Using the NHL schedule to your advantage
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Sometimes fantasy hockey isn't about who has the best team but instead who has the most man games during any given week.
Anyone who has played fantasy hockey over the years has noticed a trend. Many times you'll have full rosters on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays (most NHL games are played on these days) and have to keep some players on your bench. Yet, oftentimes Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays few of your players will be in action.
This can be awfully frustrating. In many situations, it forces you to add a few players who play Sunday if you are trailing by a small margin in some select categories.
Luckily, there are some teams out there who play on irregular days (Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday) more than others. Having multiple players from these teams can help maximize the amount of man games your team has each week.
You shouldn't go out of your way or reach on players from these teams, but it works as an outstanding tiebreaker if you're stuck between two players.
Here is a list of NHL teams ranked in descending order based on their number of irregularly scheduled games (IG = irregular games):
| Rank | TEAM | # of IG |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Calgary Flames | 44 |
| 2 | Chicago Blackhawks | 40 |
| 3 | Anaheim Ducks | 39 |
| 4 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 38 |
| 5 | New York Rangers | 37 |
| 5 | Detroit Red Wings | 37 |
| 7 | Edmonton Oilers | 36 |
| 8 | Washington Capitals | 34 |
| 8 | New York Islanders | 34 |
| 10 | Winnipeg Jets | 32 |
| 11 | Carolina Hurricanes | 31 |
| 11 | Columbus Blue Jackets | 31 |
| 11 | Philadelphia Flyers | 31 |
| 14 | Arizona Coyotes | 30 |
| 14 | Colorado Avalanche | 30 |
| 16 | Boston Bruins | 29 |
| 16 | Los Angeles Kings | 29 |
| 16 | Florida Panthers | 29 |
| 16 | San Jose Sharks | 29 |
| 16 | Vancouver Canucks | 29 |
| 21 | Buffalo Sabres | 27 |
| 21 | Tampa Bay Lightning | 27 |
| 21 | New Jersey Devils | 27 |
| 21 | Ottawa Senators | 27 |
| 25 | St. Louis Blues | 26 |
| 25 | Montreal Canadiens | 26 |
| 27 | Minnesota Wild | 25 |
| 28 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 24 |
| 29 | Dallas Stars | 23 |
| 30 | Nashville Predators | 21 |
| -- | NHL Average | 30 |
Based on this data, Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau should be moved slightly up your draft board.
Drafting one or two players from each of the Flames, Blackhawks, Ducks, Penguins, Rangers, Red Wings and Oilers when possible will offer you the most lineup flexibility in any given week. Luckily, most of these teams have very good offenses with multiple fantasy-worthy players.