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 Dec. 17-23 games and all stats are through Thursday.

Number of games on the schedule for each team this week
Four games Three games Two games
*Atlanta* Buffalo Anaheim
*Boston* Carolina Calgary
Colorado Florida Chicago
Dallas N.Y. Islanders *Columbus*
Detroit New Jersey Edmonton
Los Angeles Philadelphia *Minnesota*
Montreal Tampa Bay Phoenix
N.Y. Rangers Toronto *San Jose*
Nashville Washington St. Louis
Ottawa


Pittsburgh


Vancouver


An *asterisk* indicates a team has at least three home games.
Italics indicates a team has at least three road games.
The following teams have back-to-back games in the upcoming scoring period, which means it's likely a backup goalie could start the second game: Anaheim, Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Montreal, Nashville, N.Y. Islanders, N.Y. Rangers, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Vancouver.

On tap: Week 11 brings us eight nationally televised games in either the United States or Canada: Washington at Detroit (US) on Monday; Ottawa at Boston (US) on Tuesday; Los Angeles at Detroit (CAN) on Wednesday; Philadelphia at Buffalo (CAN) and Dallas at Calgary (CAN) on Friday; Toronto at Florida (CAN) and Vancouver at Phoenix (CAN) on Saturday.

F A N T A S Y   S P I N S
Look at what the Dallas Stars are getting out of their top line -- with Jere Lehtinen sidelined with an abdominal injury until February. C Mike Ribeiro, LW Brenden Morrow and RW Antti Miettinen have combined for 14 points in two games. Ribeiro has three goals and three assists in his past two (five goals in his past six). Morrow has a goal in each game, as well as a three-game points streak going. And Miettinen, who is playing in Lehtinen's place, has a goal and four assists in his past two games, with seven points (3 G, 4 A) in his past four contests.

Goalie situations and you

Folks, it's time to take a look at some goalie situations. We're over a third of the way through this season and your Fantasy roster might need some retooling in this area.

Top 25 Fantasy Goalies
1. Evgeni Nabokov, SJ
2. Roberto Luongo, VAN
3. Martin Brodeur, NJ
4. Tomas Vokoun, FLA
5. Rick DiPietro, NYI
6. Henrik Lundqvist, NYR
7. Martin Biron, PHI
8. Chris Osgood, DET
9. Cam Ward, CAR
10. Jean-Sebastien Giguere, ANA
11. Vesa Toskala, TOR
12. Niklas Backstrom, MIN
13. Ryan Miller, BUF
14. Miikka Kiprusoff, CAL
15. Marty Turco, DAL
16. Dominik Hasek, DET
17. Ray Emery, OTT
18. Pascal Leclaire, CMB
19. Martin Gerber, OTT
20. Ilya Bryzgalov, PHO
21. Manny Legace, STL
22. Johan Holmqvist, TB
23. Chris Mason, NAS
24. Carey Price, MON
25. Olaf Kolzig, WAS
Colorado Avalanche: Jose Theodore started the season on injured reserve while he rehabbed from offseason knee surgery. Once he was healthy, it took him a while to get his game straightened out, opening the door for Peter Budaj. At one point, Theodore lost four straight starts, allowing 17 goals, in November. he has five starts this month (3-2-0, 2.82 GAA) in Colorado's seven games. Budaj has been in goal twice this month (1-1-0, 3.00 GAA) and seems to be back in the secondary spot to Theodore. Budaj allowed four third-period goals on Dec. 5, and it took him over a week to get another shot in net. It should be noted that he was just 21 seconds away from a shutout at Nashville on Thursday. That effort likely earns him another start Saturday against the Predators. Head coach Joel Quenneville will continue to go with the hot hand (glove). This is like a poor Fantasy man's Dallas Stars goalie tandem. Use them as No. 2 Fantasy options. Remember that Budaj was hot down the stretch last season, when Colorado went 15-2-2 only to miss the playoffs by just a point.

Dallas Stars: It wasn't too long ago that Marty Turco was coming off a three-game losing streak. So Mike Smith took over between the pipes and he posted a 4-1 record in five straight starts, allowing less than a goal per game. But in Dallas' past nine games, Turco has gone 5-2 with a 2.67 GAA in six starts, with Smith going 0-2 with a 4.00 GAA. Turco is back to being a No. 1 goalie in all Fantasy formats, with Smith a decent weekly-scoring-average player.

Detroit Red Wings: Dominik Hasek and Chris Osgood have combined to become the most fearsome goaltending duo in the NHL. While the Dominator was healing from a hip injury, Osgood stepped in and outproduced the Czechoslovakian. Osgood won five straight starts from Oct. 26-Nov. 7, then he went 5-1 from Nov. 18-Dec. 1. But since Hasek has gotten healthy, he is getting the bulk of starts again, and playing well. Hasek is 3-0-1 since then, with Osgood getting just one start. An 3-1 split in starts is likely the arrangement from here on -- or until Hasek gets injured again. Both are worth owning in all leagues.

