Fantasy Hockey Head-to-Head Week 17 Primer

With only six games to play before the All-Star Weekend begins on Thursday, Week 17 will include games from Feb. 5-11. Despite the longer than usual week, only three teams will play four games while 11 will only play twice. 

Setting a strategy around the schedule becomes really important in Week 17. Note there are three teams that play twice before the All-Star Weekend begins -- Nashville, Ottawa and San Jose -- but San Jose does not play another game for the rest of the week, essentially getting a two-week break until Feb. 14. 

The right play, should you wish to stream a player or a goalie from those teams to grab an early lead, would be to roster them before the break and immediately dump them because they won't have any value if they don't play. 

Note while Vancouver and Colorado play four games this week, they also have two of the toughest schedules. Both teams will face surging Carolina, while Vancouver will make additional stops in Boston and Detroit. Colorado will play back-to-back in Manhattan and New Jersey, and face arguably the best team in the East in Florida on Saturday.

It should be a productive week for Vancouver and Colorado's players, but it will be tougher to say with their goaltending. 

The four teams with the easiest schedule -- Seattle, Minnesota, Anaheim and San Jose -- play just twice, which limits the upside even if you want to take advantage of the upcoming matchups. 

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

Dakota Joshua, C/LW, VAN - 2.98 
Noah Juulsen, D, VAN - 2.41 
Josh Manson, D, COL - 2.36 
Beck Malenstyn, LW, WSH - 2.30 
Martin Fehervary, D, WSH - 2.07 

Blocks/GP

Ian Cole, D, VAN - 2.06 
Samuel Girard, D, COL - 2.04 
Tyler Myers, D, VAN - 1.90 
Rasmus Sandin, D, WSH - 1.67 
Martin Fehervary, D, WSH - 1.63

Season-long adds

(< 25% rostered on Yahoo)

Wyatt Johnston, C/RW, DAL (25% rostered)

Grab Johnston quickly before everyone else catches on. With Johnston gaining RW eligibility, he's become a very valuable option if you want to get faceoff stats from the RW slot. He's been excellent since moving up to the top line, scoring nine points in his past nine games, and established good chemistry with Roope Hintz. 

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTtSwd7Fc0U[/embed]

Mid-term holds

(< 25% rostered on Yahoo)

Dylan Strome, C, WSH (23% rostered)

Strome and the Caps play four times in Week 17, and he's scored four goals in his past five games. He's the Caps' leading goal scorer, which is strange to say in itself, but also their most productive center. For the remainder of the season, Strome should be one of their top options. 

Ross Colton, C/LW, COL (18% rostered)

As long as Colton remains the Avs' No. 2 center -- and it seems like he will since Ryan Johansen has been hugely disappointing -- he's going to play plenty of minutes and therefore have plenty of fantasy value. The addition of Zach Parise beefs up the Avs' depth, and in turn gives Colton more quality wingers to potentially play with. The former Lightning castaway has six assists in his past three games. 

Sean Monahan, C, MTL (17% rostered)

Perhaps no player has boosted his fantasy and trade value lately more so than Monahan. He's skated at least 20 minutes in two of his past three games and an assist Saturday against the Pens now gives him 11 points in his past seven games. 

Nicolas Roy, C/RW, VEG (9% rostered)

William Karlsson was activated off IR on Sunday, but I think he replaces Chandler Stephenson on the top line, leaving Roy's line with Jonathan Marchessault and Ivan Barbashev intact. That's been the Knights' best line recently with Roy on a four-game points streak and winning plenty of faceoffs as well. 

Short-term streamers

(< 25% rostered on Yahoo)

Josh Norris, C, OTT (24% rostered)

As I noted above, the Sens are a good option if you want to get out to an early lead. They'll play twice before the All-Star Weekend, though they do not resume play until Saturday against the Leafs. Norris has three assists in his past five games playing with Vladimir Tarasenko at even strength, and Brady Tkachuk and Claude Giroux on the PP.

JJ Peterka, RW, BUF (16% rostered)

Peterka's on a roll with five goals in his past five games, including two straight two-goal performances. Peterka can be a great option in a pinch because he's proven himself to be a decent high-volume shooter with 133 shots so far this season.