Fantasy Hockey Head-to-Head Week 12 Primer

Welcome back!

Following a three-day holiday break, the NHL returns on Wednesday with 14 games. The Flyers, Oilers, Habs and Canucks get an extra day of rest. The Canucks are the laggard in Week 12 with only home game before the calendar flips, and they are obviously the team to fade if you’re looking to win this short week. Along with the Knights, they’re also the only two teams that do not play after Thursday, so you can stream a Knight for their back-to-back Wednesday and Thursday, drop them for Friday to Sunday and not have to worry about missing out on potential points.

There are 27 teams playing three games, with 20 of them playing back-to-back, which means backups will be featured heavily again. The only teams to play three straight – meaning the potential to start all three games: Stars, Avalanche, Islanders, Red Wings, Senators, Ducks and Blackhawks.

However, given their current goalie situations, it’s likely the Stars will be the only one to go with one goalie all week, and that’s Scott Wedgewood with Jake Oettinger out with an injury. The Wings could go with James Reimer for all three of their games, but it will also depend on how soon Alex Lyon returns from injury. There’s not much confidence in Michael Hutchinson and Ville Husso was originally out week-to-week with no updates yet.

Also take note that the holiday roster freeze is lifted Wednesday, Dec. 27, and there will certainly be plenty of injury updates released. We will likely know more about how long certain players are out for, including the Ducks’ Leo Carlsson, the Wild’s Ryan Hartman and the Lightning’s Mikhail Sergachev.

Pick players from teams at the top of the schedule matrix to maximize games and matchups. Green is good. Red is bad. All advanced stats courtesy naturalstatrick.com. All positions and rostered percentages are courtesy of Yahoo Fantasy. Points percentages as of Saturday.

(< 50% rostered on Yahoo, on teams with 3 games this week)

Hits/GP

Michael Pezzetta, LW, MTL – 3.45
Jeremy Lauzon, D, NSH – 3.53
Tanner Jeannot, LW/RW, NSH – 3.37
Kiefer Sherwood, LW, NSH – 2.90
Brendan Dillon, D, WSH – 2.72

Blocks/GP

Mario Ferraro, D, SJ – 2.82
Jake Walman, D, DET – 2.74
Connor Murphy, D, CHI – 2.67
Ilya Lyubushkin, D, ANA – 2.48
Nick Seeler, D, PHI -2.48

(< 25% rostered on Yahoo)

Matias Maccelli, LW, ARI (11% rostered)

Maccelli gets a slight bump after displacing Logan Cooley on PP1, but it’s worth noting that the biggest drawback for Maccelli’s fantasy value coming into this season was the lack of shots. That’s changed; after averaging less than a shot per game last season, Maccelli is averaging two shots per game. With a very consistent and dependable line with Lawson Crouse and Nick Bjugstad, and PP1, Maccelli is worth holding onto all season for his point production in 12 to 14-team leagues.

(< 25% rostered on Yahoo)

Rickard Rakell, RW, PIT (25% rostered)

The start of something, perhaps? Rakell had zero goals and just four assists in his first 17 games, but in the three games since returning from injury, Rakell has scored a goal and an assist in three games. The two-time 30-goal scorer was off to a horrific start, but he’s seemingly turned a corner. He’s playing L1 with the Pens’ two best scorers and PP2, with some PP1 on occasion.

Adam Fantilli, C, CLB (24% rostered)

Fantilli’s scored four points in four games during linemate Johnny Gaudreau’s five-game points streak, and also receives plenty of ice time on special teams. He’s a multi-category contributor with shots, faceoff wins and hits, and it’s a pretty soft schedule coming with three teams struggling to find quality in net: New Jersey, Toronto and Buffalo. Kirill Marchenko (22% rostered) is another possibility, though he’s more of a boom-or-bust goal scorer.

Jack Quinn, RW, BUF (4% rostered)

Quinn scored a goal in two straight games just prior to the break, a strong start after missing the first chunk of the season due to an Achilles’ injury. He’s slotted on the second line with Dylan Cozens and JJ Peterka, and quick re-establishing their chemistry from the previous season. All three players play PP2 and face two porous teams over the weekend: Ottawa and Columbus.

(< 25% rostered on Yahoo)

Thomas Harley, D, DAL (17% rostered)

Harley entered the break having scored three goals and five points in five games, and currently ranks second in goals among defensemen behind only Rasmus Dahlin and Quinn Hughes. Harley’s not a long-term hold because Miro Heiskanen is still there and Harley isn’t consistent enough to be rostered full-time, but it’s an easy week for the Stars with two straight home dates against the Blackhawks.

Dakota Joshua, C/LW, VAN (17% rostered)

If you need some hits and maybe want some offensive upside, Joshua’s the best bet, but note the Canucks play just once in Week 12 on Thursday. We shall see if the holiday break halted the Canucks’ red-hot third line, but Joshua had scored five