Strength of schedule

NHL Strength of Schedule 2026-27

Which NHL teams have the easiest and hardest schedules left this season, measured in standings points against an average slate. Switch to centres, wingers, defencemen, shots or goalies for fantasy, or open a team for its game-by-game calendar.

Minnesota Wild has the easiest remaining schedule: +1.14 standings points against an average slate over 74 games (opponents' points % .554). Detroit Red Wings has the hardest (−1.30, opponents .569).

Updated Oct 21, 1:20 AM ET

Easiest and hardest schedules

Easiest

Minnesota Wild74 GP · +1.14
Los Angeles Kings77 GP · +0.97
Dallas Stars75 GP · +0.94
San Jose Sharks74 GP · +0.91
Seattle Kraken74 GP · +0.80
Edmonton Oilers75 GP · +0.69
Anaheim Ducks75 GP · +0.59
Utah Mammoth74 GP · +0.51
Colorado Avalanche74 GP · +0.50
Vancouver Canucks73 GP · +0.41
Vegas Golden Knights73 GP · +0.32
Nashville Predators76 GP · +0.30
St. Louis Blues75 GP · +0.29
Winnipeg Jets75 GP · +0.17

Hardest

Detroit Red Wings75 GP · −1.30
New York Islanders75 GP · −0.90
Toronto Maple Leafs73 GP · −0.82
Columbus Blue Jackets76 GP · −0.81
New Jersey Devils75 GP · −0.78
Florida Panthers75 GP · −0.75
Ottawa Senators75 GP · −0.62
New York Rangers73 GP · −0.54
Tampa Bay Lightning75 GP · −0.48
Montreal Canadiens75 GP · −0.47
Carolina Hurricanes73 GP · −0.44
Buffalo Sabres75 GP · −0.34
Pittsburgh Penguins74 GP · −0.14
Washington Capitals75 GP · −0.13

Every team

Schedule edge in standings points (+ = easier)

NHL Strength of Schedule 2026-27: schedule edge, opponents' ratings, rest and travel for every team
#	Team	GP	H/R	Edge	Opp P%	Opp xGF%	B2B	Rest +/−	Travel km	Off-night
1	Wild	74	38/36	+1.14	.554	49.7	9	17/16	64,866	31
2	Kings	77	39/38	+0.97	.555	49.6	10	14/22	66,200	35
3	Stars	75	38/37	+0.94	.555	49.8	11	15/18	68,293	36
4	Sharks	74	38/36	+0.91	.555	49.9	12	17/20	63,164	39
5	Kraken	74	39/35	+0.80	.557	49.8	12	16/21	68,855	34
6	Oilers	75	38/37	+0.69	.557	49.8	11	19/19	63,932	39
7	Ducks	75	38/37	+0.59	.557	49.8	9	24/18	62,362	35
8	Mammoth	74	38/36	+0.51	.558	49.7	9	21/19	66,928	40
9	Avalanche	74	37/37	+0.50	.557	49.7	7	18/17	72,699	38
10	Canucks	73	38/35	+0.41	.560	49.8	9	22/20	61,681	34
11	Golden Knights	73	35/38	+0.32	.557	49.7	7	21/16	72,627	32
12	Predators	76	37/39	+0.30	.558	50.0	11	22/17	62,842	28
13	Blues	75	39/36	+0.29	.560	49.9	11	21/21	63,543	30
14	Jets	75	37/38	+0.17	.559	49.9	8	13/18	71,669	34
15	Flyers	73	36/37	+0.12	.560	50.2	10	20/18	49,224	33
16	Flames	76	38/38	+0.11	.560	49.9	7	16/16	63,987	35
17	Bruins	74	38/36	−0.13	.563	50.3	12	22/23	54,055	33
18	Blackhawks	75	37/38	−0.13	.562	50.0	12	22/17	54,853	39
19	Capitals	75	36/39	−0.13	.561	50.0	12	19/18	55,577	42
20	Penguins	74	39/35	−0.14	.564	50.1	13	24/24	45,027	32
21	Sabres	75	37/38	−0.34	.563	50.1	13	20/23	50,712	36
22	Hurricanes	73	38/35	−0.44	.566	50.4	9	15/16	55,408	31
23	Canadiens	75	36/39	−0.47	.563	50.2	9	20/22	60,396	34
24	Lightning	75	37/38	−0.48	.565	50.1	13	22/12	66,035	30
25	Rangers	73	36/37	−0.54	.565	50.2	10	20/22	57,523	38
26	Senators	75	38/37	−0.62	.566	50.3	12	16/19	53,053	35
27	Panthers	75	39/36	−0.75	.568	50.2	13	18/19	62,660	35
28	Devils	75	36/39	−0.78	.566	50.1	12	18/18	56,929	32
29	Blue Jackets	76	36/40	−0.81	.565	50.1	11	17/17	57,704	30
30	Maple Leafs	73	35/38	−0.82	.566	50.3	9	17/15	52,383	32
31	Islanders	75	37/38	−0.90	.568	50.4	13	17/22	56,161	34
32	Red Wings	75	35/40	−1.30	.569	50.4	11	18/18	52,194	36

