Matchup Maximizer 2025/26 Week 20

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1:17What's up, everybody? Welcome to another episode of Elon's Match Up Maximizer, a podcast presented by Kevin Carlson, where I, Elon Dubrovsky, take a look at next week's NHL schedule. Try to figure out which teams we should be targeting to maximize our chances of winning. Our head to head matches, and of course, players from those teams. I'm looking at the week of March 9th to March 15th for a lot of us. The last week of the regular season, this could be huge. This could be make a break. And the NHL has thrown us kind of a tricky week. Okay, it's not going to be a week where you can really do too much damage. Unfortunately, the Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. Those are very busy days. We've got 26 teams playing Tuesday, 28 Thursday, 28 Saturday. Likely, you're already, if you set your roster for next week, benching some players on those busy days. So this is where you need to figure out if you're like fighting for the playoffs, maybe you need to drop some of those players you'd rather hold. But if they're not going to make it in your roster this week, there might be a guy you're sitting all three times. You can't hold them and then miss out on the playoffs. Of course, on the flip side, if you've locked in a playoff position,

2:20you've got to keep your eyes open for some tasty drops. And take a look at the schedules for the following playoff weeks in order to maybe capitalize. But we're going to be focusing on trying to win next week's matchup on this episode. And yeah, there's only a couple teams really that have good schedules. The number one best schedule of the week goes to the Ottawa Senators who avoid all the busy days except for Saturday. They go Monday at Vancouver, excursion goals there, Wednesday versus Montreal, Saturday versus Anaheim and then Sunday versus the San Jose Sharks. You're getting a Monday, Wednesday and Sunday. There are at least you can stream your guy for the Monday, Wednesday, reassess from there. I'm recording this, by the way, Saturday night. It's around 11.30 Eastern time. Unfortunately, the SENS are playing right now. So I'm not going to have final results for you. But they're in the second period. They're up three to one against the Seattle Kraken goals from Tyler Clevin, Dylan Cousins and Shane Pinto. So maybe you could have thought to maybe stream in a Shane Pinto because he's got a goal and an assist already today. Is that a sign of things to come? I mean, maybe Pinto is at least someone

3:22that you're likely going to find available in your free agency in a lot of leagues. You look at the Ottawa free agents and who you're potentially going to be able to stream in. I'd imagine you're not going to be able to find us. Anderson, Stutz, Luke, Kachak, Batherson, Cousins, Shabbat. After that, maybe some decent options, right? So like I just said, Shane Pinto has a goal and an assist today. The game's not even over yet. He also scored in the last game versus Calgary. We don't love the deployment for Pinto. He's been playing on the third line with the Maudio and Nick Cousins, not seeing top power play. But I mean, you know, Vegas can't be choosers. There's not really any, like this is one thing that has three off-day games. And then I'm going to have for you four, five teams that have two off-day games. And then that's it. You're either finding teams with none or just one off-day game. So I think if you can get three off-day games from Shane Pinto, that's probably a good bet for you. I guess another person to target could be Claude Giroux, who's rostered an only 21% of Yahoo leagues. It's 20% for Pinto, both of them free agents in my keeping Carlson,

4:22ultimate patron fantasy league division for what it's worth. So I'd imagine they'll both be going tomorrow on Sunday or early Monday morning. Giroux has been ice cold, like totally cold. Pointless in six games going into today. So far, nothing in this game versus Seattle, but hard to ignore the deployment for Claude Giroux, playing with Stutzlow and Batherson at even strength. And of course, the names Claude Giroux. He's the player who we've seen have a lot of success in the past, even this year, even with this cold streak still up to 39 points in 61 games. You would think with three off-day games you should be able to expect a point or two. I'm not sure what's going on with Giroux right now, but seems worth a shot. You know, depending on your other options, I would probably go Pinto, even though he has a worse line, just seems like someone who's producing more recently. I just have kind of more faith in Pinto being a better player at this point in his career. He's been taking even when Pinto was cold for a little bit. He's still had a bunch of four and three shot games. So I'll say Pinto number one, Giroux number two, Ridley Gregg, maybe out there for you.

