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It’s good to plan ahead. Though the NHL season doesn’t open until Oct. 4, it’s never too late to analyze arguably the most important aspect of head-to-head fantasy hockey leagues: the schedule.
In case you missed it, click below for the breakdown of key dates and games played by weekday and month, including an early preview of the Week 1 schedule.
There aren’t any real surprises in 2024-25; Wednesdays remain the league’s most quiet nights while Saturdays are packed with action. The Winter Classic will be played on New Year’s Eve as opposed to New Year’s Day, and the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off means a very truncated February.
Related: 2024-25 Fantasy Hockey League Schedule Analysis
Beyond that, it’s time to focus on the teams to target. Though it won’t make or break your fantasy chances this season, it’s best to keep an idea of which teams will be playing the most games on off-nights (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday). The advantage of having players play on nights where your opponent doesn’t have any could be the difference between winning and losing each week.
Here’s a breakdown of each team’s breakdown of games sorted by day and month. The table is sortable for your convenience.
Monday
Fewest games: Ducks, Bruins, Hurricanes, Senators, Penguins, Blues (5)
Most games: Kings (12)
The Kings are great plays on Mondays when the rest of the league is still asleep, and only five other teams (Sharks, Avs, Utah, Devils and Panthers) play at least 10 games on Monday.
The Ducks play a league-low five games on Mondays but, as they did last season, actually play the majority of their games (44) on off-nights.
The Bruins also play five games on Mondays, but that’s deceptive; they play 62 games on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, meaning fantasy managers might find themselves benching players such as Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha quite a bit. I can see Elias Lindholm being a difficult decision on a lot of those nights because, depending on his role, he’s a borderline No. 1 center.
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Tuesday
Fewest games: Kings (9)
Most games: Bruins (20)
This is typically the day where h2h matchups kick into high gear. Three other teams (Flames, Isles, Blues) play 19 games on Tuesday. The Kings are the only team to have less than 10 games scheduled on Tuesdays.
Wednesday
Fewest games: Blues, Islanders, Blue Jackets, Lightning (3)
Most games: Kings, Maple Leafs (13)
Wednesday is the quietest day of the week with only 216 total games, so having any Blues, Isles, Jackets or Lightning players won’t hurt that much. But, once again, the Kings are the team to stack on this off-day. Quinton Byfield in a potential breakout season, or even Anze Kopitar as he enters his twilight years, should be strong plays. I have a strong suspicion Darcy Kuemper will be a very popular streaming target among goalies if he’s not rostered all season.
The Canucks played the second-most games with 12, followed by the Ducks with 11 and the Avs with 10.
Thursday
Fewest games: Ducks (11)
Most games: Sharks (21)
The Sharks have intriguing players, including Macklin Celebrini, but in a lot of cases, I think you might be leaving the likes of Tyler Toffoli on your bench unless it’s a really good matchup. The Lightning are the only other team to play at least 20 games on Thursday.
The Canucks, Pens and Leafs play the second-fewest games on Thursday with just 12.
Friday
Fewest games: Bruins (2)
Most games: Penguins (13)
Friday is lean, unless you’re the Pens. Five other teams (Canes, Knights, Hawks, Jets and, of course, Ducks) play 11 games, and four others (Utah, Wings, Stars, Wild) play 10 games.
Teams that play very few games on Friday but play a lot on Saturdays, such as the Bruins, Flyers and Kings, will be worth picking up on Friday if you want a head start.
Saturday
Fewest games: Ducks (11)
Most games: Kings (25)
The craziest stat of the schedule is the Ducks play at least five less games on Saturdays than everyone else. The Jets play only 16, while the Knights and Avs play 17. If you have Nathan MacKinnon or Jack Eichel, it’ll put you at a slight disadvantage because your top players may not be playing when everyone else is.
Basically two-thirds of the league will play at least 20 games (roughly 25 percent) on Saturdays, with the Bruins, Habs, Leafs and Sabres playing 24. The Atlantic Division seems to have a monopoly on Saturday games, and less so for Central and Metro teams. This is partially because the Leafs and Habs are practically mandated to play on Saturdays, and two of their biggest rivals are the Sabres and Bruins, respectively.
Sunday
Fewest games: Sharks, Predators (5)
Most games: Ducks (17)
If you need some last-day help, the Ducks present some intriguing options. It’s difficult to gauge the Ducks because they’re talented but still very far away from their peak. Trevor Zegras, Mason McTavish, Leo Carlsson, Troy Terry and Frank Vatrano will be tempting streamers on Sundays.
Among the teams that play a lot of games over the weekend: Senators (34); Rangers (33); Isles and Kraken (32); Stars (31); and Lightning, Caps, Wild, Canes, Hawks and Pens (30).
Off-nights (M/W/F/Sun)
Fewest games: Bruins (20)
Most games: Ducks (44)
The Ducks are the only team in the league that play more games on off-nights than the busy ones. No other team plays more than 39 games on off-nights. That makes the Ducks an attractive source of streaming options in fantasy, but none of them are standout options. ‘D’ can be a thin position, and depending on ice time, Cam Fowler, Pavel Mintyukov and Olen Zellweger will be the names to pay attention to.
Because the Bruins play only 20 games, it actually decreases the value of players such as Coyle, Zacha and Lindholm. In a lot of cases, you might be benching them in favor of better players on busier nights, and they don’t play enough on off-nights for fantasy managers to capture full 82-game value.
Another winkle for the Bruins: Assuming Jeremy Swayman is re-signed, how does this schedule dictate his workload? The Bruins can start Swayman a lot because they play a lot of games on busy nights where the standings could presumably move a lot, and they don’t have that many back-to-backs. Stapling Joonas Korpisalo to the bench is not efficient usage of a goalie who’s better than just a backup.
Related: Elias Lindholm: Easy Over on 60 Points?
Busy nights (Tu/Th/Sat)
Fewest games: Ducks (38)
Most games: Bruins (62)
Only the Blues play at least 60 games on the busy nights, followed by the Sharks, Flyers, Jackets and Senators, who play 57 each. That’s actually a good thing because three of those teams don’t offer any elite fantasy options. That will make fantasy managers’ decisions much easier.
Back-to-backs (h/t u/TheTimn)
Fewest: Jets (8)
Most: Maple Leafs, Hurricanes (16)
This is vitally important because it will dictate goalie rotations. With the Leafs and Canes leading the league with 16 back-to-backs, it reinforces the notion that the Leafs will work a rotation between Joey Woll and Anthony Stolarz, and the Canes will do so with Pyotr Kochetkov and Frederik Andersen.
Note in Week 1, the Stars, Canes, Oilers, Leafs, Lightning, Blues, Wild, Flyers, Flames, Kraken, Habs, Ducks and Hawks will have back-to-back games. This will give us an early look at how teams will handle their goalie rotations and also a glimpse of which tandems and backups may be worth keeping an eye on.
We’ll get an early look at goalie battles for the Wild (Filip Gustavsson/Marc-Andre Fleury, and possibly Jesper Wallstedt), Flyers (Samuel Ersson/Ivan Fedotov), Flames (David Rittich/Dustin Wolf), Kraken (Joey Daccord/Philipp Grubauer) and Ducks (John Gibson/Lukas Dostal).
We’ll also get an early look at backups who may demand more playing time (Joel Hofer, Cayden Primeau, Laurent Brossoit) than we think.
Related: Anthony Stolarz is No Longer a Hidden Gem
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