Edge: standings points against an average slate of the same length (+ = easier); the 32 teams sum to zero. Opp P% and xGF%: opponents' ratings blended with last season. Rest +/−: games with more / less rest than the opponent.

Opponent ratings and the shrinkage

Each rating mixes this season with last season. “Weight” is this season's share (games played / (games + 40) for points %). Early in the year most of a rating is last season, pulled 40% toward the league average.

Team ratings used for strength of schedule: this season, last season prior, weight and blend
#	Team	GP	P% now	P% prior	Weight	P% used	xGF% used	GA/GP used
1	CAR	11	.773	.638	22%	.667	55.6	2.82
2	COL	10	.550	.667	20%	.644	54.6	2.76
3	TBL	8	.750	.613	17%	.635	54.2	2.85
4	DAL	9	.611	.635	18%	.630	50.9	2.56
5	MIN	10	.700	.605	20%	.624	51.4	2.84
6	BOS	10	.750	.591	20%	.623	50.1	2.83
7	VGK	10	.800	.572	20%	.618	54.2	2.85
8	EDM	9	.833	.565	18%	.614	50.8	3.13
9	BUF	9	.556	.624	18%	.611	51.7	3.15
10	MTL	9	.556	.613	18%	.602	50.8	3.23
11	OTT	9	.667	.587	18%	.602	51.7	2.92
12	UTA	10	.700	.561	20%	.589	54.1	3.02
13	WSH	9	.556	.572	18%	.569	50.3	3.03
14	NYI	9	.611	.558	18%	.568	49.7	2.76
15	FLA	9	.667	.532	18%	.557	52.3	3.13
16	DET	9	.500	.561	18%	.550	48.8	3.04
17	NJD	9	.556	.543	18%	.545	53.1	3.14
18	NYR	11	.682	.507	22%	.544	49.8	2.82
19	NSH	8	.563	.539	17%	.543	47.7	3.09
20	SJS	10	.550	.539	20%	.542	46.5	3.37
21	SEA	10	.650	.514	20%	.541	47.5	3.18
22	ANA	9	.444	.561	18%	.540	48.7	3.31
23	PIT	10	.350	.583	20%	.537	51.2	3.27
24	STL	9	.500	.539	18%	.532	50.9	3.12
25	WPG	9	.556	.525	18%	.530	47.5	3.06
26	CBJ	8	.375	.561	17%	.530	50.5	3.19
27	PHI	11	.318	.583	22%	.526	45.2	3.04
28	TOR	11	.545	.510	22%	.518	46.0	3.31
29	LAK	7	.286	.554	15%	.514	50.2	3.14
30	CGY	8	.250	.507	17%	.464	47.1	3.43
31	CHI	9	.333	.488	18%	.460	44.2	3.39
32	VAN	11	.227	.437	22%	.392	42.7	3.83

How much does schedule matter?