Los Angeles Kings: Jason LaBarbera is dealing with a rib injury, so the goaltending duties are falling on the shoulders of former Penguins goalie Jean-Sebastien Aubin. But in his past four starts, he's just 1-2-1. Rookie Jonathan Quick started Thursday, but he had to be replaced by Aubin after allowing four goals in half a game. Interestingly, Quick had to replace Aubin the night before for lackluster play as well. LaBarbera has missed seven games, but he's expected back next week. Any way you cut it, these three goalies are risky starts in Fantasy.

Ottawa Senators: Ray Emery (five) has seen the lion's share of starts in goal this month, compared to Martin Gerber (three). Emery was dealing with an injury earlier this season that opened the door for Gerber to lock down the job for a bit. He seemed to have stolen the job back, but now his hip is acting up and Gerber is back in net. Whoever starts for this team, the second-best in the NHL, is worth starting in all Fantasy leagues.

Vancouver Canucks: Roberto Luongo's rib injury came at a horrible time this past week. Many owners set him in their lineup before finding out he couldn't go, just a few hours too late. (Can you sense the bitterness in my writing? I traded for him Monday morning.) Now it looks like he's not going to be able to play until the Devils come into town Tuesday, according to The Sports Xchange. There's a possibility he could start at Edmonton Saturday (Dec. 15), but that's a big risk. Curtis Sanford has been starting in his place, but he got pulled after poor play on Thursday, and Drew MacIntyre made his first NHL appearance. These two aren't half the goalie Luongo is, so the Canucks TG drops significantly while Bobby Lou rests.

Three Stars of the Week

Jason Spezza, C, OTT: He has three goals and four assists with a plus-six in his past three games. His linemate Dany Heatley had four goals in two assists with a plus-7. The Senators lead the NHL with 3.37 goals scored per game, and along with Daniel Alfredsson, they have three guys in the top 20 in NHL scoring.

Mike Green, D, WAS: He has three goals and two assists in his past four games. Since interim head coach Bruce Boudreau took over in Washington, Green has really picked up his game. The third-year pro is just 22 years old and he has already surpassed his career-high in points (14) and goals (eight).

Tomas Vokoun, G, FLA: The former Predators goalie is finally coming around. He went 2-0-1 in his past three games with two shutouts! He has just a 0.32 GAA over the past seven days! He started off slowly with his new team (5-5-0 in October), but now he's on pace to tie his career-high of 36 wins. He's also only two shutouts away from a career-high there too (five).

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 12/17 12/18 12/19 12/20 12/21 12/22 12/23
Columbus Blue Jackets -- CAL -- -- LA -- NAS
They have three home games against opponents that are allowing an average of 3.05 goals per game on the road.
Detroit Red Wings WAS -- LA @STL -- @MIN --
No team is hotter entering the weekend, going 7-1-2 in their past 10 games. And they have a four-game set ahead.
Atlanta Thrashers -- TB -- OTT -- MON @STL
The Thrashers have four games, with three at home. They face a Lightning team that have the worst defense on the road (4.00 GAA), and a Blues team that is allowing 3.21 goals per road game (25th in the league).
Boston Bruins -- OTT -- PIT -- STL @PIT
The B's have four total, three home, and two are against a Penguins team that's having goalie issues.
Philadelphia Flyers -- PHO -- -- @BUF BUF --
They have three games total, and their opponents are in the lower echelon right now in goals allowed per game.
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 a better alternative:
Team 12/17 12/18 12/19 12/20 12/21 12/22 12/23
N.Y. Islanders -- -- BUF -- @PIT WAS --
No team has just two games this week, so a team like the Islanders with only three games becomes a liability. They are the second-lowest scoring team in the NHL (2.27 goals per game).
Los Angeles Kings COL -- @DET -- @CMB @NAS --
The Kings do have four games, but three are away, where they are 4-9-1 with the second-worst road record in the league. And two of the defenses they'll face are ranked in the top five (DET and CMB).
Anaheim Ducks -- @SJ COL -- -- @SJ --
Only three games ahead this week -- and two are against the league's toughest defense in the Sharks (2.13 GAA).
Nashville Predators -- @MIN @CHI -- -- LA @CMB
Again, this team has four games, but three are away and they are among the bottom third of the league in scoring on the road (2.36 goals per game). They also have two sets of back-to-back games, which will have goalies in and out and skaters with tired legs.
Dallas Stars -- @EDM -- @VAN @CAL -- MON
The Stars are on the road in Canada for three games in a four-game week, and they do have a back-to-back set including a game at home against Montreal. The Habs are seventh in the NHL with 2.94 goals per game on the road.

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