Fantasy hockey SOS: Nov. 23-29

Anaheim has kicked off what promises to be an intriguing seven-game home stand, with four of those games coming within the American-holiday-home-gate-bloated slate of 54 games for the fantasy hockey week of Nov. 23-29. What makes this particular swath of games interesting is a few trends the Ducks have shown of late, and the availability of B-list fantasy contributors who may – or may not – return from injury. And we may find out in the end that from a fantasy perspective, it doesn’t really matter if they do.

For starters, Anaheim has struggled in the defensive end. Neither of their goalies sports a goals-against average under 3.00, and they’ve surrendered 10 in the last two games (not including the two empty-netters, of course). But the problems don’t stop there. Anaheim is actually worse defensively at Honda Center than they are on the road. In fact, the Ducks’ 3.60 goals-against average at home is the worst in the league. Furthermore, two of this week’s visitors – Chicago and Phoenix – rank in the league top five defensively.

In other words, despite the common perception that home games equal good things in the fantasy world, all signs seem to point toward contrary for Anaheim this week. So go right ahead and roll with good-as-gold headliners Corey Perry(notes) and Ryan Getzlaf(notes), but you may want to walk away from everyone else – Jonas Hiller(notes), Saku Koivu(notes), Joffrey Lupul(notes), Ryan Whitney(notes), etc.

Here are a few other notes from this week’s slate of games:

• The New York Rangers’ power play could get off to a very quick start this week. The Blueshirts’ first game is at home against a Columbus team that is third worst in goals-against average, while the Rangers’ home power-player numbers are a league-best 30 percent. New York’s second game is at Florida, where the Panthers are killing a league-worst 65.7 percent of penalties at home. The trick here will be trying to find a depth player or two who will benefit. Consider Ryan Callahan(notes) a suggestion – he’s been getting as much power-play time as anyone, despite a modest rate of one point for every three games.

• Los Angeles and San Jose play identical schedules this week – a home game against Chicago and roadies at Edmonton and Vancouver. Taking into account that Chicago is even more stout defensively on the road (a dead puck era-esque 2.00 GAA) and Vancouver is allowing even fewer goals than that at home, temper your expectations for Kings and Sharks this week.

• Minnesota’s improving offense could benefit from a home-and-home set against Colorado this week – including the Wild’s annual matinee on the day following American Thanksgiving. The Avalanche have surrendered 4.8 goals per game in their last five contests, which could make Eric Belanger(notes) or Antti Miettenen a decent last-minute pickups in your league.

• The goaltending matchup pick of the week goes to Dallas. Marty Turco(notes) seems to be the odds-on favorite to start the week’s first two games against Carolina and St. Louis – two of the league’s four worst offensive teams. Even the last two games of the week seem favorable. Both of those opponents are averaging fewer than three goals per game this month (Phoenix 2.37, Tampa Bay 2.57). Since those games are on consecutive nights, perhaps Alex Auld(notes) – solid in a win Wednesday at Detroit – could be a decent spot start.

Grid Key:

HOME GAME = CAPS; road game = lowercase
Red = Second game of back-to-backs
Green = Second game of opponents’ back-to-backs
Yellow = Second game of both teams’ back-to-backs
* = Matinee game

The Four-Game Conclusion

Looking ahead to the week of Nov. 30-Dec. 6, the following teams play four games: Columbus, Anaheim, Detroit, Florida, Nashville, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Colorado and Ottawa.

Grid Key:

HOME GAME = CAPS; road game = lowercase
Red = Second game of back-to-backs
Green = Second game of opponents’ back-to-backs
Yellow = Second game of both teams’ back-to-backs
* = Matinee game

(All statistics cited were as of games completed Nov. 18)