Monday Ramblings

Good day! I usually post my ramblings in the morning Monday but life has gotten in the way today so please forgive my tardiness.

With fantasy hockey playoffs right around the corner, we are going to take a look at favorable schedules around the NHL in weeks 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26. Hopefully you can make a move before your deadline for a guy with lots of games. Week 26 will be treated as if it were a head to head league so April 8 - April 18. We will be looking at games played and off day game schedules.

Week 22 (March 11 - March 17)

Jonathan Quick/Igor Shesterkin - New York Rangers

The Rangers have a great fantasy playoff schedule in Week 22. They play on Mon, Tue, Thurs, Sat, Sun. Depending on which goalies start which day, Jonathan Quick may be the best guy to pick up this week for waiver's sake. He's been good lately behind Igor, who was one of the NHL's three stars this past week. Realistically Igor is available in zero percent of leagues. The Rangers will face off against New Jersey, Carolina, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, and the New York Islanders.

John Gibson/Lukas Dostal - Anaheim Ducks

The Ducks haven't exactly been lighting the league on fire but goalie options are usually pretty thin this time of year. John Gibson and Lukas Dostal have actually been doing fairly decent considering. They have big potential in volume leagues evidenced by Dostal facing 55 shots and saving 52 when he played New Jersey on March 2nd. Ultimately the Ducks came away with the win. Anaheim play on two off days with their schedule in Week 21 of Tue/Thurs/Fri/Sun. During this week they will face off against Chicago, Minnesota, Winnipeg, and then St. Louis to cap it off.

Week 23 (March 18 - March 24)

Charlie Lindgren/Darcy Kuemper - Washington Capitals

In week 23 nobody has quite the schedule that Washington does. Both of their goalies may be available on your waiver wire as well. They play three off nights with another Mon/Wed/Fri/Sun schedule. Their opponents leave something to be desired as they play Calgary/Toronto/Carolina/Winnipeg. If your league covets volume though, this may not be a bad play.

Stuart Skinner/Calvin Pickard - Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers have a four game schedule in Week 23 with a back-to-back on Saturday-Sunday. Calvin Pickard could be a good spot start on what will probably be an off day, Sunday versus Ottawa. If your league's trade deadline hasn't come and gone yet, Stuart Skinner may be available if his owner has soured on him a bit since the Oilers near-historical winning streak. Skinner is beginning to bounce back from a small slump. Might be a good target for a deadline deal. They play Tues/Thurs/Sat/Sun against Montreal/Toronto/Bufallo/Ottawa. The Oil also play the most games of any team in Week 25 with four and again in week 26 with six more.

Week 24 (March 25 - March 31)

Adin Hill/Logan Thompson - Las Vegas Golden Knights

Vegas is one of two teams who play four games in week 24. Adin Hill is probably not available but Logan Thompson might be. The two have been trading starts for a few weeks and neither of them have been able to gain any ground in that tug of war. Their schedule is Mon/Tues/Thurs/Sat against St. Louis, Nashville, Winnipeg, and Minnesota.

Anaheim is the only other team with four games in Week 24.

Alexandar Georgiev/Justus Annunen - Colorado Avalanche

Colorado is one of the many teams with three games in Week 24. Normally that wouldn't be great but it's the home stretch for a team that will most likely be locked into a playoff spot or close to it. Annunen has been starting every third game or so the last few weeks and Georgiev has had a heavy load as usual. Look for Annunen to start at least one of the three games if he can continue his solid play as Colorado most likely coasts into the playoffs with only the Preds close behind them. Preds have won eight in a row currently to get within seven points of the Avalanche but surely that can't continue for another 20 games, right? Colorado will play Montreal, New York Rangers,and Nashville on Tue, Thurs, Sat respectively.

Week 25 (April 1 - April 7)

Roughly half of the teams in the NHL have four games this week. The rest have three and only Las Vegas has two. So best avoid them this particular week. The Rangers, Avalanche, and Capitals are all good bets this week with four games each and none of the three playing on a busy Saturday schedule.

Week 26 (April 8 - April 18)

In Week 26 there are five teams that play six games. They are Edmonton, Calgary, Seattle, Vegas, and Toronto. Edmonton has two back-to-backs. Of the five teams, all of their backups should be available outside of maybe Toronto and Vegas, and both of Seattle's goalies may be hanging around the waiver wire as well. I personally dropped anchor on Joey Daccord this past week while Grubauer has been posting great numbers. I think the starts will eventually even out in the last 20 games between the two.

My goaltending situation after trading Igor has only gotten worse even though it has had it's desired effect on my player stats. Hill, Jake Oettinger and Daccord have all cratered after good weeks before the trade and forced me to make a trade for Sergei Bobrovsky to hang on to first in all goalie cats. Here's to Bobrovsky's inevitable downfall! Give me a follow on X/Twitter @LOGoalz if you have a moment. Enjoy the week!