No games scheduled until Dec 26^th now, so don't worry about missing any action while you're tucking into a holiday meal with the family. That means the current fantasy week is already over. For those of you in Roto and points leagues, this is turning into a "wait it out" kind of time, but for those of us dealing with short head to head weeks, man games and the schedule mean everything. Try not to overreact though, as this is only a week or two on the season, and it shouldn't make or break your year.

For commissioners looking to fix the matchup imbalance, look into whether you can add this matchup week to next, and split out the weeks around what was supposed to be the Olympic break. It sounds as though there should be a lot of games rescheduled into that gap.

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Philadelphia and Washington had their game postponed due to positive cases on the Washington end. That brings the list of teams without confirmed positive cases among the players to seven by my count. Anaheim, Dallas, Minnesota, New York (Rangers), Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, and Winnipeg. If you're looking for a few adds coming out of the holidays, these might be your best bets.

As a result, Minnesota vs Winnipeg on Dec 27^th and the New York Rangers vs Tampa Bay on Dec 31^st, are the only games I have confidence in being played next week. However, with players all seeing family and friends over the holidays, there shouldn't be a lot of optimism at this point that a five-day shutdown will fix all of the cases. That's also on top of a few positive cases from Vegas yesterday who played Tampa Bay last night (with Jon Cooper also testing positive), so even they aren't a sure thing anymore.

All this to say, if your team or your league is looking at quick fixes to deal with the missing week right now, then consider that it may not just be a one-off week that we are dealing with here.

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Alex Tuch is finally healthy again. The 25-year-old is going to be playing for his hometown team, and should be given all the minutes he can handle. He has some high upside, and may be one of the cheapest 75-point-upside players you can acquire at this point in time. There's some additional multi-cat ability there too with the shot and hit volume.

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The date of the Midseason Guide is now set – and it will be January 15. This Guide comes with your Ultimate Fantasy Pack or Gold/Platinum subscriptions. It does not come with the Keeper League Fantasy Pack nor the Silver subs. You can pre-order it here.

Starting some research on the @DobberHockey mid-season #FantasyHockey guide. Some very early notes:
-Dougie Hamilton has more games with 10 shots than with 0.
-Garnett Hathaway and Brady Tkachuk are the only players with two shots and three hits per game.

— Alex MacLean (@alexdmaclean) December 19, 2021

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I'm going to link this excellent article over on GoaliePost once more as it should be hugely relevant over the next few weeks. It's worth the read. Check it out here.

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Last year, Jordan Binnington again started out the year well, and then coasted for the rest of the season. That makes it three years in a row now, that he has tailed off mid-season. Something to look at if you own him and are able to sell him for another goalie that has started off slowly, like a Darcy Kuemper type.

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At this point we can also look ahead to the World Juniors, where the eyes of most hockey fans will be over the holidays. The WJC is also a great time to stockpile your prospect system with players that could see their stock rise, and then flip them in early/mid-January for actual producers. It's a system that I and many others have taken advantage of time and time again, as the value for the players gets driven up to astronomical proportions in some cases.

Here are some DobberProspects articles to get you caught up on the names to know ahead of the start on Boxing Day:

2022 WJC Preview – Group A

WJC Players to Watch – Group B

WJC Players to Watch – Group A

The Preview for Group B should be up shortly, so check back in soon.

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I'll touch on a couple of the prospects that may still be under the radar enough that you can get them cheaper in dynasties, or that they may be available to add in keeper leagues.

Topi Niemela (D)

The third-round pick by the Leafs in 2020 has done everything in his power to outperform his draft slot ever since he was selected. He has dominated in Finland, while putting up some excellent numbers at the international tournaments over the last few years as well. Despite being on the smaller side, he knows how to handle the puck, and eventually that should pay big dividends for a team like the Toronto Maple Leafs who have a plethora of scoring forwards. Not having crossed the pond yet means that Niemela is relatively under-heralded in fantasy circles to this point, but that won't last long, especially if he performs as expected in the upcoming WJC games.

Martin Chromiak (LW)

One of my personal favourites, Chromiak was on my radar as a late first/second round option in the 2020 draft, but he slipped to the fourth round where the LA Kings snapped him up (of course it was the Kings, it's always them). Chromiak could be known better to you at the moment as Shane Wright's linemate in Kingston. Chromiak and Wright have been playing together for the last two seasons now, and that bodes extremely well for the Slovakian winger. I may not be a scout, but one thing that holds weight with me is when a player can elevate their game to match more skilled players. It shows that they have both the skills and the intelligence to adapt to a higher level, and makes the transition to the NHL much smoother. He'll be a focal point of the Slovak offence in this year's tournament.

Oh, and he's another one of those guys skilled enough to do this:

.@LAKings prospect Martin Chromiak pulls off the 'The Michigan'! 🤯

🎥: @KingstonFronts pic.twitter.com/lJ3zSJDxkO

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 30, 2021

Logan Stankoven (RW)

Stankoven was ranked in the late 20s on my fantasy draft board right before the NHL draft took place, but he ended up going much later than that, falling all the way to 47^th overall where Dallas snapped him up. He's an undersized winger, but his high-tempo game matched with an above average shot have helped him produce excellent numbers in spite of it. He's going to be a fan-favourite on a Canadian team that will have a lot of eyes on them from your rival fantasy GMs.

As of right now though, he's on the outside looking in, but then again so is Canada's best point producer in Connor Bedard. It's tough to put a lot of stock into pre-tournament lines, as it's never the way that things end up, be it injuries, poor play, or possibly even Covid this year.

Here are the most recent lines, if you're curious.

Team 🇨🇦 with some new lines today

Perfetti – Wright – Bourgault
Johnson – McTavish – Bourque
Neighbours – Greig – Sourdif
Cuylle – Desnoyers – Guenther
Stankoven – Bedard

Only the third line is unchanged @TSN_Edge

— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) December 20, 2021

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I'm thinking that next week there isn't going to be too much to cover, so I'll be looking to update my salary projections, and put those out with a bunch of salary, player, and team thoughts next Wednesday. Keep an eye out for those. In the meantime, feel free to find me on Twitter @alexdmaclean if you have any fantasy hockey questions.