NHL Daily Plays: Wednesday, December 17th
It’s a typically slow Wednesday night on the ice in the NHL this evening as only six teams will lace up their skates. Roster overlap is unsurprisingly high in most cases when working with a three game slate, so finding a hidden gem or two can really make the difference between a profitable lineup and a losing one. Here are my favorite options tonight for my cash games.
Goaltender
Cory Schneider – New Jersey Devils – Picking a goalie tonight looks to be a tricky proposition as you can poke some holes in an argument for any one of them. With that said, I’ll be giving Schneider a long look for a few reasons; 1) The Ottawa Senators are not on overly threatening offensive team and are averaging just 2.35 goals per game on the road this season, 2) Since joining the Devils last season, Schneider sports a 14-8-7 record with a sparkling 1.85 GAA and .926 SV% in 31 games at the Prudential Center, and 3) He comes with a reasonable asking price.
Other Goaltenders to Target (Cash Games): Niklas Backstrom
Other Goaltenders to Target (GPPs): Tuukka Rask, Craig Anderson
Centers
Tyler Seguin – Dallas Stars – He’s the best offensive player on the board and one that I’ll be doing my best to get onto my cash game rosters. I disagree rather strongly with Vegas setting this line at Vancouver -170 and will not hesitate to roster Seguin and one or two of his teammates here. Seguin posted a goal and an assist when Dallas hung a six spot on the Canucks in their only meeting earlier this season and lit them up for three goals, five assists and a +6 last season in which Dallas won all three meetings. Seguin leads the NHL with 13 multi-point games this season and, despite leading the NHL in points, still looks to be underpriced.
Scott Gomez – New Jersey Devils – Now if you had told me a month ago that I’d be recommending him as a fantasy option this season I admittedly probably would have chuckled, however, he actually looks to have some gas left in his tank. Gomez suddenly finds himself playing alongside Jaromir Jagr and Travis Zajac on New Jersey’s top scoring line and has also been tasked with centering their #1 power-play unit. He’s lit the lamp in back-to-back games and has now racked up a pair of goals and four assists over the last five games. Don’t set your expectations too high, but considering the dirt cheap asking price, he’s a solid “punt” option at center tonight.
Other Centers to Target (Cash Games): Jason Spezza, Henrik Sedin, Mikko Koivu
Other Centers to Target (GPPs): Patrice Bergeron, Kyle Turris, Mikael Granlund
Wingers
Daniel Sedin – Vancouver Canucks – The Sedin Twins may be on the downside of their careers, but they’re both still very capable of producing solid fantasy numbers. Daniel Sedin enters tonight’s game with seven goals and 19 assists through the first 30 games and looks poised to improve upon last season’s rather disappointing 47 points. While Willie Desjardins will likely disagree, it’s good news for daily fantasy hockey players than a disproportionate amount of Vancouver’s offense comes from the Sedin/Sedin/Vrbata line. Dallas is weak on the back-end and is allowing 32 shots on goal per game this season, so there should be some opportunities here for Sedin.
Bobby Ryan – Ottawa Senators – After four straight 30 goal seasons, Bobby Ryan seemed to have fallen off the fantasy radar over the last few seasons. However, he’s starting to show signs of life and has now tallied four goals and nine assists over the last 16 games. He scored a goal and added an assists against these Devils in their only previous meeting this season and also had success against them last season. Ryan is starting to see the ice for nearly 20 minutes per game with a healthy dose of those minutes coming on the Senator’s power-play which bodes well for him tonight against New Jersey’s ugly 77.1% penalty kill.
While Zach Parise is a terrific hockey player and I couldn’t blame you for paying up for him, I will likely be fading him a bit due to the high likelihood that he’s shadowed by Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand all night.
Other Wingers to Target (Cash Games): Jamie Benn, Radim Vrbata, Jaromir Jagr
Other Wingers to Target (GPPs): Tomas Vanek, Clarke MacArthur, Reilly Smith, Linden Vey, Cody Eakin
Defensemen
Erik Karlsson – Ottawa Senators – Recommending two players going against my likely goalie seems odd, but three game slates can make you do some odd things. He may be a defensive liability for the Sentators, but there is no denying Karlsson’s offensive talents. He scored a goal and added four assists in three meetings against New Jersey last season and his 120 SOG is way ahead of any other defensemen in the league this season. I touched on New Jersey’s inept penalty kill earlier, so spending up for their Power-Play QB certainly makes sense.
Ryan Suter – Minnesota Wild – Averaging 29:38 of ice-time per game, Ryan Suter is the NHL’s biggest workhorse. Not only is he rock solid defensively, but Suter’s passing abilities make him a nice weapon offensively as well. He’s racked up one goal and ten assists in 11 games at the Xcel Energy Center thus far this season and picked up seven assists over the teams last seven games. The Boston Bruins have uncharacteristically struggled on the Penalty Kill this season (78.8%) and, after a ridiculously bad start to the season, Minnesota’s power-play, anchored by Suter on the point, finally looks to be rolling.
Other Defensemen to Target (Cash Games): Damon Severson, Zdeno Chara, Alex Edler, Alex Goligoski
Other Defensemen to Target (GPPs): Jonas Brodin, Torey Krug, Codi Cedi, Trevor Daley