How many games a week is a good week in fantasy hockey?

An 82-game season spread across roughly 26 weeks averages a little over three games a week, so three is ordinary, four is a good week and two is the week to plan around. It matters most in leagues that set a lineup every day, where a club playing four times gives a roster slot twice the work of a club playing twice — and that ratio applies to every counting statistic, not only to points. It matters less in weekly-lineup leagues, where the difference between a four-game week and a two-game week still reaches you but nothing else about the schedule does.

Why do the off-night counts change when I change the window width?

Because the off-night threshold is derived from the schedule inside the window you asked for rather than read from a fixed list of weeknights. A night counts as an off-night when it holds at or below the median number of games among the nights in that range that have any games, and strictly fewer games than the busiest night in the range. Widen the window and the comparison set changes, so a night that was among the busier ones inside its own week can sit below the median of a four-week range. Match the width to the decision: one week for a start-or-sit or a waiver claim, four or more for a trade or a hold.

Does the NHL schedule matter in a weekly-lineup fantasy league?

Games per week matters and off-nights do not. In a weekly-lineup league you set the roster once and every player you start plays every game his club plays that week, so a club with four games gives you twice the opportunity of a club with two. There is no such thing as an unused night for you, and an unused night is precisely what an off-night is worth in a daily league — so a club whose four games fall on quiet nights is worth exactly what a club whose four games fall on busy ones is worth.

Which games are counted on the schedule planner?

Regular-season games only, assigned to the night they are played in Eastern time — a 10pm start belongs to that night, not to the next one. Preseason and playoff games are excluded because fantasy leagues score the regular season, and counting exhibitions would both inflate a club's week and distort the off-night threshold that every other club's games are measured against. A postponed game is dropped from the night it was scheduled for and reappears on the night it is eventually played.

Schedule grid

Games per week and off-nights · Mon, Dec 16, 2019 to Sun, Mar 8, 2020 · 2019-20

Window

1w 2w 4w 8w 12w

Starting

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NHL teams by number of games in each week from 2019-12-16 to 2020-03-08, with off-night counts. An off-night is a night with 6 games or fewer (12 teams in action or fewer). Derived from this date range only: 77 nights have games, the median night has 6, and the busiest has 14.
Team	16–22 Dec50 games	23–29 Dec43 games	30 Dec – 5 Jan47 games	6–12 Jan50 games	13–19 Jan50 games	20–26 Jan9 games	27 Jan – 2 Feb41 games	3–9 Feb51 games	10–16 Feb54 games	17–23 Feb52 games	24 Feb – 1 Mar50 games	2–8 Mar49 games	Total	Off-night
CBJColumbus Blue Jackets	41 off	3	3	41 off	41 off	11 off	21 off	31 off	42 off	3	43 off	31 off	38	12
TBLTampa Bay Lightning	3	3	41 off	41 off	31 off	0	42 off	3	41 off	31 off	3	4	38	7
MTLMontréal Canadiens	3	3	3	41 off	42 off	0	43 off	3	43 off	3	3	3	37	9
NSHNashville Predators	41 off	3	32 off	31 off	3	0	43 off	3	41 off	3	3	41 off	37	9
ANAAnaheim Ducks	42 off	2	31 off	3	32 off	0	42 off	42 off	2	42 off	32 off	42 off	36	15
NYRNew York Rangers	33 off	3	3	3	32 off	11 off	2	44 off	41 off	31 off	42 off	3	36	14
COLColorado Avalanche	42 off	3	3	32 off	3	11 off	1	41 off	3	42 off	32 off	43 off	36	13
FLAFlorida Panthers	32 off	3	41 off	31 off	2	22 off	1	41 off	41 off	42 off	41 off	2	36	11
WPGWinnipeg Jets	3	3	3	43 off	32 off	22 off	2	41 off	31 off	4	3	21 off	36	10
NJDNew Jersey Devils	32 off	3	3	41 off	3	0	32 off	3	41 off	3	41 off	31 off	36	8
NYINew York Islanders	3	3	3	31 off	52 off	11 off	1	3	41 off	42 off	3	3	36	7
OTTOttawa Senators	41 off	2	31 off	31 off	3	0	42 off	3	4	3	41 off	3	36	6
DETDetroit Red Wings	31 off	2	32 off	32 off	31 off	22 off	2	43 off	4	3	3	32 off	35	13
PITPittsburgh Penguins	31 off	2	42 off	32 off	42 off	11 off	21 off	2	31 off	4	32 off	4	35	12
CGYCalgary Flames	31 off	3	31 off	3	31 off	0	32 off	3	42 off	31 off	41 off	32 off	35	11
CHIChicago Blackhawks	31 off	3	31 off	3	42 off	11 off	1	32 off	41 off	31 off	3	41 off	35	10
TORToronto Maple Leafs	31 off	3	3	33 off	3	0	32 off	43 off	4	3	3	31 off	35	10
MINMinnesota Wild	3	3	31 off	21 off	3	22 off	1	42 off	3	31 off	42 off	4	35	9
PHIPhiladelphia Flyers	3	3	3	31 off	42 off	11 off	2	31 off	41 off	3	32 off	31 off	35	9
BOSBoston Bruins	3	3	3	3	42 off	11 off	2	42 off	31 off	31 off	3	3	35	7
STLSt. Louis Blues	32 off	3	3	3	32 off	0	42 off	3	3	4	3	31 off	35	7
WSHWashington Capitals	32 off	3	32 off	31 off	31 off	0	43 off	2	31 off	41 off	31 off	31 off	34	13
DALDallas Stars	43 off	2	22 off	31 off	3	0	32 off	42 off	4	31 off	3	3	34	11
ARIArizona Coyotes	31 off	3	3	42 off	3	0	32 off	3	41 off	42 off	2	22 off	34	10
CARCarolina Hurricanes	3	3	32 off	31 off	43 off	11 off	21 off	3	31 off	3	31 off	3	34	10
VANVancouver Canucks	3	3	2	41 off	3	0	43 off	3	32 off	21 off	41 off	32 off	34	10
EDMEdmonton Oilers	43 off	2	3	31 off	2	0	31 off	3	4	31 off	31 off	41 off	34	8
BUFBuffalo Sabres	3	3	3	31 off	3	0	32 off	42 off	3	3	32 off	3	34	7
SJSSan Jose Sharks	31 off	2	41 off	3	3	0	32 off	2	32 off	41 off	3	4	34	7
VGKVegas Golden Knights	31 off	3	3	3	3	11 off	2	3	3	41 off	33 off	31 off	34	7
LAKLos Angeles Kings	3	3	2	42 off	3	0	32 off	41 off	21 off	4	32 off	2	33	8

