Fantasy Hockey Schedule Week 7: The Return of Sid

There was plenty of speculation that Sidney Crosby was going to return this weekend but the Pittsburgh Penguins put those rumors to bed when they announced he would not. Crosby is very, very close to returning and if I were a betting man I would bet that he returns this coming week.  The Penguins want his first game back to be a home game and not a back-to-back so that could be this Tuesday when they are home playing a single game against the Colorado Avalanche. Crosby owners rejoice, it won’t be long till he is back on the ice.

Games to be played in Week 7:

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

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 November 11, 2011):

HOME: Calgary (3-4-1), Carolina (3-3-1), Edmonton (6-1-1), Montreal (2-4-2), Nashville (2-2-1), New York I (4-3-1), Vancouver (3-2-1) and Winnipeg (2-3-0)

AWAY: Chicago (4-3-1), Detroit (2-3-0), New Jersey (3-3-0), New York R (4-2-2), Ottawa (2-4-0), Phoenix (3-1-1) and Washington (3-3-0)

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, November 20, 2011:

Anaheim, Carolina, Colorado, Detroit, Ottawa, San Jose, Toronto 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 when you are thinking about which goalie to dress. 

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

Anaheim, Buffalo, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Montreal, New Jersey, San Jose and Toronto

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 November 11, 2011:

TOP FIVE: San Jose (8-1-1), Dallas (8-2-0), Edmonton (7-2-1), New York R (7-2-1) and Tampa Bay (7-3-0)

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

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 November 11, 2011:

Colorado Avalanche: 29.6%
Vancouver Canucks: 26.9%
Washington Capitals: 25.0%
Ottawa Senators: 24.5%
Florida Panthers: 24.1%

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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].