5:22Gregg's been playing on a line with cousins and catchucks. So I love that deployment. If that holds, that's not too shabby. Gregg hadn't assist in the last game against Calgary. Nothing so far against Seattle. We'll see. So I think probably I would though have Gregg third. So yeah, Pinto, Giroux, Gregg, all potentially decent options for you. If you want to stream someone from Ottawa, I guess a dark horse could be Warren Fogel, who they just acquired from the Kings. Fogel is playing today on the fourth line with Zetterland and Ella. So that definitely doesn't inspire much confidence, who knows if he moves up the lineup, I wouldn't bank on Fogel. But he's had some success over in LA. Like I mentioned, Tyler Clevver, score to goal. He's good for your hits and blocks, but in general. And not even for blocks, actually, lately. So I think you can stay away from Clevver. So that's the Ottawa Senators. Let's see who else you may want to target. Like I said, five teams who have two off-day games. Got the Edmonton Oilers going Tuesday, Thursday, and then Friday, Sunday. So maybe you're looking at a late week stream from the Oilers. At this point, it's getting hard to ignore Matt Savoy, who continues to produce.

6:22He had a run of four games in a row, with at least a point, including a couple of multi-point games, finally went pointless in the 6-3 loss to Carolina. Going into that game, Savoy was playing on a line with dry cider and Roslavik, which is pretty good, though. I'm seeing maybe the lines were shifted around throughout the game. So we'll have to watch Game to Tweets.com and see where Savoy lines up. Obviously, you're going to want him playing with either a McDavid or a dry cider to have a good chance to continue getting those points. If you can't get Savoy, I guess you've got Vasili Podkolzen, who scored a goal in the last game against Carolina, had a four-game point streak a week back. When he's not getting points, you're still seeing five or six hits a game recently from Vasili Podkolzen in that game. He was playing in the bottom six with Kappen and Jason Dickinson for most of the game against Carolina. So maybe things will shift around. If not, yeah, hard to expect too much offense, but maybe you can get something from Podkolzen. Edmonton, we know how it goes. You're not going to get access to anyone on the top power play and that's where most of the damage is done.

7:22So I wouldn't be rushing to grab any of these oilers so I think the lines could change after another struggle on Tuesday and Thursday, who knows how things will look for Friday, Sunday, but someone to look at, like the strategy for a week, like next week, I really feel like if you have someone to bench, maybe you're looking at a goalie or a defense, you're trying to feel the spots that are open on your roster and I've had some really bad luck this week with goals. I might lose my matchup mainly because of two botched final ads. I went in a delk of a chest today for a negative, went Merzlikens today for another negative, just so brutal thinking of the points I could have gotten if I just went for a safer choice. I thought they were pretty good options for me. But anyways, maybe you'll do better next week. You can look at the teams playing on Monday, Tuesday, for example, Utah, like you can try to get another vantage-check good game. You got to shut out in the last game, which we haven't seen in so long. Can you do it again? I don't know. Calgary goes Monday, Tuesday. Devon Coolie's actually been pretty good. So you know, there's a few teams you'll have to take a look at the schedules or you could just wait and see and bounce on a good goalie that's available.

8:22That gets a start, but clearly no guarantees. You might end up hurting yourself more than you're helping yourself. But yes, that's Edmonton, that's Ottawa. I guess at this point I can take a break. We're not going to have that much to go through today, because like I said, most of the teams have pretty basic schedules, but we still have four more teams that have two off-date games. So better than nothing, we'll be back in a sec. Draft King Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NHL is built for the fastest game on ice, with player props and live betting every shift, every shot, every save gives you the options to get in on the game with Draft King Sportsbook. I'm taking a look at the odds right now. I like looking at the awards. See the Norris odds there. It's basically Kale McCarran-Zack-Werenski, both the overwhelming favorites. Quinn uses the next up, pretty high odds at it. Quinn uses, I think it's pretty good, maybe he has a shot. But hey, that's up for you to decide over a Draft King Sportsbook. New customers bet just $5, and if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets instantly. Download the Draft King Sportsbook app and use Co-THPN. That's Co-THPN to turn five bucks into 300 in bonus bets