Off-nights. An off-night is a night with 6 games or fewer (12 teams in action or fewer). Derived from this date range only: 77 nights have games, the median night has 6, and the busiest has 14. Fewer clubs in action means a likelier chance the player you start is the only one on either roster who plays, which is the whole point of streaming.

The 77 nights with regular-season hockey in this window, by number of games. Nights on or below the dashed line are off-nights. The line is recomputed for whatever window you ask for, so widening the view can move it.

Games scheduled on each night in this window, and whether each night is an off-night at a threshold of 6 games or fewer.
Night	Games	Off-night
2019-12-16	5	yes
2019-12-17	11	no
2019-12-18	3	yes
2019-12-19	10	no
2019-12-20	4	yes
2019-12-21	13	no
2019-12-22	4	yes
2019-12-23	13	no
2019-12-27	11	no
2019-12-28	9	no
2019-12-29	10	no
2019-12-30	1	yes
2019-12-31	13	no
2020-01-01	1	yes
2020-01-02	12	no
2020-01-03	2	yes
2020-01-04	12	no
2020-01-05	6	yes
2020-01-06	4	yes
2020-01-07	12	no
2020-01-08	3	yes
2020-01-09	11	no
2020-01-10	3	yes
2020-01-11	11	no
2020-01-12	6	yes
2020-01-13	5	yes
2020-01-14	11	no
2020-01-15	2	yes
2020-01-16	13	no
2020-01-17	3	yes
2020-01-18	12	no
2020-01-19	4	yes
2020-01-20	2	yes
2020-01-21	5	yes
2020-01-22	2	yes
2020-01-27	6	yes
2020-01-28	2	yes
2020-01-29	6	yes
2020-01-30	3	yes
2020-01-31	7	no
2020-02-01	14	no
2020-02-02	3	yes
2020-02-03	3	yes
2020-02-04	13	no
2020-02-05	2	yes
2020-02-06	12	no
2020-02-07	4	yes
2020-02-08	12	no
2020-02-09	5	yes
2020-02-10	6	yes
2020-02-11	10	no
2020-02-12	3	yes
2020-02-13	11	no
2020-02-14	4	yes
2020-02-15	11	no
2020-02-16	9	no
2020-02-17	5	yes
2020-02-18	7	no
2020-02-19	6	yes
2020-02-20	8	no
2020-02-21	7	no
2020-02-22	11	no
2020-02-23	8	no
2020-02-24	1	yes
2020-02-25	13	no
2020-02-26	3	yes
2020-02-27	10	no
2020-02-28	5	yes
2020-02-29	12	no
2020-03-01	6	yes
2020-03-02	2	yes
2020-03-03	10	no
2020-03-04	4	yes
2020-03-05	10	no
2020-03-06	6	yes
2020-03-07	10	no
2020-03-08	7	no

Regular-season games only, on the Eastern game day: a 10pm game is still that night, not the next one. Window 2019-12-16 to 2020-03-08.

What one extra game a week is actually worth

Eighty-two games across roughly twenty-six weeks averages a little over three a week, so the spread on this grid is narrow in the abstract: most clubs play three or four, some play two, a few play five. It is not narrow where it lands. A club with four games gives a roster slot twice the work of a club with two, and that ratio applies to everything the player produces — shots, hits, blocks and power-play points as much as goals.

The advantage belongs to the slot rather than to the player. You cannot make a winger score more; you can decide which winger holds the slot in a week his club plays four times. That is why the grid is read down a column rather than across a row — the question is which clubs are busy in the window you care about, and the roster move follows from the answer.

