Fantasy Hockey Head-to-Head Week 21 Primer

Anecdotally, it feels like there are more back-to-backs in the second half of the season. Part of it is playing catch-up; with the All-Star Game and the various outdoor games, there were a lot of days that saw little to no action. 

Heading into Week 21, note there are 19 teams playing back-to-back. The Blackhawks play two back-to-backs on Monday-Tuesday then Saturday-Sunday, mirroring what the Wild had in Week 20 when they had two back-to-backs -- they went 3-1-0 -- and for the second week in a row, the Penguins and Oilers will play back-to-backs over the weekend.

As discussed on the upcoming 24th episode of Sleepers and Keepers fantasy hockey podcast (drops Monday at 11 a.m. ET), prepare for a lot of backups to see action due to the cramped schedule, and also ahead into the playoff weeks if certain teams elect to rest their starter. Anthony Stolarz likely has a lot of rest-of-season value for this reason, as will Jonathan Quick, Casey DeSmith and Justus Annunen, depending on how the rest of their seasons go.

In Week 21, there are 11 teams playing four games. Wednesday and Friday are the off-days, so target the Avalanche, Red Wings and Ducks if you want to catch up. Thursday and Saturday will be the only two days with double-digit games on the slate, and Sunday remains fairly busy, though keep in mind a lot of them will be matinee games. 

Plenty of teams will have easier schedules, but the one that's caught my eye are the Clayton Keller-less Coyotes, who play the Blackhawks twice in a four-game week. The other two are the Islanders and Stars, who each play three games as they make their way through California and play the Sharks and Ducks once each.

Among the teams playing four games, the Bruins and Flames face the toughest schedule. This comes at a tough time for the Bruins, who are stumbling and face the Maple Leafs twice, Connor McDavid's Oilers and Sidney Crosby's Penguins. The Flames play the Kraken on Monday but then take a tour through the old Southeast Division with three road games in four nights in Tampa, Miami and Raleigh. 

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 - 4.71 
Martin Pospisil, C, CGY - 3.68 
Sammy Blais, LW/RW, STL - 3.45 
Kiefer Sherwood, LW, NSH - 3.44
Simon Benoit, D, TOR - 3.43

Blocks/GP

Erik Gudbranson, D, CLB - 2.25 
TJ Brodie, D, TOR - 2.17
Timothy Liljegren, D, TOR - 2.12
Jarred Tinordi, D, CHI - 2.05 
Alexandre Carrier, D, NSH - 2.00

Season-long adds

(< 25% rostered on Yahoo)

Shane Pinto, C, OTT (25% rostered)

Pinto's now the clear No. 2 center behind Tim Stützle, though you wouldn't really be able to tell based on ice time because they're pretty close. With Josh Norris on LTIR due to another shoulder injury, it's paved the way for Pinto play a bigger role. He's playing top-six minutes with PP1 and fills all the categories: points, shots, faceoff wins, hits and blocks. 

Mid-term holds

(< 25% rostered on Yahoo)

Nico Daws, G, NJ (20% rostered)

There's no other reason to hold Daws other than because he's the de facto starter for the Devils. His numbers just aren't good, the Devils are still a high-upside team that could go on a run. Daws is a mid-term hold because there's a chance the Devils go out and acquire a goalie -- Jacob Markström? -- which would either make Daws the backup or be re-assigned to the minors. 

Tyson Foerster, C/RW, PHI (14% rostered)

The danger of rostering any Flyer is the inconsistent ice time, but Foerster is a high-upside option and he's on a tear with six goals in his past five games. He's playing L1 on the Flyers' re-jigged lines with Scott Laughton and Joel Farabee while Sean Couturier gets demoted to L4, and also gets to play on the PP with Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett, two of the Flyers' best offensive players. 

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Matias Maccelli, LW, ARI (13% rostered)

Maccelli came into the season as a decent point producer but heavily reliant on assists and offering little else. That's changed with a significant increase in shot volume and note he's back on a scoring binge yet again with three goals and five assists in his past six games. It's a favorable schedule coming up, too, with the Coyotes playing the Hawks twice, and they've snapped out of their funk with two straight wins. 

Logan Stankoven, C, DAL (10% rostered)

Stankoven was held off the score sheet against the Sharks but just narrowly missed on a breakaway for the game winner. He's formed a great partnership with Wyatt Johnston and Jamie Benn, and the only reason he's not a rest-of-season hold is because Tyler Seguin's eventual return may bump him out of the lineup, and the hot streak may not last. Stankoven's proven he can play at this level, but maintaining a point-per-game pace seems unlikely, especially with so little PP time. 

Tommy Novak, C, NSH (4% rostered)
Cody Glass, C, NSH (0% rostered)

Novak came into the season with some hype as a late bloomer, but he was slow out of the gates and dangled as trade bait as a roster player who just needed a change of scenery. However, the Preds have made an about-face and they're looking to re-sign Novak on the basis of his strong play lately, averaging a point-per-game since the end of January. With the Preds on a roll, both Novak and Glass -- coming off a hat-trick performance -- are worth rostering as depth scorers, and both take turns playing on PP1.

Vladislav Namestnikov, C/LW, WPG (2% rostered)

We shall have to see how productive Namestnikov can be since he has only 26 points this season, but note he played quite extensively with Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor with Gabriel Vilardi out of the lineup. Tack on some PP2 and Namestnikov may have some sneaky fantasy value in Week 21. 

Short-term streamers

(< 25% rostered on Yahoo)

Olen Zellweger, D, ANA (1% rostered)

One of the Ducks' prized prospects on the blueline and one of the reasons why they could part with Jamie Drysdale, Zellweger was called up from the AHL and immediately played PP1 minutes, outpacing both Pavel Mintyukov and Jackson LaCombe, two other young defensemen with good offensive skill. 

What you're looking for from Zellweger is power-play production, and the prognosis is good because he'll face the Sens and Isles in the coming week, who rank second-last and last on the PK, respectively. Zellweger's a high-risk, high-reward option in deeper 14-team leagues.