As we get deeper into the New Year NHL teams are realizing their needs and are making moves to fix them. We have already seen the Tampa Bay Lightning make a move to improve their goaltending by acquiring Dwayne Roloson. Roloson has put up three wins and two shutouts in his first four starts with the Bolts. The New York Rangers needed help up front due to all their injuries and acquired Wojtek Wolski, who scored the game-winning goal this week against the Vancouver Canucks. Already in 2011 we have seen five trades and as we get closer to the NHL trade deadline (February 28, 2011) you can expect a lot more action to happen. Fantasy GMs pay attention to trades as a change in scenery can give a player a bump in production.
Games to be played in week 16:
Four Games: Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Calgary, Carolina, Florida, Los Angeles, Montreal, New Jersey, NY Islanders, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Tampa Bay
Three Games: Anaheim, Colorado, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Edmonton, Minnesota, Nashville, NY Rangers, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, San Jose, St. Louis, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington
Two Games: Chicago
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 January 14, 2011):
HOME: Colorado (11-8-1), Edmonton (7-11-3), Florida (10-8-2), NY Islanders (7-8-4), Philadelphia (13-6-2), Phoenix (9-5-5) and St. Louis (14-7-2)
AWAY: Anaheim (8-11-3), Columbus (9-10-2), Los Angeles (9-11-0), Minnesota (11-7-3), Nashville (13-10-1) and Washington (9-9-2)
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 15):
Atlanta (3-3), Buffalo (0-0), Chicago (5-2), Edmonton (3-3), Florida (1-1), Nashville (2-2), New Jersey (1-2), NY Islanders (1-3), Philadelphia (2-1) and Tampa Bay (1-3)
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 15):
Atlanta (2-8), Boston (4-3), Buffalo (4-7), Calgary (2-5), Carolina (5-5), Chicago (5-3), Columbus (6-3), Dallas (3-4), Los Angeles (3-4), Minnesota (1-9), Montreal (5-3), New Jersey (2-7), NY Islanders (2-7), NY Rangers (10-1), Ottawa (2-5), Philadelphia (5-4), Phoenix (3-5), Tampa Bay (5-5) and Toronto (1-5)
Montreal plays two sets of back-to-back this week
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 January 14, 2011:
TOP FIVE: Vancouver (8-1-1), Tampa Bay (7-3-0), Anaheim (7-3-0), Washington (6-1-3) and NY Rangers (6-2-2)
BOTTOM FIVE: New Jersey (2-8-0), San Jose (2-8-0), Edmonton (2-6-2), Columbus (3-7-0) and Los Angeles (3-7-0)
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 up to January 14, 2011 for the past 7 and 14 days:
SKATER PAST 7:
Patrice Bergeron-BOSTON (4GP 6G 3A)
Bobby Ryan-ANAHEIM (3GP 6G 1A)
Danny Briere-PHILADELPHIA (3GP 3G 4A)
Nikolai Kulemin-TORONTO (4GP 3G 4A)
Tuomo Ruutu-CAROLINA (4GP 3G 4A)
SKATER PAST 14:
Patrice Bergeron-BOSTON (7GP 6G 5A)
Tuomo Ruutu-CAROLINA (7GP 4G 7A)
Shea Weber-NASHVILLE (7GP 2G 9A)
Daniel Sedin-VANCOUVER (8GP 6G 4A)
Danny Briere-PHILADELPHIA (6GP 5G 5A)
Here are the top five goaltenders and bottom five goaltenders up to January 14, 2011 for the past 7 and 14 days:
HOT GOALTENDERS PAST 14:
Jonas Hiller-ANAHEIM (6G 5W 2SO 1.51 GAA)
Corey Crawford-CHICAGO (6GS 4W 2SO 1.66 GAA)
Dwayne Roloson-TAMPA BAY (5GS 4W 2SO 1.97 GAA)
Roberto Luongo-VANCOUVER (4GS 3W 1.44 GAA)
Pekka Rinne-NASHVILLE (6GS 5W 1.34 GAA)
COLD GOALTENDERS PAST 14:
Nikolai Khabibulin-EDMONTON (4GS 0W 4L 4.09 GAA)
Craig Anderson-COLORADO (4GS 0W 3L)
Brian Elliott-OTTAWA (5GS 0W 3L 3.97 GAA)
Mathieu Garon-COLUMBUS (3GS 0W 3L 4.76 GAA)
Jonathan Quick-LOS ANGELES (5GS 1W 4L 3.04 GAA)
Fantasy Hockey Coach Brouwer
"Because 2nd place is the 1st loser!"
http://fantasyhockeycoach.com