What the totals cannot tell you is that those games are equal. This page counts fixtures and nothing else: no strength of schedule, no back-to-backs, no travel, and no note that three of the four are against the best defensive clubs in the league. Games are opportunity, not production. A four-game week of fourth-line minutes is still fourth-line minutes, and the grid will happily put that club's whole roster above a two-game week that should beat it.

Why the off-night count changes when you change the window

The off-night threshold is derived from the nights inside the window you asked for: a night is light when it holds at or below the median number of games among the nights in that range that have any hockey, and strictly fewer than the busiest night in the range. Widen from one week to four and the comparison set changes with it, so the same Friday can be an off-night in one view and not in the other. That is the definition working, not the data moving.

Which makes the width a real choice rather than a display preference. A waiver claim you are making on a Sunday night is a one-week question, and the one-week threshold describes the week you will actually be setting lineups in. Whether to hold a player through a month, or what to ask for in a trade, is a four- or eight-week question, and the wider threshold is the right one because it is the average night across the period you would own him.

A fixed list of weeknights has no such property, which is the argument for deriving it at all. "Mondays and Wednesdays are off-nights" is a summary of one era's national television contract; it comes apart around the holidays, the All-Star break and the compressed weeks either side of the trade deadline — the weeks a manager most needs the number, and the weeks a hardcoded rule would go on printing a confident wrong answer.

One behaviour to expect from a derived threshold: a window in which every night is equally busy has no off-nights at all, and this page says so rather than calling all of them light. A definition that can label the busiest night in a range quiet is not a definition of a quiet night.

Three numbers, three different questions

A week cell answers how much work a club gives a roster slot in that week. The total answers it across the whole window, which is the number for a hold-or-drop decision rather than a start-or-sit one. The off-night column answers something different in kind: not how much, but how easily it fits — how many of those games land on nights when your lineup is not already full.

The shading is emphasis and carries no separate meaning. It is scaled to the busiest team-week in this particular grid, so a dark cell in a compressed December window and a dark cell in a window straddling the All-Star break are not the same number of games. The count is the answer; when you compare two grids, compare counts and not colours. Hovering a cell lists the fixtures behind it, which is where a heavy week turns out to be four at home or four on the road.

Tonight's slate, game by game →

What the planner cannot see

It counts fixtures, not lineups. Nothing here knows a player is a healthy scratch, has been sent down, is splitting a crease, or is hurt. Four games is four opportunities for whoever dresses; which of your players that is remains your judgement, and confirmed lineups come from a beat reporter at the morning skate — a feed this site does not carry and does not approximate.

A postponed game is removed from the night it was scheduled for and reappears on the night it is eventually played, once the league reschedules it. That is the only honest treatment — the alternative counts one game twice — but it means this grid and the same grid a month later can disagree about a week in the past. A screenshot of this page records what was scheduled at the time, not what happened.

Only regular-season games are counted, on the Eastern game day, which is why a busy September night of exhibitions fills the nightly slate and leaves this page empty. And if your league sets lineups weekly rather than daily, half of this page is not for you: the totals still matter, because four games against two is a genuine doubling of opportunity, and the off-night column does not, because you never leave a slot empty.

Questions about the NHL schedule and off-nights

How many games a week is a good week in fantasy hockey?: An 82-game season spread across roughly 26 weeks averages a little over three games a week, so three is ordinary, four is a good week and two is the week to plan around. It matters most in leagues that set a lineup every day, where a club playing four times gives a roster slot twice the work of a club playing twice — and that ratio applies to every counting statistic, not only to points. It matters less in weekly-lineup leagues, where the difference between a four-game week and a two-game week still reaches you but nothing else about the schedule does.
Why do the off-night counts change when I change the window width?: Because the off-night threshold is derived from the schedule inside the window you asked for rather than read from a fixed list of weeknights. A night counts as an off-night when it holds at or below the median number of games among the nights in that range that have any games, and strictly fewer games than the busiest night in the range. Widen the window and the comparison set changes, so a night that was among the busier ones inside its own week can sit below the median of a four-week range. Match the width to the decision: one week for a start-or-sit or a waiver claim, four or more for a trade or a hold.
Does the NHL schedule matter in a weekly-lineup fantasy league?: Games per week matters and off-nights do not. In a weekly-lineup league you set the roster once and every player you start plays every game his club plays that week, so a club with four games gives you twice the opportunity of a club with two. There is no such thing as an unused night for you, and an unused night is precisely what an off-night is worth in a daily league — so a club whose four games fall on quiet nights is worth exactly what a club whose four games fall on busy ones is worth.
Which games are counted on the schedule planner?: Regular-season games only, assigned to the night they are played in Eastern time — a 10pm start belongs to that night, not to the next one. Preseason and playoff games are excluded because fantasy leagues score the regular season, and counting exhibitions would both inflate a club's week and distort the off-night threshold that every other club's games are measured against. A postponed game is dropped from the night it was scheduled for and reappears on the night it is eventually played.