2026-27 NHL Fantasy Hockey Week 7 Primer And Pickups

The big event in Week 7 is the first of two Global Series this season with the Kraken and Hurricanes playing in Finland on Thursday at 12 p.m. EST and Saturday at 1 p.m. EST.

They’re two of five teams playing just twice this week, and five other teams are playing four games. Wednesday will feature six games, which is slightly more than usual, following by 11 games on Thursday and a week-high 14 on Saturday.

It’s hard to believe but we’re already 20 percent into the 2026-27 season, and while there’s still plenty left to play, we can be sure of a few things:

- The Hurricanes, Wild, and Oilers are very, very good. 

- The Blackhawks and Canucks are very, very bad.

It’s unfortunate the Blackhawks and Canucks play just five times combined in Week 7, so there aren’t many chances to take advantage of the matchup, but there’s definitely some streaming value for the Flyers’ and Rangers’ goalies when they visit Vancouver on Monday and Friday, respectively, and the Sabres’ and Jets’ goalies when they visit Chicago on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.   

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 from the 2026-27 season.

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

Arseny Gritsyuk, LW/RW, NJ (39% rostered)

A quiet week entering Sunday’s game for Gritsyuk, who scored just one assist in three games despite putting nine shots on goal and the Devils scoring 14 goals during that span. There is no reason, however, to think that Gritsyuk won’t have fantasy value for the remainder of the season. He’s playing L1/PP2, and per moneypuck.com remains the Devils’ most effective scoring line at 3.87 expected goals per 60 minutes. Gritsyuk’s ice time per game is also trending up, and in points leagues offers points, good shot volume, and a modest amount of hits.

Joonas Korpisalo, G, NYR (10% rostered)

The Rangers are a decent team who have a good chance of making the playoffs and Korpisalo won his first start of the season with 25 saves in Seattle. With the James Reimer experiment ending after just one period – if he does not play again this season, he will finish with a .625 SP and 9.00 GAA – and Dylan Garand clearly not ready for a starter’s workload, the Rangers will likely lean on Korpisalo quite heavily this season.

I’m not confident in Korpisalo by any means, but he should be able to provide good volume, and if the Rangers are still very good defensively – they have the second-best PK and allow the 11th-most shots per game – it’ll make Korpisalo’s job a lot easier and help him put up better stats.

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

Zach Benson, LW, BUF (60% rostered)

Benson was featured last week and might be a season-long hold if he can hold down the L1 spot with Tage Thompson for the rest of the season. Given how the Sabres’ play can be quite uneven at times and how much talent they have, I’m still unsure if Benson can hold down that spot.

In the meantime, however, he’s on a six-game points streak and played at least 20 minutes in three straight games. He deserves to be rostered until circumstances change. This may be fantasy managers' last chance to roster Benson. 

Alex Laferriere, C/LW/RW, LA (45% rostered)
Quinton Byfield, C, LA (36% rostered)

Laferriere continues to hold the edge in fantasy value over Quinton Byfield, continuing to center Artemi Panarin and Adrian Kempe on L1 and PP1. Laferriere’s scored two points, both on the power play, with 11 shots and five hits, offering multi-category coverage. If Laferriere continues at this pace, he will be one of the best value pickups of the season.

Byfield only holds the edge in leagues where faceoffs are counted, though it’s worth noting that he might be heating up with three goals in is past six games after scoring just once in his first seven games. At just 36 percent rostered in Yahoo leagues, he might be worth picking up again just to see if his hot streak can continue. Overall, though, he continues to be very underwhelming.

Emmitt Finnie, C/LW, DET (30% rostered)

It’s been three games since Finnie scored a point but the whole team has struggled to score with only three goals in three games. I don’t think Finnie’s role as 1C is in any danger – who else are they going to use?! – but on a team that can’t score, his offensive production is obviously going to be capped. In deeper leagues, however, I think Finnie can be a useful multi-category contributor a name to keep in mind for future fantasy seasons.

