Here are some teams to target and avoid for the next week or two, several players to target that may be available in your league as well as teams that play a light schedule.

Anaheim Ducks = Target

Games: 6 (3H/3A)

Favorable Matchups:

• @ Buffalo – Allowing nearly 36 shots against per game.  In the bottom third of the league in GA/G.  Nine goals against in the last three games.  Just not a good team.
• vs. Phoenix – Bottom five in terms of shots allowed per game.  In the bottom third of league in GA/G.  16 goals against in the last four games.  Traditionally a good defensive team, but are vulnerable to let a few go by right now.
• vs. Buffalo – See above.
• @ Florida – Third worst team in GA/G.  Seventh worst PK in the league.  Eight goals against in the last three games.

The Ducks upcoming schedule consists of a game every other night starting Saturday.  Vancouver is their only upcoming opponent who is currently not in the bottom third of the league in defense.  Anaheim is averaging over three goals for per game.  The extra juicy matchups are the two against Buffalo and the trip to Florida.

Florida Panthers = Consider

Games: 7 (3H/4A)

Favorable Matchups:

• @ Washington – Fourth worst at GA/G and SA/G in the league.  13 goals against in the past four games.
• vs. Edmonton – Worst defensive team in hockey.  76.0% on the penalty kill.  17 goals against in the past five games.
• @ Ottawa – Allowing the most shots against per game in the NHL.  Averaging over three goals against per game.  Coming off a 5-2 loss to San Jose and 6-5 loss to Chicago.

The Panthers play seven games between November 1^st and November 12^th, highlighted by a visit to Washington and then the defensively-challenged Oilers come to town.  Only two other teams play the same number of games during this period. 

Pittsburgh Penguins = Beware

Games: 5 (2H/3A)

Unfavorable Matchups:

• @ NY Rangers – Have not allowed more than two goals against since October 19^th.  Coming off a shutout of Buffalo and they still have this guy named Henrik Lundqvist.
• @ St. Louis – Top eight in GA/G and shots against as well.  Three goals against in the past two games.

The Penguins have a home-and-home with Columbus this Friday/Saturday and then only play three games for the next 12 days.  Now I would never bench Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin as they are matchup proof, but perhaps a guy like Jussi Jokinen or Brandon Sutter might be bench worthy for some of these tougher matchups (or the whole week in weekly leagues).

Toronto Maple Leafs = Avoid

Games: 4 (1H/3A)

Unfavorable Matchups:

• @ Vancouver – Fourth best PK and top ten in shots allowed per game.  Eight goals against in the past four games.
• @ Boston – 1.83 GA/G this season (4^th overall).  Averaging only 28 shots against per game and Tuukka Rask is damn good.
• @ Minnesota – Surprisingly, in the top five for goals against.  Allowing the fewest shots in the NHL probably helps that.  Averaging only 23.4 shots against per game.

The Maple Leafs are one of two teams to only play four games during the next two weeks.  Three of those games are on the road and only one is against a team in the bottom half of the league in goals against.

Possible Pickups

Here's a list of some players, owned in less than 30% of Yahoo leagues, to target for the upcoming Monday to Sunday schedule.

Anaheim: Mathieu Perreault (11%) – Goal and an assist against Boston on Thursday night.  He's getting second line minutes at even strength and the power play.  Slotting in on that second line will allow Perreault to reap the benefits of Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry taking the brunt of opposing teams' defensive attention.

NY Rangers: Carl Hagelin (11%) – Just coming back from injury and picked up an assist in his first game back.  He received 17:15 and 18:08 in ice time while lining up with Brad Richards at even strength.  Richards is the only Ranger that appears to be producing so far this year.

Florida: Brad Boyes (14%) – Seven points on the year and has the best linemates you'll get in Florida right now (Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau).

Washington: Marcus Johansson (23%) – I was pretty surprised to see him owned in less than a quarter of leagues.  He's averaging 17:43 per game with 2:21 of that on the power play.  His normal linemates are none other than Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom.

Edmonton: Ryan Jones (0%) – With Sam Gagner back, Mark Arcobello got bumped down to the third line at even strength.  Jones was with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Ales Hemsky last game and got some power play time as well with the big boys.

Light Day Targets

Want to know what teams to target based on their schedule landing on light days for the upcoming Monday to Sunday schedule?

Week: Monday, November 4 through Sunday, November 10

Monday: 4 teams

Wednesday: 8 teams

Friday: 8 teams

Sunday: 14 teams

Tuesday: 18 teams

Saturday: 20 teams

Thursday: 22 teams

Back to the normal heavy Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday schedule with a welcome surprise of a heavier Sunday (14 teams in action).

So what teams have a good schedule for the light days?