Hello everyone and welcome in for another article. This is a quick article just intended to get good information into your hands as soon as possible. I have to give a stick tap to the guys over at Keeping Karlsson, their Google Sheet of the entire NHL schedule this year was the base that I built on to create this for you. Let’s get it!
Why Do Playoff Schedules Matter?
I’m not going to rehash everything here as I’ve discussed this topic at length in this article from last year:
That being said, I would boil this down to a few bullet points:
- Some teams play considerably more games than others during the fantasy playoffs and some second liners will outperform stars during that time as a result
- If your league has them, you should prioritize getting a bye through the first round of the playoffs above optimizing playoff schedule. Getting a bye gives you a free week to set your roster up for success the following week.
- You should not prioritize playoff schedules over ensuring you actually make the playoffs (sounds obvious, but don’t be that person who makes too many moves too far in advance and ends up falling out of the playoffs in the last week)
- If you feel you’re safe in your position then you can look to acquire players with great playoff schedules to preemptively optimize your roster for those weeks.
The Best and Worst Schedules by Playoff Weeks
Below I’ve broken out all of the best and worst schedules based on the four most common fantasy playoff setups. You can view the Google sheet containing all of this info in one spot at this link:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QiTRCIq24vhRRUccP4m17DkyePlwPR19mWaVhjcIlBg/edit?usp=sharing
Weeks 22 – 24
| Weeks 22 – 24 (Mar 13 – Apr 2) | ||
| Best Schedules | GP | Off Nights |
| Colorado Avalanche | 11 | 8 |
| Buffalo Sabres | 10 | 7 |
| Arizona Coyotes | 10 | 5 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 11 | 5 |
| St. Louis Blues | 11 | 4 |
| Boston Bruins | 12 | 2 |
| Worst Schedules | GP | Off Nights |
| San Jose Sharks | 9 | 1 |
| Vegas Golden Knights | 9 | 1 |
| Philadelphia Flyers | 10 | 1 |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | 10 | 1 |
| Seattle Kraken | 9 | 2 |
Weeks 23 – 24
| Weeks 23 – 24 (Mar 20 – Apr 2) | ||
| Best Schedules | GP | Off Nights |
| Colorado Avalanche | 7 | 6 |
| Arizona Coyotes | 7 | 5 |
| Florida Panthers | 8 | 3 |
| New York Islanders | 7 | 3 |
| Edmonton Oilers | 7 | 3 |
| Worst Schedules | GP | Off Nights |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | 6 | 0 |
| Vegas Golden Knights | 6 | 0 |
| Philadelphia Flyers | 7 | 0 |
| Washington Capitals | 6 | 1 |
| Dallas Stars | 6 | 1 |
| Seattle Kraken | 6 | 1 |
| Winnipeg Jets | 6 | 1 |
| San Jose Sharks | 6 | 1 |
Weeks 23 – 25
| Weeks 23 – 25 (Mar 20 – Apr 14) | ||
| Best Schedules | GP | Off Nights |
| Colorado Avalanche | 14 | 8 |
| Arizona Coyotes | 12 | 6 |
| Buffalo Sabres | 13 | 4 |
| Edmonton Oilers | 12 | 4 |
| Calgary Flames | 12 | 4 |
| Nashville Predators | 14 | 3 |
| Worst Schedules | GP | Off Nights |
| Washington Capitals | 11 | 1 |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | 11 | 1 |
| Vegas Golden Knights | 12 | 1 |
| Philadelphia Flyers | 13 | 1 |
| Winnipeg Jets | 11 | 2 |
Weeks 24 – 25
| Weeks 24 – 25 (Mar 27 – Apr 14) | ||
| Best Schedules | GP | Off Nights |
| Colorado Avalanche | 10 | 4 |
| Buffalo Sabres | 10 | 3 |
| Minnesota Wild | 9 | 3 |
| Dallas Stars | 9 | 3 |
| Arizona Coyotes | 8 | 3 |
| New York Islanders | 8 | 3 |
| Calgary Flames | 8 | 3 |
| Nashville Predators | 10 | 2 |
| Seattle Kraken | 10 | 2 |
| Worst Schedules | GP | Off Nights |
| Chicago Blackhawks | 9 | 0 |
| Los Angeles Kings | 9 | 0 |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | 9 | 0 |
| Carolina Hurricanes | 10 | 0 |
| Washington Capitals | 8 | 1 |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | 8 | 1 |
Conclusion
I feel this info is pretty self-explanatory and you don’t really need me to tell you that Colorado players should be a top priority when trying to optimize your playoff lineups. That being said, if you have any questions or comments or if your league plays its playoffs across different weeks, feel free to reach out to me and let’s chat about your fantasy team and making sure you’re set up to bring home the hardware this year!
That’s all for this one folks, I hope you had as much fun reading it as I had writing it! Make sure you follow Apples & Ginos on Twitter and join the Apples & Ginos Discord server for more content and to ask any fantasy hockey questions you may have.
Much love,
Nate
Apples and Ginos 
One thought on “The BEST Playoff Schedules to Target for Fantasy Hockey in 2023”