The 'Looking Ahead' series returns a few weeks late. Read on to get the edge when setting your fantasy lineups.

A tough decision can be made easier with these charts showing you the best five and worst five schedules for upcoming seven-day periods. Some of you used them last year but for the benefit of new readers here is a refresher. The number next to the team indicates the 'multiplier' to use on a player's point-per-game pace to give you an idea how many points to expect for that week.

Conference Bias

An Eastern Conference team appears in the “Best Bets” section 30 times in this article, compared to just 5 for Western Conference teams.  Not surprisingly, Western Conference teams lead the “Steer Clear” sweepstakes 28 to seven.

What does this tell us?  Something we should have already known.  Eastern Conference teams (and by extension, fantasy players) tend to score more than Western Conference teams.  So unless you’re looking at goaltending, the Eastern Conference is the place to look, at least for this coming week.

Caps Look to Get Back on Track

With the Caps struggling and the “Great 8” still trying to find his footing in this early season, it would seem that he needs a spark to get going.  That spark comes this week when the Caps have three home games against weak defensive teams (PHI, PIT & TOR) and playing in Pittsburgh near the end of the week.  When Crosby and Ovechkin play each other, they usually bring out the best in one another.  That should come to fruition again as the rivalry will be renewed – couple that with playing a reeling Philadelphia and a poor defensive Toronto, and it's a great bet to expect the Caps to find some rhythm over the next seven days.

Flyers Prepare to Take Flight

Philadelphia’s struggling offense gets a chance at redemption this week playing the bottom three teams in terms of goals against per game.  Carolina, Washington and Florida are averaging 3.76 goals against per game, while Philadelphia is only averaging two goals for a game; it's a good bet to expect the Flyers to get into gear, starting Friday.

Colorado Taking a Break

Colorado only plays two games over a span of eight days from Sunday, February 3^rd to Sunday, February 10^th.  Those two games are at home versus Dallas and Anaheim, which aren’t horrible opponents if you’re looking for goals from an Avalanche skater.  But with Colorado averaging a measly 1.67 goals per game (tied for last in the league with Florida), being shutout in two of their last three games, and only playing twice in over a week, better off leaving your Avs on the bench in weekly leagues.

Disney Trip

The Blackhawks continue their annual “Disney Trip” on Friday night in Vancouver where the Canucks always play them tough.  The road trip, which takes place every January while Disney On Ice occupies the United Center, is a six-game test with stops in Minnesota, Vancouver, Calgary, San Jose, Phoenix and Nashville.  The headline of the trip will be the February 5^th visit to the Shark Tank where two of the hottest teams in the NHL faceoff.  The question is, can the Blackhawks produce the way they have been for six games in twelve days on the road?

Food for thought: Last year during the same “Disney Trip,” the Hawks went 2-6-1, scoring 24 goals in nine games (2.67 GF/G) while giving up 33 goals (3.67 GA/G).  Some of you might remember the 8-4 loss to Edmonton when Sam Gagner recorded eight points.  The other five losses were to Vancouver, Calgary, San Jose, Phoenix and Nashville, five of the six teams they are playing on this year’s trip.  If you believe that history repeats itself, you might want to be wary of Chicago players in your lineup (although I don’t think I could bench Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp or Jonathan Toews right now).

Editors note - would like to welcome Bob on board to the DobberHockey writing team!

Comments (8)

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rjfisher83 said:

	... Sorry I didn't post sooner guys. My mistake on the Carolina screw up for Mon-Sun. Was a mistake when copying over the team data. As you can see (and as thrillison pointed out), the first opponent for the best team IS Carolina, so it would be pretty hard for Carolina to play Carolina. Should be Toronto. Again, my bad. I will do my best to not screw up this coming week .
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February 06, 2013
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thrillison said:

	Toronto 'best bet'? looks like the #1 best bet starting on the Monday is actually Toronto (not Carolina)....i feel a bit silly writing 'Toronto' and 'best bet' in the same sentence, though
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February 03, 2013
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tcrowell said:

	Canes have 4 or 3 games? I read the article and was just about to load up on Canes and Hockey Challenge says they only have 3 games and the article says they have 4. Anybody notice any other discrepancies. Still a great and helpful article, can't be perfect all the time.
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February 02, 2013
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Captain Krunch said:

	... I really enjoy this article. Normally, I have to cut the edges out of the Sporting News Magazine/Fantasy Guide (Since Dobber loves the gloss...) & tape them side-by-side to circle each game in one color per week with each week in a different color so I could just glance at the week & see who had a heavy week for my matchups
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February 01, 2013
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mrmojorisin said:

	... Thanks Bob, this is essential reading. Keep up the good work!
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February 01, 2013
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GMGates said:

	... Very nice. Well done Bob and welcome to the team!
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February 01, 2013
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Pengwin7 said:

Very nice I love the week-to-week presentation (in blue). And it's good value for non-standard weeks - for example, the DobberEntry league runs from Friday-Thursday. The intro with five team-specific blurbs is great info! Depending on whether you are allowed/supposed/want to dabble in predictions, it might be fun to see a "five possible value skaters" for the standard Monday-Sunday week H2H leagues. Say, five guys that are owned in less than 20% of Yahoo pools. This simply adds some sexiness and draws readers who are "looking for a great FA addition for the coming H2H week". Overall, well done. Thumbs up!

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February 01, 2013
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rjfisher83 said:

	Hope everyone enjoys the articles! It's my first article, be gentle .
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January 31, 2013
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