Fantasy Hockey Schedule Week 14: Plan Ahead

Week 14 in the NHL schedule is an interesting one. First we have the Winter Classic between the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers. The Rangers have won both games this season against the Flyers and they have been very physical games. Expect a great game.

There are six teams that only play two games this week while there are six teams that play four games this week. Make sure you look at your roster this week; if you have the ability to sign free agents and your roster is loaded with players who are only playing twice this week, you may want to consider signing a player or two who play more games. 

If you are in a head-to-head pool check out your opponent’s roster to see how many potential games they may have. You don’t want to be caught playing against an opponent who has double the games you do. This is the week you want to plan ahead.

Games to be played in week 14:

	GP	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN
ANAHEIM	3			SJ		NYI		CBJ
BOSTON	3			@NJ	CGY		VAN
BUFFALO	3		EDM			@CAR	WPG
CALGARY	3		@WAS		@BOS		MIN
CAROLINA	3		NYI			BUF	@NAS
CHICAGO	4	EDM			@PHI	COL		DET
COLORADO	3	@LA				@CHI	@STL
COLUMBUS	3				@SJ		@LA	@ANA
DALLAS	3		DET		@NAS		EDM
DETROIT	3		@DAL				@TOR	@CHI
EDMONTON	4	@CHI	@BUF		@STL		@DAL
FLORIDA	2				@NYR	@NJ
LOS ANGELES	3	COL			PHO		CBJ
MINNESOTA	2			@VAN			@CGY
MONTREAL	2			WPG			TB
NASHVILLE	2				DAL		CAR
NEW JERSEY	4	@OTT		BOS		FLA	@PIT
NY ISLANDERS	3		@CAR			@ANA	@PHO
NY RANGERS	3	@PHI			FLA	@PIT
OTTAWA	4	NJ			TB		@PHI	PHI
PHILADELPHIA	4	NYR			CHI		OTT	@OTT
PHOENIX	3		@STL		@LA		NYI
PITTSBURGH	2					NYR	NJ
SAN JOSE	4	@VAN		@ANA	CBJ		WAS
ST. LOUIS	3		PHO		EDM		COL
TAMPA BAY	3		@TOR		@OTT		@MON
TORONTO	3		TB		WPG		DET
VANCOUVER	3	SJ		MIN			@BOS
WASHINGTON	2		CGY				@SJ
WINNIPEG	3			@MON	@TOR		@BUF

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 December 30, 2011):

HOME: Anaheim (7-10-1), Chicago (13-3-3), Los Angeles (10-9-1), Montreal (5-7-6), Nashville (10-6-3), Ottawa (10-8-1), Pittsburgh (11-4-2), St Louis (14-3-1) and Toronto (8-5-4)

AWAY: Colorado (7-8-1), Columbus (4-12-2), Detroit (9-10-0), Edmonton (5-12-1), Florida (10-8-2), Minnesota (10-7-3), New York I (5-8-3), Tampa Bay (6-12-3) and Winnipeg (5-8-4) 

If you participate in any type of head-to-head hockey pool, 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 (January 8, 2012):

SUNDAY: Anaheim, Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, Ottawa and Philadelphia

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. 

Here are the teams that play in back-to-back games this week:

BACK-TO-BACK: Boston, Buffalo, Carolina, Chicago, Colorado, Columbus, Detroit, Edmonton, Florida, New Jersey, New York I, New York R, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Jose and Winnipeg

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 over their last 10 games up to December 30, 2011:

TOP FIVE: Boston (8-2-0), Vancouver (7-2-1), Chicago (7-2-1), St. Louis (7-2-1) and Detroit (7-3-0)

BOTTOM FIVE: Edmonton (2-8-0), Columbus (2-6-2), Minnesota (2-5-3), New York I (3-6-1) and Anaheim (3-6-1)

Fantasy hockey is all about offense and what better place to generate offense then the power play. Here are the top five power plays up to December 30, 2011:

Vancouver Canucks: 24.8 percent
Nashville Predators: 21.1 percent
Edmonton Oilers: 20.7 percent
Detroit Red Wings: 20.1 percent
Toronto Maple Leafs: 20.0 percent

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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 on Bleacher Report. You can contact Coach Brouwer at [e-mail].