9:22if your bet wins. In partnership with DraftKings, that crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambleer, New York. Call 8-7-7-8-Hope-En-Wire. Text Hope-En-Wire. Connecticut. Call 8-8-8-8-7-8-9-7-7777 or visit ccpg.org. On behalf of Boothill, Casino, and Kansas, wait your tax pass through, may apply in Illinois. 21 plus and most states void in Ontario restrictions apply. Bet must win to receive bonus bets, which will expire in seven days. Minimum odds required. For additional terms and responsibilities, build gaming resources, cdkng.co, slash audio, limited time offer, copyright 2026, NHL all rights reserved. The New LinkedIn Hiring Pro can't clone you, but it can streamline your hiring workflow. From posting jobs to shortlisting candidates to interviewing, LinkedIn Hiring Pro is the hiring partner you need. So you can focus on connecting with the right talent. In fact, small businesses report saving over six hours per week. So, hire right the first time with LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Post a free job today at LinkedIn.com slash bandora.

10:26Few things are as uplifting as the greatest moments in sports. And nothing brings us together quite like Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games. From NBC Universal's iconic storytelling to the innovative technology across Xfinity and Peacock, Comcast brings the Olympic Games home to America, sharing every moment with millions. When Team USA steps onto the world stage, we're not just watching, we're cheering together. This winter, we're all on the same team. Comcast, proud partner of Team USA. So, like I said, we still have four more teams that will give you two off-day games, which is what we're looking for here on a tough schedule on a week where we're mainly just having most players playing Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and maybe one extra game on the Sunday or sometimes we'll have only three games. You can have the islanders, for example, Tuesday, then Friday, Saturday. So, you're really going to grab an islander player just for like that one Friday game. So, I'm going to focus on the three and two. I gave you Ottawa who has the three off-day games.

11:26We've got, like I said, we went to Edmonton and now we've got four more to go. So, let's go to the Washington Capitals next, who are on a bit of a cold streak. They've lost three in a row. Haven't been scoring too many goals as a Tom Wilson manager. I've definitely noticed. You're not going to be able to find Tom Wilson in Fragency, but maybe you can find someone today. They lost three one to Boston, Protoss score to goal from Chikren and Ryan Leonard. Protoss is probably not available to you. Chikren definitely not available to you. Ryan Leonard. Yeah, he's probably available to you. He has this today. Like I said, he scored a goal in the previous game. Leonard is now only 10% rostered on Yahoo. And if you look at the lines from the last game, it was Mick Michael, Sourdief, and Leonard. I guess we call that the third line. Wilson Dubois Protoss was a line. But somehow Leonard assisted on that Protoss goal. And then we have a strong Bovilier and Ovechkin. So, just from looking at those lines, you would think like an Anthony Bovilier is in a pretty good spot playing with Ovi. And yeah, he did have a 2s this game. A couple of games go against Montreal, but in general, not looking too great, hard to really recommend Bovilier.

12:28Did I give the Washington schedule, by the way, Monday, Wednesday, then Thursday, Saturday? So you can do the Monday Wednesday from Washington and then switch to someone from Edmonton. The question is, who are we going to grab from Washington? Like I said, they haven't been scoring a lot of goals lately. In general, you want the guy playing with Ovi. This is, you know, 40-year-old Ovi. Ryan Leonard, by the way, has been on the top power play with Ovi, Strom, and Tom Wilson, and Jacob Chikren. So I think that probably Ryan Leonard is the most interesting regardless of his even-strength line. It seems like someone that's available in a lot of leagues that you'll be able to get something out of. Conor Mick Michael is playing on this line with Sourdief and Ryan Leonard. I thought maybe with Nick Dowd traded, Mick Michael could get a good spot in the roster, but look at this point. He's pointless in five games since the break. I don't know really how we can recommend Conor Mick Michael at this point. Really, you just want someone on the top power play I think at this point. Or maybe like a Pierre-Luc Dubois, who's 38% rostered. He's been hot and cold since coming back from his injury. A couple really awesome games. A couple quiet games. Did absolutely nothing today. Cardio session versus Boston.

