Fantasy Hockey Schedule Week 23: Young Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers traded away their leading goal scorer in Dustin Penner at the NHL Trade Deadline this past week.  The Oilers are handing the reigns of the team over to its young gun, and this week will be a big test. 

Edmonton plays four games on the road this scoring period against some of the best teams in the NHL.  First, it’s back-to-back games against the Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals.  The Oilers then close out the week against the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins.

If Ales Hemsky is out with an injury, the Oilers will be looking at Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle to carry the offensive load.  It’s time for these young Oilers to showcase what they can do.

Here is some great information for helping you to decide who to dress for the upcoming fantasy hockey week.

Aaron Brouwer is the co-creator of www.fantasyhockeycoach.com.  FHC is a free fantasy hockey service that developed a ranking system combining post-lockout statistics, current factors and our own hockey knowledge.  Brouwer writes about fantasy hockey and the Calgary Flames on Bleacher Report. You can contact Coach Brouwer at [e-mail].

Games to Be Played in Week 23:

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DENVER, CO - FEBRUARY 23: Jordan Eberle #14 of the Edmonton Oilers controls the puck against the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center on February 23, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. The Oilers defeated the Avlanche 5-1. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

FOUR GAMES: Buffalo, Columbus, Dallas, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Ottawa, St. Louis, Tampa Bay and Washington

THREE GAMES: Anaheim, Atlanta, Boston, Calgary, Carolina, Chicago, Colorado, Detroit, Florida, Minnesota, Montreal, Nashville, New Jersey, NY Islanders, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Toronto and Vancouver

TWO GAMES: NY Rangers

Home and Away Teams in Week 23

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COLUMBUS, OH - FEBRUARY 05: Magnus Paajarvi #91 of the Edmonton Oilers skates against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on February 5, 2011 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

When it comes to dressing your players for the upcoming week—especially your goalies—it is important to know which team is on a long road trip and which team is enjoying an extended period at home. Listed below are the teams that play at least three home/away games this week or play all their games at home or on the road (home/road records up to March 3, 2011):

HOME: Dallas (18-9-5), Florida (12-12-6), Pittsburgh (20-11-2), San Jose (16-10-3), St. Louis (18-11-4), and Tampa Bay (21-7-4)

AWAY: Buffalo (16-10-4), Chicago (15-9-6), Edmonton (10-16-4), Los Angeles (16-14-3), NY Rangers (19-13-1), Ottawa (10-16-4), Vancouver (17-9-4) and Washington (16-12-3)

Teams Playing on Sunday to Close out Week 23

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GLENDALE, AZ - JANUARY 25: Linus Omark #23 of the Edmonton Oilers skates with the puck past Ed Jovanovski #55 of the Phoenix Coyotes during the NHL game at Jobing.com Arena on January 25, 2011 in Glendale, Arizona. The Oilers defeated the Coyotes 4-3.

If you participate in any type of head-to-head hockey pool, then you are likely dressing a lineup for each scoring period, which usually ends on Sunday. As the week comes to an end and you find yourself in a close battle for those wins, you want as many players as possible playing for you. Here are the teams that play on Sunday (record for Sunday games up to Week 21):

Anaheim (8-4), Buffalo (1-2), Chicago (8-3), Dallas (3-2), Edmonton (3-7), Los Angeles (2-2), Ottawa (2-2), Phoenix (3-4), Pittsburgh (0-4) and Washington (8-1)

Back-to-Back Games in Week 23

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DALLAS, TX - JANUARY 26: Goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin #35 of the Edmonton Oilers in goal against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on January 26, 2011 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

When you are deciding which goalie to dress, you need to look at the NHL schedule to see if your goalie's team will play in a back-to-back game that week. Most coaches will not dress the same goalie in back-to-back games, so that is something to consider when you are thinking about which goalie to dress for the week. Here are the teams that play in back-to-back games this week (record of second game of back-to-back up to Week 21):

Atlanta (2-10), Boston (8-3), Buffalo (5-10), Calgary (4-6), Carolina (6-8), Chicago (8-5), Colorado (3-8), Columbus (8-5), Detroit (6-4), Edmonton (3-6), Minnesota (4-10), New Jersey (5-9), NY Islanders (4-10), Ottawa (4-8), Pittsburgh (8-5), St. Louis (8-5), Tampa Bay (6-6) and Washington (4-6)

Top Five and Bottom Five Teams

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NEWARK, NJ - MARCH 02: Martin Brodeur #30 of the New Jersey Devils makes a diving save during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Prudential Center on March 2, 2011 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Paul Bereswil

Knowing which team is on a hot streak or cold streak will help in making your lineup decisions. For example, you definitely want to dress a goalie from teams that are on a hot streak. Here are the top five and bottom five teams up to March 3, 2011:

TOP FIVE: New Jersey (9-1-0), San Jose (8-2-0), Chicago (7-1-2), Detroit (7-2-1) and Boston (7-3-0)

BOTTOM FIVE: Colorado (1-7-2), Atlanta (2-6-2), Florida (3-6-1), Pittsburgh (3-4-3) and St. Louis (4-6-0)

Streaking Scorers

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TORONTO, CANADA - FEBRUARY 26: Phil Kessel #81 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates up the ice during the game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Air Canada Centre February 26, 2011 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Abelimages/Getty Images)

Most elite stars are consistent scorers, but there are several players who are very streaky. So keep an eye on their stats so that you can dress them while they are on a hot streak. Here are the top five scorers up to March 3, 2011 for the past seven and 14 days:

SKATER PAST SEVEN:

Phil Kessel—TORONTO (GP: four G: four A: five)

Jonathan Toews—CHICAGO (GP: four G: five A: three)

Alex Tanguay—CALGARY (GP: four G: two A: five)

Jarome Iginla—CALGARY (GP: four G: three A: three)

Anze Kopitar—LOS ANGELES (GP: three G: two A: four)

SKATER PAST 14:

Jonathan Toews—CHICAGO (GP: seven G: six A: seven)

Phil Kessel—TORONTO (GP: six G: five A: five)

Patrick Shar—-CHICAGO (GP: seven G: five A: five)

Alex Tanguay—CALGARY (GP: six G: three A: seven)

Patrick Kane—CHICAGO (GP: seven G: two A: seven)

Hot and Cold Goaltenders

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SAN JOSE, CA - MARCH 1: Antti Niemi #31 of the San Jose Sharks makes a glove hand save against the Colorado Avalanche in the first period during an NHL hockey game at the HP Pavilion on March 1, 2011 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson

Here are the top five goaltenders and bottom five goaltenders up to March 3, 2011 for the past fourteen days:

HOT GOALTENDERS PAST FOURTEEN:

Antti Niemi—SAN JOSE (GS: six W: six SO: one GAA: 1.76)

Corey Crawford—CHICAGO (GS: seven W: six SO: one GAA: 2.52)

Johan Hedberg—NEW JERSEY (GS: four W: three SO: two GAA: 0.75)

Steve Mason—COLUMBUS (GS: four W: three SO: one GAA: 1.71)

Kari Lehtonen—DALLAS (GS: four W: three GAA: 1.51)

COLD GOALTENDERS PAST FOURTEEN:

Curtis McElhinney—ANAHEIM (GS: three L: three GAA: 5.18)

Ondrej Pavelec—ATLANTA (GS: three L: two GAA: 3.88)

Marc-Andre Fleury—PITTSBURGH (GS: six W: one OTL: three GAA: 2.96)

Pekka Rinne—NASHVILLE (GS: seven L: four GAA: 2.29)

Tomas Vokoun—FLORIDA (GS: four L: three GAA: 2.74)