2024-25 Fantasy Hockey League Schedule Analysis

Preamble:

There are two popular types of fantasy hockey leagues: head-to-head (often abbreviated as “h2h”) and rotisserie (or “roto” for short).

As someone who went from fantasy baseball to fantasy hockey, roto came naturally. It was a season-long tally of all the stats accumulated in each category, with little regard for matchups. Simply put, the strategy was to draft the best players — easy enough.

But over the years, h2h has become much more popular. It added an extra layer of challenges; fantasy managers not only had to recruit the best players, they also had to deal with weekly schedules.

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Everyone knows that Connor McDavid would score more points than Artemi Panarin if they both played 82 games. But what if McDavid only played two games in a weekly matchup and Panarin played four? Who would score more points?

Splitting the NHL schedule has become very important in h2h leagues for this reason. To gain an edge over your opponent, you can roster more players on days when the NHL typically has fewer games (Monday, Wednesday, Sunday) than on busier days (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday).

A team-by-team schedule breakdown will be posted soon. Be sure to bookmark The Hockey News Fantasy site so you don’t miss it.

Here’s what you need to know.

The 2024-2025 season starts on October 4 in the Czech Republic.

The NHL’s Global Series continues with a back-to-back series featuring the Devils and Sabres. They will play their games on Friday, October 4 at 1:00 p.m. ET and Saturday, October 5 at 10:00 a.m. ET. Each team will be designated as the home team once.

Set your schedules accordingly. With the Devils and Sabres boasting such top-tier talent, it would be a shame to forgo the early start times and leave Jack Hughes or Tage Thompson on your bench.

Also note that there are actually eight other games scheduled for October 4th and nine games scheduled for October 5th. These are all pre-season games and obviously do not count. I feel like the importance of the Global Series and the official start of the regular season is lost because of this.

That means the most ideal time to conduct your fantasy hockey drafts is the weekend of September 28-29. Stay tuned for team-by-team previews and schedule analysis.

The Global Series continues on November 1 in Finland.

The Stars and Panthers travel to Finland to play a back-to-back series in Finland. The games will be played on Friday, November 1st at 1:00 PM ET and Saturday, November 2nd at 11:00 AM ET. Be sure to reset your schedules for the early starts.

The past two Global Series have all resulted in sweeps. The Avalanche and Predators swept the Blue Jackets and Sharks, respectively, in 2022, while the Maple Leafs and Senators combined to sweep the Red Wings and Wild in 2023.

I predict that the Devils-Sabres and Stars-Panthers will split their series.

The only day when all 32 teams will be in action is Tuesday, October 22.

I think this is another missed opportunity for the NHL. There should be more days with all 32 teams in action with staggered starts, including the last day of the regular season. Think of all the drama that could unfold with the tight playoff races. Let the teams that have no hope of making the playoffs play early and let the teams fight for playoff positions before prime time.

However, 15 matches will be played on November 23, November 27, December 14, January 11 and January 18.

On these busy days, fantasy managers will be forced to bench good players. Look for easy matchups and keep an eye on injuries, especially in the winter months when injuries pile up.

The 2025 Winter Classic will take place on Tuesday, December 31 at 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time).

The date has been moved from the usual January 1, meaning the next Winter Classic will not be played until 2024. This will be the only time that two Winter Classics will be played in one year.

It’s also not the only game on the schedule, unlike previous Winter Classics that were played on January 1st. There are 12 more games on the schedule on December 31st, and then the Kings host the Devils in the only game on January 1st. There’s no special occasion; it’s just a regular-season game. (I suspect the ratings for that game will be poor, which is a shame because Jack Hughes is a very marketable character.)

No specific reason was given for the date change. My own suspicion is that the NHL does not want to compete with the College Football Playoff. The Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowls are played on January 1st.

The Blackhawks will host the Blues in the 2025 Winter Classic.

There are no matches scheduled between February 10 and 21, 2025.

The NHL’s new 4 Nations Face-Off featuring Canada, USA, Finland and Sweden will be played from February 12-20. The NHL returns to action on Saturday, February 22 with 14 games.

For inter-collegiate competitions, this likely means that games played over the weekend of February 22-23 will be taped during the week of February 24-March 2. Yahoo has not made any official announcements or decisions about how the 4 Nations Face-Off will impact the fantasy hockey calendar.

There are the fewest matches in February.

Due to the 4 Nations Face-Off and because February always has the fewest days, it also has the fewest NHL games played: 244.

April is the only other month with fewer than 300 games played, largely because the regular season ends on April 17.

Games per month:

October: 334
November:440
December: 428
January: 448
February: 244
March: 468
April: 262

There are the fewest matches on Wednesdays.

Of the 2,624 games scheduled for the 2024-25 season, Wednesday has the fewest games at just 216, representing just 8.2 percent of all games. This isn’t unusual, but for fantasy managers it further emphasizes the need to keep players playing on Wednesdays to get that extra edge.

The two teams with the most games on Wednesday: the Kings and Leafs, with 13 games each.

And the teams with the fewest Wednesday games: Blue Jackets, Lightning, Islanders and Blues play only three times.

Related: Darcy Kuemper Is Now a Fantastic Zero-G Option

Saturdays are the busiest.

There are 654 games scheduled for Saturday, which is 25 percent of the entire season. It is by far the busiest; there are three times as many games on Saturday than on Wednesday, and twice as many as on Sunday.

In head-to-head leagues, Saturday is usually your best chance to make up ground lost from Monday to Friday. Sundays offer chances to catch up and gain that extra edge, but you may not be so enamored with your options on the waiver wire.

The Kings have the most games on Saturday, with 25, while the Ducks have the fewest, with just 11.

Games per weekday:

Monday: 246
Tuesday: 480
Wednesday: 216
Thursday: 488
Friday: 240
Saturday: 654
Sunday: 300

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