NHL Daily Plays: Tuesday, April 7th
With less than a week remaining in the the 2015 NHL Regular Season, the playoff picture is all but set, with just a few teams jockeying for the remaining wild card spots in each conference. Fortunately, the majority of the games featured throughout the league tonight have significant playoff implications, as teams will be doing everything they can to inch closer to playoff berth heading into postseason play. Because most of the teams will likely be using their starting goalies tonight, you’ll need to find value elsewhere in your lineups in order to pay up for the stud skaters. With that said, let’s take a look at some of the players I’ll be targeting with a 9-game schedule this Tuesday:
Goalies
Make sure to check the RotoGrinders Starting Goalies Page to confirm that the goalies listed below are starting prior to puck-drop
Pekka Rinne – Nashville Predators – The safest option on the board for me tonight is Pekka Rinne, who despite dropping his last two decisions and allowing 8 goals during that span, has a nice bounce back opportunity against a Colorado team that is no longer in playoff contention and has been among the worst puck possession teams this season. Most of the league’s elite goaltenders have fared well against Colorado this season and Rinne is no different, winning both of his team’s previous meetings against the Avalanche which includes a shutout and a .957 SV%. With Nashville getting important pieces back from injury, notably sniper James Neal and lockdown defenseman Shea Weber, I expect the Predators to come out sharp in this game as they gear up for the playoffs, making Rinne a solid option to target in cash games tonight.
Corey Crawford – Chicago Blackhawks – If you’ve been following Crawford this season you would know that he has battled inconsistent play throughout much of the season. Despite this, he has turned things around drastically over the last month, entering tonight’s game with a .958 SV% over the last month. Tonight Crawford and the Hawks will look to make things harder for their division rivals at home against a Wild team that has lost three straight games and has averaged just 1.33 goals per game during that span. Chicago has allowed the 4th most shots on goal at home this season, making Crawford a prime candidate for tournaments tonight with a high volume of shots likely heading his way.
Defense
Disclaimer: Erik Karlsson, Shea Weber, Roman Josi, Kevin Shattenkirk, Drew Doughty, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Keith Yandle, Justin Faulk, Duncan Keith, and Dennis Wideman are elite fantasy defensemen and are always in play.
Jake Muzzin – Los Angeles Kings – Skating alongside Drew Doughty on the Kings top defensive pairing, Muzzin gives you similar fantasy production that Doughty does, albeit at a fraction of the cost. A season-ending injury to Andrej Sekera has opened the door for Muzzin on the Kings top power play unit where he should get plenty of cracks at scoring tonight against Edmonton’s 24th ranked penalty kill Expect Muzzin to be very active in the offensive zone tonight at even strength as well; logging heavy ice time and firing shots at will in a game the Kings desperately need to win.
Nick Leddy – New York Islanders – Another moderately priced defenseman I’ll be targeting tonight is Leddy, who has excelled in his first season with the Islanders with 33 points this season. The “quarterback” of the Islanders’ top power play unit, Leddy enters tonight’s game with 3 power play points in his last 10 games and should have no problem adding upon those totals tonight against the Flyers and their 19th ranked penalty kill. Similar to Muzzin, Leddy finds himself in a situation where his team needs to win, which means you can expect him to see an increased amount of ice time than you’re normal to seeing in a game I expect the Islanders to dominate.
Top Value Plays: Derrick Pouliot (PIT), Seth Jones (NSH)
Center
Disclaimer: Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, Eric Staal, Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, and Claude Giroux are elite fantasy centers and are always in play.
Evgeni Malkin – Pittsburgh Penguins – After missing time due to injury, Pittsburgh star center Evgeni Malkin is back and it comes at a desperate time for a flailing Penguins team that is fighting to remain in playoff contention. Similar to teammate Sidney Crosby, Malkin makes all of his teammates on the ice better when he’s out there which is a testament to his dynamic playmaking abilities. Additionally, Malkin’s return means the Pens are no longer a one-dimensional team, which is why I expect Ottawa to struggle in this game tonight, making Malkin my top center to pay up for with his ability to post monster stat lines.
Jeff Carter – Los Angeles Kings – Few players throughout the league are as hot as Carter has been recently, as he enters tonight’s game with 9 point in his last 10 games, including 35 shots on goal during that span. Tonight Carter and the Kings will be up against the Edmonton Oilers, a team Carter has torched for 4 goals and 2 assists in 4 games this season. Edmonton is a team that lacks discipline in their own end and gives up too many scoring chances for their own good. In an important game for Los Angeles, Carter should be very active and should have no problems paying off his modest price tag.
Top Value Plays: Frans Nielsen (NYI), Mike Ribeiro (NSH)
Wing
Disclaimer: Rick Nash, Zach Parise, Jaden Schwartz, Patric Hornqvist, Filip Forsberg, Blake Wheeler, Marian Hossa, and Jakub Voracek are elite fantasy forwards and are always in play.
Patrick Sharp – Chicago Blackhawks – In the midst of one of his worst seasons since becoming a member of the Blackhawks, Sharp has been the victim of head coach Joel Quenneville’s “musical chairs” of line combinations this season. Regardless who “Sharpie” skates with, he is almost always a lock for production because of the high volume of shots he takes each game. but now that he is no longer skating with bums like Shaw and Bickell, Sharp will be a guy worth paying up for tonight. The only downside with taking Sharp tonight is his recent power play time, but he should still have plenty of opportunities to find the back of the net tonight against a Minnesota Wild team that is not an elite defensive team away from home ice.
James Neal – Nashville Predators – Another prolific goal scorer I’ll be targeting tonight is James Neal, who returned from injury on Saturday and promptly scored a goal and an assist. Neal has settled in nicely in his first season with the Predators; notching 37 points in his 64 games and has been reunited with playmakers Mike Ribeiro and Filip Forsberg on Nashville’s top line. Much of Neal’s value is tied to the high volume of shots he takes each game, and a matchup against the Avalanche should allow Neal to remain productive in a game Nashville will look to bounce back in a big way.
Johnny Gaudreau – Calgary Flames – After a slow start to the 2015 season, Gaudreau and the Flames have taken the league by storm during the second half of the year and the diminutive speedster now has 61 points in 78 games this season.. Dubbed “Johnny Hockey throughout the league, the talented young speedster has surpassed Nashville’s Filip Forsberg in the Calder Trophy sweepstakes as the NHL’s best rookie. With 8 points in his last 10 games, there’s no reason to assume why Gaudreau can’t improve upon his stellar rookie campaign tonight against one of the league’s worst defensive teams in Arizona.
Top Value Plays: Dmitrij Jaskin (STL), David Perron (PIT), Teemu Pulkkinen (DET), Kris Versteeg (CHI)