Week 16-17 Fantasy Hockey Planner and H2H Streamers

For your next matchup, you get three light nights of hockey followed by the four-day All-Star break.  The following Monday, most will resume their matchup for another seven days. Some may tune into the All-Star Game or skill competitions.  Others may take advantage of a four-day break from setting lineups.  Do not let your guard down now – both halves of the week count.  Despite the games being spread out over 14 days, no team has more than 4 games.  All streamers listed below are owned in less than 50% of Fantrax fantasy hockey leagues as I write.

Be on the lookout for our waiver wire column and all the rest of our Fantasy Hockey content.

Week 16-17 Fantasy Hockey Planner

Weekly Lineup Picks

Standard disclaimer: weekly leagues aren’t about what days games are on, they are about how many games your guys play.  A 4-game guy only needs to be half as good as a 2-game player to match the results. Win most games played every week.

Week 16-17 Fantasy Hockey Schedule Grid:

The two-part week does not mean much to you weekly-lineup players.  If anything, spreading games out may mean players will be fresher in their matchups while goalies could play more games with fewer back-to-backs.  Four-game teams are Anaheim, Detroit, Montreal, Nashville, Ottawa, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Vancouver, Washington, and Winnipeg.

My Week 16-17 4-game skater targets: 

Adam Henrique (C/LW- ANA) has been boom-or-bust.  In 6 of his last 8 games he has not scored.  On the other hand, he put up a PPG, ESG, PPA, and 9 shots on January 5 vs Nashville.  Anaheim plays all 4 of their games after the All-Star game, so the entire team should be well-rested.  I love that Henrique has taken a role as a winger for Ryan Getzlaf on the first line.  He also slots into the top power-play unit.  The bad news is the deployment of this line has been increasingly on defense.  Henrique tallies 2.5 shots, a hit, and half a block per game.  The upside tells me to buy in a week where the last place Ducks do not leave California.

Robby Fabbri (LW/RW – DET) continues to make good as a bigger fish in a smaller pool.  Responsible for 5 points in 6 games in January, Fabbri has been the beneficiary of Anthony Mantha’s injury woes.  Fabbri gets deployment with Dylan Larkin on Detroit’s first line.  His PPTOI has topped 3 minutes in each of those games as he lines up with Larkin on the top PP unit.  He is good for 2 shots and a hit every game, a modest addition to your peripherals.

Artturi Lehkonen (LW/RW – MON) has good offensive linemates — Max Domi and Nick Suzuki.  His scoring has admittedly been middling since the calendar turned over to 2020 – 5 points in 9 games.  His penalty kill minutes no doubt eat into his scoring, but physical play has also helped him into 2 hits a game to go with 2 shots and half a block.  That makes him a player likely to give you peripherals floor with scoring upside.

Craig Smith (RW – NSH) The mention of Smith seems to always include an obligatory statement on his being underrated.  Smith has been quiet the last two weeks, with his most gaudy stat a 7-hit game at Chicago on January 9.  Those 5 games disturbingly coincide with John Hynes’s first five games as Preds coach. The recent struggles come after a red-hot month when Smith scored 13 points in 14 games.  Smith remains on the top line with Ryan Johansen and gets some power playtime.  2.5 shots and a hit per game solidifies the peripheral floor.  If Hynes will see fit to push Smith above his 13:19 ATOI to something more like career norms, he could fall into another hot streak.

Not using Fantrax for your fantasy hockey league? Check out our Fantasy Hockey Commissioner and find out why you should be.

Daily Head-to-Head Streamers:

There are ten nights with regular-season games between weeks 16 and 17.  9 of those nights have fewer than half of the NHL playing, making for a gaudy 9 quality games.  Picking streamers is about being strategic this matchup.

I am recommending looking at streamers in two parts – before and after the All-Star Game. Detroit, Minnesota, and Winnipeg play in 2 of 3 nights in the 3-game week 16 stretch.  After the All-Star game, Washington has 4 quality games.  7 other teams play 4 games after the break, 3 as quality games.  If you get 4 moves for the week, consider 1 or 2 of the first group and then dump them over the break for players in the second group.  All four recommendations above are reasonable choices for this second week with Fabbri meeting the pre-break criteria and Henrique, Lehkonen, and Smith tallying 3 quality games after the break.  I will give you 1 more for before the break and 2 for after the break.

Daily Streaming Targets for Week 16-17 Fantasy Hockey: 

Zach Parise (LW – MIN) is having a slow year but has shown enough to look at Week 16.  The 35-year old Parise recently posted a 2-goal game at Pittsburgh.  He is on roughly a 50 point pace, but playing with his best-case scenario for linemates: Eric Staal and Mats Zuccarello.  No longer the shot factory Parise was in his younger years (he once took 364 shots in a season), Parise is still good for 2 per game.  Minnesota has home matchups against Florida and Detroit before the break.  Florida is on the front of a back-to-back and Bobrovsky has missed time this week.  The Red Wings have allowed the most goals in the NHL – 182 vs. 2nd place 159.

Garnet Hathaway (RW – WSH) is a stretch as a week 17 streamer, I admit.  I want those 4 games from the Capitals, but there are few under-the-radar players on this team to recommend.  I will settle on Hathaway for his 3 hits and 1 shot per game, with a PIM per game too if you are interested.  Hathaway could possibly sneak back on the 3rd line as a downstream effect of the inevitable 1-game suspension to Alex Ovechkin for skipping the All-Star Game.

Lars Eller (C – WSH) has the opposite problem of Hathaway on the night Ovi sits.  One of his 3rd line wingers is going to be replaced by a 4th liner in all likelihood.  After starting January with 5 points in 3 games, Eller has only 1 point in his last 4 games.  Eller’s best attribute is his shot count.  His 113 shots trail only Ovechkin, John Carlson, and Jakub Vrana for the team lead.  2.5 shots, 1 hit, and 3/4 of a block per game are nice peripherals.  With luck, the Caps will come out of the break rested and ready for Eller to put up a couple of points.

Fantrax was one of the fastest-growing fantasy sites of 2019 and things are just starting to heat up! With multi-team trades, designated commissioner/league managers, and drag/drop easy click methods, Fantrax is sure to excite the serious fantasy sports fan – sign up now for a free year at Fantrax.com.