Hey folks, welcome back to the Weekly Wrap. There wasn’t much going on in week 19 of fantasy hockey, yet here we are.
Can we all agree, that while not perfect, the Four Nations Cup has been significantly better than expected? How do you beat three fights in the first nine seconds of an exhibition game?
This Canada – United States final is going to be electric.
During this break, Gary Bettman also announced the NHL will be returning to the Olympics in 2026 and 2030. He also announced the NHL will stop games to hold a World Cup of Hockey in the years 2028 and 2032. I for one am pumped. That said, I am holding out hope this will be a true World Cup and not six or eight teams. While it has never been a true ‘best on best’ the IIHF World Hockey Championships consists of 16 teams. I can hope.
Fantasy Hockey Weekly Wrap
Playoff Bracket thoughts:
With no NHL games or stats to talk about for week 19 of fantasy hockey, I thought this would be a great time to look ahead to weeks 22 to 26.
Week 26 is a wonky four-day long week, with games ending Thursday, April 17th. If you’re the Commish of a pool and you haven’t identified this – you’d need to submit a ticket to Fantrax to adjust. Personally, my pool extended its final to include those four days. Admittedly, I do things differently. My first round of playoffs is a one-week match-up from March 10-16. My second round is a two-week match-up from March 17 to March 30. My finals are two weeks, plus the four days, from March 31 to April 17.
A lot of pools now use a two-week finals format. I like the finals as a two-week matchup, it rewards consistent performance over a longer period.
A lot of pools have also started scratching the final few days of the season. This is due to the growing trend to rest stars before the playoffs. Food for thought. In my pool, my finals run two-weeks PLUS those four days.
Playoff Schedules
Look for every advantage you can in the playoffs, especially in one-year pools. Limited keeper leagues have a bit more flexibility than dynasties.
In week 25 and 26, April 7 to 17:
Eleven teams play six games: Anaheim, Buffalo, Carolina, Columbus, Detroit, Edmonton, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, San Jose, Tampa Bay, and Toronto.
Five teams play four games (Boston, Colorado, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, St. Louis).
That’s the finals, but you have to get there, first.
Week 24, March 31 to April 6:
Twelve teams play four games (Boston, Columbus, Calgary, Colorado, Dallas, Florida, Minnesota, Montreal, Nashville, Ottawa, Vegas, and Washington).
Four teams play two games (New Jersey, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, and Toronto)
A couple of observations. Columbus is the only team to play four games in week 24 and six games in week 25 & 26. That’s 10 games over the last three weeks of the season.
All four of Florida’s games in week 24 are on the road.
All four of Ottawa’s games in week 24 are at home.
Week 23, March 24 to 30:
Twelve teams play four games (Buffalo, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Montreal, New Jersey, New York Islanders, Toronto, Utah, and Vancouver)
Two teams play two games (Boston, Florida)
A couple of observations, Montreal and Vancouver play all four games on the road.
When you look at all the weeks together, seven teams play 13 games (Buffalo, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Montreal, New York Islanders, and Ottawa).
Four teams play 10 games (Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis).
Of note: Ottawa plays nine games at home, the most in the league, followed by Los Angeles with eight.
While Detroit, Vegas, and Washington all play eight of their final games on the road.
As a quick example:
Owning: Jason Zucker, LW/RW, Buffalo Sabres, and Sean Monahan, C, Columbus Blue Jackets – versus – Alex Laferriere, LW/RW, Los Angeles Kings, or Pavel Zacha, C/LW, Boston Bruins – that’s a six-game advantage over the final two and a half weeks of the season.
I purposely avoided listing elite fantasy options because you rarely should trade them to gain a man-game advantage.
With every rule in fantasy hockey, there is an exception. It would be exhausting to list them all. If you could make a value trade, meaning two players of equal age and value – to gain a games played advantage, I would consider that.
Four Nations Cup
For the hardcore fantasy hockey poolie, there are some point pools out there. Let’s talk about any potential impact this tournament might have on some players. We might as well. these were the only games played during week 19 of fantasy hockey.
Mitch Marner, LW/RW, Toronto Maple Leafs
He scores the game-winner against Sweden to open the tournament. He’s pointless in the last two and is getting roasted online. There’s enormous hatred for the Leafs, which is fueling a large part of it. That said, if the right person owns Marner, maybe, just maybe, the price to acquire him has slipped. Just a little bit – based on his underwhelming performance.
Mikael Granlund, C/LW, Dallas Stars
I doubt anyone had Granlund leading Finland in scoring. Ahh, but here we are.
Zack Werenski, D, Columbus Blue Jackets
On the biggest stage, Werenski continues to do Werenski things. Going into the final against Canada Werenski has five assists in three games to lead the USA in scoring. He’s also tied with Sidney Crosby, C, Pittsburgh Penguins. for the tournament lead.
Jordan Binnington, G, St. Louis Blues
To everyone’s surprise, Binnington has started all three games for Canada. Honestly, I would have bet money Adin Hill, G, Vegas Golden Knights would have started at least one game by now.
An argument could be made that Binnington isn’t even the best goalie on his team, let alone in Canada.
Statistically, the best Canadian goalies weren’t named to the roster. I mean, look at the list: Logan Thompson, Washington Capitals, Darcy Kuemper, Los Angeles Kings, MacKenzie Blackwood, Colorado Avalanche, Cam Talbot, Detroit Red Wings, and Stuart Skinner, Edmonton Oilers. They are all having better statistical seasons than Binnington.
Final thoughts
There was some speculation that we could see some trades go down over this two-week break. That hasn’t happened.
That said, GMs have had almost two full weeks without games to dig into trade talks. When the NHL resumes play there will be two weeks – 14 days – to the trade deadline.
Trades should come fast and furious when the NHL resumes.
Speaking of games resuming…
There are 14 games on the schedule for Saturday. The first game is 12:30 PM EST/ 9:30 AM PST.
SET YOUR LINE UPS.
Alexander Ovechkin, LW, Washinton Capitals
Career Goals: 879 (26 on the season)
Gretzky’s Record: 894
To Tie Record: 15 Goals
To Break Record: 16 Goals
That will do it for this week. Thanks for reading.
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