Fantasy Hockey Schedule Hacks – Lineup Picks, November Stacks

A weekly victory in a head-to-head fantasy competition carries just as much weight in the first quarter of the season as it does in the last part. Furthermore, laying a solid foundation on the steadfastness of a winning record earned early on offers significant benefits as the campaign draws to a close, especially when it comes to roster flexibility.

By hacking the schedule – figuring out which teams are more active when most others aren't – you can leverage greater elasticity to increase the potential of your lineup every night. The greater the number of players in action on each occasion, the greater the chance of positive fantasy returns. A big advantage, especially in a close competition, where every point can mean the difference between weekly victory and defeat.

By setting the benchmark at six matches – when another 20 teams are at least inactive – the following clubs are booked to compete more on so-called slower evenings, from November 7 to November 30. A handful of teams to recognize when deciding which available players to pick up or stream, all else being equal.

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Vegas Golden Knights: The Knights play on six so-called lighter nights through the end of November and consist of a few attractive fantasy performers who could be available as free agents. William Karlsson made his healthy season debut last week ahead of Wednesday's stop in Edmonton, scoring two goals and three assists on 11 shots in four games. Nothing wrong with that craving. More intriguing And available, Pavel Dorofeev has five goals and three helpers in his most recent five games.

The under-the-radar winger skates on a dynamic scoring line with Tomas Hertl and is quickly building on his solid collection of 13 goals and 11 assists in 47 games last year as a rookie. Only included in 19% of ESPN Fantasy league, the 24-year-old is my favorite schedule hack addition to launch November. After a visit to Kraken Friday, Vegas will play the Hurricanes, Ducks, Utah HC and Capitals, in that order, every second day next week starting Monday. We can score quite a few points from Dorofeyev and other productive Golden Knights.

Also give your league a quick look to determine if Adin Hill is available. Ilya Samsonov is injured and Hill is performing much better after a shaky start to the season. At last check, the netminder was included in less than 70% of ESPN Fantasy leagues.

Capitals of Washington: What about those capitals? Off to an 8-3-0 start, with a nearly flawless home record, Washington is comfortably keeping pace with the perceived heavier hitters in the Metropolitan. In addition to Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome – who average 1.5 real-life points per game – Tom Wilson remains available in some form or another in about a third of ESPN Fantasy leagues. Wilson figures to be a top-20 forward heading into Wednesday's battle with Nashville, running at 2.7 fantasy points/game in scoring, throwing hits and blocking shots.

Competing on a score line with Wilson and Pierre-Luc Dubois, Connor McMichael also has an explosive start from 2024-2025. Featured in just 37% of competitions, the 23-year-old winger has the same team-leading number of goals scored as Ovechkin (7) while ranking second in shots (33). Just wait until he starts contributing with the extra skater, which feels a little too late. I had the opportunity to pick up McMichael in one of my leagues earlier this season and now deeply regret not pulling the trigger on that move.

If Wilson and McMichael are called upon at all, managers engaged in deeper competition may well relent Aliaksei Protas a look. After a rather easy start, the hulking winger, who skates on Ovechkin's top line, has three goals and four assists in four games ahead of Wednesday's action. In my defense, Trevor van Riemsdyk throws in helpers and blocks an admirable number of shots, while the goalkeeper is a tandem teammate Logan Thompson serves as the better fantasy netminder yet, compared to Charlie Lindgren.

Anaheim Ducks: We have to talk about it Lucas understood. No doubt about it, the Ducks' young netminder was great. But no other goalkeeper has faced as many shots: 355 through 10 games. That constant bombardment will undoubtedly wear everyone out, as evidenced by Sunday's 4-2 loss to host Chicago, and Tuesday's 5-1 loss to Vancouver. Until the Ducks improve their team defense, choose carefully when and where to throw Dostal out. Some matchups are more promising than others. An improvement in Anaheim's scoring would also help. The Ducks currently rank last in that department at 2.08/game.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Skating on a top line and power play with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in suits Rickard Rakell fine. Averaging 20:20 of ice time alongside the two generational players, the winger has scored a pair of goals and four assists on 16 shots in his past five games. Only Crosby himself has earned more (and only slightly) fantasy points in conventional leagues over the past two weeks. Consider picking up Rakell ahead of the Penguins' upcoming stretch — consisting of five matchups on so-called lighter nights — And including next week's dates with the Red Wings, Blue Jackets and Sharks.

Just keep an eye on how Bryan Rust returns to the lineup healthy in any game now, and how his return affects Rakell's role. If the 31-year-old's production dries up completely, pull the parachute. Then see if Rust itself is available. Other than that, aside from Crosby and Malkin, there isn't much going on on Pittsburgh's fantasy front these days.

Then there are the teams that play most often when everyone else is also active. For the remainder of November, six teams will compete on just one night, when there are fewer than six games scheduled: Jets, Blues, Rangers, Devils, Oilers and Blackhawks. Worth the extra fantasy thought when considering adding one player over the other, all else being considered equal.