The Fantasy Hockey Weekly Planner is the essential guide to setting your lineup for the upcoming week. Every Friday, we provide you with top matchups, the latest news and give you the scoop on injured players.
Projections are for Feb. 19-25 games.
Teams with four games (9): Boston, Colorado, Columbus, Edmonton,
Nashville, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Washington
Teams with three games (18): Anaheim, Atlanta, Buffalo, Calgary,
Carolina, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Florida, Minnesota, Montreal, N.Y.
Islanders, N.Y. Rangers, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Toronto, Vancouver
Team with two games (3): Los Angeles, Phoenix, St. Louis
On tap: Week 21 brings us five nationally televised games in either the United States or Canada: Boston at Philadelphia on Monday and Philadelphia at Buffalo on Tuesday in the United States; San Jose at Washington on Wednesday in Canada; Toronto at Philadelphia and San Jose at Calgary on Saturday on Hockey Night in Canada. Other prime matchups to watch: The Devils and the Rangers will square off on Thursday at the Garden, as New Jersey looks to throw a monkey wrench into the playoff plans of their rival; the Ducks and Stars will face each other Friday down in Big D in a possible Western Conference playoff preview; the Red Wings get their first look at the new and improved Predators on Saturday; Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and the Penguins share the ice with Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and the Lightning on Sunday.
| F A N T A S Y S P I N S | |
| The much-anticipated trade of Peter Forsberg finally happened on Thursday night, as the Flyers scratched him after pregame warm-ups. It was a deflating night for his teammates, as they looked listless throughout another loss. They learned that Scottie Upshall, prospect D Mark Parent and a couple of draft picks will go to the Philadelphia Flyers and Forsberg will now be earning paychecks and skating with a Stanley Cup contender in Nashville. So what are the Fantasy ramifications? There are a handful of things floating around, but we won't be able to make any judgements until Forsberg laces up the skates in the Music City. One rumor has him possibly moving to wing so as not to upset the apple cart. He might be paired together with Paul Kariya and center David Legwand for a potential super line. In any event, Forsberg's Fantasy value increases dramatically, because he moves from the worst team in the NHL to one of the best. Look for his plus/minus rating to turn around and increase big-time. Forsberg and the Predators have four games in the upcoming scoring period, so all of their big guns are must-starts. … The Flyers scooted Mike Richards to the top scoring line with Simon Gagne and Mike Knuble to replace Forsberg. He might be worth a look skating with those two offensive dynamos. … The Buffalo Sabres have lost Maxim Afinogenov until at least early April due to a broken wrist. He suffered the injury in Thursday’s game against the Oilers. This might open up a spot for Mike Connolly if they can jockey around the numbers and fit him in under the salary cap. Jiri Novotny was also lost in the game due after aggravating his ankle injury. He is sidelined indefinitely. |
| F I V E T E A M S W I T H F A V O R A B L E M A T C H U P S | |||||||
| The following five teams have the best matchups for the upcoming week. That doesn't necessarily mean they will post the best Fantasy stats, but if you're looking for a one-week start or are trying to make a difficult decision between two players to use, lean toward players from these teams: | |||||||
| Team | 2/19 | 2/20 | 2/21 | 2/22 | 2/23 | 2/24 | 2/25 |
| Florida Panthers (FLA) | -- | @TB | -- | PIT | -- | BOS | -- |
| The Panthers will have their hands full with the rival Lightning before two favorable home games to roll up big offensive numbers. | |||||||
| Nashville Predators (NSH) | PHO | -- | -- | MON | -- | DET | @CLB |
| It will be interesting to see how the Predators adapt to life with Forsberg, as they play their first week as legitimate Stanley Cup contenders. | |||||||
| New Jersey Devils (NJ) | -- | NYR | -- | @NYR | -- | WAS | @WAS |
| The Devils have home-and-homes with the Rangers and Capitals. They might have some big offensive numbers and Martin Brodeur should be in line for at least two or three wins. | |||||||
| Pittsburgh Penguins (PIT) | @NYI | -- | -- | @FLA | -- | @TB | -- |
| Sid the Kid and the Penguins should be able to post big offensive production with a trip to the Island and through the Sunshine State. | |||||||
| St. Louis Blues (STL) | -- | CLB | -- | -- | -- | -- | @CHI |
| We never like to recommend teams with just two games in a week, but the Blues should be tremendous on offense this week. However, the team might be skating without Bill Guerin and/or Keith Tkachuk by the time the week ends due to a trade or two. | |||||||
| F I V E T E A M S W I T H P O O R M A T C H U P S | |||||||
| The following five teams have the worst matchups for the upcoming week. That doesn't necessarily mean you should reserve every player from these teams, but try to avoid less-heralded performers from these squads if you have an alternative on your roster: | |||||||
| Team | 2/19 | 2/20 | 2/21 | 2/22 | 2/23 | 2/24 | 2/25 |
| Los Angeles Kings (LA) | -- | -- | -- | -- | PIT | -- | BOS |
| The Kings are terrible and they have just two games. With the exception of Michael Cammalleri, Alexander Frolov and Anze Kopitar, all of their players should be reserved in cumulative formats. | |||||||
| New York Rangers (NYR) | -- | @NJ | -- | NJ | -- | CLB | -- |
| The prospect of facing Brodeur in a home-and-home situation is never appealing. Keep the big guns like Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan active, but reserve most other offensive players. | |||||||
| Ottawa Senators (OTT) | -- | EDM | -- | @BUF | -- | BUF | -- |
| Ray Emery will be back from suspension, but it will be an extremely tough week with Buffalo on the schedule for two, although they are a little banged up. | |||||||
| Phoenix Coyotes (PHO) | @NSH | -- | -- | CGY | -- | -- | -- |
| The Coyotes have just two games and the prospect of facing Tomas Vokoun and Miikka Kiprusoff does not bode well for their offense in the upcoming week. | |||||||
| Washington Capitals (WAS) | -- | @MON | SJ | -- | -- | @NJ | NJ |
| Alexander Ovechkin has been going through some offensive struggles and it doesn't look to get much easier with a home-and-home against Brodeur and the Devils. | |||||||
Mailbag
David James - Whitby, Ontario, Canada: I follow your advice quite often on CBS SportsLine. I am currently third place in a 15-man pool. I am nine points out of second and 11 points up from fourth. Our team was selected knowing it would be our team for years to come as well. We do not draft every year.
Anyway, we are pondering a trade right now. We give up Simon Gagne, Martin Erat and Jay Bouwmeester. In return, we receive Chris Drury, Daniel Alfredsson and Sami Salo. I think that this trade probably helps us this year. However, do you think it is enough to give up so much future? The person involved on the other end of the deal has no chance this year.
D.E.D.: If I were you, I would definitely make this trade. While, yes, you do mortgage some of your future, that's fine. Win now, as you never know what future years are going to hold in the league. I've made trades for the future, sacrificed a year only to have the pool disband a year or two later and then I wonder why I did what I did. That being said, don't trade away every single future star you have for aging veterans. Anyway, you get the picture. If you are that close to winning the whole thing this year, wouldn't you rather win it one year and maybe fall back a little next year than finish third one season and maybe do the same the next?
You can e-mail your Fantasy Hockey questions to DMFantasyPucks@cbs.com. Be sure to put Attn: Fantasy Hockey in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state. Be aware, due to the large volume of submissions received, we cannot guarantee personal responses to all questions.