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. 2-9 games and all stats are through Thursday.
| Number of games on the schedule for each team this week | |||
| Four games | Three games | Two games | |
| Boston | Atlanta | Anaheim | Florida |
| Carolina | Buffalo | Calgary | Philadelphia |
| Colorado | Montreal | Chicago | Washington |
| Los Angeles | New Jersey | Columbus |
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| N.Y. Islanders | Ottawa | Dallas |
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| N.Y. Rangers | Tampa Bay | Detroit |
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| Phoenix | Toronto | Edmonton |
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| Pittsburgh |
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Minnesota |
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| San Jose |
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Nashville |
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St. Louis |
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Vancouver |
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| Bold indicates a team has at least three home games. | |||
| Italics indicates a team has at least three road games. | |||
| The Carolina Hurricanes are the only team with four road games this week. | |||
| 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, Carolina, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Minnesota, N.Y. Islanders, N.Y. Rangers, Ottawa, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Vancouver and Washington. | |||
On tap: Week 10 brings us eight nationally televised games in either the United States or Canada: Dallas at Columbus (US) on Monday; Detroit at Montreal (US) on Tuesday; Pittsburgh at Edmonton (CAN) on Wednesday; N.Y. Rangers at Atlanta (CAN) on Friday; Boston at Toronto (CAN) and Pittsburgh at Vancouver (CAN) on Saturday.
| F A N T A S Y S P I N S | |
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Nashville currently leads the NHL in scoring for the month of November with 3.42 goals per game. Martin Erat is a huge reason for that, as he leads the team with eight goals and 10 assists for the month for 18 points (sixth in the league). He's still only owned in 76 percent of CBSSports.com leagues and he's starting in just 46 percent ... Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk is on pace to match his career-high point total of 87 points, which he recorded in each of the last two seasons strangely enough ... Datsyuk's teammate, Daniel Cleary, is heating up after a slow start and he's on pace for a career-high 25 goals ... The Maple Leafs, Thrashers, Lightning and Kings are the four worst defensive teams in the NHL for November, allowing more than 3.10 goals per game ... Islanders winger Bill Guerin doesn't have a point in his past 12 games -- get him reserved ASAP ... Ryan Getzlaf hasn't let the money get to his head yet. Last week, he signed a $26.5 million, five-year contract extension, but he has six goals and eight assists in his past nine games. |
Three Stars of the Week
Radim Vrbata, W, PHO: He has four goals and two assists in his past three games. The Czech winger is on pace for a career-high 33 goals and 55 points, but the best part? He's only owned in 19 percent of CBSSports.com leagues.
Zdeno Chara, D, BOS: After being drafted as the top Fantasy defenseman in more leagues than not, Chara is beginning to pay dividends. He scored two goals and two assists, with a plus-3 rating, in his past four games.
Roberto Luongo, G, VAN: After going 4-7 in 11 games in October, Luongo has finally gotten back on track. He has posted three straight shutouts, and he hasn't allowed a goal in a personal best 193 minutes and 56 seconds.
| 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 | 12/3 | 12/4 | 12/5 | 12/6 | 12/7 | 12/8 | 12/9 |
| Los Angeles Kings | EDM | -- | @PHO | BUF | -- | PHO | -- |
| The Kings of L.A. get four this week and three are at home. Two games are against a subpar Phoenix team and one against the lowest-scoring team in the NHL (EDM). | |||||||
| N.Y. Rangers | CAR | -- | -- | TOR | @ATL | -- | NJ |
| The Rangers are at home for three games, where they are 9-4-0, and they have four games this week. | |||||||
| N.Y. Islanders | BOS | -- | @ATL | -- | @FLA | @TB | -- |
| With four games this week, the Islanders will get shots at the Thrashers, Panthers and Lightning, who combine for an average GAA of 3.13, which would place them 27th in the NHL. | |||||||
| Colorado Avalanche | SJ | -- | @CLB | -- | PHI | -- | STL |
| The Avs have three home games in a four-game week, and they won't be overtaxed with any back-to-back sets. | |||||||
| Ottawa Senators | -- | @TB | @FLA | -- | @DAL | -- | -- |
| The Sens are struggling lately (losers of six straight), but they'll face Tampa Bay and Florida, who are among the worst defensive teams in the league. | |||||||
| 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 | 12/3 | 12/4 | 12/5 | 12/6 | 12/7 | 12/8 | 12/9 |
| Philadelphia Flyers | -- | -- | @MIN | -- | @COL | -- | -- |
| With only two games ahead, and both on the road, it's tough to recommend anyone from Broad Street this week. | |||||||
| Washington Capitals | -- | -- | -- | -- | @NJ | ATL | -- |
| The Capitals are the third-worst scoring team in the NHL (2.32 goals per game) and they have just two games this week -- back-to-back, home and away no less. | |||||||
| Montreal Canadiens | -- | DET | -- | @BOS | -- | CAR | -- |
| The Habs have to face the Red Wings (best team in the NHL), go to Boston (7-2-1 at home) and host Carolina (second in scoring with 3.24 goals per game). | |||||||
| Florida Panthers | -- | -- | OTT | -- | NYI | -- | -- |
| Two games is deterrent enough, but add the fact that the best team in the Eastern Conference (OTT) is coming to town and they're an even safer sit. | |||||||
| Buffalo Sabres | -- | -- | @ANA | @LA | -- | @SJ | -- |
| They are last in the Northeast Division. They are 4-6-1 on the road this season and they have three games away from home all on the west coast this week, including a back-to-back against the L.A. area teams. | |||||||
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