We are heading into week 11 of the NHL season and there are plenty of surprises in the NHL standings. After starting the season 4-0 many thought the Toronto Maple Leafs had finally turned the corner to be playoff contenders but the Leafs have gone 6-14-4 since and are sitting just 2 points out of dead last in the Eastern Conference. No one could have predicted that the New Jersey Devils would be this bad or that the Atlanta Thrashers would be that good. Over in the West the Dallas Stars were suppose to struggle and miss playoffs this season but are sitting in first place in their division and second in the conference. People said the Detroit Red Wings were too old and that they would take a step back this season instead they are first in the conference.
Games to be played in week 11:
- Four Games: Atlanta, Chicago, Colorado, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville, Ottawa and San Jose
- Three Games: Anaheim, Boston, Buffalo, Calgary, Carolina, Montreal, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Philadelphia, Phoenix, St. Louis, Toronto and Washington
- Two Games: Edmonton, Florida, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, 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 at least three home/away games this week or play all their games at home or on the road (home/road records up to December 11, 2010):
- HOME: Calgary (7-6-0), Chicago (8-8-0), Colorado (7-4-1), Detroit (11-3-2), Edmonton (5-6-2), Florida (6-5-0), Nashville (5-1-5), Tampa Bay (7-2-2) and Vancouver (9-3-1)
- AWAY: Anaheim (5-7-3), Columbus (8-4-0), Dallas (6-6-1), Los Angeles (5-8-0), Phoenix (8-4-2), San Jose (7-6-2) and Toronto (3-8-1)
If you participate in any type of head-to-head hockey pool then 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 (record for Sunday games up to but not including Week 10):
- Chicago (2-1), Colorado (0-0), Dallas (0-0), Detroit (2-0), Los Angeles (0-1), Montreal (0-0), Ottawa (1-0) and Washington (3-0)
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. Here are the teams that play in back-to-back games this week (record of second game of back-to-back up to but not including Week 10):
- Anaheim (3-3), Atlanta (1-5), Buffal0 (3-6), Carolina (2-5), Columbus (4-1), Dallas (2-2), Los Angeles (2-2), Montreal (3-2), Nashville (2-2), New Jersey (1-4), NY Rangers (7-0), Ottawa (1-2), Philadelphia (3-3), Phoenix (2-4), Pittsburgh (5-0), San Jose (1-3), St. Louis (3-3) and Washington (2-3)
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 December 11, 2010:
- TOP FIVE: Pittsburgh (10-0-0), Atlanta (8-2-0), Dallas (7-2-1), Edmonton (7-2-1) and Chicago (7-3-0)
- BOTTOM FIVE: NY Islanders (1-7-2), New Jersey (3-7-0), Ottawa (3-6-1), Toronto (3-6-1) and Minnesota (3-5-2)
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 up to December 11, 2010 for the past 7 and 14 days:
- SKATER PAST 7: Sidney Crosby-PIT (3GP 5G 1A), Logan Couture-SAN (4GP 4G 2A), Matt Carle-PHI (4GP 1G 5A), Ryane Clowe-SAN (4GP 1G 5A) and Chris Kunitz-PIT (3GP 1G 5A)
- SKATER PAST 14: Sidney Crosby-PIT (6GP 11G 1A), Pavel Datsyuk-DET (7GP 3G 8A), Jarome Iginla-CAL (8GP 3G 6A), Dustin Byfuglien-ATL (6GP 2G 7A) and Ryan Malone-TAM (6GP 4G 4A)
- GOALTENDERS PAST 14: Marc-Andre Fleury-PIT (5GS 5W), Ryan Miller-BUF (5GS 3W 2SO), Henrik Lundqvist-NYR (5GS 4W 1SO), Jonas Hiller-ANA (7GS 5W 1SO) and Corey Crawford-CHI (4GS 4W)
Fantasy Hockey Coach Brouwer
"Because 2nd place is the 1st loser!"
http://fantasyhockeycoach.com
