This looks to me like the busiest week of the year for hockey. There are 18 teams with 4 games this week and of course the World Juniors are underway. This means you will likely have to make some choices in which players you bench and which you play. Personally, I hate having to bench anyone…it’s the worst; just last week I picked playing Krecji over Evander Kane who got two assists, one of which was shorthanded. You can’t win them all!
Hopefully for the most part you have had luck with not getting injuries, mumps or other such reasons to lose a player to the IR. Myself, I’ve pretty much had an injury or mumps victim every week of the year! It’s been ever so entertaining having to pick a new free agent every week to add to my roster…mind you it doesn’t hurt all that bad considering I’ve been able to pick up some quality free agents and move them through trades to ‘upgrade’. This week it looks like Evander Kane and Patric Hornqvist are hurt, or at least banged up. At this present moment I’m hearing that Horqvist will likely be out 2-3 weeks, and E. Kane is questionable for tonight’s matchup versus Minnesota.
Over the last few weeks I have been keeping an eye on the status of Jordan Staal. It just so happens to be that he returns to the lineup tonight for the Carolina Hurricanes. They sure could use him back in the lineup…I’ve decided to take a chance and scoop him up with my rotator slot since I still have Perry on the IR. Perhaps you need a player on your roster with some potential like Jordan Staal…he is usually second line center and will go on the wing from time to time as well as kill penalties and get power play time. If only Carolina was a better team he would be a great pickup; time will tell if he secures a spot on my roster or gets dropped back into the free agency pool.
Look for teams to start playing their starters a bit more and their backup’s a bit less. The season isn’t at the half way point yet, but it’s just around the corner as most teams have played around 35 games. A few things to note in the west there is no longer and large winning streaks; Chicago (50 points) is still the powerhouse with a +38 rating and Edmonton (21 points) is still the worst with a -49 rating. Anaheim still has the most points in the NHL with 54. In the East you have Pittsburgh (49 points) with a +25 rating and Carolina (24 points). Buffalo has been above .500 in their last 10 games and has played some better hockey after a horrendous start but still have a -45 rating. The New York Rangers have won 8 games straight and I feel that is worth noting as they have squeaked into third place in the Metropolitan Division.
Here is a list of which teams have how many games going forward this week:
(3) Games: Anaheim – Arizona – Calgary – Chicago – Columbus – Detroit – New York Rangers – Ottawa – San Jose – Vancouver – Washington – Winnipeg
(4) Games: Boston – Buffalo – Carolina – Colorado – Dallas – Edmonton – Florida – Los Angeles – Minnesota – Montreal – Nashville – New Jersey – New York Islanders – Philadelphia – Pittsburgh – St. Louis – Tampa Bay – Toronto
As you can see this is a very heavy week ahead and your fantasy teams will hopefully put up big numbers. Likely some high scoring games due to so many games in so many days for so many teams. Keep an eye on starting goalies as you will likely run into some backup’s coming into play this week and then slowly starting to fade over the next couple weeks as we reach the half-way point of the season. If you want to trade for a starting goalie because you need some help; I would start looking now to make your move.
With a dozen games lined up to start the week tonight you want to make sure you check out your lineup before you add any players. Don’t add a forward if it means you will have to sit one tonight…consider adding an extra defenseman this week in head to head matchups to avoid sitting a forward on the busy nights.
Starting Goalies:
(DET) Howard VS (BOS) Rask (PIT) Fleury VS (NJ) Schneider (WSH) Holtby VS (NYI) Halak (MTL) Price VS (CAR) Ward (BUF) Enroth VS (OTT) Anderson (TOR) Reimer VS (TBL) Bishop (MIN) Kuemper VS (WPG) Hutchinson (COL) Varlamov VS (STL) Brodeur (NSH) Rinne VS (CHI) Crawford (NYR) Lundqvist VS (DAL) Lehtonen (LA) Quick VS (CAL) Hiller (PHI) Mason VS (ARI) Dubnyk
Bold is starting; italics are probable. (I will update throughout the day)
From what I gather Mason will be returning tonight after missing a few games and Elliot for St. Louis will likely be back later this week.
HBSL:
Now this is going to be a tricky week in the HBSL. With so many teams playing 4 times and such a variety of players to choose from…I could see a few upsets this week or perhaps the ‘top dogs’ in each conference will show their true power by dominating the rest of the pack. Time will tell, choose your players wisely this week and prepare for some high scores throughout the league. Lots of time left to make a comeback if you had a slow start to the season. Best of luck!
Thanks for reading, enjoy your day/night!