Fantasy Hockey Head-to-Head Week 19 Primer

It's almost as if the league wants to play catch up. 

Following the All-Star Weekend and the Stadium Series, the NHL is hurtling toward the trade deadline on March 8 (18 days) with a ton of players still on the trade bait board. 

There are 57 games in Week 19 with a week-low three games on Friday, which is the only day fantasy managers would really need to worry about for off-days. Since Monday is a holiday in both the Canada and the U.S., we get more than the usual offering with 10 games on Monday, the third-highest total of the week after Thursday (11) and Saturday (13). 

Even Sunday will see tons of activity with seven games, ensuring plenty of last-day chances to win your week. 

Since 31 of 32 teams play at least three games in Week 19, there is no team to specifically avoid other than the Sharks, but you're most likely avoiding them anyway due to their low upside. 

This is crunch time in fantasy; in most leagues, there is probably 2-3 weeks of regular-season play before the playoffs begin. I'm a big advocate of not having your final matchup in the last week of the regular season; there's too much risk of teams potentially resting players and too many lineup changes to consider. 

For Week 19, the Kings have the easiest schedule based on opponents' points percentage, facing the Jackets, Preds and Ducks at home. Other than a 7-0 loss in Buffalo, they've also seemed to turn a corner with four wins in their past five games entering Sunday, including a 5-4 comeback win against the Bruins in overtime in Boston during a weekend matinee. 

The Jets and Knights likewise face weaker opponents, and because both teams play four games, they're at the top of the schedule matrix. The upside for the Jets is they play Friday (at Blackhawks) and Sunday (vs. Coyotes), and they're two games they should crush. With Sean Monahan scoring his first goal as a Jet and Nicolas Roy continuing his points streak with the Knights, both teams offer good under-the-radar options. 

The team to avoid is probably the Sens. They're very talented, but they run the gauntlet in Florida state in a back-to-back Monday and Tuesday, and then face the Stars and Knights at home Thursday and Saturday.

I'm starting to ramble, but notice that Week 19 features some really awful travel. The Jets, for example, alternate home and road games. There are also 19 back-to-backs, including two sets for the Wild, who play Monday-Tuesday and then Friday-Saturday. The Jets, Knights, Canes, Wings, Wild, Ducks, Flyers and Habs play back-to-backs with one home game and one road game. 

In most cases, the travel isn't too difficult, but I'm looking at the Canes playing in Raleigh on Saturday then going to Buffalo on Sunday, and the Habs hosting the Sabres on Wednesday before playing in Pittsburgh on Thursday, and can't help but think that's really tough.

We'll see plenty of backups in action, and maybe a few scheduled losses, too, where teams are just too tired to compete and might be forced to accept the loss before hitting reset.

Schedule

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.

Weekly Bangers

(< 50% rostered on Yahoo, on teams with 4 games this week)

Hits/GP

Jeremy Lauzon, D, NSH - 4.69
Simon Benoit, D, TOR - 3.44
Kiefer Sherwood, LW, NSH - 3.44
Keegan Kolesar, RW, VEG - 3.31
Will Cuylle, LW, NYR - 3.24 
Cole Smith, LW, NSH - 3.22
Paul Cotter, C/LW, VEG - 3.19 
Yakov Trenin, C/LW, NSH - 3.10
Brenden Dillon, D, WPG - 2.96 
Ryan Reaves, RW, TOR - 2.93 
Jani Hakanpää, D, DAL - 2.89

Blocks/GP

Alec Martinez, D, VEG - 3.30
Brayden McNabb, D, VEG - 2.70
Ilya Lyubushkin, D, ANA - 2.59
Erik Gudbranson, D, CLB - 2.33
TJ Brodie, D, TOR - 2.19
Ben Chiarot, D, DET - 2.18
Jacob Middleton, D, MIN - 2.06
Ian Cole, D, VAN - 2.05
Jani Hakanpää, D, DAL - 2.02
Ivan Provorov, D, CLB - 1.87

Season-long adds

(< 25% rostered on Yahoo)

Mikael Granlund, C/RW, SJ (14% rostered)

The Sharks are not a good streaming option because they're the only team to play two games in Week 19, but if Granlund continues to get 20-plus minutes for the rest of the season, he's a sneaky option for points. Without Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl, Granlund will be their primary playmaker, and he was on fire prior to his injury. Someone has to score the points for the Sharks, and Granlund's their best bet. 

Mid-term holds

(< 25% rostered on Yahoo)

Nico Daws, G, NJ (18% rostered)

Daws has started four straight games for the Devils, winning three of them and quickly putting Vitek Vanecek in the rearview mirror. As a young goalie, Daws is not the most reliable fantasy option, but he's certainly the Devils' best. That means he'll get the starts going forward until otherwise. With Jack Hughes back in the lineup, good goal support will lead to more wins for Daws. 

Chandler Stephenson, C, VEG (22% rostered)
Nicolas Roy, C/RW, VEG (12% rostered)

Roy's points streak has reached eight games and Stephenson continues to hold down the top line with Mark Stone on his right wing. The Knights play four times in Week 19, starting with a cream-puff matchup Monday against the Sharks and then finishing with the Sens in Ottawa on Saturday. 

Sean Monahan, C, WPG (21% rostered)

It took a few games, but it looks like Monahan has found his groove, scoring his first goal as a Jet on Saturday against the Canucks. He played 22:15 in that game, and centers L2 with Nik Ehlers and Cole Perfetti, and also plays PP1 with the Jets' top line. With the Hawks on Friday and the Coyotes on Sunday, Monahan's a good option on those off-days. 

Bowen Byram, D, COL (20% rostered)

Streaming defenseman is always a tough task because they generally don't score as much as forwards and few of them have enough offensive upside to justify a roster spot. Note, however, that Byram has scored multiple points in three consecutive games, and the Avs are one of few teams who have elite talent on the blueline. 

Anthony Cirelli, C, TB (7% rostered)

I vacillate between season-long add or mid-term hold for Cirelli, who's on a five-game points streak. On one hand, Cirelli plays a ton of minutes, especially when the Lightning stack the top line; on the other hand, his offensive ceiling isn't very high because that's never been his role. However, given his current hot streak, more minutes on PP1 and a four-game schedule this week, Cirelli's worth an add. Let's take a wait-and-see approach before deciding if he's worth rostering all season. 

Short-term streamers

(< 25% rostered on Yahoo)

J.T. Compher, LW/RW, DET (15% rostered)

So odd that Compher doesn't have C eligibility yet considering he's played center all season. Anyway, I digress. Compher has played at least 20 minutes in four of his past five games, scoring five points during that span, and flanked by two very good scoring wingers in Alex DeBrincat and Lucas Raymond. Not sure how long his hot streak will last, but there's an enticing matchup Sunday against the Hawks. 

Kirill Marchenko, RW, CLB (8% rostered)

The all-Russian line is back in Columbus after Pascal Vincent re-united Marchenko with Dmitri Voronkov and Yegor Chinakhov. Marchenko's on a three-game points streak and all three also played together on the power play, re-establishing their chemistry before their line was broken up. The Jackets don't seem like a high-upside option, but they do play four games in Week 19.