13:28But if Dubois gets dropped, I think, for a Monday Wednesday, I would definitely go with him. Give me Dubois first, then Ryan Leonard, and then I don't know, good luck. Rasmus Sandin. I'll throw it out there. He had an assist in the game against Utah and two assists against Vegas. It looks like he's even playing against Boston. Maybe he'll have to check the rosters. And I know that they just got Timothy Lillgren. Brian and I are either able to do a full mega show tomorrow or we'll look into all the trades and the fantasy impact. I don't know how much we'll talk about Timothy Lillgren. But I guess maybe he does affect the chances of Rasmus Sandin. But I'm not sure about that. But I'm sending him a couple good games for Rasmus. We're really not worth mentioning. Boville, I guess, is someone that I would consider because he's playing on that top line. So give me Dubois, Leonard, maybe Boville, and Mick Michael would be the bottom of that list. Sourdief had that run for a little bit, but he's been really quietly at least. I think we can forget about him. So sorry, I haven't really given you too many exciting options there on the capitals. We can go next to the Philadelphia Flyers who also go Monday, Wednesday,

14:29and then Thursday, Saturday. Philly's usually a little bit more interesting, and they're coming off a four-three win against the penguins today. They were without Travis Kineckney yet again. Brian and I can look into that in more detail tomorrow, but the lines without Kineckney, they had, I guess, Kate's Michkov Barkey was a line. Trevor Zegris was on a line with Grunstrom and Tippett. I guess Zegris and Dvorak have been separated. I'll be honest, I haven't looked at the Philly lines for a while. Dvorak was with Alex Bump, who's just been called up. And scored a goal for what it's worth. And Nikita Gribankin, and then Shankuturi, I guess you'd call that the fourth line with Glendending and Garnet, Halfway Oh, man. Who are we going to recommend here? I mean, you're probably going to have some options, right? Like Trevor Zegris and Travis Kineckney are probably the only for sure rostered guys in pretty much every league. Though even Trevor Zegris has been kind of cold lately. I'll get Brian's take on the mega show only. He had an assist today for what it's worth. And that four-three win over Pittsburgh, had a goal four games beforehand. But generally kind of quiet for Trevor Zegris.

15:29So depending on your other options, I'd probably hang on. But I guess it depends how deep your league is. But Zegris is definitely cooled off a little bit from that amazing run to start the year. Now well below point per game on the season. But yeah, who's our next best option here? Like no, Kate's has been doing pretty well lately. He had an assist against Pittsburgh. And then also had a goal. And this is a couple of games against Toronto. And this is versus Boston. Like he was on a bit of a run here. We're looking at now three, four, five, six, six points in the last six games. It's pretty good for Noah Cates. Like I said, Cates playing on a line with Mitch Gov and Barkey. I guess you can look at like a Matt V. Mitch Gov. I had him at one point and make a couple of division and dropped him. I don't know if I regret it too much yet though. Point today before that he was pointless in three. So I guess yeah, it's been pretty cool. But if you can get Mitch Gov for a Monday Wednesday, I definitely take a shot on that. But yeah, otherwise, I'm not really sure. Honestly, like, tip it might be available to you. I'm always kind of interested in tip it, though his shots have been way down. So really in general, just Philly.

