Fantasy

Fantasy Hockey Schedule Week 19: Could Be Breaking Records

Week 19 is loaded with a ton of games.  This could be the week that you break records in your fantasy hockey pool if you have players from the right teams.

Only the Boston Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes play twice, while every other team plays three or more times.  In fact, there are 14 teams that play four games this week. 

Week 16 is loaded with games. Only the Vancouver Canucks play twice; everyone else plays three or more.  13 teams play four games this week, and the Boston Bruins play five games.  This is the week that records could be set for weekly fantasy point totals.

Week 14 in the NHL schedule is an interesting one. First we have the Winter Classic between the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers. The Rangers have won both games this season against the Flyers and they have been very physical games. Expect a great game.

The season is over a third of the way complete and there are plenty of surprises in the standings and stats.

The Chicago Blackhawks are the current leader in the overall standings, but what is most surprising is that the Florida Panthers and Minnesota Wild are leading their respective divisions.  Both teams had a major overhaul this offseason and no one could have predicted their starts.  To no one’s surprise, though, despite a strong start, the Toronto Maple Leafs are dropping in the standings.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!  There are only games until Friday this week.  The only team to avoid dressing is the Columbus Blue Jackets as they only play once, while every other team plays two or three times.

November is over, and we enter the third month of the NHL season.  Joffrey Lupul and Jonathan Toews both scored 14 points to lead all skaters for the month of November.  Steven Stamkos was the top goal scorer with 10 goals.  Evgeni Malkin put the most shots on net with 64.  Zac Rinaldo had the most penalty minutes with 54.

There was plenty of speculation that Sidney Crosby was going to return this weekend but the Pittsburgh Penguins put those rumors to bed when they announced he would not. Crosby is very, very close to returning and if I were a betting man I would bet that he returns this coming week.  The Penguins want his first game back to be a home game and not a back-to-back so that could be this Tuesday when they are home playing a single game against the Colorado Avalanche.

Concussions are playing a major role in who plays this season. 

Sidney Crosby still has no timetable on his return.  David Perron is dealing with post-concussion syndrome.  James Reimer’s injury was called a "head" injury or "whiplash" when it should have been called a concussion.  Marc Savard won’t play a game this season due to post-concussion syndrome and Daniel Alfredsson is currently dealing with a concussion.

Most teams will be playing their ninth or 10th game this week, which means decision time for players that can be sent back to juniors. There are plenty of tough decisions to make. 

Sean Couturier (Philadelphia, 6 GP, 4 PTS), Brett Connolly (Tampa Bay, 7 GP, 1 PT), Nino Niederreiter (NY Islanders), Mark Scheifele (Winnipeg, 6 GP, 1 PT), Gabriel Landeskog (Colorado, 7 GP, 3 PTS), Brett Bulmer (Minnesota, 7 GP, 2 PTS), Ryan Johansen (Columbus, 4 GP, 0 PTS) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (Edmonton, 4 GP, 5 PTS) will all have their fate decided within the next seven to 10 days.

As we start Week 3 of the NHL season there are plenty of questions that come to mind.