Every once in a while during the NHL stanley cup championship rings season, I like to strip away all the extraneous goaltending statistics to see how the field looks at its most basic level, namely 5-on-5 hockey. For fantasy purposes, of course, the results we get are going to factor in all the power plays, penalty kills and overtime stats. That said, how goaltenders fare when everything is even on the ice is usually a very good indicator of how they'll perform going forward.
Obviously, goaltenders on teams with bad penalty kills or those facing opponents with bad power plays will suffer to varying degrees, depending on the situation. That certainly will be reflected in their fantasy stats for your team. That said, those extraneous situations are fluid and can be changed by coaching, personnel and schemes a lot more so than the base statistics we see from good old 5-of-5 action championship sports rings.
Fantasy Forecaster: Dec. 10-16 Teams playing two games: The custom Anaheim Ducks championship rings are alone in their reduced two-game schedule next week. Outside of Ryan Getzlaf and John Gibson, anyone on this squad is fair game for a benching in weekly leagues.
Teams playing four games: Ten teams play on a four-game slate next week, but the advantage is slightly reduced because only one team is playing a schedule which is two games lighter. Still, look to the extra game for the Arizona Coyotes, Buffalo Sabres, Carolina hurricanes championship rings, Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, Pittsburgh Penguins, Vancouver Canucks and Jets to break ties between similarly ranked players. ... All of the four-game teams have one back-to-back set on the slate, except the Red Wings who have two of them. That means it could be a two-start week for Jonathan Bernier, fresh off of beating the Maple Leafs on Thursday. If you need a "Hail Mary" goaltender in deep leagues, look no further.
Highlights from teams playing three games: The Calgary Flames championship rings for sale, cheap Colorado Avalanche championship rings, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils, Ottawa Senators, Flyers and Washington Capitals are among the three-game teams that have a back-to-back set. The fantasy-relevant workhorse starters among these sides are Semyon Varlamov, Ben Bishop and Braden Holtby, so expect a little less from them as they may get a rest. ... The Senators may have lost Matt Duchene for an extended period of time to a lower-body injury. However, he wasn't playing with Mark Stone or Brady Tkachuk either at even-strength or on the power play, so his absence shouldn't hurt that pair.
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