2025-26 NHL Fantasy Hockey Week 18, Part 2 Primer And Pickups

2025-26 NHL Fantasy Hockey Week 18 Part 2 Primer and Pickups

Can you believe we were robbed of NHL participation in the Olympics for 12 years?!

Congrats to Team USA for winning the gold, 46 years to the day of Miracle on Ice. It’s been a spectacular tourney, and the NHL now faces the impossible job of trying to match its drama and intensity as the playoff races resume and heat up.

The NHL returns to action on Wednesday, Feb. 25 with an eight-game slate, following by 12 games on Thursday, four on a light Friday, 13 on Saturday and then six on Sunday to finish off the week. If you’re playing on Yahoo, this will conclude an extended Week 18. If you’ve saved weekly transaction limits, now’s the time to use them.

With 22 teams playing three games, there’s not a huge advantage for some teams with the extra game. Watch for the back-to-backs, which may allow you to stream a player for all five days. You could, for example, stream Jared McCann for Wednesday-Thursday, Josh Doan on Friday-Saturday and Mats Zuccarello on Sunday.

The quality of play when the NHL resumes could be difficult to predict. Note immediately after the 4 Nations, a bunch of trades happened, and the same could result here because the trade deadline will be two weeks away once play resumes.

There will be plenty of roster moves as well, so watch for those. Not only were injuries a big story at Olympics with Kevin Fiala, Mikko Rantanen, Josh Morrissey and Sidney Crosby all missing the final games for their countries, but fatigue will be, too.

Jared Bednar hinted Brock Nelson, Nathan MacKinnon, Devon Toews and Cale Makar may sit out Wednesday’s game due to the short turnaround following Sunday’s gold-medal game, and others may follow suit.

That could additionally mean the Kraken face the Stars without Thomas Harley and Casey DeSmith starting, and Eric Comrie gets the luxury of facing the Canucks. These are potentially game-changing roster decisions that could be handled differently by each team, and might provide some opportunity for streaming options that otherwise looked far less attractive.

There are also some returnees, including Pavel Zacha, Neal Pionk and Luke Hughes, who missed time before the Olympics and whose status will be known for certain by game time Wednesday.

All positions and rostered percentages are courtesy of Yahoo Fantasy.

Schedule

Pick players from teams at the top of the schedule matrix to maximize games and matchups. Green is good. Red is bad. Points percentages are as of Sunday morning.

Season-long adds (< 50% rostered on Yahoo)

Jared McCann, C/LW, SEA (52% rostered)

Last chance to roster McCann, who was rostered in roughly 40 percent of Yahoo leagues and carried a five-game points streak prior to the break. The Kraken lineup may see changes – Shane Wright is trade bait and could move – but it shouldn’t affect McCann very much, who is locked in as their top left winger on L1 and PP1. The Kraken play a back-to-back immediately and host the last-place Canucks on Saturday.

Pierre-Luc Dubois, C/LW, WSH (27% rostered)

Dubois scored a goal and an assist in his first game back prior to the break and slots back in as the No. 2 center behind Dylan Strome. He’s been a good fit for the Caps and offers upside in multiple categories, including faceoff wins and power-play points on PP2.

Luke Hughes, D, NJ (65% rostered)

Hughes is already rostered in most leagues but it’s worth noting that he’s close to returning from LTIR following an eight-game absence. Sheldon Keefe sounded pretty optimistic Hughes would return, which means we could see him back on PP1 with Jack Hughes -- looking more like his usual self after scoring USA's golden goal -- and bumping Dougie Hamilton back to PP2.

Mid-term holds (< 50% rostered on Yahoo)

Mikael Granlund, C/LW/RW, ANA (30% rostered)

Leo Carlsson is not expected to return right after the break, which means Granlund retains his position as the Ducks’ top center. There might be a bit of a drop-off in intensity after captaining Finland to the bronze medal, but a L1/PP1 role, face-off wins and having Beckett Sennecke on his right wing should still give him plenty of value.

Blake Coleman, C/LW/RW, CGY (28% rostered)

Coleman was activated off IR on Feb. 20 and expected to play after missing 12 games. The veteran power forward is one of 17 players who currently have at least 100 shots and 100 hits. With one more hit, Andrei Svechnikov, Brady Tkachuk and J.T. Miller will join this list, but it remains an exclusive list, and Coleman is available in most Yahoo leagues.

Yegor Chinakhov, LW/RW, PIT (9% rostered)

Sidney Crosby sat out the gold-medal game and his status is uncertain, though he will get a few more days to rest up. That means, though, the Pens’ might lean on Evgeni Malkin’s line for offense. Chinakhov has been a nice addition to the Pens, scoring 12 points in 18 games, including eight goals on 38 shots. It’s an incredibly high shooting percentage (21.1%) that has little chance of being sustainable, even for a pretty decent shooter, but it could be offset with increased ice time.

Neal Pionk, D, WPG (42% rostered)

Josh Morrissey hasn't played since Canada's opening round-robin game and it seems unlikely he will play for the Jets upon his return. Pionk, however, is expected to return, and he’s the top candidate to take Morrissey’s spot on the Jets power play. He’s not an ideal quarterback but he can be productive, scoring four goals and 12 points on the power play last season.

Short-term streamers (< 50% rostered on Yahoo)

Charlie Coyle, C/RW, CBJ (34% rostered)

We shall see if Coyle can keep his hot streak going – 12 points in six games prior to the break – and the motivation is two-fold; Coyle is looking for a new contract and might be trade bait for a Cup contender. I have doubts he will continue to score at such a torrid pace, but his shot volume and faceoff wins are valuable in multi-category leagues.

Sean Monahan, C, CBJ (22% rostered)

Monahan admitted that the break was good for him, allowing him to rest and address some things that were bothering him throughout the season. It’s been a disappointing season overall with 10 goals in 52 games, though four of those goals were scored in the eight games prior to the Olympic break. It looked like his play was picking up, and his offensive momentum may continue with a cleaner bill of health.

Mavrik Bourque, C/RW, DAL (1% rostered)

With Mikko Rantanen expected to miss games following in his lower-body injury at the Olympics, Bourque is a top candidate to move into the Stars’ top six and PP1. He scored three goals in four games prior to the break and played with Wyatt Johnston and Jason Robertson earlier in the season.

However, should Glen Gulutzan choose to keep the Robertson-Hintz-Bourque line intact – they’ve been solid over the past few weeks – that could mean Sam Steel is the most likely to move up the lineup instead. I think Bourque has the higher offensive ceiling; whoever takes Rantanen’s spot with Johnston should see a boost in fantasy value.

Eric Comrie, G, WPG (2% rostered)

Just guessing here, but I don’t think the outcome of Wednesday’s game against the Canucks will change the fortunes of either team this season. Connor Hellebuyck deserves some extra rest as the Jets embark on a three-game road trip through the Pacific Coast, which puts Comrie in a position to get a very favorable start. Comrie won three straight starts with only goal allowed in each game just prior to the break.

The drawback is Josh Morrissey sat out all but the opening game at the Olympics, and more about his injury and his status should come when he re-joins the Jets. That’s a big blow, though the expected return of Pionk softens the impact. The Canucks, however, aren’t faring much better; Filip Chytil got hit in the face by a puck at practice and suffered a facial fracture, and Jonathan Lekkerimaki is getting season-ending shoulder surgery. The Jets still have a significant advantage. 

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