Navigate Week 22's tricky schedule and identify key pickups such as Lightning center Anthony Cirelli and the Sabres' netminders to boost your playoff push.
The biggest challenge for fantasy managers in Week 22 is managing the schedule with a total of five games combined on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The Rangers are the only team that will play on the four off-nights (including Sunday), so if you’ve been thinking about streaming Will Cuylle and Alexis Lafreniere, this is the ideal week to do so. Following the Rangers, it’s the Bruins (Wed/Sun), Blackhawks (Fri/Sun), and Sabres (Wed/Fri).
With 15 games each on Tuesday and Saturday, and 13 on Thursday, those days will be about matchups, meaning managers may be forced into a position where they have to bench a good player due to limited roster spots.
As the fantasy season winds down with do-or-die playoff matchups, managers will have to be more discerning and ruthless when dropping or picking up players. That may mean dropping a player who plays Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday for a player who plays on the off-nights, even if he's a lesser talent. Next week is not guaranteed, after all.
The good news is that no team plays fewer than three games, but also note the much-maligned Pacific Division features six teams in the bottom 11 spots of the schedule matrix. Asides from a handful of players, they’re not ideal teams to mine for fantasy options. Their losing streaks won’t continue because most of them play divisional games all week, and someone has to win those games.
Back-to-backs are also aplenty in Week 22, including nine over the weekend. If you need a spot start, that’s certainly your best chance.
All positions and rostered percentages are courtesy of Yahoo Fantasy.
Schedule
Pick players from teams at the top of the schedule matrix to maximize games and matchups. Green is good. Red is bad. Points percentages are as of Sunday morning.
Courtesy Jason Chen, The Hockey NewsSeason-long adds (< 50% rostered on Yahoo)
Anthony Cirelli, C, TB (42% rostered)
Cirelli’s been featured in this space on and off for most of the season, and it’s time to roster him again. He’s on a three-game points streak with eight total points, and plays big minutes for Jon Cooper on L1 with Nikita Kucherov and Brandon Hagel. It’s a favorable schedule coming up with home dates against the banged-up Wild, and then the Kraken and Sens.
Alex Lyon, G, BUF (55% rostered)
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, G, BUF (52% rostered)
With a favorable fantasy schedule that sees the Sabres play three games in Week 22, all at home and on two light nights, Lyon and Luukkonen should be in high demand. If you had to pick one, look for Luukkonen to get the starts on Wednesday against the Bruins and Saturday against the Kraken, and Lyon to start Friday against the Red Wings. The Bruins and Kraken both have losing records on the road.
Connor Ingram, G, EDM (25% rostered)
Deep sigh. Ingram still retains fantasy value because the Oilers are still capable of winning games even though their issues are as deep and troubling as ever. Tristan Jarry still doesn’t feel like a threat to take the starting job away despite two straight losses by a combined 9-2 score, which shows you how dire their situation has become. It’s Connor McDavid and their power play, and not much else, which is not a great recipe for sustained success. As always, exercise caution with Ingram.
Mid-term holds (< 50% rostered on Yahoo)
Gabe Perreault, RW, NYR (15% rostered)
As mentioned in the intro, the Rangers are a great time to mine for options in Week 22. Perreault’s one of them, playing L1 with Mika Zibanejad and PP2. There are nights where Perreault’s production is modest, but the good sign is his significant ice time; he’s played at least 18 minutes in six of his past seven games, and scoring a point in five of those games.
Marco Rossi, C, VAN (12% rostered)
Rossi’s been on fire for almost two weeks now, and it’s tough to ignore despite the Canucks being the league’s worst team with the second-lowest goals for per game average. While Elias Pettersson seems to have broken out of a slump, Rossi has been far steadier, scoring a point in five straight games totalling three goals and 10 points, including three on the power play. Even for the Canucks, facing all divisional opponents in Week 22 poses a far easier challenge to score goals.
Short-term streamers (< 50% rostered on Yahoo)
Ryan Hartman, C/RW, MIN (13% rostered)
If you need a little bit of everything, Hartman’s a great option. Filling in for the injured Joel Eriksson Ek, Hartman is centering L2 with Vladimir Tarasenko and Mats Zuccarello, and playing PP1 with Matt Boldy. While Danila Yurov gets the even-strength minutes with Boldy, he usually plays fewer minutes and doesn’t offer the same broad multi-category coverage Hartman does. Look for shots, hits and face-off wins from Hartman, with a few points if the Wild offense picks up.
Travis Sanheim, D, PHI (29% rostered)
A disappointing season for Sanheim so far, but note his hot streak with two goals and three assists in his past six games. Figuring out who to roster on the Flyers defense can be like playing whack-a-mole, and with a pretty thin offense, it’s anyone’s guess if Sanheim, Cam York or Jamie Drysdale will score points. However, Sanheim’s biggest advantage is his ice time, and also multi-category coverage with blocks and hits.
Cole Hutson, D, WSH (9% rostered)
With a power-play assist Sunday against the Avs, Hutson now has two points in three games, both scored with the man advantage. This is the type of boom-or-bust proposition we should expect from a talented offensive defenseman who’s been playing sheltered minutes. There will be matchups where Hutson is worth considering – Tuesday in St. Louis against their 28th-ranked PK, for example – but until he gets more minutes, he’s yet to prove he’s worth rostering for the rest of the season in redraft leagues.
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