2024-25 Fantasy Hockey H2H Week 1 Primer: The Best Time For Pickups

Don’t forget the season starts on Friday, Oct. 4!

Though the league is advertising the tripleheader opening night on Tuesday, Oct. 8, the first games of the 2024-25 season will be played on Friday and Saturday in Czechia with the Sabres and Devils playing each other twice.

It’s one of those weird schedule quirks that comes with the NHL Global Series. While it’s understandable teams overseas begin their seasons a little earlier to accommodate for travel and potential jetlag, it also means that fantasy leagues risk losing two games’ worth of stats if they believe the season starts on Tuesday, Oct. 8.

The Devils and Sabres will play the most games due to their (technically) home-and-home set in Czechia, while the Capitals play just once. If you haven’t checked out the weekly and monthly schedule analysis, click here to check it out or in the link below.

Anyway, with the early start, that means Week 1 in head-to-head matchups will actually span one-and-half weeks. We’re used to seeing this schedule; Thursday and Saturday will feature the most games and all 32 teams will have played their home openers except for the Blues, Blackhawks, Kings, Flyers, Ducks and Blue Jackets.

Also, Week 1 is by far the best week for pickups. Get in on the action early enough and you’ll find gems for the rest of the season. There are plenty of great targets right now.

Related: 2024-25 Fantasy Hockey Team-by-Team Schedule Analysis

Schedule

Pick players from teams at the top of the schedule matrix to maximize games and matchups. Green is good. Red is bad. All advanced stats courtesy naturalstatrick.com. All positions and rostered percentages are courtesy of Yahoo Fantasy. Points percentages are from the 2023-24 season.

Weekly Bangers

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Total Hits, 2023-24

Keegan Kolesar, RW, VEG – 277
Simon Benoit, D, TOR – 246
Michael Pezzetta, LW, MTL – 242
Beck Malenstyn, LW, BUF – 241
Brenden Dillon, D, NJ – 241
Martin Pospisil, C/RW, CGY – 238
Paul Cotter, C, NJ – 233
Liam O’Brien, C, UTA – 229
Tye Kartye, LW, SEA – 229
Neal Pionk, D, WPG – 221

Total Blocks, 2023-24

Colton Parayko, D, STL – 218
Chris Tanev, D, TOR – 207
Brayden McNabb, D, VEG – 207
Jacob Trouba, D, NYR – 183
Jamie Oleksiak, D, SEA – 177
Ilya Lyubushkin, D, DAL – 168
Ian Cole, D, UTA – 166
Alec Martinez, D, CHI – 165
David Savard, D, MTL – 163
Esa Lindell, D, DAL – 162

Season-long adds

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Andrei Kuzmenko, LW/RW, CGY (45% rostered)
Yegor Sharangovich, C/RW, CGY (39% rostered)

Someone has to do the scoring in Calgary and this is two-thirds of their top line. Kuzmenko and Nazem Kadri were incredible last season, scoring the bulk of the Flames’ goals in the final two months of the season. Kuzmenko offers 70-point upside while Sharangovich has 30-goal upside. I suspect both will be rostered in the majority of leagues by the end of the season. Get in on the ground floor.

Dylan Strome, C, WSH (39% rostered)

He’s the top center in D.C. and he’ll be feeding pucks to Alex Ovechkin all season. His consecutive 60-point seasons proves it’s no fluke. I don’t think Pierre-Luc Dubois is a threat to steal this spot as he stylistically doesn’t fit with Ovechkin as well as Strome.

Jonathan Drouin, LW, COL (33% rostered)

Drouin will likely begin the season as the left winger on the Avs’ top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. He scored 56 points in 79 games last season riding shotgun. ‘Nuff said.

Justin Faulk, D, STL (36% rostered)

Faulk had a very good pre-season looking very much like a 50-point player with 100-block and 100-hit upside. With Torey Krug out for the season and Scott Perunovich not ready for a significant role, look for Faulk to be on their top pairing and, most importantly, PP1 QB.

Joonas Korpisalo, G, BOS (45% rostered)

Head coach Jim Montgomery has already announced that Korpisalo will start the season opener and I have a feeling he might run away with the job. The longer Jeremy Swayman holds out, the more Korpisalo’s fantasy value increases. And it doesn’t seem like Swayman’s signing anytime soon, especially after the Bruins claimed Jiri Patera off waivers from the Canucks to bolster their goalie depth.

Mid-term holds

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Viktor Arvidsson, LW, EDM (49% rostered)

Arvidsson has historically been a very good producer at 5-on-5, so no worries if he’s not playing PP1. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up having a more productive season than Jeff Skinner. Pick him up, hold him and see what happens.

Gabriel Vilardi, C/RW, WPG (39% rostered)

Top-line right winger for the Jets playing alongside Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele, and prior to his injury last season was scoring at a 62-point pace. The big risk here is injury, but until that happens, I think Vilardi deserves to be rostered.

