Week 4 Hockey Planner
By Daniel E. Dobish | Senior Fantasy Writer
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 Oct. 22-28 games.
Teams with four games (3): Carolina, Edmonton, Vancouver
Teams with three games (22): Anaheim, Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Calgary, Chicago, Colorado, Columbus, Detroit, Florida, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Montreal, Nashville, N.Y. Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, San Jose, Tampa Bay
Teams with two games (3): Dallas, New Jersey, Phoenix
Teams with one game (2): N.Y. Islanders, Ottawa
On tap: Week 4 brings us six televised nationally televised games in either the United States or Canada: Boston at Montreal in the United States on Monday; N.Y. Rangers at Pittsburgh in the United States and Colorado at Edmonton in Canada on Tuesday; Vancouver at Detroit in Canada on Wednesday; Toronto at N.Y. Rangers and Edmonton at Los Angeles in Canada on Saturday. Other prime matchups to watch: We get a 2006 Eastern Conference Finals rematch between the Sabres and Hurricanes in Raleigh on Wednesday; Sidney Crosby scored his first two goals of the season in Toronto last Saturday. He'll look to keep it going in the rematch against the Maple Leafs in Pittsburgh on Thursday; the Flames blew a 4-0 lead on Oct. 16 against the Avalanche, eventually losing 5-4 in a shootout. They'll look for revenge at home on Friday night against Colorado; Tomas Vokoun of the Panthers leads his new team into the Music City on Saturday to face the Predators, his former team.
| F A N T A S Y S P I N S | |
| For those of you wondering what Peter Forsberg has been up to lately, he and his father Kent are dabbling in the airline business back in Sweden. Forsberg's company, Forspro, is teaming with a number of Swedish companies and Vancouver star Markus Naslund to start Hoga Kusten Flyg AB, which roughly translates to High Coast Airlines. The airline will provide flights from Ornskoldsvik to Stockholm, a route large Scandanavian airline SAS has been cutting back. Naslund and Forsberg are doing a good thing for their hometown and businessmen alike. Naslund said they are not in it for the money, but basically hoping just to break even. ... Speaking of 'Foppa', the Stars met with Forsberg in Sweden recently, gauging his interest in a return to the NHL. He is still out until at least January after ankle surgery, but is practicing with MoDo, his former Swedish team. He has no plans to return to the Swedish ranks, but wants to return to the NHL if gets back to 100 percent. Look for Colorado and Philadelphia to be the favorites for his services, with Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver as darkhorses due to the fact they have prominent Swedish players on their roster. ... In a rather shocking move, the Thrashers have elected to fire coach Bob Hartley after the team opened the season with six straight losses. General manager Don Waddell will take over on the bench while the coaching search goes on. While we feel this move to be premature after Hartley led them to the Southeast Division title and their first playoff berth just last season, it is a good move for Fantasy owners. Usually, a new regime provides an instant spark for the team. The biggest beneficiary might be Kari Lehtonen, who has been very mediocre early on. It's a little unfair seeing that Marian Hossa missed time due to a groin injury, but he is now back, too. ... Florida goaltender Tomas Vokoun was forced to miss Thursday's start at Toronto after tweaking his ankle in Tuesday's shootout win in Montreal. Defenseman Mike Van Ryn actually fell on the goaltender in the win and Vokoun is awaiting results from an MRI. He might be forced to miss one more game over the weekend, but should be fine with the team not scheduled to play again until Oct. 24 at home against Philadelphia. |
| 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 | 10/22 | 10/23 | 10/24 | 10/25 | 10/26 | 10/27 | 10/28 |
| Anaheim Ducks (ANA) | -- | @STL | -- | PHO | -- | -- | EDM |
| The Ducks finally have their offense going in the right direction. In addition, they also have their starting goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere back and defenseman Mathieu Schneider might not be that far away from his debut. | |||||||
| Carolina Hurricanes (CAR) | VAN | -- | BUF | -- | MON | @NYI | -- |
| The Hurricanes do not necessarily have the most favorable matchups in the world, but they have four total games. The glut of games makes all of their players useful in cumulative leagues, especially if you have a lot of Islanders or Senators which play just one game in the upcoming week. | |||||||
| Chicago Blackhawks (CHI) | -- | CLB | -- | @BOS | -- | ATL | -- |
| The Blackhawks have an offense that will be heard from this season a lot more than past years. They'll have three favorable matchups this week against teams still trying to find themselves. | |||||||
| Dallas Stars (DAL) | -- | -- | -- | @LA | -- | @PHO | -- |
| We do not like to suggest teams with just two matchups in a scoring period, but games against the Kings and Coyotes should prove very productive for the Dallas offense. It might not be a great week if you own Marty Turco and Mike Smith, however. Each goaltender is just back from injury and it would not be surprising to see them split starts. That makes them good in average leagues, but horrible starts in cumulative formats. | |||||||
| St. Louis Blues (STL) | -- | ANA | -- | @CLB | -- | WAS | -- |
| The Blues will likely struggle with Giguere and the Ducks on Tuesday, but games against the Blue Jackets and the Capitals should prove very fruitful for the resurgent offense. | |||||||
| 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 | 10/22 | 10/23 | 10/24 | 10/25 | 10/26 | 10/27 | 10/28 |
| Calgary Flames (CGY) | SJ | -- | MIN | -- | COL | -- | -- |
| The Flames will face three tough goaltenders in Evgeni Nabokov, Niklas Backstrom and Peter Budaj/Jose Theodore. It might not be a great week for the Calgary offense, so consider reserving all but Jarome Iginla and Dion Phaneuf. | |||||||
| Detroit Red Wings (DET) | -- | -- | VAN | -- | SJ | -- | @VAN |
| While Roberto Luongo is not off to the greatest of starts for the Canucks, facing him twice within five days is never good for an offense. While most Red Wings should still remain in the active Fantasy lineup, don't expect your players to post the big numbers you've been accustomed to during the early going. | |||||||
| New York Islanders (NYI) | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | CAR | -- |
| Yuck. The Islanders offense has been playing very well, but all players in cumulative leagues should be reserved with just Cam Ward and the Hurricanes on the schedule. | |||||||
| New Jersey Devils (NJ) | -- | -- | -- | @NYR | -- | OTT | -- |
| The Devils will have to battle the Rangers and Senators, two teams that have gotten solid goaltending during the early part of the season. While Martin Brodeur is a must-start in any Fantasy week, you might want to look elsewhere for your offensive needs. | |||||||
| Ottawa Senators (OTT) | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | @NJ | -- |
| Why would the NHL schedule the Senators for just one game on the road against Brodeur and the Devils? That seems a little unfair for Fantasy owners in all formats, especially cumulative leagues. You rarely want to reserve your Senators, but this is one of those weeks when you should. | |||||||
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.