16:29Not too exciting. No big names here that I can just jump out and be like, for sure. Grab the skies on the top line, top power play. Like they were running two even power plays today. Zegris, tip it. Mitch Gov. Barkey and Drysdale on one. The Devoric Cates bump. Sanheim, York on the other one. I don't know. Denver Barkey. Like I said, getting good deployment scored a goal today. Maybe that's something. I know he's an up and coming prospect. But really, yeah, it's just not too much excitement here on Philly. So I really want to help you out listeners. But I'm not sure. We have one more team left here that has two off day. There's no two teams left. Okay, so maybe we'll find something here. Montreal, Canadians, we can go to. They're playing Tuesday, Wednesday, and then Saturday, Sunday. So you're going to be streaming for a Wednesday and a Sunday. So you can decide if you want to jump early or not. Montreal's changed up their lines. For a long time, they were rolling with, you know, Suzuki coffee. And then Kirby Doc was there. And then Kapanen was centering. Demodov and Slavkovski. But in today's win against L.A.

17:30And I think the game before also, Koffield, Suzuki and Slavkovski reunited. Which really is great for someone like a Slavkovski. You're not going to find it for agency. And then not great for kind of anyone else. Like, especially, you know, you look at an Oliver Kapanen who was being, you know, centered by or surrounded by Demodov and Slavkovski, which is a pretty good spot. Now obviously not as good if Kapanen is going to be on a line with New Hook and still Demodov, I guess. But yeah, a bit of a downgrade there. So I'm definitely less interested in Kapanen at this point. Demodov for what it's worth also has been pretty cold lately. I wonder if you're getting to a point where you need to consider dropping. Though I guess with a good schedule week, that's a reason to hold on. Otherwise, maybe you'd be concerned. I don't know, like New Hook, Jeremy mentioned on the last show that New Hook was starting to do something. He had three games with points in a row. But since then, quite in the last two. And really, there's no reason to be too excited about anything that Alex New Hook has been doing. Kirby Doc, Brian and I were interested in while he was on that top line with Suzuki and Koffield.

18:33He did have an assist in this game today against L.A. But overall, yeah, I've lost a lot of interest. And then you look at the top power play. You're looking at Suzuki, Koffield, Slavkovski, Demodov, Lane Hudson. So I think once again, as long as these lines hold, I'm not really seeing anyone, especially worthwhile. I'm sorry, like maybe if Matheson gets dropped, you know, he gets a lot of minutes and has had a couple good games. There's also been really quite lately and also probably in a lot of these Matheson is taken. Sorry, everybody said no. Looks like no dice there on Montreal. I'm starting to wonder if this is a podcast even worth releasing as we go to the St. Louis Blues, who are completely depleted since they've traded away Braden Shen. And Justin Falk, but you know what? They still were able to pull off that win against my stream of New York, which in the San Jose Sharks yesterday. They barely took any shots, but they made a count, especially Robert Thomas, who scored two goals in that game. Thomas now has six points in three games since returning from his injury. He's been insane now that you can get him anywhere so it doesn't really fit for this podcast.

19:34But I guess you can try to target people playing with Rob Thomas. It looks like he was playing with Holloway and Snuggaroo in that last game against San Jose. So yeah, Jimmy Snuggaroo jumps out to me and I was like, I'll take a guy who got one goal and one assist against San Jose is playing with Rob Thomas. I'd even strength and on the power play at least in that last game. So I think Snuggaroo might be our streamer of the weekend. Did I give St. Louis the schedule? It's Tuesday, Thursday, and then Friday, Sunday. So similar to what I said about Edmonton, but maybe you just jump early on a Snuggaroo to make sure to get those points. It's just a really good spot to be on a week where it's hard to find people to stream. Aside from Snuggaroo, like who are you going to be able to add? I mean, if you're in a super shallow league and get a Holloway or a Butch Niewicz, then sure. But looking at a more standard league, like generally, I would look at who's playing with Jordan Cairo. But I don't know, Jake Navers has been with him lately. Navers has been like especially cold. Like maybe there's a chance Navers could do something. He also gets some power play time, but I don't see a reason right now to jump on Navers.

