Week 1's in the books, and thanks to everyone who read, shared and argued with last week's post. You asked for it every week, so here we go.
Week 2 has a rhythm to it. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday are quiet, Tuesday and Thursday are busy, and Saturday is packed. If you stream on the quiet nights and ignore the rest, you'll be fine. Here's the full version, with every team worth targeting this week, over the next two weeks and over the next month.
Quick hits
- This week: Pittsburgh (4 games, 3 on quiet nights), Washington and Winnipeg (3 each, all on quiet nights), Philly (4)
- Next 2 weeks: Pittsburgh, Washington, Ottawa
- Next 30 days: Colorado, Winnipeg, Philly
Every team, every night this week: see the full Week 2 grid.
Every other night
47 games this week, and they alternate. The quiet nights are as open as anything we saw in Week 1. The busy ones aren't.
| Night | NHL games | Rosters with an open forward spot | With an open D spot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon Oct 5 | 4 | 92% | 99% |
| Tue Oct 6 | 9 | 58% | 80% |
| Wed Oct 7 | 3 | 96% | 99% |
| Thu Oct 8 | 10 | 48% | 74% |
| Fri Oct 9 | 4 | 96% | 99% |
| Sat Oct 10 | 14 | 16% | 48% |
| Sun Oct 11 | 3 | 98% | 100% |
| Mon Oct 12 (Week 3) | 3 | 97% | 99% |
Saturday's the worst night we've had so far: 14 games, and only about one roster in six has room for another forward. Tuesday and Thursday sit in the middle. A pickup playing those nights gets in about half the time.
This is also why the four-game teams aren't automatically the best adds. Philly plays four, but two of them are Thursday and Saturday, so a Flyer gets you about 2.5 usable games. A Capital playing three quiet nights gets you 2.9.
The strategies
Two adds: Ottawa Mon/Tue, then Washington Wed/Fri/Sun
Ottawa opens the week Monday and Tuesday, and Washington plays three of the four quiet nights after that. That's about 4.4 usable games for one forward spot. The best single add (a Penguin, below) gets about 3.0.
Options at every ownership level (Yahoo percent owned):
- OTT: Chabot (52%, D, power play), Pinto (8%, on a 52-point pace last season), Yakemchuk (6%, D, the 7th overall pick in 2024 and a flyer: only if he's with the big club)
- WSH: Kyrou (53%, new from St. Louis), Strome (45%, power play), Leonard (33%, young and on the power play), Protas (33%, on a 56-point pace), Fehérváry (8%, D, hits and blocks leagues), Sourdif (1%, finished hot: 0.28 points a game before New Year's, 0.62 after)
Kyrou's new in Washington, so check his line and his power-play spot from their first two games before you pick him over Strome or Leonard.
A third add? Skip it
You can squeeze a third add in (Ottawa, then Colorado Wednesday and Thursday, then the Rangers Friday and Sunday), but it only gets you about half a game more than the two-add stream. Save the move.
One add: grab a Penguin
Four games, three of them on quiet nights, and Pittsburgh also has the best schedule over the next two weeks (7 games, 4.2 usable). If you only want to make one move, this is it.
The interesting name is Chinakhov (33%). He had 6 points in 29 games in Columbus last season, then 36 in 43 after the trade to Pittsburgh on New Year's Day. Bryan Rust is on IR, and Chinakhov played 17 minutes in the opener with 5 of them on the power play. One game isn't a trend, but that's the role you want. Letang (13%, D) is the deep option.
Spare bench spot: rotate a Penguin and a Hurricane
Carry one of each and start whoever plays. Pittsburgh goes Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, Carolina goes Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, so between them there's a game every night. That's 7 games and about 5 that fit a lineup, with only Saturday overlapping.
- CAR: Jackson Blake (46%, 7.7 power-play minutes in the opener with Jarvis out), K'Andre Miller (31%, D), Hall (10%, finished hot: 0.44 points a game before New Year's, 0.76 after)
Teams to target this week
Ranked by usable games for a forward. D numbers run a little higher everywhere because D slots open up more often.
| Team | Games | Usable (F) | Usable (D) | Options |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PIT | 4 | 3.0 | 3.4 | Malkin 72%, Chinakhov 33%, Letang 13% (D) |
| WSH | 3 | 2.9 | 3.0 | Kyrou 53%, Leonard 33%, Protas 33%, Fehérváry 8% (D), Sourdif 1% |
| WPG | 3 | 2.8 | 3.0 | Vilardi 62%, Pionk 19% (D), Perfetti 7%, Björck 4% (flyer) |
| PHI | 4 | 2.5 | 3.2 | Konecny 84%, Sanheim 36% (D), Drysdale 10% (D), Dvorak 4% |
| NYR | 3 | 2.5 | 2.8 | Lafrenière 77%, Perreault 24%, Durzi 10% (D), Smits 2% (D) |
A few notes on those names:
- Malkin was on an 89-point pace last season with 3.2 power-play minutes a game. He's 72% owned, but check anyway.
