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 Sept. 29-Oct. 7 games.
Note: The first scoring period is nine days long due to the Anaheim-Los Angeles games in London, U.K. on Sept. 29-30. However, you will see only a seven-game span for your players on the set lineups page. All teams have one addition game on either Saturday, Oct. 6 or Sunday, Oct. 7. So if you are setting your lineup in head-to-head leagues, add one game to what you are seeing. Below is a breakdown of each teams total games for the first scoring period. Team with five games (1): Anaheim
Teams with four games (0): None
Teams with three games (7): Carolina, Colorado, Dallas, Los
Angeles, Ottawa, San Jose, Toronto
Teams with two games (22): Atlanta, Buffalo, Buffalo, Calgary,
Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, Edmonton, Florida, Minnesota, Montreal,
Nashville, New Jersey, N.Y. Islanders, N.Y. Rangers, Philadelphia,
Phoenix, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Vancouver, Washington
On tap: Week 1 brings us 10 televised nationally televised games in either the United States or Canada: Anaheim vs. Los Angeles in Canada on Saturday; Los Angeles vs. Anaheim in the United States on Sunday; Anaheim at Detroit and Dallas at Colorado in the U.S. and Ottawa at Toronto in Canada on Wednesday; Toronto at Ottawa and Philadelphia at Calgary in Canada on Thursday; N.Y. Rangers at Ottawa, Montreal at Toronto and Vancouver at Calgary in Canada on Saturday.
Other prime matchups to watch: Joe Thornton and the Sharks head up to Northern Alberta to meet new Oilers Joni Pitkanen and Sheldon Souray on Thursday; the Chris Mason era gets underway in the Music City, as the Avalanche invade Nashville looking to tune up the Predators on Friday; Martin Brodeur and Tomas Vokoun lock horns in a good early-season goaltender matchup and the defending Stanley Cup champs pay a visit to Sidney Crosby and the Penguins on Saturday.
| F A N T A S Y S P I N S | |
| Chip chip, cheerio and all that good stuff, as the 2007-08 NHL season starts in jolly old England of all places. The Ducks take North America's oldest trophy back home to England, at least for a couple of days, as opening day is here a little bit early. ... Speaking of the Ducks, they are the only team with five games in the opening scoring period of the season, while no other team plays more than three. Start all of your Ducks in cumulative Fantasy leagues, as Anaheim's players can get you off to a big start. ... Fans around the NHL are excited to see new places and new faces and there are a lot during a busy offseason. The top 10 players in new places I am excited to see are: Anaheim's Mathieu Schneider, Colorado's Ryan Smyth, Detroit's Brian Rafalski, Edmonton's Sheldon Souray, Florida's Tomas Vokoun, Chris Drury and Scott Gomez of the Rangers, Paul Kariya of the Blues, Toronto's Jason Blake and Washington's Michael Nylander. ... From the injury front, a lot of Fantasy owners were hurt by injuries late in the preseason, which sent them scrambling for the waiver wire. Among the notables, Tampa Bay's Dan Boyle had a freak accident where his skate fell off the hook in his locker and severed three tendons in his wrist, causing the star rearguard to have surgery. The Philadelphia Flyers were decimated by injuries all in one game, as they saw Joffrey Lupul, R.J. Umberger and Scottie Upshall all go down to injury. Lupul will be out for two to three weeks with a sprained left wrist, while Umberger broke a pinkie finger which has him on the mend for at least two weeks due to surgery. Upshall's injury is the most serious, as he'll be down for up to six weeks because of a wrist fracture. ... Injuries aren't all limited to skaters, either. Atlanta's Kari Lehtonen eased a lot of concerns when he picked up a win in Wednesday's preseason game at Florida, manning the crease for the first time during the exhibition season. He has been battling a groin injury and it is a good idea to grab Johan Hedberg just in case. ... Looking to do some last minute free agent shopping? Consider John Grahame of the Carolina Hurricanes, who had a shutout in Thursday's preseason game at Columbus and sits with a 2.40 GAA and .908 save percentage in three games. Of course, Cam Ward is 1-0 with a 0.66 GAA and a shutout in two games, so Grahame is still only worth a look in deeper formats and those leagues which average points per game in a scoring period. |
| 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 | 9/29 | 9/30 | 10/3 | 10/4 | 10/5 | 10/6 | 10/7 |
| Anaheim Ducks (ANA) | vs. LA | vs. LA | @DET | -- | @CLB | @PIT | -- |
| The defending Stanley Cup champs open with five games in the first scoring period, more than any other team. They also have three pretty favorable games against teams which did not participate in the NHL postseason a year ago. | |||||||
| Minnesota Wild (MIN) | -- | -- | -- | CHI | -- | CLB | -- |
| The Wild have just two games, but they are playing against two teams which they should have some decent success against. It might be a nice start for Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding in average points Fantasy leagues. | |||||||
| St. Louis Blues (STL) | -- | -- | -- | @PHO | -- | @LA | -- |
| We'll get a pretty good idea early on if these are the same old lowly Blues or if the addition of Kariya and Toivonen make a difference against two teams on the road which they should match up well against. We'll also see a Johnson vs. Johnson matchup, when young defenseman Erik and Jack do battle on Saturday. | |||||||
| San Jose Sharks (SJ) | -- | -- | -- | @EDM | @VAN | -- | @COL |
| Fantasy owners of Jonathan Cheechoo and Joe Thornton can't be thrilled to see three roadies to open up the season, but two of the games might be high-scoring affairs. | |||||||
| Washington Capitals (WAS) | -- | -- | -- | -- | @ATL | CAR | -- |
| We didn't get to see it a lot last season, so we'll take the opportunity now. The offensive players of the Capitals are must-starts, especially in average points leagues. Atlanta has a banged up starting netminder and the Caps usually play the Canes tight. | |||||||
| 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 | 9/29 | 9/30 | 10/3 | 10/4 | 10/5 | 10/6 | 10/7 |
| Chicago Blackhawks (CHI) | -- | -- | -- | @MIN | -- | DET | -- |
| It might take the ‘Hawks a few games to get their offense going, as they face the shutdown defense of the Wild and the Dominator, who still has it after all these years. | |||||||
| Boston Bruins (BOS) | -- | -- | -- | -- | @DAL | @PHO | -- |
| The Bruins have a tough assignment, as they open on the road in the Central and then Mountain Time Zone. The schedule maker was not nice to them and their fans, who are eagerly anticipating the arrival of Manny Fernandez. | |||||||
| Nashville Predators (NSH) | -- | -- | -- | COL | -- | DAL | -- |
| The Predators have a difficult assignment, as Chris Mason will be under fire immediately with the high-flying Avalanche and Stars paying a visiting to Sommet Center (formerly Gaylord Entertainment Center.) | |||||||
| Pittsburgh Penguins (PIT) | -- | -- | -- | -- | @CAR | ANA | -- |
| Sid the Kid and friends will have their hands full, as they face the past two Stanley Cup champions in back-to-back games to open the new season. | |||||||
| Toronto Maple Leafs (TOR) | -- | -- | OTT | @OTT | -- | MON | -- |
| The Maple Leafs have struggled over the past few seasons against their provincial rivals and Toskala will see plenty of Alf, Heater and the rest of the Sens in the home-and-home to start the year. | |||||||
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