Scout Report – Week 19 Preview

This season our scouting department will be giving an update prior to the start of each game week to give you all the information you need to get your team top of the standings.

Roster Moves

We’ve got a few new signings to cover this week with both incoming players set to play important roles for their teams. First up is Sheffield bringing in a veteran of nearly 400 NHL games in Brett Ritchie, who scored 50 goals throughout his NHL career. Since leaving the then Arizona Coyotes in 2023 Ritchie has spent the last few seasons in Europe, most recently at Villacher in Austria. At 6’4″ and 220lbs we think he is set to play a big role in Sheffield and be one of their most productive forwards. He is added in at 10.0M.

Ritchie joins on the back of Derek Gentile leaving in somewhat strange circumstances without consent from the Steelers. After a strong start to the season he has cooled off but there are still 31 GM’s who will need to trade him out. Our final signing is Liam Soulière who joins Glasgow to cover the injured Sami Aittokallio. Lucas Brine had a strong weekend so it remains to be seen how they split the time going forward. Soulière is added at 9.0M although this might be a good time to bring Brine in for some spot starts at just 5.0M.

Who’s Hot?

As we have reached the conclusion of week 18 it is time for another value adjustment where the top ten scorers over the last six weeks will get a increase of 0.5M onto their value. Here are those players –

For week 19 our scouts pick is tricky with no team having an advantage of having more games. Belfast and Sheffield playing each other twice is probably going to be two tight games so we can discount them, and Guildford’s two home games aren’t very appealing as their scoring has dropped off. We will instead go for a player who has started to score more lately after a great season last year was followed by a slower start this season. Josh MacDonald has averaged 30 points over the last three weeks and Cardiff have games against Manchester and Guildford this week so we will bank of him getting to that average again.

Current average points per week so far – 26.92 points.

Latest player scores are available on our site –

Upcoming Schedule

Week 19 see’s Nottingham hosting the 2026 IIHF Continental Cup finals so they don’t have any games this week, while everyone else has the usual two games. From these games though we have Belfast hosting Sheffield twice while Glasgow have two games on the road and Guildford have two home games, so plenty to think about in your trades this week.

Friday 16 January 2026
• Belfast Giants vs Sheffield Steelers (142) – 19:00
• Manchester Storm vs Glasgow Clan (143) – 19:30

Saturday 17 January 2026
• Guildford Flames vs Fife Flyers (146) – 18:00
• Dundee Stars vs Coventry Blaze (145) – 19:00
• Cardiff Devils vs Manchester Storm (147) – 19:00
• Belfast Giants vs Sheffield Steelers (144) – 19:00

Sunday 18 January 2026
• Fife Flyers vs Dundee Stars (148) – 17:00
• Coventry Blaze vs Glasgow Clan (150) – 17:30
• Guildford Flames vs Cardiff Devils (149) – 18:00

Games Per Team (with opponents)

Belfast Giants – 2 (vs Sheffield Steelers, vs Sheffield Steelers)
Cardiff Devils – 2 (vs Manchester Storm, @ Guildford Flames)
Coventry Blaze – 2 (@ Dundee Stars, vs Glasgow Clan)
Dundee Stars – 2 (vs Coventry Blaze, @ Fife Flyers)
Fife Flyers – 2 (@ Guildford Flames, vs Dundee Stars)
Glasgow Clan – 2 (@ Manchester Storm, @ Coventry Blaze)
Guildford Flames – 2 (vs Fife Flyers, vs Cardiff Devils)
Manchester Storm – 2 (vs Glasgow Clan, @ Cardiff Devils)
Nottingham Panthers – 0
Sheffield Steelers – 2 (@ Belfast Giants, @ Belfast Giants)