- Vilardi averaged 3.1 power-play minutes a game on a 69-point pace. Perfetti finished hot (0.29 to 0.57) with 2.3 a game on the power play.
- Drysdale got 2.3 power-play minutes a game last season and 2.5 in the opener.
- Durzi (new from Utah) played 23 minutes in his first game as a Ranger. That's a lot of ice time for a 10%-owned D.
- Smits, the 5th overall pick in 2026, made the Rangers out of camp and played the opener. Flyer territory, but he's there.
Colorado and Minnesota are missing from this list on purpose. They play busy nights this week (Minnesota goes Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday), so a Wild forward gets about 1.2 usable games. Both have great months, though. More on that below.
The next two weeks
If you'd rather add once and hold through Oct 18:
| Team | Games | Usable (F) | Options |
|---|---|---|---|
| PIT | 7 | 4.2 | Malkin 72%, Chinakhov 33%, Letang 13% (D) |
| WSH | 6 | 4.1 | Strome 45%, Leonard 33%, Protas 33%, Fehérváry 8% (D), Sourdif 1% |
| OTT | 8 | 3.8 | Chabot 52% (D), Pinto 8%, Yakemchuk 6% (D, flyer) |
| MIN | 7 | 3.7 | Eriksson Ek 62%, Coleman 17%, Hartman 14%, Määttä 0% (D) |
| COL | 6 | 3.6 | Nelson 72%, Malinski 33% (D), Lehkonen 33%, Schwartz 1% |
Ottawa plays the most games in the stretch (8) and still ranks third, because too many of them land on busy nights. Washington gets more out of six.
The next 30 days
For a roster spot you want to set and forget through Nov 3:
| Team | Games | Usable (F) | Options |
|---|---|---|---|
| COL | 14 | 9.5 | Nelson 72%, Malinski 33% (D), Lehkonen 33%, Schwartz 1%, Juulsen 0% (D) |
| WPG | 14 | 8.1 | Vilardi 62%, Pionk 19% (D), Perfetti 7%, Björck 4% (flyer) |
| PHI | 14 | 7.9 | Konecny 84%, Sanheim 36% (D), Drysdale 10% (D), Dvorak 4% |
| MIN | 15 | 7.6 | Eriksson Ek 62%, Coleman 17%, Hartman 14%, Määttä 0% (D) |
| OTT | 15 | 7.6 | Chabot 52% (D), Pinto 8%, Yakemchuk 6% (D, flyer) |
Colorado has a bad week and a great month. If you can stand an Avalanche player sitting a few nights this week, he pays you back over the next four.
Holds for the next month
Players worth keeping rather than streaming, at every ownership level:
- Forwards: Nelson (72%), Kadri (66%), Landeskog (39%), Lehkonen (33%), Hartman (14%), Schwartz (1%)
- D: Chabot (52%), Malinski (33%), Määttä (0%)
That's a lot of Colorado, and it's on purpose: 14 games in the month, 9.5 of them usable for a forward, the best of any team. Schwartz (new from Seattle) had 2 points and 2.5 power-play minutes in his first game as an Av. Kadri, a deadline pickup last season, had 2 points in the opener too. Nelson averaged 3.3 power-play minutes a game. Malinski was on a 40-point pace from the blue line.
How this works
- I drafted 1,800 fantasy rosters (150 simulated 12-team, 16-round Yahoo drafts) off ADP, with some noise and a few deep picks.
- Yahoo standard skater slots: 2 C, 2 LW, 2 RW, 4 D. Each night, a roster's playing skaters fill what they can, and a pickup's game counts only if he fills one more slot. That's a usable game.
- Everything is in games, not points, because every league scores differently. The games that fit a lineup don't change.
- Ownership is Yahoo's percent owned this week. That's an average across leagues, not your league, which is why every team gets options at several levels.
- Player notes come from last season until a player has 20 games this season: second-half splits (at New Year's), power-play time (never for players on a new team), youth, new teams and injured teammates. Opening-week ice time shows up where it says something about a role, but one game is one game.
None of this knows who's free in your league or what your scoring rewards. It just tells you where the games that count are.
Do it for your own roster
The averages above are for a typical roster. Yours isn't typical. The schedule page shows every team's games and off-nights for any date range, and My Team (the Plan tab on phones) shows your open spots night by night and plans pickups for your actual lineup.
Check your wire, and good luck this week.