NHL Daily Plays: Wednesday, December 31st
The NHL wraps up 2014 in style as twenty-two teams will lace up their skates this evening.
The first puck drops a bit earlier than usual tonight in Winnipeg (5 PM Eastern), so be sure to get your lineups set on time. Hopefully these picks can help lead you to one more big score before the ball drops.
Goaltenders
Jonas Hiller – Calgary Flames – While Edmonton may have pulled off a surprising victory last night, they’ve still lost twenty of their last twenty-two games and have only managed to score 1.86 goals per game during that stretch. Hiller cruised to an easy victory against the Oilers over the weekend and sports an impressive 6-3-1 record with a 1.99 GAA and .917 SV% in his 10 starts this season at the Saddledome. After going through a bit of a rough patch last month, he now owns a 1.90 GAA and .930 SV% thus far in December and is still reasonably priced on most sites. He’s going to find his way onto a lot of my cash game rosters.
Others To Target: Jimmy Howard, Ben Bishop, Marc-Andre Fleury
Centers
Steven Stamkos – Tampa Bay Lightning – Now let me preface this pick by admitting that I’m not quite as high on Tampa Bay as our friends in Las Vegas are (-215) since Buffalo has actually played well at home and Tampa Bay is a much different team away from home. With that said, the Sabres don’t have anyone on their roster capable of slowing down the Stamkos/Drouin line and, considering his proficiency on the power-play, he could thrive against a Buffalo team that has taken the 3rd most penalties in the league this season and sports the league’s 27th ranked penalty kill. Stamkos snapped a mini scoring slump in his last outing, tallying a goal and an assist against the Maple Leafs and has already racked up a goal and two assists in his two meetings against Buffalo thus far this season.
Ryan Getzlaf – Anaheim Ducks – With tons of value on some sites at the wing positions, you can afford to pay up for centers tonight. Getzlaf picked up a pair of assists on Sunday to extend his scoring streak to eight games and now owns five goals, 15 assists and is a +11 in 13 games this month. With his partner-in-crime (Corey Perry) likely returning to the lineup tonight, things should get even easier for Getzlaf. He’ll face a San Jose team that has dropped three straight games and, dating back to the beginning of last season, Getzlaf has torched the Sharks for two goals and ten assists in just eight meetings. He’s tied for the NHL lead in multi-point games this season (15) making him an excellent option for both cash games and GPPs.
Others To Target: Tyler Seguin, Pavel Datsyuk, Nathan MacKinnon, Sean Monahan, Derick Brassard, Sidney Crosby, Henrik Zetterberg
Wingers
Johnny Gaudreau – Calgary Flames – Gaudreau continues to impress, and after picking up an assist against Los Angeles on Monday, has extended his scoring streak to four games. He’s posted eight goals and five assists in 13 games this month and just lit the lamp twice against this Edmonton team over the weekend. He’s criminally underpriced on several sites (I’m looking at you, FanDuel) and, considering his small stature, should thrive in this up-tempo game against one of the NHL’s smallest teams. Edmonton has won just two of their seventeen road games this season and are allowing 3.59 goals per game on the road, so passing on Gaudreau could be a mistake.
Gustav Nyquist – Detroit Red Wings – Nyquist showed off his puck possession prowess earlier this week, netting an overtime goal against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. The talented winger has somewhat quietly racked up 33 goals, 20 assists and a +5 in 65 games since last seasons Olympic Break and can still be found on several sites at a discounted price. A New Jersey Devils team that is in a bit of disarray will head to Joe Louis Arena tonight where Nyquist owns some of the league’s most drastic home vs road splits (17 of his 23 points have come on home ice). Nyquist leads this Detroit team in power-play goals (8) and should find himself with plenty of scoring opportunities against the Devil’s lackluster 78.7% penalty kill.
Others To Target: Rick Nash, Nikita Kucherov, Jiri Hudler, Martin St. Louis, Jamie Benn, Chris Kunitz, Tomas Tatar, Gabriel Landeskog
Defensemen
Erik Johnson – Colorado Avalanche – With six goals (and an assist) over the last seven games, Johnson is flashing the talent that made him the first overall draft pick back in 2006. He’s averaging 3.43 fantasy points per game (using FanDuel scoring) at the Pepsi Center this season versus just 1.90 fantasy points per game on the road. Johnson is routinely logging north of 25 minutes of ice-time per game and quarterbacks Colorado’s #1 power-play. With Philadelphia entering the game sporting the NHL’s worst penalty kill (74%), he’s a rock solid option on the blue-line tonight.
Torey Krug – Boston Bruins – Krug burst onto the scene last season, scoring 14 goals, 26 assists and a +18 in 79 games during his rookie season. Thanks to that impressive effort, expectations were quite high for him entering this season but after the first 22 games this year he had only amassed three goals and four assists. However, he’s now heating up and has matched that production in just the last 11 games. He’s averaging right at 20 minutes of ice-time per game thus far and sees a healthy dose of those minutes on the point of the teams #2 power-play unit. He’s produced offensively at every level throughout his career, so don’t get too hung up on his slow start.
Others To Target: Victor Hedman, Nicklas Kronwall, Trevor Daley, T.J. Brodie, Mark Giordano, Kris Letang, Ryan McDonagh, Sami Vatanen
Best of luck tonight and Happy New Year!