Dylan Guenther, RW, UTA (38% rostered)

Guenther will start in the top six and perhaps on PP1. Time will tell if he stays there all season.

Dylan Cozens, C, BUF (37% rostered)

He’s the No. 2 center behind Tage Thompson on an offense that could potentially be elite. The upside is we get an early look at him on Friday and Saturday before the rest of the league begins play.

Matthew Knies, LW, TOR (28% rostered)

Great for leagues that count hits and he’s got arguably the best deployment out of any role player in the league playing with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.

Pierre-Luc Dubois, C/LW, WSH (25% rostered)

The optimist in me believes Dubois will bounce back; if he doesn’t, he might end up playing himself out of the league. With LW eligibility, Dubois has added value in leagues that count face-offs. Let’s see if a change of scenery sparks his play.

Cole Perfetti, C/LW, WPG (22% rostered)

The Jets want Perfetti and Nik Ehlers to anchor their second line Rick Bowness is no longer there to limit both their minutes. This could be a breakout season for Perfetti; keep an eye on his ice time and how the Jets deploy him.

Anthony Duclair, LW, NYI (17% rostered)

Good for goals and he’s likely lining up on Bo Horvat’s left wing opposite Mathew Barzal. This is the Isles’ most dangerous scoring line and Duclair has 30-goal upside. His consistency and ability to stay healthy is a problem, though.

Ryan Hartman, C/RW, MIN (15% rostered)

Love this pickup right now with Hartman slated to start on the top line between Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarrelo. He’s brilliant in multi-category leagues with face-off wins from the RW slot, and he adds some shots and hits, too.

Philipp Kurashev, C/RW, CHI (15% rostered)

Kurashev is worth rostering if he’s playing on Connor Bedard’s right wing. If Kurashev is centering the second line with Taylor Hall and Teuvo Teravainen, I think that’s bad for Kurashev’s fantasy value.

Lane Hutson, D, MTL (43% rostered)

I think you can dump Hutson if he’s not on PP1 right away, but remember to pick him up when he takes over for Mike Matheson, whenever that may be.

Sean Durzi, D, UTA (41% rostered)

I’m not entirely convinced Mikhail Sergachev will be their full-time QB, and I think Utah will split up their two units fairly evenly. They won’t overly rely on one unit, and I like Durzi for that reason. In leagues where the ‘D’ pool is shallow, you want to take a shot at someone who can get promoted into a PP1 situation.

Brandt Clarke, D, LA (26% rostered)

With Drew Doughty out for months, Clarke will get first crack at PP1. I’m not sure how productive he will be at even strength, but in fantasy, the most valuable defensemen are usually the ones who play on the top PP unit.

Filip Gustavsson, G, MIN (49% rostered)

Gustavsson’s slated to be their preferred starter even though they may carry three goalies, including Marc-Andre Fleury and Jesper Wallstedt. We can wait and see how their rotation shakes out, but I suspect Gustavsson will get the bulk of the starts this season.

Sam Montembeault, G, MTL (33% rostered)

The Habs should be much improved, even without Patrik Laine for the first few months. If they are, Montembeault has fantasy value for quantity of starts and saves since he’ll play more than Cayden Primeau.

Arturs Silovs, G, VAN (28% rostered)

Silovs is expected to be the starter, at least until Thatcher Demko returns. There’s plenty of upside here since the Canucks’ offense can bail out Silovs if he isn’t sharp. There’s a small chance Silovs is a season-long hold, though be careful he doesn’t get fatigued in January or February.

Short-term streamers

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Lukas Dostal, G, ANA (7% rostered)

The Ducks play back-to-back right off the bat, visiting San Jose on Saturday and then Vegas on Sunday. Dostal will likely be their opening night starter with John Gibson on the shelf, which means a juicy matchup against the Sharks.

Calvin Pickard, G, EDM (4% rostered)

If Stuart Skinner gets the home opener on Wednesday, that would give Pickard either Saturday against the Blackhawks or Sunday against the Flames. Either matchup will be good. This is a good chance to take advantage of the Oilers’ explosive offense as I’m sure they’ll have no problem scoring their way out of trouble against the Hawks or Flames.

Joel Hofer, G, STL (4% rostered)

The Blues have three straight games on the road, including a back-to-back Thursday in San Jose and then Friday in Vegas. If Jordan Binnington gets the season opener Tuesday in Seattle, I think Hofer gets the start in San Jose. That should be an easy win.

Casey DeSmith, G, DAL (3% rostered)

Jake Oettinger likely gets the home opener on Saturday against the Islanders, which leaves DeSmith the second home game on Sunday against the Kraken. This is a good matchup since the Kraken will be playing the second game of their back-to-back on the road after playing the Wild in Minnesota on Saturday.