Andrew Santillo, author of Looking Ahead, analyzes the upcoming schedule every week and delivers the five best and worst teams for every seven-day period to help with starting lineup decisions. Andrew also gives insight into some of the top and bottom teams for the week as well as some savvy free agent pickups that are not owned in the majority of leagues.
Home Stretch
After the trade deadline on March 4 there are still 22% of the games left to play. All NHL teams play between 17 and 20 games. The top schedules belong to the Senators (20.25), Flyers (20.13), Canadiens (19.94), Blackhawks (19.78), and Wild (19.74) who all play 20 games (ratings shown in brackets). At the other end of the schedule the Hurricanes (16.90), Penguins (16.95), Predators (16.97), Ducks (16.97), and Blue Jackets (17.23) have the worst combination of fewer games, tougher opponents and road games. The Blackhawks lead the homes games category with 13 after the trade deadline followed by Panthers, Flyers, and Canadiens with 11.
Many fantasy leagues have their playoffs the last few weeks of the regular season. Over the next few weeks I would like to address the 'playoff' schedule a few times. I want the analysis to be tailored to your rules, your formats, yours teams and your concerns so please post your playoff schedule questions in the 'Article Feedback' forum.
Starting Wednesday February 11, the Ottawa Senators play five games in seven nights including two sets of back to back games. All of these games are on the road. Playing five games in a one week span doesn't happen very often - only twelve times during the regular season and this is the only time it happens to the Senators.
Many fantasy pools have their playoffs the last few weeks of the regular season. Over the next few weeks I would like to address the 'playoff' schedule a few times. I want the analysis to be tailored to your rules, your formats, yours teams and your concerns so please post your playoff schedule questions in the 'Article Feedback' forum.
Many fantasy pools have their playoffs the last few weeks of the regular season. Over the next few weeks I would like to address the 'playoff' schedule a few times. I want the analysis to be tailored to your rules, your formats, yours teams and your concerns so please post your playoff schedule questions in the 'Article Feedback' forum.
From January 22 to January 26 the All-Star breaks gets in the way of fantasy hockey. It interrupts all NHL team's weekly schedules. Nashville gets eight days off. St. Louis, Montreal and NY Islanders, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh get seven days off. The rest of the teams only get five or six days rest. The charts below have a bit of a different look this week to give you an easier view of the number of games teams play around the All-Star break.
Saturday, January 10 marks the half way point in the NHL season. The optimists and pessimists can debate whether the season is half over or half remaining. For your fantasy skaters some NHL truths remain the same. The southeast is still the easiest place to get goals, thanks in large part to the Thrashers, while the northwest is toughest place to rack up the points. While poolies have long since noticed that Boston and Chicago has improved defensively and Dallas' fall from grace it might have gone unnoticed the defensive step back that the NY Islanders, Blues and Anaheim have taken. But fear not, the charts below are keeping up with these trends, recognising where the real strengths and weakness are for your fantasy skaters.
January would be a great month for fantasy hockey managers if it wasn't for that pesky five day all-star break. There are no games from January 22 from January 26 inclusive so it might be a good five days to plan a night out with your special friend without missing checking the scores. However, they still manage to squeeze a healthy amount of games in the rest of the month. The Ducks and Devils play 14 games in the month. All the other teams play between 11 and 13. The Avalanche have ten home games while the Sabres have only three.
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As my first round defeat in my NFL pool recently taught me it is never too early to think about the playoffs. In a head to head format chances are come the last month of the NHL season are playoff time and your weekly roster decisions will mean a lot more. So why not put yourself in the best possible position by acquiring players who are on teams with better final schedules.
Santa in a Flames Jersey
For the record it appears that Santa Clause is a Calgary Flames fan this year. Christmas finds them in the middle of a 5 games home stand stretches out over more than two week. If they didn't play the Ducks on December 23 they would have 7 full days off right over Christmas. So Flames fans have no excuses not to spend lots of times with the in-laws. Sorry.
