NHL Bye Weeks

[Pit Bulls]

Beginning January 1 and continuing thru February, each NHL team will have a bye week due to the compressed schedule resulting from the World Cup of Hockey. This could have serious implications in fantasy hockey especially if your league is a deep one and has minimum goalie starts per week or if you loaded up on a specific team.

Here is the complete list:

Pacific Division
Anaheim Ducks: February 26 - March 2nd
Arizona Coyotes: January 8-12
Calgary Flames: February 8-12
Edmonton Oilers: Feb 6-10
LA Kings: February 10-14
San Jose Sharks: February 20-24
Vancouver Canucks: February 20-24

Central Division
Chicago Blackhawks: February 13-17
Colorado Avalanche: January 7-11
Dallas Stars: February 19-23
Minnesota Wild: February 22-26
Nashville Predators: February 13-17
St. Louis Blues: February 21-25
Winnipeg Jets: February 22-26

Atlantic Division
Boston Bruins: February 13-17
Buffalo Sabres: February 20-24
Detroit Red Wings: February 22-26
Florida Panthers: February 4-8
Montreal Canadiens: February 13-17
Ottawa Senators: January 2-6
Tampa Bay Lightning: February 12-16
Toronto Maple Leafs: January 8-12

Metropolitan Division
Carolina Hurricanes: February 12-16
Columbus Blue Jackets: February 20-24
New Jersey Devils: February 7-11
New York Islanders: January 1-5
New York Rangers: January 8-12
Philadelphia Flyers: January 16-20
Pittsburgh Penguins: January 1-7
Washington Capitals: February 12-16

[SuperMario]

Great info, thanks!

[Pengwin7]

Great info, thanks!!!

[Godin]

Valuable info for some leagues. Thanks.

[Fast Tony DeNiro]

Great info, thanks!

[newfcollins]

Just curious. Do the bye weeks mean the players don't even practice? Ie- they get a few days off to rest and relax with families, or go on vacation somewhere?

It will also be interesting to see how it impacts teams the week before. Montreal, for example, plays seven games in 11 days before their bye week. That could make Habs players a little more valuable in fantasy at the start of February.

[ericdaoust]

I thought all teams had a full week off? For example, Florida is off Feb 4-8. That's only five days. Good for me as Luongo is my main goalie in my dynasty league and I'm glad I don't lose him for an entire match-up but it's still a bit odd to me...

[newfcollins]

I thought all teams had a full week off? For example, Florida is off Feb 4-8. That's only five days. Good for me as Luongo is my main goalie in my dynasty league and I'm glad I don't lose him for an entire match-up but it's still a bit odd to me...

It looks to be a full week in terms of weekdays. Not weekends.

[Pengwin7]

From ESPN article:
http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/1...2016-17-season

The NHL will work in a five-day "bye week" next season as part of the negotiation with the NHL Players' Association to sign off on the All-Star format changes announced this week, according to sources.

In an important gain for the players, which they got in return for accepting the three-on-three All-Star Game format, the league will build in a five-day bye week for each team into their schedule between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28 next season, sources told ESPN.com.

Players will be completely off with no practice during this break. There will be practice permitted after 4 p.m. local time on the fifth day if there is a game on the sixth day; otherwise no practice will be allowed on the fifth day.

The league and NHLPA are staging a World Cup of Hockey next season, which could prove to be a taxing workload for the top players involved. But the break is seen by the union as beneficial to all players given the grind of the NHL season.


I think about 26 or 27 teams play a game on "Day 6". Only a few don't. (DET, PIT, one more, IIRC)
But it wouldn't surprise me to see teams give their guys the afternoon of the 5th day off - maybe just have night meeting at hotel.
Most NHL teams practice btw 10am-1pm (depending whether home or road) on day of game... and most games are 7pm local time... so the single morning "day of" practice may be enough.

[Dobber]

This is why I think Craig Anderson returns to the Sens on January 7th

[Sulla]

Feb 12 - 20th could mean some big clubs get rumbled in H2H.... OUCH

- - - Updated - - -

Feb 12 - 20th could mean some big clubs get rumbled in H2H.... OUCH

[Mr. Guru]

Canucks have more time off between Jan 27 - Feb 1st than they do on their 'bye week' which is late Feb. A little FYI

[hockeyrobot]

Oooooooookkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk we get it NHL....give us Pittsburgh back please!!

[RizzeeDizzee]

Bumping this because over the next few days a bunch of teams are entering their bye week - those with weekly/daily settings take heed.