Fantasy Hockey Schedule Week 21: Trade Deadline a Week Away

Week 21 is the final week before the NHL trade deadline, and we have already seen four trades in the last two days.  None of those trades will have much fantasy impact, but they will have an impact for those NHL teams come playoff time.

Today the Nashville Predators traded Blake Geoffrion, Robert Slaney and a draft pick to the Montreal Canadiens for Hal Gill and a draft pick.  Gill bolsters an already strong defensive core in Nashville.  I'm not sure another defenseman was what they needed, as they could use another top-six forward.

Yesterday there were three minor deals.  The Tampa Bay Lightning sent Dominic Moore and a draft pick to the San Jose Sharks for a draft pick.  The Dallas Stars acquired two draft picks from the Philadelphia Flyers for Nicklas Grossman.  And the Anaheim Ducks sent Bryan Rodney to the Edmonton Oilers for Ryan O’Marra. 

Moore is a solid bottom-six player who can kill penalties and is on pace for 27 points this season.  Grossman is a big defenseman who is not an offensive guy.  But he should allow the other offensive d-men in Philly more opportunities because he is responsible in his own end.

In other news Sidney Crosby skated today with the Pittsburgh Penguins but is still having post-concussion symptoms.  Rumors are he is targeting a return to action about a week from the start of playoffs.  Here are the games to be played in Week 21:

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

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 will enjoy 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 February 17, 2012):

HOME: Calgary (16-8-2), Carolina (14-12-3), Nashville (18-7-4), Ottawa (15-11-3), Pittsburgh (17-8-2), Toronto (16-9-4) and Winnipeg (16-9-2)

AWAY: Boston (17-8-0), Philadelphia (18-9-2), San Jose (13-8-5), Tampa Bay (9-17-4), Vancouver (19-9-2) and Washington (9-15-3)

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 (February 26, 2012):

SUNDAY: Anaheim, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Florida, Minnesota, Montreal, New Jersey, NY Islanders, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Tampa Bay and Vancouver

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. 

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

BACK-TO-BACK: Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Florida, Los Angeles, Minnesota, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, San Jose, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Vancouver and Washington

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 February 17, 2012:

TOP FIVE: Vancouver (8-0-2), Detroit (7-2-1), Phoenix (7-2-1), NY Rangers (7-2-1) and Nashville (6-2-2)

BOTTOM FIVE: Chicago (1-8-1), Ottawa (3-5-2), Colorado (3-5-2), Minnesota (3-5-2) and Washington (3-4-3)

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 February 17, 2012:

Vancouver Canucks: 22.1 percent
Nashville Predators: 21.5 percent
Edmonton Oilers: 21.4 percent
San Jose Sharks: 21.2 percent
Philadelphia Flyers: 20.1 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].