Not much over a season, more over a week. With perfect hindsight about every opponent, a normal 82-game NHL schedule moved a team by at most about 2.0 standings points from an average one (2018-19 to 2025-26; the 2020-21 divisional season was the exception at a standard deviation of 1.9).

Forecasting test: we trained on 2018-19 to 2022-23 and tested on 2023-24 to 2025-26 (96 team-seasons). At game 41, adding the remaining schedule to a team's own blended rating left the error of its rest-of-season points % unchanged (0.0810 without, 0.0810 with). A one-standard-deviation tougher remaining schedule is worth about 0.7 standings points over 41 games. That is noise next to a team's own quality, so we do not treat season SOS as a betting or futures edge.

Single games are different: a team facing an opponent one standard deviation weaker in goals against scores about 0.23 more goals that night (holdout 2023-24 to 2025-26, 7,872 team-games). Game lines already price the opponent, so this helps fantasy lineups, not bets.

How strength of schedule is measured

For every game we take the opponent's rating and ask how many standings points an average NHL team would expect against it, at that venue. Adding those up over a window and comparing with an average slate of the same length gives the schedule edge in standings points: positive means easier. The opponent rating is points %, blended with last season early in the year. Opponent xGF%, goals and shots per game are shown beside it.

Opponent ratings this early carry a lot of last season: on Oct 21 the typical team has played 9 games, so its rating is 18% this season and the rest last season. Over a full season even perfect knowledge of every opponent moves a team only about ±2 standings points.

For fantasy, short windows matter most: the next 10 days and the fantasy week, where off-nights, back-to-backs and weak opponents stack up. For standings or futures, treat the season numbers as a tiebreaker, not a forecast.

Points allowed by position and the goalie view

The position views rank each schedule by what its opponents give up per game: points scored by centres, wingers or defencemen against them, or shots on goal allowed. The goalie view flips it: the opponents' own goals and shots per game, so a lower number is a softer slate for your goalie. Each opponent number is shrunk toward last season like the main rating.

Shots allowed is the steadiest team trait here (split-half correlation 0.84 in 2025-26). Total points allowed repeats moderately. Which position those points go to does not: the defencemen's share of points allowed had a split-half correlation of -0.39, which is noise.

So a position view mostly re-sorts teams by overall defence. Use it to break ties between similar schedules for a centre or a defenceman, and lean on the shots view for shots-on-goal leagues, where the opponent effect is real and repeats.

Frequently asked questions

Which NHL team has the easiest remaining schedule in 2026-27?

Minnesota Wild, by +1.14 standings points against an average slate over 74 games, as of Oct 21. Detroit Red Wings has the hardest (−1.30). The gap between the extremes is small: NHL schedules are close to balanced.

How much does strength of schedule matter in the NHL?

Less than most fans think. In our backtest (2023-24 to 2025-26, 96 team-seasons), adding remaining schedule to a team's own rating at game 41 did not improve the forecast of its rest-of-season points % (error 0.081 with and without). One standard deviation of remaining schedule is worth about 0.7 standings points over 41 games.

Does the opponent matter for fantasy hockey?

Game by game, yes. A team facing an opponent one standard deviation weaker in goals against scores about 0.23 more goals that night (holdout 2023-24 to 2025-26, 7,872 team-games). That is why the next-10-days and weekly views are the useful ones for streaming.

Why are opponent ratings blended with last season?

Points % over a handful of games is mostly luck. A team's rating adds 40 games of last season's rate (pulled 40% toward the league average) to this season's games, the mix that best predicted the rest of the season in our tests. By 40 games the rating is about half this season.

How is strength of schedule calculated?

Each game is scored by how many standings points an average team would expect against that opponent at that venue (a win model fitted on 2018-19 to 2022-23, with home ice and a 22% overtime rate). The window total is compared with an average slate of the same length, so the 32 teams always sum to zero.