Gabriel Perreault, LW/RW, NYR (18% rostered)

After a quiet five-game stretch, Perreault has scored a goal in two consecutive games with L1/PP1. The Rangers have won three straight and there’s some stability in net with Korpisalo back in action. The Rangers visit Calgary and Vancouver this week, setting up two favorable matchups.

Berkly Catton, C/LW, SEA (6% rostered)

The more I watch Catton play, the more I’m convinced he’ll be the Kraken’s best offensive player by the end of the season. Matty Beniers is a fine two-way center, but Catton has hands, vision, and the finishing ability Beniers doesn’t. Catton’s points streak is now at eight games and would’ve had two straight multi-point games had his first goal against the Flames not been overturned for offsides. In points leagues and dynasty leagues, Catton still has a lot of underrated value.

Charle-Edouard D’Astous, D, TB (39% rostered)

We’re sounding like a broken record here but D’Astous remains on track to be this season’s Darren Raddysh. He scored three points in Minnesota on Saturday, including two on the power play. The interesting wrinkle now is the Lightning power play, which was 3-for-6 against the Wild and finally looking dangerous, uses both D’Astous and John Carlson. The two also play together at even strength, giving the Lightning a very mobile skating pair with McDonagh-Cernak drawing the most difficult matchups, including Kirill Kaprizov’s line.

D’Astous has now scored 11 points in 15 games entering Sunday’s game, and should now be picked up in all leagues. For fantasy managers who roster Carlson, it’s a double-edged sword; while he retains some fantasy value with PP1, sharing the ice with D’Astous means he won’t be the PP QB we had envisioned when he was signed to replace Raddysh. As a side note, this bumps Brandon Hagel to PP2, but it has never really affected his fantasy value in past seasons because he’s done most of his scoring at even strength.

Devon Levi, G, EDM (60% rostered)
Tristan Jarry, G, EDM (49% rostered)

Jarry played well enough in Levi’s absence to warrant more playing time, but I do think Levi is the stronger goalie. Given how well the Oilers have played this season – they’re a top-five team – both goalies should be rostered in standard leagues until Frederik Andersen returns.

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

Trevor Connelly, LW, VGK (9% rostered)

Connelly has been featured in this space before but gets another mention with a three-game goal streak. He’s emerged as a candidate for the Calder in a loaded class; it’s true that his fantasy value gets a bump from playing PP1, but most of his points have come via even strength, and the Knights have a very solid third line that can score with Connelly and Victor Olofsson – another goal scorer – flanking Tomas Hertl.

The Knights have an easy schedule in Week 7 with three home games, including one with the league-worst Canucks, who are tracking to be one of the worst defensive teams in the league.

Mavrik Bourque, C/RW, NSH (4% rostered)

Bourque stepped into Jonathan Marchessault’s spot on PP1 during his three-game absence and may continue to do so if Marchessault does not play during their upcoming road trip. The Preds are on a roll with a four-game winning streak, and all four of their upcoming Week 7 games will be against very poor PK, including the Kings (32nd), Ducks (24th), Knights (22nd), and Sharks (19th).

Bourque has not made much of an impact this season – zero goals in 13 games – and if this upcoming week is as good a chance as any for him to snap his slump.

Eric Pohlkamp, D, SJ (0% rostered)

I’m intrigued by Pohlkamp, a fifth-round pick by the Sharks in 2023 who’s well-known for one thing: Shooting the puck really hard. He notched his first NHL point Saturday in Dallas with an assist on Ivar Stenberg’s goal, and through three games is averaging 16 minutes per game.

He’s playing on the third pair with Dmitry Orlov, but what’s most intriguing is that both are also playing PP2 while the Sharks run a five-forward PP1 (for the time being). I’m not sure why Ryan Warsofsky is so averse to playing Sam Dickinson on the power play, but it seems like Pohlkamp might’ve jumped him on the power play depth chart. If the Sharks continue to struggle to score, might Warsofsky give Pohlkamp a chance on PP1? We might get a chance to see it this week with the Sharks playing four games.

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