How to plan your fantasy week with the Category Week Planner

What it tells you

The index lists every fantasy week (Monday to Sunday) with NHL games, teams playing four or more, and off-nights, and badges the week to plan: the current week on weekdays, next week on the weekend. Each week page shows a seven-day strip, then a “Schedule strength by category” grid: games, off-night games, back-to-backs, summed Schedule Edge, and “effective games” for SOG, HIT, BLK, FOW and SV, which are games weighted by how much each opponent gives up in that stat.

Opponent adjustments are only applied to those five stats, because they were the ones that held up out of sample; goals, assists and the rest are projected on volume only. Each factor is shrunk toward neutral by how reliable it has been, and early in the season this year’s data is blended with last year’s, with an “Early season” note while reliability is low.

• The rater scores every player on weekly totals (per-game rate × games × opponent factor), turned into z-scores within the top 300 skaters and 64 goalies and multiplied by your weights.
• SV% and GAA are scored by impact (difference from the pool times volume), so one start cannot top a rate category.
• Category pages (shots on goal, hits, blocks, faceoffs won, saves) rank teams by effective games and list the projected leaders for the week.

Step by step

1. 1

   Step 1: Open the week to plan

   Start from the week index and follow “Plan week N”. Weekdays default to this week, weekends to next week.

   Open the Category Week Planner →
2. 2

   Step 2: Read schedule strength by category

   Scan the team grid. Green cells play at least 5% better per game than average in that stat; gold cells are 5% worse. Note which teams have four games and off-nights.

3. 3

   Step 3: Set your league’s categories

   Tick what your league scores, or click “Use my ESPN / Fantrax league” when signed in. “Reset to a standard 11-category league” loads G, A, +/-, PPP, SOG, HIT, BLK, W, GAA, SV% and SO.

4. 4

   Step 4: Weight and punt

   Set a weight of ×0.5, ×1, ×1.5 or ×2 per category, and press P to punt the categories you are giving up this week.

   • Settings are saved in your browser for next time.
5. 5

   Step 5: Find the adds

   Filter by position, search a name, and with a connected league tick “Available in my league” to list free agents by score. Tick “My team” to see your own players.

6. 6

   Step 6: Drill into one category

   Open a category page from the week to rank teams by effective games and see the projected leaders.

In category leagues

Category leagues reward balance and timing. A week with four games against high-volume, shot-heavy opponents is worth more in SOG and BLK than in goals, so the planner shows effective games per stat instead of one schedule ranking. Use it to pick which categories to lean into this week, then weight them ×1.5 or ×2.

Punting is a weekly tool, not only a draft strategy. If your goalies have two starts between them, punting W and SV for the week and loading skaters with extra games can win more categories than streaming a weak starter. Remember that punting rate stats like SV% and GAA also removes the risk of a bad start.

In points leagues

Load a points league through “Use my ESPN / Fantrax league” and the rater switches to points mode: projected weekly totals times your league’s points per stat, with no z-scores. The ranking then mostly reflects games played and per-game production.

Schedule strength still matters. A player with four games and two off-nights adds more usable points than a slightly better player with three games on crowded nights.

Tactics that win

• Plan on Sunday

  The weekend default shows next week, so you can make adds before Monday’s waiver run.

• Stack effective games

  For hits or blocks, roster players whose teams rank high in that column, not just teams with four games.

• Punt to match your goalies

  Light goalie week? Punt W and SV and use the spare slot for a four-game skater.

• Pair it with Catch-Up

  Plan here before the week, then use Category Catch-Up from Thursday to chase the categories still in play.

Mistakes to avoid

• Reading games as value

  Four games against stingy opponents can be worth less in a stat than three soft ones. Use effective games.

• Leaving default categories

  Set your own categories first. A standard 11-category score answers a different league’s question.

• Over-trusting early weeks

  While the Early season note shows, opponent factors are close to neutral and lean on last season.

• Expecting a goals edge from opponents

  Goals and assists use volume only; the planner does not claim matchup edges it could not validate.

Frequently asked questions