* 4 Game schedules belong to Florida,Ottawa,Tampa Bay and Toronto in the East, and Anaheim, Colorado, Columbus,Detroit, and Nashville in the West.

 

* 3 Game schedules belong to Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Montreal, New Jersey, the Rangers, Pittsburgh, and Washington in the East, and Calgary, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles,

Minnesota, St Louis, San Jose, and Vancouver in the West.

 

* 2 Game schedules belong to Carolina, the Islanders, and Philadelphia in the East, and Edmonton, and Phoenix in the West.

 

* The Thrashers look like a good play this week. Two games against Florida (27th) and one against the Islanders (20th) shouldn't frighten anyone. Use your Atlanta forwards and blueliners liberally.

 

* The Florida schedule is downright tantalizing this week. They play 4 contests and the top ranked defense in that group is Washington who are 19th. Roll with your Panthers with confidence.

 

* Take a closer look at your other players matchups before blindly penciling in too many Canadiens. The Toronto matchup looks attractive for them but the two other opponents (Buffalo and Boston) are among the best 6 defensive clubs in the NHL.

 

* The Rangers have been in an offensive funk of late and games against Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Detroit this week don't make me really confident that you'll see a lot of Ranger points in those games. You can't bench Marian Gaborik or Michael Del Zotto but beyond that I think your Rangers should be matchup plays only over the next 7 days.

 

* Calgary may have the toughest schedule of anybody this week. They play 3 games, all on the road, and all 3 are ranked among the NHL's top 10 defensively. Tread carefully with using too many Flames in week 9.

 

* I'd be comfortable with using as many Dallas Stars as you need for the next 7 days. Both Anaheim and Edmonton have had trouble keeping the puck out of their net of late and even Detroit has been below expectations in their own end through the season's first quarter.

 

*Nashville has 4 games and on the surface you'd have to say that you probably should roll with any of your normal Predators. I would suggest them as more of a spot play this coming week as Chicago and Calgary are tough matchups but the other two contests are against Minnesota (22nd). The games against the Wild based on ranking should be fruitful, but you know that the Wild only play one style and that's close to the vest and tight checking. In my mind at least one of those games ends 1-0 or 2-1 and so you might be looking at 3 of the 4 contests not yielding much fantasy production. Exhaust all of your options before just penciling in your normally used Predator forwards and blueliners.

 

* I want to point out that the Sharks matchups this week do not look at all promising. All three clubs are ranked in the NHL's top half defensively. BUt all three matchups are Shark home games and you just can't bench anybody on such a prolific offense. As long as they're healthy go ahead and use everybody you normally would in San Jose.

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