As discussed leading up to the season, I will be giving a breakdown on the week each Monday. I plan to cover which teams have how many games, who’s hot/cold, injuries, starting goalies and any other tips or notes that come to mind.

Week one of the HBSL is complete and you will notice you have a new matchup this week, as well as your score/standings from last week. Be sure to fill out a new team this week as perhaps some of your players from last week only have two games this week.

Games played per team:

2 games:
Buffalo – Columbus

3 games:
Anaheim – Boston – Calgary – Carolina – Chicago – Dallas – Edmonton – Florida – Los Angeles – Montreal – Nashville – New Jersey – New York Islanders – Ottawa – Philadelphia – St Louis – Tampa Bay – Toronto – Washington – Winnipeg

4 games:
Arizona – Colorado – Detroit – Minnesota – New York Rangers – Pittsburgh – San Jose – Vancouver

It’s always good to know who plays a lot of games, not only for the HBSL but for head to head fantasy if you have an injury and you are trying to fill a void. Having a player who plays four times in a week obviously gives you a better chance in terms of production than a player of the same skill playing two games. Simple logic, but you’d be amazed how these small details can help you win your week, and or solidify a playoff spot for yourself. As we all know, it can come down to the wire in the last week, so it’s best to do all you can to win each week as dominantly as you can.

Who’s hot in the early going that may be available?

Paul Stastny – 6 points in 3 games
Richard Panik – 5 points in 3 games
Leon Draisaitl – 5 points in 3 games
Jonathan Marchessault – 4 points in 2 games (he’s filling the void of Huberdeau)
Joe Colborne – 3 points in 1 game
Alex Killorn – 3 points in 2 games
Cal Clutterbuck – 3 points in 3 games (4 pim)
Alexander Wennberg – 3 points in 2 games

I will continue to update these lists throughout the week.

Starting goalies: (bold is starting, italics is probable)

San Jose (Marin Jones) vs New York Rangers (Antti Raanta)
Colorado (Calvin Pickard) vs Pittsburgh (Marc-Andre Fleury)
Ottawa (Andrew Hammond) vs Detroit (Petr Mrazek)
Boston (Tuukka Rask) vs Winnipeg (Connor Hellebuyck)

Key injuries:

Michael Stone – DTD
Jamie McGinn – DTD
Patrice Bergeron – DTD
Jack Eichel – December
Evander Kane – week-to-week
Jonathan Huberdeau – February
Nick Bjugstad – November
Jonathan Quick – Indefinitely
Marian Gaborik – late November
Sidney Crosby – DTD
Matt Murray – early November
Jaden Schwartz – indefinitely
Ryan Callahan – November
Bryan Little – indefinitely

After week one I scored 395.5 points in the HBSL and have a 1-0 start.

Best of luck to your fantasy teams this week.

Thanks for reading.