The NHL season is finally upon us and it's time to make those final adjustments to your fantasy roster and dress your opening day lineup. Six teams start the NHL season overseas (Boston, Carolina, Columbus, Minnesota, Phoenix, and San Jose).
Games to be played in Week 1:
Two Games: Anaheim, Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Calgary, Carolina, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Montreal, New Jersey, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Toronto, and Washington
One Game: Colorado, Florida, Nashville, Islanders, Rangers, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, and Vancouver
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 all their games at home or on the road (minimum two games) and their home/road records through to the preseason:
HOME: Edmonton (3-1-0), Pittsburgh (3-0-0), Toronto (3-1-1)
AWAY: Anaheim (1-2-0), Dallas (0-1-1), Los Angeles (1-0-2), Montreal (1-1-0), Philadelphia (2-2-0)
If you participate in any type of head-to-head hockey pool then you are likely dressing a lineup for the 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:
- Boston
- Calgary
- Edmonton
- Florida
- Los Angeles
- Phoenix
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 for the week. Avoid dressing goalies who are playing overseas as there is a good chance the coaches will decide to spilt the games between their two goalies. Here are the teams that play in back-to-back games this week:
- Anaheim
- Atlanta
- Boston
- Buffalo
- Carolina
- Columbus
- Dallas
- Detroit
- Los Angeles
- Minnesota
- New Jersey
- Ottawa
- Phoenix
- San Jose
- 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 based on the preseason:
TOP Five:
- Calgary (7-0-0)
- Philadelphia (5-2-1)
- Toronto (5-3-1)
- Washington (5-1-0)
- Pittsburgh (5-1-0)
BOTTOM Five:
- Atlanta (0-5-1)
- Minnesota (0-4-2)
- Islanders (1-4-0)
- Boston (1-3-1)
- San Jose (2-4-0)
Most elite stars are consistent scorers, but there are several players who are very streaky so keep an eye on their stats so that you can dress them while they are on a hot streak. Here are the top five scorers from the preseason at each position:
- Phil Kessel-TOR (6G 4A)
- Derek Roy-BUF (3G 7A)
- Ryan Getlzaf-ANA (2G 7A)
- Drew Stafford-BUF (2G 7A)
- Tomas Plekanec-MON (6G 3A)
- Chris Campoli-OTT (2G 6A)
- Brian Rafalski-DET (2G 5A)
- Jack Johnson-LOS (2G 5A)
- Josh Gorges-MON (0G 6A)
- Alex Goligoski-PIT (2G 4A)
- Ryan Miller-BUF (4GS 3W 0SO)
- Henrik Karlsson-CAL (3GS 3W 0SO)
- Henrik Lundqvist-NYR (3GS 3W 0SO)
- Sergei Bobrovsky-PHI (2GS 3W 0SO)
- Marc-Andre Fleury-PIT (4GS 3W 0SO)
This article was written by: Fantasy Hockey Coach Brouwer
