It is a short week with a very light schedule due to All-Star Weekend. There are only games this week on Monday through Wednesday. The Carolina Hurricanes are hosting the All-Star activities and Eric Staal has been named one of the team’s captain while Nicklas Lidstrom has been named the other captain. This is the first year where the team’s captains will pick the teams like back in High School Physical Education class. Some interesting questions surround the team selections like who will be picked first and last? Will Eric pick his brother Marc or teammate Cam Ward? Finally there is some excitement around the All-Star weekend, well at least until the teams are picked.
Games to be played in week 17:
- Two Games: Boston, Calgary, Carolina, Colorado, Dallas, Edmonton, Florida, Los Angeles, Nashville, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Phoenix, St. Louis, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington
- One Game: Anaheim, Atlanta, Buffalo, Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, Minnesota, Montreal, New Jersey, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Jose and Tampa Bay
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 21, 2011):
- HOME: Calgary (11-9-1), Colorado (13-9-3), Los Angeles (15-9-1) and Vancouver (15-3-4)
- AWAY: Edmonton (7-12-4), Florida (10-12-0), Nashville (15-11-1), St. Louis (7-10-4) and Toronto (9-12-1)
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 16):
- No games on Sunday this week
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 16):
- Edmonton (2-3), Florida (3-6), Nashville (3-5), NY Islanders (2-7), NY Rangers (10-2), Phoenix (4-5) and Toronto (2-5)
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 21, 2011:
- TOP FIVE: Philadelphia (8-2-0), Nashville (8-2-0), Buffalo (7-2-1), Dallas (7-2-1) and Phoenix (7-2-1)
- BOTTOM FIVE: Ottawa (1-6-3), Edmonton (2-8-0), Los Angeles (2-8-0), St. Louis (3-5-2) and Columbus (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 January 21, 2011 for the past 7 and 14 days:
SKATER PAST 7:
- Steven Stamkos-TAMPA BAY (4GP 6G 2A)
J.P. Dumont-NASHVILLE (4GP 5G 1A)
Lee Stempniak-PHOENIX (4GP 3G 3A)
Tyler Ennis-BUFFALO (3GP 2G 4A)
Rick Nash-COLUMBUS (4GP 1G 5A)
SKATER PAST 14:
- Patrice Bergeron-BOSTON (8GP 7G 4A)
Jeff Skinner-CAROLINA (8GP 6G 5A)
Danny Briere-PHILADEPHIA (7GP 5G 6A)
Tuomo Ruutu-CAROLINA (8GP 3G 8A)
Clarke MacArthur-TORONTO (7GP 5G 5A)
Here are the top five goaltenders and bottom five goaltenders up to January 21, 2011 for the past 7 and 14 days:
HOT GOALTENDERS PAST 14:
- Martin Brodeur-NEW JERSEY (5GS 4W 1SO 1.73 GAA)
Sergei Bobrovsky-Philadelphia (4GS 4W 1.99 GAA)
Tim Thomas-BOSTON (5GS 4W 2SO 1.98 GAA)
Jonas Hiller-ANAHEIM (6GS 4W 2SO)
Kari Lehtonen-DALLAS (5GS 4W 1.58 GAA)
COLD GOALTENDERS PAST 14:
Brian Elliott-OTTAWA (7GS 0W 3.32 GAA)
Nikolai Khabibulin-EDMONTON (5GS 0W 3.85 GAA)
Mathieu Garon-COLUMBUS (3GS 0W 3.98 GAA)
Ondrej Pavelec-ATLANTA (5GS 1W 4.09 GAA)
Miikka Kiprusoff-CALGARY (5GS 1W 4.73 GAA)
Fantasy Hockey Coach Brouwer
"Because 2nd place is the 1st loser!"
http://fantasyhockeycoach.com/
