday player from the Senators, Capitals or Bruins. The Avalanche are even more attractive with three quality games: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I am not shy about my preferred strategy. I like quantity of games played in almost every situation. That means adding streamers I can fit in on quality game nights over slightly better players who will be buried on my bench.
My daily skater streaming targets:
Valeri Nichushkin (LW/RW – COL) is the new Andre Burakovsky: underachieving player from another team finally making good in Denver. Nichushkin has only 6 points on the season, but 5 came in the past 8 games. There is a lot to his deployment to dislike and his linemates and time on ice are substandard. His deployment is generally in the defensive zone. Lately, his seasonal pace of 2 shots per game is up to 3 per game. He consistently gets a hit per game and has been getting some chances on the second unit power play. The best argument, though, is that he may be the best bet from the Avalanche on the waiver wire. Adding Nichushkin will likely add three quality games played for the week.
Anthony Duclair (LW/RW – OTT) has taken 3 or 4 shots in 9 straight games. He could well have more than the 4 goals and the 3 assists he has put up in that time. Duclair averages nearly a hit per game so far this year, double his career pace. Perhaps his most common linemate, Brady Tkachuk, has rubbed off on him. While Ottawa has scrambled their lines a bit in recent games, Duclair is as good a bet as any to accumulate stats in week 10.
Mark Borowiecki (D – OTT) would deserve a mention for his heroic anecdote from the Vancouver road trip this week. When he saw an alleged thief smash someone’s car window and steal a backpack, the NHL enforcer encouraged them to “drop the bag, Bro.” When the man did not comply, Borowiecki clotheslined him and took it back himself. My recommendation is not based on just an entertaining story. The man his teammates call “Borocop” is a worthwhile add to your lineup if you use these two statistics: blocked shots and hits. His 4 hit, 2 blocks per game pace would tie his career-high in the former and blow away his career-high in the latter as he is now sitting at second in hits and sixth in blocks. His two early week quality games are great chances to pad your “banger” stats. “Dead or alive, you’re coming with him.”
My daily goalie streaming target:
Cayden Primeau (G – MON) has a nice opportunity potentially coming for him. If he stays up and the Habs play Carey Price on the front end of their Tuesday-Wednesday back-to-back, that would leave Primeau with a juicy Wednesday night matchup at home vs. the Senators. Primeau is a top prospect coming in from the AHL. Last year at the World Juniors he helped carry the US to the finals with a .936 sv% in 5 games. While his first NHL game this week started slowly with 3 goals allowed in the first period and a half, the rookie stopped the damage from the Avs after that for a respectable 2-3 loss. Suffice it to say a matchup with the Sens should be more favorable.
For more Week 10 Fantasy Hockey talk be sure to tune into my weekly podcast Fantasy Hockey Life right here on FantraxHQ for more streamer suggestions, great guest interviews, analysis, and general fantasy hockey tomfoolery. Find it wherever you download podcasts.
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