Fantasy Hockey Head-to-Head Week 25 Primer

Whoa, this is nice. 

A week after Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday combined for just six games, note there is only one day in Week 25 that has fewer than six games on the late -- Wednesday, and there are five games that night. 

This is about as fair a schedule as any fantasy hockey league could ask for. Most leagues will have their championship matchup in Week 25, since Week 26 encompasses the final one-and-half weeks of the season, during which time playoff-bound teams will rest their star players and those that miss the cut will often play minor-league call-ups and prospects. 

An evenly-spaced out schedule means there's no real concern with stacking players on off-nights or earlier/later in the week. Every manager will get their fair chance to start their entire roster at some point this week. 

It's just not an ideal way to finish the season when a star player that's been carrying your fantasy team all season is sitting in the most crucial time of the fantasy season.

(Note I will provide a primer for Week 26 -- don't worry.) 

There are 17 teams that play four games in Week 25, and the team to avoid will be the Golden Knights, who play just twice. The other notable part about the schedule is that there is at least one team playing back-to-back every night, so we'll see plenty of backups in action and a few maintenance days here and there for those who are banged up. 

Here are the list of teams and their back-to-backs this week: 

(Note the Devils have two sets of them in Week 25, which means Jake Allen and Kaapo Kähkönen will likely see two starts each.)

Monday-Tuesday:
Panthers, Islanders, Penguins

Tuesday-Wednesday:
Devils, Canucks

Wednesday-Thursday:
Lightning, Kings

Thursday-Friday:
Avalanche, Capitals, Hurricanes

Friday-Saturday:
Oilers, Flyers

Saturday-Sunday:
Predators, Blues, Wild, Sharks, Devils (again), Senators, Blue Jackets, Canadiens, Stars, Blackhawks

The only teams that will take an extended three-day break are the Hurricanes (Mon-Wed), Flyers (Tues-Thurs), Red Wings (Tues-Thurs) and Blackhawks (Wed-Fri), so if you want to stream a player early and then drop him for the rest of the week, those are teams you'd likely want to target. 

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 at least 4 games this week)

Hits/GP

Jérémy Lauzon, D, NSH - 4.83 
Michael Pezzetta, LW, MTL - 4.15 
Tanner Jeannot, LW/RW, TB - 4.04
Sammy Blais, LW, STL - 3.59
Kiefer Sherwood, LW, NSH - 3.43 
Cal Clutterbuck, RW, NYI - 3.42 
Luke Schenn, D, NSH - 3.36 
Will Cuylle, LW, NYR - 3.19
Kyle Burroughs, D, SJ - 3.19 
Matt Rempe, C/RW, NYR - 3.15 

Blocks/GP

David Savard, D, MTL - 2.76 
Colton Parayko, D, STL - 2.64 
Kaiden Guhle, D, MTL - 2.60 
Ryan Pulock, D, NYI - 2.59  
Matt Roy, D, LA - 2.57 
Mario Ferraro, D, SJ - 2.57 
Jonas Brodin, D, MIN - 2.36 
Erik Gudbranson, D, CLB - 2.21
Jacob Bernard-Docker, D, OTT - 2.10 
Alexander Romanov, D, NYI - 2.08 

(< 25% rostered on Yahoo)

Jonathan Drouin, LW, COL (26% rostered)

It's easy to have a love-hate relationship with Drouin but this one of those moments where he's got a lot of fantasy value because he's getting so many minutes with Valeri Nichushkin unavailable. An upcoming schedule that involves games including the Jackets and Wild should open up plenty of chances, especially if Drouin plays with Nathan MacKinnon. 

Mikael Granlund, C/RW, SJ (18% rostered)

Don't overlook the Sharks; they managed to score a few goals against the Stars and Hawks, and even defeated the Blues, 4-0. Granlund's on a four-game points streak with 37 faceoff wins. If you need points and faceoffs and don't mind taking a hit in shots and the banger categories, Granlund's a great option. He'll play close to 20 minutes most nights as the Sharks' undisputed top center. 

Nick Bjugstad, C, ARI (12% rostered)

With the red-hot Nick Schmaltz and top scorer Clayton Keller on the wings, how could Bjugstad not get in on the action? He's scored a goal in four straight games and played over 20 minutes against the Rangers. Though he's not a high-upside offensive player, Bjugstad wins a lot of draws and shares the ice with the Coyotes' best players. He can't be in a better spot right now, and the Coyotes' offense has been buzzing lately. 

(< 25% rostered on Yahoo)

Jake Neighbours, LW/RW, STL (26% rostered)

Neighbours can be a little streaky but low-key he's been one of the Blues' better players this season. He's on a scoring binge right now with six goals in his past nine games, playing alongside top center Robert Thomas on both L1 and PP1. 

Adam Henrique, C/LW, EDM (25% rostered)

Maybe Henrique's found his groove with the Oilers? That's now three goals in four games for Henrique, who's been skating with Leon Draisaitl. Used primarily as a winger now, Henrique's faceoff wins per game have declined, but the upside is now he's scoring more points. 

Juraj Slafkovský, LW, MTL (21% rostered)

The Habs have quite the gauntlet coming up with the Panthers, Lightning, Leafs and Rangers this week, but I like Slafkovský's upside with his top-six role that gets him close to 20 minutes on most nights and the points, shots and hits he offers. He's a good depth option in 14-team, multi-category leagues. 

Gabriel Vilardi, C/RW, WPG (21% rostered)

Vilardi's back and skating on the top line with Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele, but it didn't amount to much with the Jets losing 3-2 to the Sens and Vilardi finishing with zero points, two shots and two hits. 

Vilardi's underlying stats look really good, but the Jets' offense comes and goes, and Connor's been on a cold streak lately. Vilardi has upside, but I'm not convinced he's going to capture a lot of it under Rick Bowness. 

Logan Cooley, C, ARI (13% rostered)
Dylan Guenther, LW, ARI (8% rostered)

The Coyotes are having no trouble putting the puck in the net and Cooley has scored four goals in his past two games, including a hat trick against the Preds. He's getting more ice time at 5-on-5 with Lawson Crouse and Guenther, and both Crouse and Cooley play on PP2. The Coyotes lean on their PP1 a lot, which means limited minutes for Cooley and PP2, but surely it's better than nothing. 

Alex Nylander, LW/RW, CLB (5% rostered)

Nylander played 23:16 following a two-game absence and he's been a bit of a revelation for the Jackets. He's getting top-six chances that he never received elsewhere and, for the most part, he's made good on the opportunity. 

He's playing both L1 and PP1 with Johnny Gaudreau at the moment; while that may not be saying much, there's something to be said about quantity in fantasy.

(< 25% rostered on Yahoo)

Tyler Bertuzzi, LW, TOR (19% rostered)

Bertuzzi's a great short-term streaming option as long as he's skating alongside Auston Matthews. That may change when Mitch Marner returns; however, note Bertuzzi has racked up three goals, 10 PIM, nine shots and eight hits in his past three games.