20:37Maybe like on Friday, if you see some signs of life on Tuesday or Thursday, then you jump on the Friday Sunday. But yeah, I think Snuggaroo or of course a Holloway or Butch Niewicz are the guys that totally jump out. I guess then you look at defense, right? And you see that Camp Fowler's gods of someone's going to get some opportunity. Logan Mayu was on a round of goals and two straight games and taking some shots. Didn't do much against San Jose, though he did play 25 minutes. So that's pretty good. I think you're looking at a Mayu or you're looking at a Broberg as the defense from that could potentially benefit from fall coming out of the picture. Broberg has assists in two straight games, though I'm seeing that Mayu is the one that got more power play time in the game against San Jose. So I think you can go either way there. But if you need D, like especially if you could fit a D on the Tuesday or the Thursday, kind of take a shot on either of them. Both of them played huge minutes. Actually, Broberg, I'm seeing played 32 and a half minutes. Is that right? Wow, against the Sharks. Only in assists and no hits or shots or blocks. It's kind of like what were you doing there. But you got a point at least Mayu maybe seems to have more upside at this point for offense. I think you can really make an argument either way.

21:39But yeah, those are the the blues to target. I guess that's really it. I'm sorry. Like I guess we can go the other way. There's a ton of teams. Like I said, that are playing just Tuesday. Thursday Saturday. Like I could run through them. Boston Buffalo. Like I guess you can look at your own roster and see it as like 10 of them. So these are teams Dallas Detroit. I keep going. I don't know New Jersey. New Jersey is the only team that actually only plays two times next week. But don't let that fool you. Like there's no difference between New Jersey and like Columbus. They who plays Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. Like it's just like if you're sitting the player, it doesn't really matter if their team is playing or not. So I think you really got to look at if you you really got to set your roster for next week. Like I said, and see who is on your bench for potentially every single game they're playing. Because there's no point holding someone like that unless it's a week where you don't necessarily need to win. In which case, hold on and maybe even try to snag a good player who's dropped by another desperate team. So it's a lot of strategy going into the last week of the season, depending on your situation. Good luck, everybody. I'll be back with Brian tomorrow for the mega show.

22:39We're going to talk about all the exciting trades from the trade deadline, some hot and cold streets. I think it's going to be a long one because we're going to want to get everyone prepared for that last week of the season and start looking towards the fantasy playoffs. Thanks for listening. And we will see you tomorrow, bye. Bringing your business dreams to life takes heart and about a thousand decisions a day. That's why Atlantic Union Bank's knowledgeable bankers are here for you. With the right guidance and customized solutions to help you reach your business goals. So whether you're planning your next move, upgrading your space or scaling to meet demand, we make sure your business is ready for what's ahead. Because we are big enough to support you. Yet small enough to know you. Atlantic Union Bank, anyway, you bank. The new LinkedIn Hiring Pro can't clone you, but it can streamline your hiring workflow. From posting jobs to short-listing candidates to interviewing, LinkedIn Hiring Pro is the hiring partner you need. So you can focus on connecting with the right talent. In fact, small businesses report saving over six hours per week.

23:42So hire right the first time with LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Post a free job today at LinkedIn.com slash Pandora. Few things are as uplifting as the greatest moments in sports. And nothing brings us together quite like Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games. From NBC Universal's iconic storytelling to the innovative technology across Xfinity and Peacock, Comcast brings the Olympic Games home to America, sharing every moment with millions. When Team USA steps onto the world stage, we're not just watching. We're cheering together. This winter, we're all on the same team. Comcast, proud partner of Team USA. Now with the Home Depot, receive 12 months special financing and free basic installation on carpet projects with life proof, life proof with petproof technology, home decorators collection, and traffic master carpets. Bring a new look to your floors, give them a durable surface that stands up to life's tough messes. Get 12 months special financing on installed carpet projects right now at the Home Depot.

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